Many of us find ourselves bored from time to time, and for some of us, that boredom seems eternal. During our stages of boredom, we find ourselves to be wanting to do incredible things, such as saving the world from the next attack against humanity, or finally becoming the person you always dreamt would change the world. But for some of us, that isn’t enough. Those people who have everything already; the ones born into wealthy families, those with always perfect grades; always ending up in a seemingly endless spiral of boredom and expectations. What would you do if you suddenly had the power of a god, to be the force of justice on the world? Would you look at yourself in disgust, or would you use that power to your advantage? Meet the world of Death Note: a world where Shinigami exist and one individual has the power to change the world.
Our protagonist, Light Yagami, is a bored teenager with perfect grades, who has the mindset that the world would be better off without some individuals. Everything changes when he picks up the Death Note, a notebook sent from the Shinigami realm with the ability to kill by only writing the name of a person and keeping their face in mind. After experimenting with the notebook, Light becomes the host of an unexpected house guest; a Shinigami going by the name of Ryuk, claiming to be the previous owner of the notebook. Light proceeds to keep writing names in the notebook, sticking to Japanese criminals. Of course, murder has its consequences. The Japanese Police force, with the backing of the famous detective, whom is only known as L, is on the lookout for the murderer behind the deaths. And so, the story becomes an entertaining game of cat and mouse, where one slip up in wit by either side can end up in death for either L or Light. The series is directed by Tetsuro Araki, and is well written to portray the tension between the two sides. However, there are several plot holes in the final episodes that could have been avoided if the series had stopped at an earlier point.
The characters of Death Note are often quirky and most have some part of them that makes them likable characters. First, we have our main protagonist, Light Yagami. As stated previously, Light has a twisted mentality, wanting to play god and be the deciding force of life and death while creating a world where he is the ruler. Light is a perfect student, being one of the top in Japan, and having remarkable detective skills, taking after his father, who is in the Japanese Police Force. His intelligence makes him an entertaining character who keeps surprising you through the series. Next, we have our opposition: L. He is the detective behind the Japanese Police Force, and is only known as L, and later as Ryuzaki. However, his real name is never used, and the only person who knows his face through the first part of the series is his assistant Watari. L has a quirky personality, having an extreme sweet tooth that makes you wonder how he has no health problems. He also has an unusual way of sitting on chairs, resembling more of a crouch than an actual sitting position, and a very sloppy way of dressing: worn, baggy jeans, baggy long-sleeved white shirt, dark bags under his eyes, and messy jet-black hair. Nonetheless, L is intelligent, and is the world’s leading detective despite his appearance. Other supporting characters include Light’s family, the Japanese Task Force, and other characters introduced later in the series.
The animation of the series was taken care of by Studio Madhouse, and was well done through the series. Madhouse’s trademark red and blue shading was apparent through the series with the game of cat and mouse, and deserved no complaints there. The openings and endings were well done, and the animation in the first opening fit the series to a T. Not the best animation out there, but still great for its time.
The composition for the series was done by Yoshihisa Hirano and Hideki Taniuchi, and fits the series well, setting the suspenseful mood of the scenes. A large soundtrack with eerie choirs, and orchestra filled instrumentals with a touch of electronic filled the silence well. The character themes were well done, and two themes that stood out in particular were Light’s theme and L’s theme. These two themes just gave you the personality of the character and worked extremely well through the series. The openings and endings fit the series well, and the second opening was completely unexpected as far as tone was concerned, but worked well. The first opening was a good way to grab viewers first, and the endings definitely helped to expect more to come. The Japanese and English dubs were both well done, and I just have to mention the laugh in the final episode. Congratulations to Mamoru Miyano and Brad Swaile for doing such an excellent job with the lead role.
Overall, Death Note is a great series to watch, and is just too important to ignore. It’s a great gateway anime, and can keep viewers on the edge of their seats. So, considering the categories of sound, animation, story and characters, and my personal enjoyment, Death Note receives an overall score of 8.7 out of 10, and a recommendation to buy rather than stream. Unfortunately, Death Note is not currently available to stream outside of Netflix in Canada at the moment, but is available to purchase from Viz Media.
And that’s a wrap up, thank you for reading. I will be posting reviews daily, so stay tuned!
-Takami
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