The premise is simple, write a name in the death notebook and they'll die the way it's written. That's a pretty simple story mechanic, but it opens up a lot to explore. What if someone lies about their name or hides it altogether? The book is useless. What if you could trade half of your lifespan to be able to see people's names written above them, would you do it? Finally, what if you had a stalker obsessed with you who might kill you rather than lose you with the powers of a Death Note? It's a constant state of escalation, where the stakes rise until someone falls. The main characters, the killer of killers Light and the mysterious detective "L", are some of the best developed in anime, their motivations and ideals are expanded on as their silent war unfolds. One wants to be the god of a new world where there is true justice and the other thinks no one is above the law and murder can never be justified. The world isn't big enough for the two of them.
There are a lot of great elements to this story, from the discovery of the death note to figuring out its rules, from being investigated by the police to forgetting everything about it in order to hide from their search, to the showdown of finding out the true identity "L" and changing the world, for the better if not the worse. The pacing is phenomenal, the first two thirds of the show are pure gold. Not to spoil anything, but given the level of escalation building for over 24ish episodes, no ending could hope to live up to that hype train. Saying that, it's not like the show becomes bad at that moment, but it begins to get spread a little thin on characters because as the name says, there is a lot of Death in this show. There's suspense, intrigue, plotting, downright scary world views, romance, obsession, and betrayal all wrapped up into this neat little package. The soundtrack on this is probably the best anime soundtrack I've ever heard, and I'm a huge Bebop fan. This has 3 CDs worth of fantastic guitar and bass riffing that sound great even if you've never seen the show. It's something like 37 episodes long, so it is a little bit of an undertaking, but it is well worth the time you'll invest into it. You will also feel the need to own a black notebook after watching this show.
