The first arc (episodes 1 - 26) is the best, it does a great job setting up the rules, and hooking the viewer. The plans, plots, and mind games are all brilliant. They did an excellent job executing the scenes, character reactions, etc. Everything felt natural.
However, the second arc (27 - 37) was not as good. The most glaring issue, in particular, was the terrible character development. One is an angsty teenager / I have a dark and tortured past cliche, the other is a boring androgynous copy/paste of L, that actively insists the thing that L only passively theorized without ever explaining her (?) reasoning, only "I have access to L's case files". It doesn't make sense because earlier on, all of that data was deleted in a tragic accident. It's weak. It doesn't have the same gripping suspense and charm as the first arc.
While the second arc isn't nearly as enjoyable as the first, it does have some very good suspense at times, and a strong, satisfying ending that I am perfectly happy with. If you have seen Breaking Bad and Dexter to the end, you will understand my distinction between a good ending and a poor ending.
And now I'll quickly overview the scoring points the site gave me. The site asked me to fill these out, so I feel an explanation is necessary for each. Note, however, that, and I'll only say this now because this is my first review on this site, they DO NOT represent my overall score. I didn't factor any of the below scores into my final score. I decided my final score before I'd even finished watching the show, let alone come here to review it. I wrote an explanation for that here: http://pastebin.com/8vzJvymf
Story: 9/10. I very much enjoyed the story. From the moment L is introduced to the ending of the show, it was a wild ride. However, it was, by no means, perfect.
Art: 9/10. I have no complaints. The art doesn't blow me away.
Sound: 5/10. I don't care for the genre of music the show uses in its intros. It also clashes with the rather cinematic soundtrack used in the actual show. Feels very amateurish.
Character: 7/10. I would have given it an 8/10, but "N" and "M" were just terrible.
Enjoyment: 9/10. I enjoyed this show very much, aside from little things that irked me. No reason to give it anything less than a 9.
Overall: 9/10.
