Anime Review - Death Note

Genres: Mystery, Police, Psychological, Supernatural, Thriller

Death Note is definitely one of the best anime series of all time, for it presents a deeply unique and compelling story rivaled by few. I can truly say it is one of the best, if not the best anime I've watched.

Story:

A shinigami, as a god of death, can kill any person—provided they see their victim's face and write their victim's name in a notebook called a Death Note. One day, Ryuk, bored by the shinigami lifestyle and interested in seeing how a human would use a Death Note, drops one into the human realm.

High school student and prodigy Light Yagami stumbles upon the Death Note and—since he deplores the state of the world—tests the deadly notebook by writing a criminal's name in it. When the criminal dies immediately following his experiment with the Death Note, Light is greatly surprised and quickly recognizes how devastating the power that has fallen into his hands could be.

With this divine capability, Light decides to extinguish all criminals in order to build a new world where crime does not exist and people worship him as a god. Police, however, quickly discover that a serial killer is targeting criminals and, consequently, try to apprehend the culprit. To do this, the Japanese investigators count on the assistance of the best detective in the world: a young and eccentric man known only by the name of L.

Characters:

Light and L are the most interesting and intellectual characters I've ever seen in an anime. Each one of those geniuses possesses a different set of skills and personality which will make you root for one of them to win the game. Character development is a big thing in Death Note and you can most noticeable see it in Light as you witness his calm, calculating figure being to crack into a maddening and reckless mess. All of the Characters in the Anime are so unique and filled with different sets of emotions and goals that they really some human in some extend.

Art and Animations:

This is by far the best Art Style if ever seen in any Anime. The Art style is dark and realistic and really suits the vibe of the Anime. The Art is not distracting like in other Animes, it's just perfect. The Anime is just so different from all the other Animes - No purple and spiky haired girls with watermelon boobs. The Animations are so good and dynamic that every movement seems realistic and really smooth. The Animation team puts and a tremendous amount of work into the Art and Animations to make it look that great - Applause for those guys!

Overall:

There is a major flaw in Death Note: It had to end. This is not a joke or anything like that. I absolutely love the ending but the writer of the Anime clearly wanted to end the Story at a far better point, but the publisher wouldn't let them. The Anime was so popular that they were forced to make even more episodes and to stretch the whole thing. Don't get me wrong the Anime is still a Masterpiece, but I think it could've been even better. There are few things that could happen in my life that would make me happier than if Death Note were to continue.