The story revolves around the concepts "is it okay to kill someone evil" and "should anyone hold the power to end someone's life on a whim". The story starts off with Ryuk a Shinigami Death God and Light Yagami, they are both bored in their world so Ryuk decides to drop the Deathnote (a notebook with the power to kill any person whos name is written in it) Light happens to find the notebook a doesn't believe in it at first until he tries it, this gives Light the idea to "make the world a better place by killing off the worlds criminals". This causes a chain of events that lead to the world's greatest detective L who is known for being able to solve any case to take up the charge of capturing whoever is responsible for killing the criminals. The story takes many twists and turns making you wonder is this it for Light? Or is this it for L? Through masterful storytelling Death Note's story is no normal mystery you already know who the culprit of the murders are it is a matter just sitting back and watching the events unfold. Death Note contains many journeys through lies, deceit and the mind games and suffering that those bring.
The characters are extremely well written in this story. First Light Yagami, a genius high-school student who is bored out of his mind. Once Light gets a hand on the Death Note things start to finally seem interesting to him and he decides to use it to make the world into a better place or at least what he believes to be a better place. Throughout the series we see many sides of Light such as cruelty, caring, acting, a mastermind and a god like persona. After seeing all of those sides to Light you come to understand him and ultimately hate or love his character.
Next we have L the worlds greatest detective who has decided to track down the killer of the criminals, no one knows his name or face except for his special assistant Watari. L is the same as Light in many ways but different in many as well, their conflicting values and morals leads to many mind games between the 2. L is a great character because if you end up hating Light you will probably love L's character they are so similar yet still remain as different as can be due to the wonderful story telling.
Other characters include Misa Amane who is in love with Kira (the name the public gave to the mysteries killer of criminals). Misa is the perfect compliment to Light she is able do things Light can't but also hinders him at the same time making Light extremely frustrated at times. N and M are also major characters in the story as they are rivals yet must work together if they wish to achieve their goal.
The investigation team are also major characters in the story as they provide some comedic moments in the story as well some help to L and Light throughout the story.
The art and the sound of the show was good fluid animation well placed sounds and good scenes. The opening and the endings of the show's first and second half are great to.
Overall the series was extremely enjoyable as it brings out the concepts I listed before and gives the viewer the question "what is right and what is wrong".
This show will always remain in my top 5 best shows I have ever seen and it might just make yours as well.
I would highly recommend this show to anyone especially if you like psychological anime.
