Death Note Anime Review

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Once in a while there comes an anime that after completing sticks with you for a long time. Death Note is definitely one of those anime. While watching, it continuously had me on the edge of my seat and staying up way later than I should have been just to see what happened next in the story. Even almost 10 years on it is still one of the best anime series I have ever watched. It’s well put together plot and psychological elements will make this anime a classic to be enjoyed for decades.

Death Note tells the story of Light Yagami, an ace student, top of his state when it comes to grades. It seems Light has a bright future ahead of him, but also seems somewhat bored with life and how easily things happen for him. But all that changes when Light see’s the Death Note, a magical notebook fall from the sky, and collects it.

The book belonged to shinigami (god of death) Ryuk who watches over the human realm and dropped the book to see what would happen because he was also “bored”. The book reads “Any human whose name is written in this note shall die”. Light initially believes this to just be a prank, until his curiosity takes the best of him and decides to write the name of a criminal featured on the news, and before lights eyes live on TV…He dies. Light then vows to use the Death Note to rid the world of evil, create a new world where justice is served to those that do wrong and believes he should be the god of this new world.

The sudden deaths of many criminals attracts the attention of the authorities who suspect there is a link between the deaths and call in the legendary detective L to track down the killer. This leads into an amazing tale of cat and mouse between L and the Japanese authorities trying to track down this vigilante killer and work out how he is committing these murders and Light who has taken up the code name ‘Kira’ trying to rid the world of evil by serving his way of justice upon anybody that chooses to commit crimes. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal… or his life?

Shinigami Ryuk. One of the most interesting characters and the catalyst for the series plot.

The animation quality in Death Note is top notch. And when you consider the series was animated almost 10 years ago it shows how much this show was ahead of its time. Majority of the artwork is very crisp (there are a few episodes where it slips a little) and the camera angles along with closeups of character faces portray a great deal of emotion to the viewer during intense scenes. The lighting, character designs and attention to details in the backgrounds really help ground the series and defines the overall tone of the show. The highlights for me are definitely the colours and animation of the opening and closing themes along with how well the Shinigami realm is represented, both in design and animation. The juxtaposition of this world compared to the human realm really adds to the series and I wish there was more story fleshed out there.

The first opening theme for Death Note is somewhat forgettable. While it does have great animation and pops with colour, the song itself is quite average for an anime intro. The second opening and closing though go off with a bang. These two tracks by Maximum The Hormone pack a real punch at the start and end of each episode. The background score to the show is great, it perfectly complements the tone of the episodes and it really helps enhance the conflict and fast pace tension in many of the scenes especially when those orchestrated pieces kick in.

As for the character audio both the Japanese and English dubbed versions are top notch. All voices in the show suit the characters they belong to and the performances of the main 3 – Light, Ryuk and L are outstanding. There is the odd line that seems out of place or delivered slightly wrong in the dub but in the grand scheme of things it’s not a major problem.

When it comes to characters Death Note accomplishes something not many other anime have. Every character no matter how big or small has a purpose and doesn’t over stay that welcome. Smaller characters are in the show only as long as they are relevant to the plot moving forward. The writing in the series is very well done. I found myself getting very attached to many of the characters in the show on a personal level almost to the point where I felt I really knew them and at times it was really hard to decide whether I was on the side of Light or L. To accomplish that in only 37 episodes is a feat not many other anime can do.

The animation quality in Death Note is top notch. It’s use of sharp lines and shadows really helps portray that creepy aesthetic.


Final Thoughts

Without going into any further plot details and possibly spoiling anything I highly recommend you watch this series. Whether you are a fan of anime or not ( I have used this show to get a number of my friends that won’t watch anime to sit down and watch the whole series because they got so addicted). The story, plot twists and characters will keep you on the edge of your seat wanting more, even once the series is over. Death Note is an amazing series that provides the viewer far more than just a few hours of entertainment – it gives you something to think about long after you’ve finished watching and will likely have you coming back to watch it over and over again.

Publisher: Madman

RRP: $79.95

Release Date: 18/11/2009

Languages: Japanese, English

Buy It Now From madman.com

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9.5

Watched On: DVD

  • + Great story filled with mind bending plot twists.
  • + Likable/ relateable characters
  • + High quality art and animation
  • + Superb soundtrack


  • - Some lines poorly delivered in the English dub
  • - Animation quality on some episodes not as sharp as others but only very minor.

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