chifek - 2024-05-14 07:27:22

Best of the best

abdullah70 - 2013-07-13 01:41:35

I gave the story an 8 and everything else a solid 9's across the board. The story would have gotten a 9 if I rated it on or before about episode 20, and an easy 10 if it was within the first 5-10 episodes or so. Without giving too much away, it's hard to explain why -- but I just felt that certain plot arcs were drawn out longer than they needed to be, certain characters didn't need to be introduced to the story at all, and certain others should have stuck around until the end. All in all, I still enjoyed the anime as a whole, despite absolutely dispising the opening credit song for the second half of the series.Everything except Art could have been a 10 though (I save 10s for art that makes me actually jump out of my seat and go "OMG the art in this is AMAZING!!"), so in the end, yes, Death Note is a great anime definitely worth watching, but not enough to get 10's across the board... but it was.. so.. close.

arturo41 - 2013-07-10 04:45:14

Death Note is one of the best animes in existence and very worth watching. It takes all intelligence to edge of the door and it sometimes opens it to sneak a glance.

A 17 year old genius boy called Light Yagami finds a notebook called Death Note and uses it to kill criminals and then the best detective in the world L tries to catch him.

And here is where the story gets very interesting when they play Tom & Jerry but no one knows who's who and they are tying to kill each other and this leads to a war of brains. I must say I really respect the intelligence this show has, made of a way that will keep you in the edge of your sit and usually makes you fall of cliff while the greatness of the show scream directly to you. The sound of the anime is really amazing that will become the drug of your ears from A to Z.

I enjoyed this anime so much that I watched it again and again and the adrenaline never runs out of this show. If you haven't watch it yet what are you waiting for go right now and watch it or else you will miss one of the interesting animes to date.

That's all I have to say

- When a human dies, they can never come back to life... EVER.

vkshlerin - 2013-07-07 21:04:41

Death Note. Another famous anime. But this time there is one reason for it. In fact, there are lots of good reasons but they can be summed up in one thing: this anime is amazing. Want to know why? Then just keep on reading.Story (8): The first half of this anime is a masterpiece. The concept itself - the Shinigami's notebook which grants the person who has it the power to kill anyone by simply writing the person's name while picturing the face in his mind - is already brilliant to begin with as it presents the viewer questions like "What would I do if I had that power?" The way it is developed brings us yet more questions and defies our morals.Light Yagami, the main character, is a brilliant high school student who's angry at all the injustice in the world. One day, he finds the notebook and he tries it out. At first, he's not sure about if what he did is correct but he ends up loving the power he got and trying to use it to build a new and better world. He's nicknamed as Kira by the citizens. Of course that would simply be boring if it wasn't for L, a detective that tries to discover Kira's identity. Both of them are simply genius and their counter clock run to find out each other's identity is full of intelligent moves and suspense which kept me trying to guess what each one of them would do next.Really, the simple ingredient that's so great about this story is that it manages to keep you thinking. But at several levels. Let me explain that to you.First, it makes you think about if what Light's doing is right or wrong. "Is it right to be the judge and executer simultaneously?" "Don't the circumstances of each crime matter as well and is it right to judge without knowing all the facts?" "Can't the criminals be reformed?" "Is a world where people don't commit crimes because they're simply afraid really desirable? Isn't what Light aims to achieve theoretically similar to a dictatorship?" Those are questions that ran through my mind. At one point, I was totally rooting for him. But as the story develops and his actions begin to change, you'll start to wonder...Second, it makes you think about what's going to happen next. Trying to follow Light's and L's line of though is both challenging and entertaining. Their move will surprise you and you'll keep trying to guess what they're gonna do next. This show will keep you on the edge of your sit through its entirety.Third, it changes the way you see the world and the people in it. With each kill and each action Light takes you can't help but wonder: "It may be wrong but what would I do if I were in his place?". People change, situations make us change. One different thing in your life and you could be going from a dedicated doctor to a serial killer (just an example).The only problem with the story is really the second half, for Near isn't nearly as intelligent as L, and Light seems to become way dumber and make pointless decisions rather than retaining control of the situation. The fact that the resolution didn't steam from Light's mistakes but from someone else's and was pure luck on Near's part in that regard was both a nice factor (I was rooting for Light to win because... no idea, I just was.) and a rather underwhelming one as well, for neither of them was the central piece that ended the puzzle. The story receives a 8/10.Art (9): The art is clean, the character designs are both unique and somewhat similar to reality. The backgrounds are detailed enough and the animation is really good. Even though there are few action scenes throughout the show, the car chasing scenes for example are really well done. A little exaggerated, yes, but nevertheless pretty good.But were the art really shines is in the coloring schemes. The dark and dull tones totally fit the anime. And Light's monologues, with the red hair also add a nice touch.Quite good for its time and genre.Sound (9): First, let's talk about the openings and endings. Well, I dislike both openings and love both endings. Quite wired isn't it? Because you know, the 1st opening and the 1st ending are both by the band "Nightmare" (they're a really good band by the way) and the 2nd ones are both by "Maximum the Hormone". Still, it's just my personal preference though some people may be turned of by the heavy metal sound of the last opening and respective ending. The ending song from episode 37 is really beautiful and fits the last scenes awesomely well.But that's not all. The opera-like songs that pass in the episodes really add to the scenes and were, with they're somewhat religious tune, the best choice to set the mood.I can't say much about the voice acting. I watched the english dubbed version and I thought it was good enough but I'm no expert on that matter.Characters (8): The characters are rather well portrayed. Let me put it this way. When I see an anime, there's always a character that stands out the most for me, that has characteristics that make me root for him/her. When that doesn't happen, I usually don't enjoy an anime. In Death Note, no character stood out. But somehow, I still loved it. I think no one stood out because they were all equally great. There was no one with fantasy-like characteristics. They all seemed like real people with real problems. No unneeded and exaggerated tragedies but no totally sweet lives either.The character development is pretty much nonexistent for most of the cast, but it doesn't need to be there, for it is really good for Light Yagami, the main character. Starting of as a genius, calm and collected high school student with a strong sense of morals and justice, he undergoes a slow but drastic change of character. The more he uses the Death Note, the more he slowly drops his morals because he finds it is needed to continue his work. He ends up an arrogant person with no consideration by the people who surround him. He starts trying to create a new and better world for people to live him but ends up obsessed with power and with being the "God of the New World".I love it when Light loses his memories about the Death Note. He turns back to his old self, refuses to use people as tools (what he had been doing all the time) and he even thinks Kira is wrong and wants to catch him. At that point, I also thought Kira's actions were going way too far but so did Light. And Light WAS Kira. So what if the notebook was real, what if I had pick it up? Wouldn't I do the same and end up like that?Moving on to L. He may seem like a plain character, but he is not. He tried his best to capture Kira risking himself a bit more in each attempt. He seems cold but deep inside I think he really didn't want Light to be Kira because he had never met anyone so similar to him in his ways of thinking and he saw Light as a friend, even though he was almost sure that Light was, in fact, Kira.The support characters are surprisingly interesting, despite not being all that well developed. I'm talking about the task force. At first, we didn't know much about them and they're development is not much noticeable but then at some point you realize you already know how they feel about Kira, what their line of thought is. The truth is, we subtly get introduced to their problems and internal struggles. This anime has an interesting cast of supporting characters.My least favorite character was Near. Even Mello was better developed than him. Near wanted to catch Light, sure. But it seemed like he was barely concerned about anything else that was happening as long as he could catch him. He was too cold and underwent none changes. Enjoyment (9): This review is getting way too long... Anyway, I really enjoyed this anime. Each episode got me craving for more. It made me think, it made me feel bad for some characters, it made me hate some situations... It was truly a great viewing experience. I enjoyed it a lot. Biggest problem was really the second half not being as intelligently scripted as the first one. But even now, one month after watching, I still think about Death Note and its moral changing story whenever I see some hostage situation on the news. Sometimes I'm just like "Damn, I wish I had one notebook like that! I could prevent so many bad stuff from happening...". And then, on those nights, as I'm in my bed the same questions I had when I was watching the show come once again to my mind. "If the notebook was real, wouldn't it bring even more bad things that it could prevent? Would it be right to use it? What would guarantee that I would not get corrupted by its power?" I loved this show and I still do.Overall (8): I may rate it a 8, but once again, that's largely due to the second half of the show. Nonetheless, I recommend this to anyone. Whatever genre of anime you like, you should watch this. It is a really intelligent story and even though you may not love it as much as I did, the chances are, you will. Even for people who never enjoyed anime, I would still recommend it. In fact, I am now in the process of making Portuguese subtitles so I can get my mom to watch it. Death Note defies your morals and enables deep discussions with yourself and others. It truly is a great show.

beatty.myron - 2013-06-30 14:21:01

Prologue:

This review may sound negative but Death Note is still a worth while series and must watch for fans of anime from the 2000's era. This review is a modified version of my review found in the October, 2009 issue of the ScrewAttack Online Magazine [Discontinued].

History:

Death Note was first created as a Manga series by Tsugumi Ohba and art by Takeshi Obata. The original Manga was 108 chapters or 12 volumes. Death Note was produced by Weekly Shōnen Jump and started serialization in May 2004. That Manga was such a hit that it was adapted into a live action film, it was released in June of 2006. Which is odd because it came out before the anime which tends to be the other way around. Madhouse adapted the series as an anime, sprawling from October 3rd, 2006 to June 26th, 2007, with 37 episodes in all. Directed by Tetsuro Araki (Black Lagoon and Attack on Titan) the series would become exceptionally successful in Japan. Death Note was originally planned for a Canadian release for early September for YTV, but was delayed to help accommodate for the American release for late October for Adult Swim. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end as Death Note final episode was aired on YTV on July 4th of 2008. Death Note not only Took Japan by storm, but also North America, were Death Note was critically praised has well.

Plot:

The Story for Death Note is basically a battle between minds and ideology. As the first episode goes, an exceptionally intelligent high school senior, Light Yagami finds the Death Note (book that can kill with just a name and a face) and reacting as most do, doesn't believe it to be real. He is strangely drawn to it though and when he uses it and it does work sees this as a tool to banish evil from the world... even at the cost of his own soul. A week later Ryuk a shinigami or God of Death explains to Light the consequence of using the Death Note. That people who use it, know only fear and tragedy in life, and when they die they can never go to heaven nor hell only nothing that and when the time comes it his responsibility to write Lights name in his Death Note. Light accepts this contract and becomes Kira the supposed god of the new world. This grabs the attention of L the worlds most renowned detective he solves the cases some deem impossible. He sets a trap for Kira by appearing on TV. Kira takes the bait and kills him thinking that's the end of it..... Unfortunately for him its not. The screen fades to a giant L, stating that not only did he figures out what country Kira was in also what part of Japan where he resides. All in all its like watching the greatest game of chess ever played. As one minute Light has L in his sights and ready to take care of him, then L counters and puts Light on the defensive. Then light has to figure out a new way to use the Death Note without L figuring out it is him. If theirs is a flaw with the story is where after episode 25 the story grinds to a halt and brings down what could have been a modern classic to just another good anime.

Characters:

The characters are exceptionally deep, except a few and some characters stop developing by the third act altogether. First, Light/Kira is an interesting protagonist, or is he an antagonist. Seriously though his motives for what he does with the Death Note make sense and can almost make you agree with or even emphasis with him. Though Light slowly goes insane because of the Death Note, as the two persona of Light and Kira will become less of two entities and more the same person, he also falls into the trap I mentioned earlier where he becomes less interesting by the third arc. L is an, if not the most interesting character in the show and I can't think of any one better to match Light not only in intelligence (if he's not smarter) but also with his deductive reasoning. He is a modern day Sherlock Homes and it would not surprise me at all if the 2009 Sherlock Homes film did not draw some of its inspiration from L. Misa ugh is annoying and a pain to listen to in both languages. She has enough development to make her at least interesting though she becomes less relevant and gets less screen time by the third arc. Ryuk our "God of Death" I sometimes can't tell if he's at all needed in the overall plot in the third arc and he becomes less mysterious as the story goes on, but the character can be funny intriguing and bad-ass at the same time and really helps keep the story interesting during the early episodes.

Death Note also has dozens of supporting characters some whom you cannot get enough off and some just there to drive the plot... *Cough* Raye Penber *Cough* Though in all seriousness you do not watch it for the supporting cast no matter how unbalanced it may be.

Music:

Yoshihisa Hirano and Hideki Taniuchi must be commended for their work with the OST for Death Note. The Music adds a true amount of "epicness" to every scene it is utilized in. Most of it is latin choir with large instrumental pierces, though techno and rock are also used in a few occasions such as L's theme. This type of Latin choir can add allot to a scene that you would not expect it to be good and just goofy and silly, but the music really helps hold the show together. The music is the most consistently good thing even in the third arc.

Sub vs Dub:

Now sub vs dub, hum either or if you can't get the Japanese one you will be happy with the English one and vice versa. I prefer the English dub it's exceptional and has a lot of experienced actors such has. Brad Swaile (Light) who is a Gundam Dub veteran with roles as Amuro Ray (Mobile Suit Gundam), Setsuna (Gundam OO) and even other franchise like Rock from Black Lagoon, puts in a really good performance as Light to where it is hard to see even after all these years another VA in the role. Alessandro Juliani (L) whom is also a veteran actor from roles in StarGate SG-1, Battle Star Galactica (2003) and Smallville. He also is a veteran voice actor in roles as Nightscream (Beast Mashines), Gambit (X-Men Evolution) and Toma (Ramna 1/2) he brings an air of intrigue to his role and you can see he loved doing it as L is just so much fun to listen to all the subtlety put in the role. Brian Drummond (Ryuk) is fondly remembered VA with roles as Vageta (Oceans DBZ Dub), Zechs (Gundam Wing) and he brings a very witty and sarcastic elements to the role. So either way you will be happy with the English dub. Death Note also features Ocean Group veterans such as Cathy Weseluck, Trevor Devall and Kirby Morrow.

Art and Animation:

The art is by Takeshi Obata, the art is fairly tame and pulls of a more realistic look. (Don't forget he's the one who butchered the character design of Simon Belmont.) His art tends to be inspired by "the latest fashion", but Death Note is more about a simple and realistic look with a pale color pallet and a more multi-cultural influence. The animation is consistent and fluid, but some scene can be not entirely in-tune with the art style the shows trying to pule off. You can tell Madhouse used every tool they had available to bring the world of Death Note alive and make a believable and real world. Even from hindsight of 2013 Death Note still can stand on its own next to more contemporary anime.

Epilogue

In the end Death Note is an ingenious work of fiction that tries to be something different in the world of giant robots and emo swordsmen. Though the 3rd arc may leave you disappointed and character motivations may seem hazy at times. The show in all is an exceptional ride from beginning to end even though in my books it does not reach the title of a Modern Classic. I give Death Note 8/10 a must buy.

Positives
- Interesting Characters
- Ever Twisting Plot
- Great Musical score
- Fantastic Dub
- Good animations

Negatives
- Inconstant Art Design
- Disappointing 3rd Arc
- Inconstant Characters
- Story that Does has issues after Episode 25

Where Can I buy Death Note?
Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Death-Note-Box-Set-1/dp/B001CZJP0S/ref=pd_cp_mov_0
Right Stuff
http://www.rightstuf.com/1-800-338-6827/catalogmgr/XN5oPf3yZ1ZqiuRSxm/browse/item/80782/4/153/0

For those who enjoy Death Note might want to check out:
Aoi Bungaku (2009) by Madhouse
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (2006-2008) by Sunrise

aufderhar.stefanie - 2013-06-28 08:18:31

This is a Review out of 100. 35/100 for Story, 35/100 for Characters, 15/100 for Sound, 15/100 for Animation.Story - 28/35 - The story was very original, especially for a shounen series. Instead of physical fights, this show opted for mental fights, or mind games. You never really knew what would happen next, and while the show followed a cat vs mouse flow, you never knew who was gonna be the cat and who was gonna be the mouse. The show also brought up the question of what you would do if you were in a similar position of power, and shows how easily power can corrupt people. Sadly, I was not a big fan of the Near and Mello arc, as I think the writing in the series took a nose dive. Characters also started getting stupid for plot convenience, especially Light. Personally, I'd have a lot more nice things to say about the show if it would have ended around episode 25/26. Characters - 29/35 - I really like Light Yagami as a character. You almost want to agree with what he was doing. L is equally as appealing. Really, a lot of the characters are good, but only those two really stand out. There are also quite a few annoying characters, like Misa and Matsuda.I already expressed my dislike of the near and Mello arc, and they are no small reason as to why. Also, for a group of people trying to track down someone so important, they seem pretty lax most of the time. I felt they were a little too unprofessional is all. Overall, an above average cast of characters. Sound - 14/15 - The Music was really good, although it felt a bit out of place a times. We can all agree that the chorus was not needed when Light was eating that potato chip. The opening and ending songs were especially good.Most people would agree that the English Dub of the show is pretty good, probably rivaling the Japanese. I'd recommend you watch it in English unless you really hate Light or L's voice or something. Animation - 13/15 - The animation was very solid. I also really like how the director chose to use Red to represent Light and Blue to represent L. It was a nice effect. Overall - 84/100 - I like Death Note a lot. It was one of the series that really changed my outlook on anime and helped mold the kind of shows I like today. But I can't ignore it's shortcomings, specifically in the story department. I'd consider this to be a potential classic if it weren't for that last arc.

eloisa.oreilly - 2013-06-28 04:12:43

The Death Note anime...wish me luck!:-D(Sorry about the poor grammar/spelling)STORY (6)Yeah, I gave the Death Note story a 6...got a problem with that??:'(. Let me explain. The reason that I gave the plot a lower rating than the norm is because the second half of the series had a serious dip in the enjoyment factor. Am I alone in assuming that Near is a very unlikeable character?? I loved the first half of the season! It was a lot fun watching the cat and mouse mind games between L and Kira. The manipulative mind games between Kira and his pursuers is the driving force behind the whole series. This means that the success or failure of this series depends upon how enjoyable these games can be, so when the mind games stop being entertaining...failure...One of the negative points of this anime is that (at times) it tries to be too serious and epic and it just comes out as silly and cheesy. Epic is good, but all good things in moderation.ART (7)I'm certainly no expert when it comes to judging animation, so I'm gonna keep this nice and short. I thought it was pretty good.(hah you thought I was gonna say something meaningful:-D)...but in all seriousness, I don't really have any complaint with the animation. I liked how the anime characters still looked like the manga characters(you know how sometimes you read a manga then you go to see the anime(or vice versa)and you're like "Wait...WHAT?? Who is this character!?!?"...yeah...).SOUND (7)Overall, I thought that the music was pretty good. The opening is really catchy and fits the series. The ending is good, but unmemorable. The music throughout the episodes usually help to make a scene even more epic...EXCEPT when the series starts trying too hard and every Kira/L/Near/Mellow scene just HAS to be epic...*sigh*...ENJOYMENT (8)For all my b**ching bout the second half of the series, I still gave Death Note a fairly high enjoyment rating. I thought that no matter how much I didn't enjoy the last half, I still enjoyed the first half enough for it to earn an 8. I mean, who doesn't love an anti-hero with a god complex:-D.OVERALL (7)Overall, I give this anime a 7! It would have been higher if the second half had been better, and if the anime didn't feel like it was epically trolling me...As much as I talked bout the negative points of this anime, I still enjoyed Death Note. The suspenseful mind games and interesting characters helped make up for much of this anime's flaws:-).

ken73 - 2013-06-23 14:13:00

Ever thought of killing someone you disliked to make the world a better place in almost a blink of an eye? Well death note is the perfect example of thisLight Yagami believes this to be true, why not watch this anime to find out how fun it is for light yagami to start killing people without even physically touching them? It will be worth the watch...Overall I thought the anime is a masterpiece because the main character was evil unlike most main characters in other animes and he has a goal which he is determined to achieve through any means. If you like mystery animes and don't mind a lot of people dying then this might be a good anime for you to watch.

qromaguera - 2013-06-23 10:05:57

Death Note, the greatest anime I have seen. Okay, it's not my favourite anime (although it's up there) and it probably won't be yours either, but it is extremely well made.

Dialogue and voice-acting, art and symbolism, music and atmosphere - these are the things that Death Note does well. Both the manga and the anime were made with careful consideration of these things and that shows. Death Note is notably lacking in the character development department but that isn't what the story is about. Death Note is about Yagami Light and L's game of cat and mouse - it's about suspense and thrill.

Death Note felt like energy converging into a single point and then exploding when a result came about. That isn't describing the overall plot either, there are multiple ventures from Yagami and L that make Death Note so good. The genius of the writing and of the two characters makes for a very exciting game of cat and mouse. Death Note isn't without it's failures. Death Note suffers from 'crappy second arc syndrome', similar to Sword Art Online. It could be said that to enjoy Death Note to the fullest, 'watch it only up to episode 26 (of its 37).' The comparison of the amazing first half and average second half may be harsh, but it's true.

Death Note's theme is one about justice and what we would do if we had the power to change the world. This question provides the dark undertone to the series which the music and art convey notably well. There are scenes in Death Note which make you sit back for a moment and think 'damn, this is really well made.' I can't stress enough how well Death Note is crafted, the music and art come together so well and create great pieces of anime.

TL;DR - Death Note is a masterpiece, it features excellent quality however after episode 26 it doesn't live up to itself. A definite must watch, if you haven't already seen it.

peyton.simonis - 2013-06-22 20:40:22

Story:One of the best things I love about this anime is that it lets you pick who the real hero is. Kira (Light) is a person who thinks that death is the ultimate solution for crime. L is a person who thinks that criminals should be tried then imprisoned, and just thinks of Kira as a lowly murder. The perspective of the story is told from Light's view, but you will get to see from L's perspective from time to time. About little over half way through something happens and the plot takes a turn for the worst until the last two episodes. The last two episodes were simply, epic. Now that word is over used a lot nowadays but, I am confident that you will think so too.Art:Greatest art style I have ever seen, amazing detail. Awesome character models.Sound:Not only are the last two openings awe worthy if you like metal, but the music in the anime perfectly sets the mood perfectly.Character:All characters are designed well and each have their own unique personality. Misa is the happy-go-lucky girl with a feeble mind, but makes up for it by being Kira's girlfriend and greatest worshiper.Enjoyment:As I said before the story is the absolute best until blank Dies. It just gets boring for this portion of the anime, but the ending makes up for it all. And my favorite character is introduced during this period.Overall:Regardless of the dry period, this is my favorite anime ever. It will be very hard for an anime to get better than this in my opinion.

mbeatty - 2013-05-18 10:39:36

"Death Note" is one of those anime that achieved huge amount of fame as a manga, so its incredible success as an anime always had a feeling of inevitability about it. I first heard about it a couple of years prior to its release, when a few of my friends were reading the manga. Unfortunately for me, a couple of them discussing the "Death Note" manga right in front of me gave away a big plot point that occurs mid series. At the time I didn't mind, as I don't really read manga, but I was a bit peeved when I learnt about the anime adaptation. The information I had been made aware of is arguably the biggest turning point in the entire story, and I also remember my friends saying that they'd lost all interest in it right after that development. At the time, I was skeptical that one event could have such a big impact on the series, but now that I've watched the anime, I found that my friends were right all along."Death Note" is an anime of two halves. Though saying that is a bit misleading since the two "halves" are unequal in size. The really good part of Death Note probably only extends as far as the first third of the series... and it's all downhill from then on. But, man, WHAT a good part it is! That section by itself is probably more than a match for the best parts of any anime I've ever watched, and is enough to catapult the anime into my personal A-list... and most other people's too, judging from its reception.The opening episode wastes little time in setting up the scene, and though the premises may be a little gimmicky, and the dramatising occasionally over zealous (the main character Light writes with so much aggression and vigour, you'd half expect him to leave blazing trails of fire behind his pen), the intrigue and potential are there in buckets, and I was hooked straight way. This probably isn't the first anime to ask controversial questions of justice and morality, of whether it's right for a person to take the law into his own hands and pass judgement onto others, but "Death Note" takes this concept and puts a fresh twist on it, and this twist comes in the form of the Light. Light is the protagonist of the show, but here's the catch - he's not the hero, he's the villain. He's a villain that unhesitatingly abuses that power that comes into his hands, and goes on a ruthless killing spree, all in the name of justice. And does the world become a better place as a result of his actions? It's a point that can be fiercely debated, but I actually think it does, and I think with some subtle changes Light can easily be portrayed as an anti-hero instead. Initially, he doesn't appear to be a completely bad guy, but power corrupts, and he seems to become less and less human as the series progressed, with his actions becoming more and more extreme. I think the series did a most excellent job at portraying his moral deterioration.Light's popularity amongst the rabid fan community is only matched (and perhaps even exceeded) by his opposite number L, the autistic detective prodigy, who is put in charge of the investigation to find the person who's been killing off all the criminals (don't worry, this isn't really a spoiler - this all gets set up within like the first 2 episodes). A fascinating character in his own right, L glows with a strange kind of magnetism despite being, put it bluntly, a bit of a weirdo. I get the feeling that L is more concerned with solving the puzzle and winning the battle of wits rather than bringing a criminal to justice. On the surface, Light and L are very different, however, underneath there are striking similarities between their personalities. Perhaps counter intuitively, they're on opposite sides of this battle *because of* rather than despite of their similarities - add their stubborn competitiveness to their similarities and you naturally get the effects of mixing two volatile chemicals together. In the interest of the anime, the two are like a pairing made in heaven. Sparks begins to fly immediately - even before the two meets face to face - and the series explodes forth at a demonic pace. About 8 episodes in, I was thinking to myself "this is unbelievable... it's actually still getting better with each episode". My friends shared the same sentiment - at the rate it was going, it was heading towards being the best anime ever by miles... surely something had to give.And unfortunately it did. Unable to sustain the astronomical increase in suspense and excitement, the anime soon peaked, and actually started going into decline before the Event-That-Was-Spoilt-For-Me... it's just that the drop was even steeper after that aforementioned event. Looking back on it, I guess it was inevitable, given that a lot of the fun parts came about because of the bizarre way the Death Note (the object, not the anime) operates, making Light fiendishly hard to catch. Once that trick is revealed, the anime was always gonna struggle to prevent the remaining story from becoming less interesting, even without taking into account the difficulty of matching the dizzying heights of the earlier episodes. Having said that, the revelation concerning the Death Note is not the culprit behind the anime's first sign of decline. The first decline was brought about by a development in the storyline that broke up the psychological cat-and-mouse game played between Light and L, a routine that had served the series so well up to that point. Instead, they went off to chase after some random villain that no one really cares about (this is also known as the Yotsuba arc). The whole mood of the anime changes for the worst from that point on. Not only had the tension almost completely broken, the anime also started fancying itself as some kind of cheap comedy, throwing in more and more "comic" moments, mostly involving that hugely irritating walking-fanservice-doll Misa Misa and that good-for-nothing Matsuda. Whilst previously, the occasional comic moments involving L seemed appropriate to his character and did not detract from the suspense, the new wave of comedy greatly grated on my nerves.The somewhat dull Yotsuba arc eventually ended, and was soon followed by the Event-That-Was-Spoilt-For-Me (not that I'm bitter or anything), and though the incident itself was executed extremely well (with the exception of the foot massage scene aimed to provoke high pitched screaming from the fangirls), the series really takes a nose dive after that. What exactly went wrong in the final arc? Well, it's hard to know where to start - "Death Note" pretty much deteriorated in all aspects: First thing to note is that both the opening and ending theme turns into screaming rage metal (or whatever pretentiously named genre that brand of "music" is classed as) songs (and I use that word loosely) that are painful to the ears. No doubt it's an attempt to make the anime seem more "edgy". What a disaster that is - it certainly made me more edgy, frequently putting me in foul mood even before the episodes properly started. After that, there's the story that becomes totally unbelievable. Granted, even in the beginning, there were occasions in the storyline that bordered on the ridiculous (the whole farce involving Light and his packet of potato chips for example), but in the final part the it becomes so "out there" that the whole series starts to feel little surreal - that monkey business involving a stealth missile that's untrackable by satellite and launches from some secret underground base is just... I'm actually at a loss for words that can describe how ludicrous that is.Then there's that set of oh-so-original new characters that gets introduced. Mellow and Near are just poor copies of L. What's with the "eccentric habits" that all these "genius kids" seem to have? With L, it all seems quite natural and original, but Mellow and L has to come along and spoil it all. Mellow's habit of munching chocolate is like a big sign saying "hey look! Obsessively eating chocolate is my unique vice!" Near is even worse, constantly playing with his toys despite his serious mannerisms. I mean, I can accept him playing puzzle games as those are mentally challenging to a certain degree, but... lego men?!? Whilst L's behaviour can be excused because of his childish streak, Near doesn't even look like he's enjoying playing with his kiddish toys. Like Mellow, it seems like he's only playing for the sake of doing something that would give him a distinguishing trait. Furthermore, L's methods for solving cases reminds me of Sherlock Holmes, because he explains every step in his thinking clearly and everything makes perfect logical sense. In comparison, Near is more like a character from some second-rate detective novel - a lot of the time he just seem to make mental leaps of faith without indicating how he made the logical connections. The overwhelming sense of intelligence and logic built up by the anime's fantastic early work starts to crumble at this point thanks to Near and his lucky guesses. Mellow and Near are just cheap copy cats that are inferior to L in just about every way - I had to nod in agreement when Light commented that they are nothing to compared to L. No doubt that, given the immense popularity of L, the creator attempted to replicate the success with these new characters. You know those bands that scores a huge hit with their debut single, and follow up with a couple of songs that are really similar to that first hit, but are no where near as good? Well, that's pretty much what Mellow and Near are. Just as those follow up singles often end up being flops, so too does Mellow and Near fall well short of capturing the viewers' imagination in the same way L did. Not only does the new characters fail to impress, many old characters got worse: I mentioned earlier that Lights seems to get less and less human... well, what I didn't mention back then is that he seems to get more and more stupid too (one of the main causes for the psychological warfare losing it's earlier potency) - maybe mentally duelling with Near's lack of logic caused Light to become more retarded. Meanwhile Misa Misa evolves into Ultra Annoying Misa Misa (I didn't think it was possible for her to get any more annoying, so hats off for achieving this epic feat), and L... err... through no fault of his own, L's image kind of got cheapened by the mere presence of Mellow and Near. Yeah, that's how bad they are.I guess all my ranting must have made the latter parts of Death Note seem absolute pants. But from a more objective point of view, it isn't. It did not fall much short of being decent even during the weakest points of the series. The series retained its strong dramatisation elements throughout. Epic background music aside, it often cleverly uses subtle sounds to create tension - one of my friends used one for his mobile phone ring tone, and everyone instantly recognised it... it just goes to show how powerful these little things can be. The fantastic use of colours to contrast between the opposing characters is still there, and the awesome artwork, especially the designs for the shinigumis, continues to impress. The disappointment is because the later parts fail to measure up against the lofty standard set by the first - the fact that it felt so bad says more about the utter brilliance of its first arc than anything else. By the sheer merit of the first arc alone, Death Note manages to justify all the hype surrounding it, THAT'S how good it is. If you haven't seen this yet, well, where have you been?!