DEATH NOTE

Rating : 8.5 out of 10
What a letdown! After three weeks of downloading almost 6 GB worth of Death Note episodes (the entire series), and reading about the hype online, I was really disappointed with this venture as a whole. Reviewer after reviewer has written about the quality of intelligence shown by the characters, something which attracted me towards this franchise immediately, but alas! it was definitely not all that great..
The series introduced to us the main theme of misuse of supernatural power, and how selfish ideals of humanity act as their propellant towards acts of devilish intensity. The central character, Yagami Light, the son of a police chief, and himself the most brilliant teenager Japan has produced, acts as the representative of self-decided justice and decides to pass judgement on the planet using a notebook which can annihilate any mortal once his name is written down. Furthermore, the notebook allows the user to simulate circumstances in which the death will occur, by default killing by heart attacks, thus making the murder untraceable. Yagami Light is a ladies man, a genius at academics, and a star tennis player as well as a computer genius. Once he finds this notebook, he decides to finish off all those criminals still at large, and gradually ends up destroying anyone who opposes him.
Then comes the only reason I gave this series an 8+ grading. L. This one letter makes the first 8 to 12 episodes the most exciting I have ever seen. He is an impartial counterpart of Light, although personality wise, he too is very similar. However, his mode of justice is what I support. L is his nickname, and he is the greatest detective in the world. I must say, L is god to me. He is the most intelligent character I have ever seen. Although sometimes, it seems he is too intelligent for a human ( i actually thought he was a note book holder once ), his analysis makes these few episodes really worth watching. He's just amazing.
Next up are the various inferior characters, although two deserve a special mention. One is Ryuuk, an apple munching death god (shinigami) who aids those who will give him a more interesting time on Earth while he's there. At times, he's stupid and funny, at others he's menacing and deadly. Another character is Amane Misa, a fashion model totally smitten by Light. Frankly, all she did is waste episode time. I detest characters like her who totally screw the entire ambience of seriousness of the drama. Kira (the name by which the unknown mass murderer is named by L) who is actually Yagami Light, uses Misa throughout the series to do his dirty work, and makes her sacrifice half her life-span in order to get the ability to find out people's names just by viewing the person in plain sight.
The first 14-20 episodes have L and the anti-hero Light battling their wits like armageddon, and its incredibly thrilling to watch them fight their mental games, specially as L seems to be one step ahead all throughout the scenes.. I love L! lol..
After this from around episode 21, or something like that, after L dies (ya i know, i was devastated too), it gets really stupid! It becomes like one of those bullshit family sagas which just keep going just cos the author hasn't found a good way to end it yet. I really thought this second season just ruined the flavour of this anime. Its just horrible how Near and Mello are suddenly introduced, and how they use totally inferior methods to catch Light. There is absolutely no logic behind Near's working procedure. He acts entirely on instinct, and frankly if I'm to explain just how disgusting this second part is, I'm going to have to change my approach of writing, otherwise I'll just end up using expletives!!
MISTAKE NUMBER ONE!!! The BIGGEST HUMONGOUS GIGANTIC GARGANTUAN mistake they could ever ever ever!! have made is to kill L. Just to give Light a sort of elevation in status in the field of intelligence L is killed, and it just totally dilutes the intelligence of the series after that. Near and Mello are nowhere near as intelligent as L, and certainly doesnt have 1% of the amazing charm that L has on screen. Till L dies, the series is almost nail-biting, as each mistake Light makes is amplified to catastrophic proportions just by L's tremendous insight and spectacular deduction abilities. Actually, hang on. L too made a big mistake. If I knew I was the most intelligent person on the planet, I definitely wouldn't boast about it to someone who needs all the bright guys dead! If I was L, I would have made Watari (L's butler and father-figure) pretend to be L and kept myself out of the limelight, introducing myself as L's nephew or something instead. However, I do accept this wouldn't be the best idea permanently, but just initially this would have been a good plan. Secondly, L complies with Light at all the times when Light wants him to. This is the most unexpected thing for a smart person to do! When Light wants to be captured so as to prove his innocence, that would have been the best time to put him on the case and leave him be, and then one fine morning surprise the hell out of the lying freak! Also, L was very careless regarding the shinigami. Once he knew of their existence he should have at least paid them a bit of attention instead of getting his ass kicked by them every step of the way. Ya, I know, I'm probably speculating illogically, but still, I just hated L dying. I really wanted him to win at the end.
MISTAKE NUMBER TWO!! The worst mistake a couple of straight people can do is produce someone like Amane Misa. She's irritating, wears almost nothing throughout the entire series, and acts like a total b***h when Light cheats on her. Anyway, the entire concept of the second Kira was really amazing, but very amateur in execution. The second Kira should have been someone who Light is unable to manipulate, and yet very adept at keeping himself a secret. A triangular battle of wits. I really hoped that would be the case, but sadly, the notebook fell into Misa's hands, and well.. just watch and you'll wanna kick her too!
Another weird thing is how the Japanese Police force are made to look such prize idiots! They literally do whatever Light tells them, even up to the extent of removing visual surveillance when Light visits his journalist girlfriend (ya i knw he's a womanizer.. lol) week after week. And it takes them 4 years almost to figure out Light might not be the most trustworthy guy! I've heard of slow, but guys.. this is ridiculous!
Also, another thing I'd like to point out. Have you guys watched Detective School Q? Well I'd give it a 9.5 out of 10 for just one reason.. It's totally realistic. 100% possible. No make believe stuff.. Wait a sec, I'm not harping about the shinigami stuff or the concept of Death note here at all, that's all fine.. What I mean is the pure ludicrous nature of surveillance, of keeping a death note scrap in a watch.. As if no one's ever touched that watch or wanted to inspect it! Also, it is technically impossible to pull off such spectacular premeditated plans without a single change occurring! I mean, Einstein wouldn't be able to. It's just impossible. Even if all considerations are made, there's something called luck. In the series, both L and Light seem to control luck. Not even a single alteration is made in their long plans, and that brings me to my conclusion.. (I'm talkin about after episode 12 or 13 here.. before that as i said.. its AMAZiNGly good!) Light's reflex intelligence is not checked at all. There's no provision for him to quickly make a new plan or really make his brain work hard and that makes it boring. More of a story telling session than an amazingly thrilling experience. I found that part rather sad. Cos L and Light at the beginning were really doing well changing each others plans and defeating each others thought processes. Oh well.. L died. Grrr..
The ending is really really bad. Its totally forced.. I dunno, maybe their budget ran out.. its like a Grade C movie ending. I think even I could have come up with a better one. I kept on thinking maybe L hasnt died, maybe he's waiting in the shadows.. but, no! It ends in a totally rubbish way, with Light's luck finally betraying him at the wrong time. Till then, everyone was doing just as Light predicted and as he commanded. Suddenly they decided not to.. I'm really furious. Total rubbish ending! It would have been much much better if somehow they had managed to bring the shinigami into the scene, and if Ryuuk suddenly decided to betray Light and see how it worked out.. Even that would be acceptable, but this was preposterous! Entire 34 episodes Light has everything going his way.. Episode 37, he screws up. Very bad ending plot. Very hurried and episodic to the entire series.
Well, all-in-all its definitely a watchable anime. The technical stuff like sounds, voice acting and suspense management is good, but as I said, once you watch the entire thing that feel-good satisfaction element isn't there at all. You feel like you just watched a goalless Brazil-Germany world cup final match.. Still, you'll definitely like the starting episodes and L's trickery and deception and Light's quick thinking and long-term planning ability. Enjoy.

CLAYMORE

I just finished watching this anime series this afternoon, and my first reaction was : It should have been in English. Japanese anime with english subtitles is fine, but to a certain extent. Set in the background of the Hebrides, or a very similar location (e.g. Scotland), and the background music almost ceaselessly being the dulcet tones of a bagpipe, it seems rather peculiar when the characters with such distinct european features say "sayonara" instead of "farewell". The language should definitely be Archaic English to give this gothic anime a more chilling touch. Japanese just doesn't cut it here. Anyway enough of the language aspect.

The story starts of in an extremely vivid cut scene. A hideous monster is chewing what remains of a lifeless corpse, when suddenly a presence makes it turn around with fear, it claws and fangs soaked in blood. A silver warrior appears, in shining armour, lithe and strong, yet definitely female, as the thin sinews and swollen breastplate reveals. Her eyes shift from silver to gold, pupils dilating in quintessential anime fight sequence form, and a large sword slashes and hacks the monster in two, spewing violet gore from its torn flesh. Then the credits roll.

The theme song is ok, I suppose, but nothing spectacular. Nowhere near "Fake Wings" of .hack or "Anata ga ita mori" of Fate/Stay Night. The only thing i should warn any prospective viewer about beforehand is the extreme violence and gore in this anime. It is definitely not one for the weak hearted or those below 18, as themes tend to stray towards the carnal also. Within episode 5, though, you'll have seen so much blood spewing that it'll become sterotypic, so no worries if the first episode makes you queasy.

The initial story starts of with the portrayal of a sleepy little town, where a yoma (man-eating devil sort of creature.. think Orc in LOTR) has disguised itself as a human and is on a rampage eating the guts of humans at night. [Note : This will probably annoy you after a while. I dont know if its a subtitling defect, but in the version i saw, all yomas seem to eat only the guts of humans, no other flesh. Very idiotic, and repititive.] So the townsfolk decide to call for the aid of a "claymore". And so it begins.

The claymore arrives. Nothing special, she's just the chick in the opening sequence. Nice music here. Haunting. She walks into the village, ignoring the curses of the crowd "silver eyed witch" and other such expletives. She bears an air of helpless melancholy, and you'll immediately feel that this woman probably has about 26 lines in 26 episodes to speak. Well, you're not far wrong. She speaks very little. She heads over to the mayor, telling him that her fee should be delivered to a man who will follow after she completes her job. If she dies, no fee is required. She heads to the border of town, and here the boy Raki follows her.

Raki is a typical sidekick character. Only problem here is he's a damn pansy! He cries the whole frickin anime and just hugs Clare (the claymore-girl in question) whenever she's in trouble. Thats basically his role. And boy does he like fraternizing with the enemy!

Anyway, trudging onwards with the story. Raki meets up with Clare, on the outskirts of town, and sitting together, he tries to strike up a friendship with this cold woman. Later, on returning home, he finds himself face to face with the murdering yoma, and Clare arrives to save him. Raki is ostracized from his village as he has been living with a yoma under his roof, and so Clare takes him under her wing.

The story unfolds gradually, giving us insights into the limitations of Clare's power, and the different types of yomas. The next few episodes have a sort of Silent Assassin or better still, Assassin's Creed feel to it.. (you'll know what i mean if you've played the games).. a sort of arabic yet gothic nightmarish sequence where things get tougher and tougher, and slowly you're introduced to the entire hellish world, and right in front of your eyes Clare turns from a Leviathan to an ant.. She's too weak for claymore standards, as you'll find out later.

Then comes a three to four episode break where Teresa, Clare's mentor, and the most powerful Claymore history has ever produced comes into the picture. She is immensely powerful, and openly flouts the rules of the Claymore organization's administration. Scenes here contain sexual violence, and should not be viewed by pre-teens. She thus becomes a renegade warrior, and a dangerous liability to the organization, and so must be liquidated. So the organization sends a group of warriors, Numbers 2,3 and 4 to kill off number 1 (Teresa). A long fight ensues, resulting in the unleashing of the series' evil sociopath nemesis - Priscilla Awakened.

I'm not explaining a lot of things here, totally on purpose. I have no wish to ruin your experience watching this anime. Its very good, even though certain things are unexplained, even at the end.

( This paragraph is for people who've seen it already )

Rafaela's eye for example, and the strength of Alicia, the current number 1. Certain logical errors too, are prevalent. For example the fight in Alphonse with the horde of Awakened Beings suddenly stops with Rigardo's arrival. Incredibly stupid. They could have screwed the claymore team fifty teams if the Silver Eyed Lion twit hadn't ruined things. Furthermore, Raki detests yoma and yet when he's faced with Priscilla eating a man's guts he feels sympathy. Bull-frickin-shit! Raki's a two timing piece of *!@T&#%*^!%@! bloody coward! he didnt have the guts (no pun intended) to stand up for his thoughts. Yep, I've made it clear. I cant tolerate Raki. Pansy nincompoop! How dare he kiss Clare!! lol ;)

The series continues till episode 26, and entertains mostly till episode 20.. the final few are not that fun to watch, since you know the outcome will be a victory somehow. However, a subtle theme explored at the end is very heart-warming, where the ladies who are left decide to unearth more truths about the organization instead of following orders any more. They vow to meet again, and head into the horizon. Raki as usual follows Clare like a little lamb. Dumb nitwit. Priscilla too, is not destroyed, so basically the ending is not at all conclusive. I sense that Shonen Jump must have intended to pursue the series further, but somehow got bored and stopped it midway. A lot of questions still remain, regarding the Dwellers of the Deep, the truths in the organization which remain hidden and other such trivia.

All in all, my concluding remark would be : Definitely a watchable series. However, if you think you're going to get a Inuyasha, Samurai X, DBZ or a Fate/Stay Night sort of excellent storyline, I sincerely doubt it. Do watch it in English please. Perhaps it'll be better then.

Rating : 7.5 out of 10.