The first half of the series (L's Arc) is masterfully done. L's Arc definately deserves all 10's. I felt it was on par with a Robert Ludlum novel (not the movies). The constant intellectual attacks and re-posts were very believable and had me in astonishment the whole time. The characters are all developed very well; there are characters to love and characters to hate. The story is well developed and thought out as well.
The ending arc of the series was really not on the same level. The new characters are not developed well (hence the 7). The intellect was diluted down into a lot of "I knew you'd do that, so I did this"... "Well I knew you'd do that in response to what I did, so I did this"... I can only take so much of that before I ached for the strong foundations that were given earlier in the series (hence the 7 in story). Even though the traps didn't have as strong of supporting evidence the suspense was still there. But I really wish that L's Arc either continued to the end or that the ending arc was comparable to L... even though the new characters admit they are not as intelligent as L; that doesn't mean the storyline's depth and complexity should slack off as well.
The art is great and what you've come to expect from anime.
Music is great and the opening sequence of the first half is awesome. However, the opening sequence of the second half is a bit to much Death Metal for my liking.
I enjoyed this anime very much but I thought the last Arc and ending could have been much better given the artful execution of the earlier storyline.
