Death Note - Review (2)

What can I say about Death Note? Death Note is debatably one of the best anime series, at the very least a series that is favoured by many and one of my favourite things ever. I had the urge to watch it all through again recently, so what else to do but review the classic that is Death Note.

My Backstory On The Death Note

I actually don't remember much of how I came across this series. I am not an avid watcher of anime. I have watched Naruto which I liked, a bit of Naruto Shippuden and another series called Hell Girl, but other than that I am vastly in the dark when it comes to what constitutes great anime. I think I must have been searching for a good anime to watch and this was one of the highly recommended ones that I came across. I vaguely remember reading the summary as being a game of cat and mouse between the two main characters as one tries to uncover the other, and it sounded interesting enough that I gave the series a try. I'm glad I did.

Overall

As I have said before this is one of my favourite things ever. I love any game/novel/film etc that has an engaging story, third dimensional characters and a message that makes you think beyond the story, long after it's ended. It's things like that that stay in my heart and Death Note just happens to be one of those things. Even after I watched it all the way through again for probably the third time, it really did make me question certain things. Obviously it is not real but it really did affect me for a while. I mean, what if the events that occurred in Death Note happened in real life? Imagine having a Death Note, what would you do? Was Light in fact in the right? 

Death note follows a 17 year old, smart high schooler by the name of Light Yagami. During a normal day, he stumbles across a Death Note on the ground, a notebook with a set of rules inside. In a nutshell, any name written in the notebook whilst picturing the face of that person will die of a heart attack unless stated otherwise. Pretty interesting concept, right? Well, Light sees this as an opportunity to create an ideal world. Free of criminals to be precise, and he sets about putting this plan into action by writing down the name of criminals in his notebook who have been broadcasted in the news. Enter the world's best detective L, who sets about catching this killer who has been branded 'Kira'. Light, unhappy with someone trying to stop him from creating this ideal world, is set about finding L and his real name so that he can write his name in the notebook and kill him. Cue the beginnings of a riveting game of cat and mouse and a battle of wits.

For me to get into anything I have to be hooked from the start, or at least by the end of the episode. If anything takes too long to get into then I will switch off. Eh, I can't help it. I have a short attention span alright!
Anyway, I knew from the end of the first episode that this was something I was going to be into and I wasn't wrong. I was hooked with each episode. I just couldn't stop watching because just like the Walking Dead, they left each episode with a cliff hanger that I just couldn't wait another day to watch. For one, I just had to see what happened next between Light and L, who always seemed to find someway to outsmart one another.

This series, adapted from the Death Note manga series got me thinking about Light's actions. I mean, Light did have good intentions. He wanted to make the world a safer place for civilians and I could get behind that, but ultimately the power got to his head and somewhere along the line he practically lost his soul. Light proved to be a ruthless human being who would kill anyone who stood in the way of his goal. He'd kill anyone who tried to catch him whether they were good or not and this is what made him the antagonist, despite his good intentions. Or, you could argue that Light was in fact the protagonist and L the antagonist for trying to expose him. Death Note has a lot of depth to it and that's what I like about it.

Favourite Character

Ryuk

There were quite a few characters I liked in this to be honest like L, Matsuda and Soichiro Yagami. I think Ryuk tops this list though. For those that don't know, Ryuk is a shinigami attached to the Death Note that Light picks up. Ryuk, who comes from the shinigami realm was the one who dropped the notebook into Light's world. Why? Because he was bored. I know the feeling.
If you think about it though, Ryuk's actions caused all of this mess in the first place since the notebook landed in Light's hands. I can't hate him though. He was a fun character who made me laugh and was probably the only one who was emotionally detached to the events going on around him, despite being in the centre of all the drama. Oh, and he had a love of apples too. As long as he could have some apples Ryuk was cool, no matter what was going on around him.

Least Favourite Character

Misa

Ugh, everything about this girl was annoying. To explain, Misa Amani inhabited the same powers as Kira, aka Light Yagami, with a Death Note and shinigami of her own that went by the name of Rem (who I also disliked). 

Apart from Misa's shrill voice that dogs would go crazy over, the thing about this girl was that she had this disturbing obsession and love for Light Yagami even though he couldn't give two hoots about her. When Misa met Light it was love at first sight as far as she was concerned and from that point on she would do whatever it took to make Light love her the way that she loved him. Naturally, Light used this to his advantage, pretty much using her to help him beat L (and later on, Near). She could never really see that she was being used though. Instead, Misa was convinced that if she helped Light and proved useful then he would love her. It really didn't help either that Misa somehow had two shinigami's that would die for her (why)? She did have a few good qualities. She wasn't as dumb as she acted and proved this on a couple of occasions. And when she wasn't mulling over Light there was the odd moment when her personality shined through.

Best Part Of Death Note

The height of Death Note began for me upon Misa and Light being taken into custody, suspected of being Kira and the second Kira. This is when Light's smarts really came into fruition. I think it was at this point that it seemed like Light would be caught out. Somehow though he came up with a plan that would absolve him and Misa of being Kira and the second Kira, shifting the blame onto someone else by passing on the possession of the notebook onto a power hungry businessman. This part of the series takes it into a different direction as the game of cat and mouse between L and Light takes a halt. Instead, another culprit comes into light, who the duo come together in order to catch.
I love the lead up into the capture of this new Kira, before Light takes repossession of the notebook and the game of cat and mouse takes forefront once again. The events after this were brilliantly done, although very sad. Watching it the first time around was an amazing experience, since I had no idea of the events that would occur.
I also love the last episode. This is an obvious spoiler for those that have not watched Death Note, but this is the episode that Light finally gets caught out after 6 years of playing God. It needs to be said that the art direction, which was amazing throughout was phenomenal in these last two episodes. It's also clever how it was actually Light's lackey that got him caught out and not Light himself. What else can be expected from the genius that is Light.

Worst Part Of Death Note

So I have read that for many, they believe the series went downhill after (spoiler) L's death and that the series isn't even worth watching after that. I have also read from many that they believe the series should have ended after this, leaving Light as the victor and GOD OF THE NEW WORLD!! You know what though? I liked the second part. Again, it took the series in a different direction, with the introduction of L's successors in Near and Mello and Mikami and Takada a little later on, to further help deceive those around him. Near and Mello both had different ways to L of trying to uncover Kira which was interesting to watch, especially with the competitive rivalry Mello had against Near.
Maybe if I had to choose a worst part, it would probably be when Takada, who was briefly featured near the beginning of the series was brought back in for a bigger role. It was perhaps at that point that the series started to get a little stilted, but just a little though! Like I said before, I loved the series overall so there you have it!

What I have Learned From Death Note

One major thing that I have learned from Death Note is that, although it sounds like a cool thing to have, having an actual death note exist in this world would be a lethal weapon. Just imagine how much destruction it could cause? Yeah, sure. Killing your enemies and the people you hate may be menacingly satisfying if only in your imagination. But actually doing it? That's a whole different story.