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.
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.
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