I recently finished Death Note and I have quite a bit to say about it. I’ll start off by mentioning that I enjoyed the hell out of this series. I literally experienced heart palpitations during its final episodes. Despite finding this show to be extremely entertaining, it left me with some polarizing opinions.
Here’s a brief synopsis of the series: A young, brilliant mind (Light Yagami) stumbles across a notebook one day after school. The notebook promises that any person whose name is written in it will die. Skeptical, Light tests this notebook-the Death Note- on a criminal. He soon finds that the rules hold true and sets out to create a new world, free of crime. As Light begins to murder criminals, the Japanese police decide to open an investigation. The real trouble unfolds when Light Yagami unofficially joins the police force. The story begins to unravel fairly quickly from this point.
I will start out by saying that I hate 90% of the characters in this anime. Light Yagami, whose story is being detailed in each episode, is a cowardly soul with a god complex. He makes selfish decisions and manipulates the people around him in nearly every frame. I found myself constantly rooting against Light, hoping that he’d soon be confronted by all the evils he created.
The supporting characters in this show don’t do much for me either. As I’ve mentioned before, the anime lacks dynamic female contributors. Misa Amane -Light’s sort-of love interest- is as dimensional as a sheet of paper. Misa is of vital importance to Light but instead of making her intelligent and forward thinking, her character is portrayed as a blinded, love drunk super star. This is where there show loses some major brownie points for me.
My favorite character in Death Note is simply known as L. L is the head police director in charge of the serial murder case. He is always five steps ahead of everyone in the room and is not afraid of confrontation. Little is revealed about his upbringing which I find adds to his intrigue. L is reason enough stay in bed and Netflix this series beginning to end. I assure you, his brilliance will make your jaw drop every episode.
There is so much more I can say about Death Note, but I don’t want to bore you and spoil the details. Despite hating most of the characters, I loved the hell out of this series. Whether you are familiar with anime or not, I HIGHLY recommend you give Death Note a watch.
If there are any other animes I should be watching, let me know! I’m sort of on a Japanese animation kick. Fuel my fire.