Non sequitir and bad sense of humor aside here's my boolean review:
Interesting premise: Yes
Original premise: Yes
Interesting characters: Yes
Good pace: Yes
Good ending: No
Aesthetically pleasing art: No
Humor: No
High suspense: Yes
Logical contiguity: Yes
Spoiler-free stream of consciousness:
Definitely one of the most intense animes I've watched in a while. The first few episodes run a bit slow, but things soon heat up like Misa-misa at the sight of Yagami Light. The main conflict focuses on psychological tension, though there's a fair bit of action too and the fights were well-orchestrated and original, and played a key part in both plot and character development. The plot curlicues (yes, I used that as a verb) in unexpected directions, making for a couple of twists that would have taken L himself by surprise. I have some reservations about the characters - some I kind of liked, some not so much, but, most importantly, I found a few's motives to be unconvincing. Also that "The World's Strongest Man" thing really annoyed me - the explanation was kind of trite, too. Finally, the ending seemed a bit contrived to me - the mechanical part (how the villain did what he/she did) was okay, but his/her motive remained unclear and what followed (I did say spoiler-free) had me rolling my eyes.
Recommended for: People looking for a mystery with plenty of unexpected plot twists and quirky characters.
Not recommended for: People looking for an action-oriented Naruto-style anime.
P. S. Ryuk said he'd kill me if I didn't put the lame references in... Blame him!
