The characters are perfect (Perfect for the plot. Don't worry, they've got flaws), just like everything else in this anime. They never do anything that seems wrong for their personality, and they are completely believable as real people.
Every aspect of Death Note is inhumanly perfect. In fact, it is. It truly is. But Death Note unexpectedly fails. For all of the brilliance in this anime's writing, and dialogue, and voice acting, and characters, it was one of the most difficult anime for me to every get all the way through. Here is why.
The only reason why I could barely bring myself to finish Death Note is the protagoist, Light. In literature, the protagonist of a story isn't necessarily defined as "The character the plot revolves around." It's defined as "The character the audience identifies with." In other words, you're supposed to be the most sympathetic toward the main character, who is Light Yagami in this case. But it's impossible to be sympathetic toward Light at any moment in the show. Sure, he kills with the Death Note to deliver justice and create a utopia, but I never saw a single redeeming quality in him. He never shows remorse or any sort. Every one around him is either a tool or an obstacle that needs to be removed. Summary: Light is a cold, heartless bastard that is impossible to love.
Light's character turned me off. Once I realized I hated him, I had to force myself through every episode, pausing every few minutes to go do something else before continuing. I only watched it because I had started the anime, and I was determined to finish it, especially one so highly spoken of. Even then, I took an entire one month hiatus around the halfway point because I was sickened by Light, and more over, I couldn't bear to watch the ending because I wouldn't have been able to accept it if he ended up "winning."
I'm not trying to tell you that this anime is terrible. Like I said at the beginning of the review, it's spectacular in countless ways. I hated this anime, but I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that will love it. If you haven't seen Death Note, I implore you to try it out. Even if it doesn't sound like something you would like, you still need to give it a try. I'm sure that, if you do enjoy it, it will instantly be in your top 3 list of anime.
