DEATH NOTE REVIEW

Genre: Suspense, Thriller, Psychological, Supernatural, Drama, Crime-fiction, Young-adult

The thrill-ride show for your brain! Wheew... this is a relatively old but gold anime and a must-watch in my book! If you enjoy watching a show full of unexpected plot twists, mind games of deception, clashing personalities and a series of cliff-hangers keeping you addicted for more then this is THE show for you!

And length-wise the series isn't even long at all, the entire story is done after only 37 episodes which makes the quality of each episode much more amazing since it's filled with so much plot, content and details which cascades over to the next episode nicely and seamlessly.

SPOILER ALERT!

If you haven't watched the show yet then go ahead and see it for yourself! I might accidentally drop some plot bombs that might ruin your experience in my review so better stop reading right here and come back when you've finished watching and let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment! Enjoy! :)

PLOT

I must admit, when I first heard my friends talking about an anime called "Death Note" and how awesome it supposedly was, I was skeptical to say the least and the thoughts that came to my mind were the images of floating magical music notes and rock and roll bands. But after seeing a preview and seeing the nice animation and artwork quality I decided to give it a chance -- and boy after I finished the series was I SHOCKED! I kept asking myself why I never saw this anime before...!

So the plot revolves around a really smart Japanese high school student named Light Yagami who accidentally finds a normal looking notebook. But inside the notebook there were instructions in English telling him that he could write any person's name on it and as long as he knew what they looked like they would die -- guaranteed!

This is what caught my attention immediately. It was a unique and crazy idea especially if you pictured yourself in his position: You had an unstoppable weapon in the form of a flimsy notebook that wouldn't even leave any evidence at all that would connect you to the killing -- The ultimate weapon and a serial killer's dream tool!

But the story's strength is not so much revolved around the killer notebook but more around the mind games the author managed to piece together to form a mind-blowing story! Just when you thought Light would become a self-proclaimed new god of the world, A.K.A. Kira, the world's greatest detective, L, steps in to the case and not only confirmed that the people randomly dying were actually being targeted but also narrowed down the place to precisely where Light actually lives and keeps narrowing it down all in a suspense-driven adrenaline fest that keeps you breathless as Light counters L in a life-and-death battle of brains and psycho-analytical wars!

Light's mission was to rule the world through the power of death but for him to accomplish that he needed to get rid of L in a way that would not make him the suspect. And L's mission was to trick Light into confessing that he was indeed the criminal responsible for the mysterious deaths around the world.

CHARACTERS

 

Light Yagami

Light's character development was really shocking at first but at the same time it made you want to see what he would be really capable of with his new found power and unmatched intelligence and ambition. He started off as just some bored intelligent high school student with his innocence first clearly seen at his disgusted reaction from taking his first human life, but as the show progressed his psychology slowly morphs with him justifying his murders as the acts of justice until finally, getting drunk with power, suddenly gets completely detached from any ideas at the sanctity of life and completely mutates his mind into having a messianic-complex, seeing himself as a god who would save mankind from the evil scum of the earth and seeing anyone who would oppose him as the enemy deserving nothing short of death for opposing the true god.

 

L Lawliet

L's personality was the anti-thesis of Lights; Light always appeared sociable while L was always secluded in secrecy, Light was passionate and emotional on wanting to create his Utopia while L was all aloof and detached from any emotion -- even the fear of death seemed like a waste of time for him. And yet they had equally strong drives to defeat one another all in the form of indirect attacks at trying to trick the other into their trap.

Amane Misa

Amane Misa was cute but seriously brainwashed while others might say devoted and her one-sided unrequited love for Light is sad.. She wasn't really anything special besides being the 2nd Kira and a forgettable assistant manipulated by Light.  She really didn't care about her life anymore clearly seen by how she threw away years worth of her life just to please and help Light achieve his dream of world domination. 

Ryuk

Ryuk, the shinigami who started it all and made the world burn all to satisfy his centuries long boredom. He was fun to watch but as the story came to a close I didn't expect to see how detached he really was when he didn't give a care about Light dying at all. Although it shouldn't really come as a surprise since he already told Light at the beginning that he would be the one writing his name down on his notebook. In the end he was really only using Light to kill his boredom.

Near

Near for me was like the second coming of L but a lot more serious (And to be honest I didn't really like him as much as I liked L, but hey that's just my opinion) it was said that he carried the responsibility of carrying the mantle of "L" the world's greatest detective and personality-wise he was said to be more logical-oriented than L (though I could hardly tell the difference tbh)

Mello

Mello, one of L's potential successors, was annoying (again, just my opinion and since it is my review I might as well be honest, right? :P) and it was said that he was more action-oriented than L, being more aggressive with a SHOOT-FIRST-ASK-LATER attitude. Even going so far as getting the criminal gangs to accept him into their group for his benefit of defeating Kira and proving that he is a better L than Near.

Japanese Kira Task Force

Meh... The police team assembled by L didn't really stand out that much except maybe for Light's dad who was really cool in taking on the 2nd Kira head on while recovering from a heart-attack!

CONCLUSION

Death Note is a mind-blowing anime filled with a lot of unexpected surprises to say the least. I would have wanted to see either L beating Light in an epic conclusion at the end or seeing Light overcoming it all and implementing his vision of his Utopian (or Dystopian, depending on who you ask :)) world ruled by his iron fist and death note. The story had a lot of convoluted plot points but the overall feel for it made me a Death Note fan. And though it might have been too short a series for some people I think it was a brilliant decision to keep the quality on a high note by giving a clean and decisive ending to the series instead of stretching it out.

Rating: 9/10

Original and well-written story except for a few convoluted points. The animation was well drawn and very engaging like you felt the rush and intensity with each thought process that went through the minds of the characters. Death Note raised the bar for my standards of quality anime in terms of story telling.

What do you think about this anime? I want to know what you thought about Death Note too! Leave a comment and I'd love to hear your thoughts! :D