Death Note

[Fonzie]

I thought this was funny.



WATER RESISTANCE IS HUGE!

It'd been better if he actually said that.

[YTDN]

I liked the ending.

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

I need to finish it, the last episode I watched was episode 30. The sub group I downloaded from discontinued subbing it due to Viz asking them to. :/

[Agent Proto]

I've started reading the manga. So far, it's been great. Gotta love Ryuk. :3

[Kossage]

I thought this was funny.



WATER RESISTANCE IS HUGE!

Haha, that's to die for.

Anyway, here's my two cents about Death Note.


*UNMARKED SPOILERS AHEAD!*

I was surprised by the quality of the series in general. The premise was quite interesting with the Shinigami stuff and the Death Note and all, and in some ways I could understand Light's motivation, and it's interesting to see him kind of fall from grace as we learn that he becomes more and more vicious to get those threatening him out of his way. There are some classic scenes such as how Light deals with Ray Penber and the guy's fiancee.

The L vs. Kira stuff was awesome in many cases, and I loved the battle of wits between the two. I really liked the deep layers between the two as they both respected each other and the tragic aspect of the friendship they had while they were each others' enemies. I also liked the Christian symbolism (e.g. washing of the feet) which seemed to be more prominent in the anime, and the whole tragic aspect really made these two characters work.

Ryuk, Rem and the other Shinigami had interesting personalities and we learned more about them little by little. I particularly liked Ryuk's somewhat sadistic nature and how he played his own game all along. Misa and Light's dad had their time to shine as well (although in some episodes Misa was quite annoying), and the Kira Special Investigation Team members had their moments. All in all up to the Yotsuba arc things were quite interesting and the show never losed focus, and we got such moments as L revealing himself to Light and the epic tennis match between the two to mention some.

However, the Yotsuba arc changed all that. As intriguing as the "good Light" scenario was as well as the corrupt politics of the Yotsuba Group, the Yotsuba arc just didn't quite reach as high standards as the previous episodes, although there were some nice moments. The arc certainly wasn't disappointing, but the complete change of tone was rather interesting. Then, after Light becomes the bad guy we hate love once more and as his machinations reach their peak with two tragic deaths, things got back to the level of the pre-Yotsuba episodes. There were some scenes in the manga which I would've wanted to be presented here, but sadly they had to cut some of them out due to the number of episodes.

Once Near and Mello got into the picture and began a new arc, things turned near the Yotsuba arc level. There were definitely some great moments such as the rivalry between Near and Mello, the kidnapping of Light's sister and the death of Light's dad. Light had become too secure in the years since L's death and didn't expect L to have successors. Things turned interesting with the appearance of another Shinigami as well as some Kira supporters such as Mikami and Takada, both of whom should've been explored more in the anime because they were kind of rushed (although their portrayal was still decent).

Light's met his demise because of his arrogance. After all, he hadn't had a proper rival until Near and Mello appeared, and the two didn't work together at first so he had to divide his attention and eventually underestimated both of them because he didn't think of them as worthy successors to L. Light was simply too confident in trusting Mikami and Takada and didn't expect certain things to happen as they did (particularly in Mikami's case; one could say that Mikami's actions really brought Light's schemes to an end). It was rather interesting to watch Light's reactions in the final episode when everything turned into the worse, and his overdramatic mannerisms just enhanced the finality of it all.

It was interesting how the anime differed from the manga, but I assumed something like that would happen. Still, despite the changes the whole plotline was quite carefully thought out, but it was unfortunate that some things were left out in the anime. Both the anime and manga stuff have their pros or cons, so I could just say that both of them support each other in the end. I would've liked to see certain stuff with Near in the end, though, but I understand why the focus was on Light as his final moments came. I also liked some of the ambiguous moments with Misa during the end credits sequence as well as L's apparition appearing in front of Light; that was a nice touch.

*SPOILERS END*


The voice actors did quite a good job. I haven't listened to the English ones, so I don't know if they're as good, but in any case the Japanese voices fit the characters in every way possible. Animation was fluid most of the time, and I really enjoyed the way a lot of symbolism was used in many scenes, and that depth made things more interesting. There were some great overdramatic scenes which were animated in interesting ways, and I was glad how the preview of the final episode was such a great cliffhanger.

The choice of music is rather interesting as well. The soundtracks are basically divided into two parts: one has moody music which presents many character themes (L's themes in particular are a highlight) whereas the other half has fully orchestral and choral music which really fits in some of the dramatic scenes ("Low of Solipsism" is a particular highlight and pretty much sums up everything that Death Note is about musically). These two different styles were used in a great way, although there were some things that could've been improved - particularly some of the moody score tracks. The opening and ending songs are an interesting bunch too: the first opening and ending songs are quite fitting to the show and catchy too whereas the second opening and ending songs are quite annoying although I can see how they fit into the storyline. I was pleasantly surprised by the ending piece of the final episode, though: that was great.

I guess the main problem with the anime was that it only had 37 episodes (although there seems to be a Death Note Special which will be aired sometime this summer). Due to having too few episodes the show had to cut out some things which were present in the manga, and that hurt the story a bit in some cases. It's an unfortunate loss, but the anime which we got is still a very good one. It has its pros and cons, but the overall thing is definitely worth a watch. I ended up liking it.

[NeoCracker]

I don't see what the problem with the ending was, only that it didn't live up to L.

I thought it was a great ending.
(SPOILER)

And Light was hardly an idiot in this Case. Two things happened that brought an end. First was Mikami. He didn't know Light could act on his own, so acted for him. Second is he didn't even know Mellow was helping NEar. Near figured both these things out, and because of it managed to beat Light. Light wasn't an idiot at all, N and M were simply a better team than Light was on his own, thats all there is too it. Besides, Ryuuk killing Light in the end was really the only way I could see it ending.

[Zeromus_X]

Not to mention that (SPOILER)Ryuk said that he would kill Light at the very beginning of the story.

[starseeker]

I rather liked the ending. I thought it was almost fitting that at the end Light called out for people who he had thrown away, since he thought they were of no more use to him.

[Tasura]

Well, as Ryuk said in the beginning when Light died, it'd be Ryuk who 'killed' him, with the note, and as Ryuk said in the last ep (SPOILER)he wasn't going to wait around for Light to die in jail, that could be interpreted as that Light would have survived his wounds, and spent the rest of his life in jail.