For my 50th post, I'm going to do an anime review on Death Note. I told people I wasn't gonna do this one, but I'm doing it anyways. Why? Because there are unfortunate children in the world who haven't even heard of anime. Actually, I'm just bored. Today was really stale.
Death Note, Death Note, Death Note. You've either watched it, or have no clue what it is. I don't know anyone who knows what it is, but hasn't watched it yet. Except for Leslie the Hentai Master. Just kidding, Leslie.
A good length of anime, running at 37 episodes. A little longer than your average anime, but it's all good. But before we can get into what the episodes are about, we first have to take a look at the people in the episodes.
That's right, bitches. You know what time it is.
ROLL CALL:
Yagami Light - The main protagonist in the series. And I don't say "good guy" for one good reason. It's unclear if he's really GOOD or not. You can make your judgments just by looking at him, but for the most guy, people side with him. He's a regular teenager who thinks that the world is rotten with criminals and bad people.
L - Seriously, that's his name. Or at least the name he goes by most of the time. This guy has several names to choose from and none of them are his real names. Nobody knows his real name. He is probably the most paranoid guy on Earth, but that's because he's a detective. It's his job not to trust anyone. He only bases his conclusions on factual evidence and he gets it by any means possible. He is always seen eating sweets and sitting in a certain position. He holds everyday objects strangely when he uses them, such as pencils and cell phones. The smartest detective in the world. Probably. He's also my personal favorite character. This isn't really a spoiler, but I looked it up, and his real name turns out to be Lawliet. Which makes him awesomer.
Amane Misa - A Japanese idol who comes in later in the series to be Light's girlfriend. She also goes by Misa-Misa. She is very airbrained and only cares about what Light thinks. If Light told her to eat elephant shit while doing a handstand on a baseball bat over a pit of raging chainsaws, she'd do it. Light doesn't really take interest in the whole GF/BF thing and only uses her for his benefits.
Yagami Soichiro - Light's father and chief of the police. He is very set on principles and is a moral person. He believes justice is always the right way, which is probably why he joined the police force.
Matsuda Touta - The newbie in the police. He is very inexperienced and is easily excited. He works with Chief Yagami in the police.
Aizawa Shuichi - The afro man. He has a big afro (which he later shaves). Another coworker in the police force and is pretty serious about his work.
Watari - I should have mentioned this earlier. Watari is like the middleman between regular people and L. He is the only one who knows L and knows where he is at all times. Because nobody knows what L looks like and nobody knows where he is. L contacts whoever he wants whenever he wants.
Near - Near is a boy that very closely resembles L. He grew up in the same orphanage as L did and was chosen to be L's successor, along with the next character I'm going to talk about. While L had an obsession with sweet things, Near has an obsession with toys. Seriously, he's a boy who LOVES his toys. He's always thinking while playing around, which makes him a very amusing character.
Mello - The other one chosen to be L's successor. He's not as good looking as Near is, and he has an obsession with chocolate bars. Geez. Yeah, not much to say here. He thinks of Near as a rival and wants to use any means to surpass him.
Ryuk - Not a human. A death god. Or "shinigami" as you would put it in Japanese. Ryuk comes down from the shinigami realm to the human world because he is bored. Seriously. So he tries to entertain himself with earthlings.
WHEW. There are more characters, but those are the MAIN of the main ones. Death Note is so unique that it should be its own genre. Now I know I've talked about how unique animes are, but no, this one is the most out there. And let me show you why. This is the story:
Light is walking home one day from school when he sees a black notebook fall from the sky. He goes over to see what it is. The cover says "Death Note". He opens it up and he finds a bunch of rules on how to use it, the first one being: The person whose name is written in this note will die. He thinks it's some sort of sick joke, but he takes it home anyways. Later that night, he watches a live broadcast of a criminal taking hostages inside a building. He writes the name down and he watches in horror as the hostages run out of the building. His death was confirmed. Once more he decides to test it. He goes out and finds a biker who introduces himself to a girl (saying his name). Then proceeds to force her to go with him. The girl screams for help and Light writes the biker's name down in the Death Note. A truck soon crashed into him and his bike. Light is horrified at the power that he stumbled upon. But then he decides to use it for good and kill off all the criminals in order to create a new world. Ryuk, the owner of the Death Note, finds Light and tells him about the rules of the Death Note. Light tells Ryuk of his plan to rid the world of all evil. Soon, the police notice criminals dying at a rapid rate. L also hears about this and is interested in this case. This unknown force bumping off the criminals is known to the common people as "Kira" coming from the Japanese pronounciation of the word "killer". L, through one simple test, concludes that Kira is in Japan and he is likely to be a student. Light also hears about L's conclusions and decides that L is in his way. L wants to get rid of Kira. Light (Kira) wants to get rid of L. Let the battle begin.
So hell yeah. This isn't like an action genre. It's kinda like a mystery, but not a whole lot, since you know that Light is Kira. It's more of a mental anime. And what I mean by that is L and Light are battling with their wits. It's a fight over who is smarter. And that really interests me, as well as other people, because it's the first anime of its kind.
Over the course of the series, you're introduced to even more characters and that makes the storyline even MORE interesting, because now you're aware of the different people who want to catch Kira. But of course, like I said, L is my favorite out of all characters. I even dressed up as L for Halloween in junior year, as many of you might remember. Not only L is likeable, but many others as well, for their different takes on the situation, their personalities, and their appearances. You're also put into the minds of different characters as they reveal what they think to the audience. This adds even more to the "mental" genre part. So as far as characters go, I think Death Note did a fantastic job.
Now, I know I don't talk about music a whole lot in anime. I talked about it ONCE in the FLCL review. But even though I don't talk about it, that doesn't mean that it's not important. Music plays a huge role in Death Note. It sets the mood, it gives foreshadowing, and it helps shade in the characters. I wouldn't even mind buying the soundtrack for this, if they had one, and listening to it on my iPod or something. And if you want an example, look up "L's theme A" on Youtube. It's epic.
The plot was perfect. It didn't have any holes or anything and it really just put you there with the people. Seeing how the shinigamis interact with regular people was also pretty exciting. And I could never predict what Light or L was gonna do next, which kept me watching.
So overall, it's a good anime. It may not be for everyone, however, as the mental aspect of the anime may turn some "action people" off. Also, the dark mood and setting may not suit everyone's tastes either. But if you can get through that, you have yourself a fantastic 37 episodes. You will be anticipating every move that each character makes and trying to make sense of it all, which also very stimulating. I like it a lot. I also give it bonus points for having a kickass 2nd opening and 2nd ending song.
Storyline: 9/10
Characters: 9/10
Mood: 10/10
Uniqueness: 10/10
Overall: 9.5/10
COMING UP: Code Geass review and Final Fantasy 1 review
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