Welcome to one of the most critically-acclaimed anime in the world, "Death Note".
The story begins with Light Yagami, a 17-year-old high school student who is basically bored with his entire life. One day, he notices a mysterious, black notebook literally fall from the sky. Of course, since Light is human, this particular notebook piques his curiosity. This particular notebook is labeled "Death Note", and according to what is said inside of the Death Note, anyone whose name is written in it will die. Light initially thinks that it's fake, but he discovers it's real after testing it out. Now, aided by the Shinigami Ryuk (who was the one who dropped the Death Note into the human realm in the first place), Light sets out to create a "better" world by using his Death Note to "punish" criminals. Meanwhile, as all of these deaths are happening, the police, aided by a man known only as L, try to catch the man behind the deaths, who are known to them as "Kira".
I don't know if I even need to explain all this, though. If you haven't at least heard of Death Note, I don't know if I can say that you're a true anime fan. (No offense intended.) It was through all this hype that I was finally tempted to watch Death Note myself. Now, after watching all 37 episodes, I know what all of the hype is about.
Let me start by talking about the story. It's clear that the story is the strongest point of Death Note. It's a suspenseful story with lots of twists and turns. Although some parts of the story had been spoiled to me even before I started watching it (for example, the way it ends), that did not stop me from not being able to really guess what I didn't already know. Thus, I can't say I hate the story at all, even if some parts of it were ruined for me.
Now, the characters. There was quite a number of interesting characters in this series, but were ALL of them likable? Of course not. In fact, some of Light's actions left me really hating him. Yeah, I just said I don't like Light, who is the protagonist whom the viewers are supposed to be following all of the way. Think about it, though; while it's great that he punishes criminals, he also makes the loved ones of those criminals sad. What's worse, he hardly feels any remorse toward them. Then, you've got L, who is basically Light's opponent. While I didn't know exactly what to think of him at first, I eventually grew to like him. What happens to him in the anime, which I refuse to spoil for anyone who hasn't seen it, really was a shame.
The animation was rather well done; it really gives off the intense atmosphere there is most times. All of the opening and ending themes were pretty awesome, too, especially the first opening. It matched the anime very well for the time that it was the opening theme. I should probably mention that I was watching the English dub for Death Note. The voice actors did an excellent job, especially (believe it or not) Brad Swaile as Light.
For the amount of time that I spent watching Death Note, I can say that I greatly enjoyed it. It's a suspenseful police drama that is not all that predictable unless you were giving spoilers for it. I guess the series getting spoiled for me was what killed some of my enjoyment. Even so, the hype for Death Note is well worth it; I'd say you give it a try. Oh, and while you watch it, try taking a potato chip and eating it. (You'll catch the reference soon enough.)
