The Death Note anime, directed by Tetsurō Araki and animated by Madhouse, began airing in Japan on October 3, 2006, and finished its run on June 26, 2007, totaling 37 twenty-minute episodes.
STORY
Essentially at it's core, death note is a story about A genius teenager named Light Yagami , who is bored with life and one day after school, finds a book entitled 'death note' which states the person who's name is written in the book will die . Light Intrigued by this tests out the book and when realizing it is the real deal, goes on a quest to become the god of the new world by controlling who dies.
This series has gained such critical acclaim due to it's unusual protagonist or more appropriately named 'anti-hero' for his moral questioning choices and his maniacal personality as he descends into madness. The story begins at the point of view of light as he seems an innocent high schooler but as the story progresses you start to question whether you want him to be caught ,or get away with it. This is what makes the story of Death note so amazing. Further along the story we meet another genius, only he is a detective and in charge of finding out who the person killing everyone is (referred to as Kira, which means killer in japanese). The natural pacing of the story is so brilliant as it rapidly increases the stakes with each passing episode, making you wonder how he will get out of each situation and how is intelligence pulls through in dire moments. The only negative regarding the death note story is the fact that on an intellectual level it may be a bit hard to understand / follow as you have to pay attention to what every person is saying and if you miss something, something else may not make sense.
CHARACTERS
The characters are what make Death Note, in a nutshell. Each character is fleshed out and explored, with even minor characters getting a good amount of screen-time. The main three characters are Light, L & ryuk. Light is obviously the main character as we follow him throughout his power trip of becoming a god. Light is very interesting to watch as you don't know if his reason of doing what he does are truly good or evil. L is an eccentric character that loves sweets and never wears shoes. Aside from his weird mannersims he is a genius on the same level as Light which makes for a perfect game of cat and mouse throughout the series. Ryuk is a very unique member of the series as he is what is called a 'Shinigami' or a death god, who was actually the one who dropped the notebook into the world in the first place. Ryuk doesn't often show emotions nor does he tell his intentions so his screen time is very interesting as you don't know which side he is really on or what he plans to do in the future.
SOUND
The score in death note is truly breathtaking. Each piece fits the world and is the definitive factor that creates such an effective attempt at world building. Many scenes would not have had the same impact without the jaw dropping music that was produced to fit the scenes. Whether it be the desolate sounds of an abandoned shinigami realm, to the upbeat piano sounds when Light and L are thinking over their plans, each piece is perfectly suited to the mood of the scene. The voice acting is also superb, Mamoru Miyano (a very well known voice actor in japan) portrays Lights maniacal side perfectly with pitch shifts and crazy laughter, even down to the scenes where Light is smirking is done superbly. Ryuk's smart-alec behavior also shines through thanks to the work of Shidou Nakamura(most iconically his cackling when Light is doing something he finds interesting). Japanese is the original language and the language it was supposed to be watched in, however the English dub cast also do a great job of portraying their counterparts.
ART & ANIMATION
The art in Death Note is top notch. Character models are done with great detail and one of the most real looking characters to date in anime history. In scenes where characters are talking to eachother , great attention to detail has been produced , with things such as Light putting his hand on his face to think or L sitting in a certain position to accentuate his strange personality. The famous pen writing scenes are a great example of brilliant animation. Each one is done with such fluidity that it almost looks as if it is of movie level production levels (for a tv series that's quite good).
ENDING THOUGHTS
Death Note is a series that clicks on every level and is indeed a true masterpiece that is highly regarded by fans of anime, tv and even regular film. However if you are the type of person that does not like alot of dialogue and wants alot of action then this may not be the series for you. However, if somebody was to give this a go, It is highly doubted that one would be disappointed.
By Brandon Gallop
