Anime Hajime Review: Death Note

***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Death Note. Reader discretion is advised.***

Series Synopsis

In the realm of the Death Gods, things have gotten rather stale. Hoping to relieve his boredom, the Death God Ryuk (voiced by Nakamura Shido) heads to the human world. There, he drops a mysterious object known as a Death Note. When a person’s name is written inside, that person will die. By complete chance, the Death Note gets picked up by a young man named Light Yagami (voiced by Mamoru Miyano).

Possessing a genius level intellect, Light sees the Death Note as an opportunity to rid the world of evil. In his mind, this is a task that only he can carry out. So with his new ability, Light decides to become the God of his new utopia.

Light’s actions quickly become the talk of the world. Dubbed Kira, Light is well on his way to achieving his God-like status. For there is no one capable of stopping him. Or so he thought.

Regardless of motivations, Kira is still a murder. The most dangerous one in history. Such a being must be stopped at all cost. A job that’s given to the world’s greatest detective. Known only as L (voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi).

Light and L, two brilliant minds, prepare for a battle that will determine the fate of the future. Should either of them make a mistake, the price will be their lives.

Series Positives

I guess if I want to be different, I could go the negative route. Point all the small, little quirks and mistakes. And then blow them out of proportion. Thus labeling this show as overrated and overpraised. It would make this review different. That’s for sure. But it would also make it a lie.

Light

This is Death Note. Do you expect me to say not watch it? I’m willing to bet you already have. On the off chance you haven’t, I’ll be extra careful to avoid any spoilers. This is the type of show that’s a lot of fun going in cold. Yet watching it twice was pretty fun as well.

L

I forgot how long this show was. Death Note’s longer than most of the anime on this site. Sitting at thirty-seven episodes. No matter how you look at that, it’s an odd number. Except it becomes a lot more clear why that is the moment you watch the series.

Ryuk

There are a lot of things Death Note got right. Each one as important as the others. But one that can’t be underestimated is the show’s pacing. Yes, there are an odd number of episodes. Or you could look at it as the right number of episodes. Death Note was never rushed. Nor was it ever drawn out. It was as long as it needed to be.

I’m sure I appreciated that fact during my first viewing. But maybe I didn’t know why. Having since seen so many anime screw pacing up and screw it up big, it’s great to see when a show gets it right. Then to have a series like Death Note get it, damn near perfect, is something special.

To achieve this level of quality, so many things have to fall into place. From the biggest of moments to the smallest of details. From the animation, the sound, the music, the story, everything.  It all has to be top notch. Death Note did all that.

Is the length daunting? On the surface, it may seem so. Yet when it’s over, you’ll be shocked by how quick it went. Death Note always has your attention. From the opening seconds to the final credits, it hooks into you. You’d want to make a day of this show. Otherwise, you’ll be hard pressed to find a decent pause point. Don’t try starting this series late at night when you have work the next day.

Here’s a quick rundown of what I enjoyed. The already mentioned pacing. The animation. The character designs. The music; I forgot how got the music in this show was. The mystery. The dialogue. I'd like to go into detail about the story and why it’s amazing. But to give that any justice, I’d have to go into many spoilers. I won’t do that to you if you haven't yet seen this show.

What I will talk about is what gave this show its transcendence. What do I mean by that? For me, there are plenty of other anime I’d rank higher than Death Note. For example, I much prefer Madoka Magica and the Monogatari series. That’s from the personal point of view of someone who’s a huge fan of anime.

That said, there’s something Death Note has that those two don’t. Influence. Unlike Madoka or Monogatari, Death Note has become a staple of the medium. It’s reached a level of familiarity on par with Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, and Evangelion. For someone who doesn’t watch anime, the chances of coming across Madoka or Monogatari are low. But that may not be the case with Death Note.

So, what was it that pushed this series to such status? Well other than it being brilliant, there are two main reasons.

Light and L

These two characters are phenomenal. Don’t bother asking me who I like better. They're so well matched.

Light is one of the best anime villains I’ve ever seen. Yes, I consider him a villain. I’m also aware that’s not a universal outlook on him. That's part of why he’s such a great character.

Many of his actions were anti-hero in nature. Light wanted to create a world free of crime and villainy. He knew his use of the Death Note was a crime. Murder is still murder regardless of the victim. But such a method was the only path to his perfect utopia. I do believe Light believed what he was doing was in the right. Had it been only that, I couldn’t justify calling him a villain.

Except his self-preservation tendencies pushed him across that line. This brought to the surface Light’s true colors. He had no problem using the Death Note against people trying to stop him. Cops, good cops, who were only doing their job were often victims. Light was a genius. If anyone could’ve found a way to avoid killing innocent people, it would’ve been him. But he never even tried.

When L first proclaimed his challenge to Kira, Light was willing to kill him on the spot. This had nothing to do with a desire to punish evil doers. This was Light attempting to remove an obstacle. It showed, deep down, he had no interest in the betterment of mankind. This was a person with a God complex who happened to get the powers of a God.

It may have been a tragic fate when Light first picked up the Death Note. But his intellect and logic made him the most dangerous person to wield such power. If left unchecked, he could’ve become the ruler of a new world.

This is where L comes in.

L fit the anti-hero model much better. He wouldn’t cross the line of killing. But some of his methods were cruel. Prolonged imprisonment, deception, and to an extent, torture wasn’t out of the question. There were plenty of times where you had to ask, did L care about justice? Or was he more interested in the mystery? I’d say a little bit of both.

Of the two, Light was the one more bound to logic. L may have been cold and emotionless. Except he understood people around him did operate through emotion. He always took that into consideration. By doing so, L demonstrated that he did have a sense of morality. He did listen when people told him he was going too far. Did that always stop him? No, but it gave him pause.

For as introverted and eccentric as L was, he was more human than he let on. That layer of humanity made him a lot of fun. Even though the Kira situation was quite serious, L wasn’t always. He could be silly. He could be goofy. But it was never out of place. Often it served a purpose. It made him hard to read. A quality that gave Light a lot of trouble.

As individuals, Light and L stole the show. Whatever scene they were in, they were the highlight. And they were in scenes together.

What made Death Note, Death Note was their battle. These two were evenly matched. They could read not only their opponent’s next move but their next several moves. Much of the show was them in stalemate. Neither could get that edge. While at the same time, neither would provide a target. Both managed to get under each other’s skin.  Both made moves that put the other in a corner. Their rivalry was one of the most intense in anime.

Through that, they developed a professional respect for each other. They were trying to stop one another. They never lost sight of that. However, over the course of their battle, a genuine friendship existed. Had circumstances been different, Light and L would’ve made an unstoppable team.

Recognizing that makes this story all the more tragic. It’s the biggest reason why Death Note is as good as it is.

Series Negatives

I have to comment on this because I get a huge kick out of it. A while ago, I once placed Death Note’s opening on my top ten openings list. It fit the feel and atmosphere of the entire series. It was grand and epic. It was fitting for the titanic battle between Light and L. Then episode twenty hits and we get a new one.

Talk about a tonal shift.

I’m not saying this was a bad thing. But it did come out of complete nowhere and was a little jarring at first. Plus, this was my introduction to Japanese death metal.

That out of the way, are there any negatives to this show? In an unfortunate way, yes. It has nothing to with anything this series did wrong. It has everything to do with the rest of the series being so damn good.

For the majority of Death Note, the story was leading to a certain point. The build up to that point is hard to put into words without giving anything way. You’ll know it when you hit it. And everything afterward just isn't as good.

Except what did come after was still better than most. Had the latter half of Death Note been its own series, it would’ve been astonishing. Too bad it exist in the shadow of that first half. 

A shadow that was so strong it remained a huge element in the final act of this story.

That is as detailed as I can go. There's a noticeable dip near the end. But that dip still has Death Note at a high level of quality.

Final Thoughts

Death Note was great the first time I saw it. Over the years, though, I lost sight of the exact reasons why it was so great. That’s why re-watching this series was almost as fun as the first.

What isn’t there to like about this show. Great animation. Great music. Great characters. Great story. It’s hard not to get sucked into it almost immediately. But Death Note’s true power came in the form of the unforgettable battle between Light Yagami and L. This alone has brought this series to the level of one of the most influential anime of all time.

If you haven’t seen it already, you’re doing yourself a disservice the longer you wait. If you have, go ahead and watch it again.

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