The shows consists of 37 episodes, 25 of which make the fabulous first half.
Premise: It has unique premise involving a supernatural item called Death note, a notebook which can kill anyone whose name is written on it and whose working is described in a pretty detained manner. It falls into the possession of a genius teenager who wants to use it to 'cleanse the world from criminal filth' by killing them off and becoming a symbol of fear and justice but before that he must deal with a certain 'world's greatest detective' who is set to stop this arrogant abuse of power.
First I'll discuss the first half of the show; how it keeps the viewers interested, what are its good points and what are the aspects that felt underwhelming.
How does it keep the audience from getting bored and how interesting it manages to be?
A large chunk of the show involves:
1. A spirit of rivalry between the main character Light Yagami and the antagonist detective L. Both share moments with each other as suspect and detective. Both are very interesting characters and have some qualities completely opposite to each other, so its interesting to see them juxtaposed. For eg: Light is a liar and a narcissist. He can be charming whenever he wants to be. He deals with problems in a clever but straightforward way. L on the other is honest, doesn't care about how others see him, is quirky and awkward and unorthodox and unpredictable in his way of dealing with things. At the same time both the characters are similar to some extent. Both are very intelligent and are represented as a symbol of justice, when in truth neither care about justice so much as they do about being right and satisfying their ego . L just wants to be right about his conclusions and Light uses his twisted sense of justice to satisfy his God complex.
2. L coming up with clever ways to catch the mysterious, 'supernatural' killer of criminals, that surprises the audience, a feeling shared by the side characters who work with him as well. I find it somewhat amusing when side characters analyse, appreciate and act surprised at the main characters doing extraordinary stuff because of how over-the-top and overused it is. Since L is dealing with a supernatural enemy he knows nothing about, he looks for patterns and tries to figure out, how the killer works.
3. Light also exploring and experimenting with the working of the death note. The notebook which kills anyone whose name is written on it. What if two or more people share the same name? What will be the cause of their death? Can the cause be altered? To what degree? Its interesting to learn about such an elaborate system.
4. Light coming up with an equally clever way to deal with L's plans. This is the most important aspect of the show. You can even hear Light's monolgues about his thought process which makes everything more intense and interesting to follow. Light finds himself in situations that can ruin everything he has worked for, yet he thinks of something clever and works up to get the desired result which is difficult to achieve. This creates a strong sense of thrill. In the beginning episodes, Light goes to many different places to deal with different kinds of situations on the spot. This kind of traveling, change of environment always feels great. The side character that reacts to Light's plan is a death-reaper, the one who dropped the death-note, who follows him around just for observation because he is bored. So his reactions to his plans aren't as expressive as L's team's to L's plans are.
5. Light showing the kind of person he is. Its interesting because Light is one heck of a character. To the death-reaper who follows him around, or just for the sake of saying it because its an anime afterall or in the form of unsaid monolgues, Light expresses himself a lot. Although usually stoic, nonchalant and reserved, Light is very expressive when it comes to his secret life of 'bringer of justice'. His reactions to whenever he outwit anyone, is a sight to behold. The sly smile followed by crazy maniacal laughter if the place allows it, the desperate obsession to 'defeat' L is really interesting to watch.
The good points:
1. It has one of the most intriguing beginning. It will get you hooked instantly.
2. A very interesting main character. His traits complement each other. These include stoic personality, a detachment from life because its boring, a disgust for filthy criminals, sociopathic personality, narcissism, asexual orientation, high intelligence, ability to socialize and act charmingly whenever required etc. His monolgues and thinking process are interesting to hear, plans are clever and the sheer amount of chaotic aura he emits whenever someone innocent who dared to challenge him falls a victim to his scheming, is beautifully depicted. He is a true villain main character.
3. A perfect antagonist, who as mentioned before shares many similarities and differences with the protagonist. His cleverness combined with quirkiness is charming in its own way.
4. The show doesn't take sides. It doesn't put L on a pedestal and treats Light as a villain destined to lose. You can root for either. One can't predict who will win the battle of wits.
5. Its very thrilling, intense and clever. One genius trying to manipulate the other. One with supernatural aid, other with the aid of the law system and organization. Both finding themselves in tense situations and trying to outwit their rival. The things that lead to the situations and the characters' way of handling it is sufficiently believable. What makes a situation thrilling? There are many factors like the viewers must care about the characters, the stakes must be high, the outcome unpredictable, the actions believable, the directing, silence, music, it can even involve complex situations i.e involving many characters with different or conflicting motivations, their ability to interact with the environment or their options should varied but known to audience or unpredictable but clever etc. Based on these criterias, Death note is indeed a great thriller.
6. Elaborated rules about the working of the supernatural elements i.e. death note. As mentioned before, its interesting to learn about along with light. The reason why Death note works as a supernatural show.
7. The last two episodes and the ending is really good.
8. The visuals. Dark, atmospheric, beautiful, unique. Can't be described in just words. There is a strong 2000s feel in the show. There are also elements of old western Christian art i.e. to say it has a gothic feel in 2000s setting. Sometimes everything becomes sepia, while only L and Light's hair remain blue and red colored respectively which looks really cool. The tall glass buildings at night or dusk is something you'll get to see frequently and its beautiful. Visuals also include character designs and they are perfectly fitting to each character. Light's stoicism, charm and villanous aura and L's calmness and quirkiness are perfectly encapsulated by their respective designs. The artstyle is one of the most beautiful in all of fiction. However the animation while good, could've been better or clearer.
9. The music. Again, one of the best ost set in all of fiction. Perfectly fits the visual style and the feeling the anime wants to evoke. The music has a Christian feel to it. Infact, some of the music is inspired from Gregorian chant. It has lots of ominous music that Light would love to hear while celebrating his victory with a smug smile after crushing innocent lives for the 'bigger good'. It also has the music that can be described as the sound of high functioning sociopaths thinking. The intro and outro are also perfect. The second opening in particular which is a metal music evoking the feeling of sheer insanity.
The bad/underwhelming points:
1. Death note isn't exactly rational fiction. The individuals and organizations must act in a believable manner with as little plot convenience as possible. Sometimes the characters may not take the best or safest decision, or may come up with a plan involving too much convenience or luck.
2. Even the first half of the show isn't perfect in terms of enjoyment. There are certain plot points which undermine aspects that made the show good. For example the rivalry between Light and L as well as the villanous nature of Light is temporarily thrown out of the window in the middle of the series for reasons I can't reveal without spoiling. At the beginning of the show, in the first 10 or 11 episodes, Light used to go to different places and deal with various kinds of problems or situations on the spot. This outgoing nature of Light and thus the plot becomes less relevant as the show progresses. As I have already mentioned before countless times, the rivalry between L and Light and the villanous nature of Light drives the show. Without it, there isn't a lot to keep the audience interested. As a result, the quality shakes slightly during the middle of the first part of the show. Anyway the dip in quality isn't too big and the last 2 episodes of the first part and its ending makes up for it.
3. A female character named Misa Amane, a young goth girl with blonde hair plays a very important role in the anime. Unfortunately she is an obsessive simp for Light, who behaves in a dumb manner and is treated as a comic relief. Her character is obviously exaggerated and obsession with the leader or idol of a cult (as Light's action become more and more noticeable, people start supporting the mysterious bringer of justice) isn't entirely impossible but Misa is not a very interesting character and is somewhat incongruous to the tone of the series.
4. Sometimes, the show can become too over the top/silly/animeish/weird etc. For eg: the tennis match scene.
Now coming to the 2nd part of the show. I'll keep it short.
Good points:
The last two episodes and the ending. It was very intense. There were some problems with the ending but it was as good as the ending of the first half of the show if not better, especially in terms of raw emotion.
The animation and music was still good ofcourse.
Bad points:
Everything else. Tries to imitate the first half but lacks everything that made it good. The new characters weren't very interesting. The cleverness of the show was gone. The pacing was too fast and I felt nothing watching it.
