Review by Josh

On the surface, Death Note is and will continue to be one of the most unique and mind-blowing anime in recent history. The tale of a young man full of disgust towards the world and society is nothing out of the ordinary, no, it’s very commonplace these days. The world is in a downward spiral, murderers, sexual predators and thieves all walk the streets alike, free from the constraints of a struggling government and prosecution system. Where are the gods when an innocent child is murdered, when women run through alleyways in terror of an ever approaching rapist? I’ll tell you; they’re watching. And a few have come to play.

If you were granted the power of a god, if you had the power to kill, would you? Would you kill to save others? Would you kill for justice? Would you be able to maintain your own sanity and morals? Would you be able to prevent yourself from greed for recognition, or maybe even simple fun? Where will it stop, how will it end, how many innocent people will you have to sacrifice for a world of peace? These are all questions Yagami Light faces when he discovers a Death Note and encounters a Shinigami, a Death God, named Ryuk.

When he realizes the full power of the Death Note, Light knows exactly what to do. He will kill all those with evil traits and will lead a new world into sanctuary. His excitement is frightening, never once does he regret his actions. He’s hollow, his only emotions come at the thought of eternal glory as Justice itself, and when he must mentally battle his equal, his only obstacle, L. Light, dubbed as Kira, is able to kill simply knowing the name and faces of his victims, by writing their names into his Death Note, but his plans for greatness continue to be thwarted by the mysterious and cunning L.

The mental battles between L and Light can be astonishing, but they all boil down to one thing: “Will he outthink my outthinking?” It’s a constant turn-by-turn board game. Both are 15 steps ahead of the real-world, the one who wins won’t be decided on wit, but rather by trust. The trust in others will be what makes or breaks these players. Trust the wrong person and you’ll die. Trust the right person and you’ll survive.

The animation is average for the more recent popular anime, but the key scenes are delicately touched up. The character animations are realistic, to give that feel of connection with the viewer. The music is great, minus the last opening and endings which sound like a middle-school band banging on garbage cans and ripping their vocal cords with retched screams of incomprehensible lyrics.

Death Note is an amazing anime, the plot and story are perfected beyond greatness. But there’s one thing that keeps this anime from being renowned as a masterpiece, character development. There’s very little depth to the main characters. They are all clear-cut with no inner-emotional battles. Light himself never once thinks twice about actually killing thousands of people, he uses and abuses the few allies he has, which will end in his destruction. He has no conflicts with himself, yet he’s not a senseless killing machine; in essence, he’s nothing. The creators of this series failed to recognize these inhuman attributes as just that, inhuman. When viewers cannot fully understand the main character, they cannot connect with him.

Thankfully, I can forgive the shortcomings of Death Note. What really made me love this series is its unmistakable perfection of suspense. Every episode will leave you begging for more, and yet there are no horrible cliffhangers! The ending of this series really pushed it to become one of my all time favorites. In the second to last episode I honestly felt like I was about to have a heart attack. My heart was pounding against my chest, my blood was rushing. I knew what would happen, the only way the series could end, but it didn’t matter! I was so enthralled with the emotion of the episode; it sends chills down my spine just thinking about it! No other anime has ever given me such a thrill, the emotions I experienced were surreal and benign.

I highly recommend Death Note to any fan of suspense or thought-provoking entertainment.

Death Note Screenshots