Hello people, I'm back. Today I will be looking at an anime that has become quite popular where I live recently, Death Note. Both subs and dubs are good for this 37 episode anime, but I chose to stick with dubs because I didn't like the voice given to one of the main characters in the sub.
Premise - Alright, let's all be honest here, our world is pretty messed up. Crime is rampant, war is looming, and humans are stupid. So what if you were given a chance to right the wrongs? What if the power to end the lives of evil-doers was merely a pen's stroke away? These are the questions that Light Yagami went through when the Death Note fell into his life. The Death Note possesses the ability to kill the person whose name you write in the book, while picturing the face of the person who you are killing. Without spoiling anything, let's just say the world governments aren't happy with someone taking the law into their own hands, so they get someone to find this perpetrator, and take him down. The premise is the reason I decided to watch this anime. Its unique ideas sucked me in right away, and I couldn't get enough.
Animation - The animation in this is very well done, going with a harsher, more realistic look. It gives the world an appropriately bleak feel. A nice touch added to the animation in this show, specifically later on, is that main characters have their eyes and hair change to a certain color when they have asides. For example, many times when Light is plotting, his hair and eyes become red, while another character, L, will have his eyes and hair turn blue when he is thinking to himself. This serves to give characters their own identity, which I think is used to great effect.
Plot - Now we come to the meat of this anime. What makes this anime so great is the conflict between the two main characters, L and Light. Their clashing ideologies and unique mannerisms endear (and at times disconnect) you from these two. Both L and Light are extremely intelligent, and the constant outsmarting will have you jumping up and down from overexposure to pure awesomeness more than once. Another thing that makes these characters so great is that, despite the fact that they are trying to take out each other, they are also very similar. The great thing about this show is also its downfall at times, though. With so many amazing things happening, the parts that lack the amazing moments are very obvious. Thankfully there are only two or three episodes that drag in the beginning. Now, my next qualm with this anime. This show spends its entire time building up the confrontation between the two characters, and the final battle between these two happens at episode 25 of 37. Not only was the confrontation ridiculously anti-climatic, the plot keeps moving after the battle between the two intellectual titans has ended. Another battle begins in the next episodes, and although the ending was MUCH better this time around, these episodes felt a bit derivative at times. Still, I am impressed at how interesting and unique the new characters are. They add a cool dimension.
Characters - The biggest problem with the characters in this show is that so many of them get killed. A lot of the characters steal the spotlight for a few episodes, only to be offed a few moments later. The main characters L and Light are amazing. Both of them evolve extremely well, and they play off each other beautifully. These two characters sold the show for me. The new main characters introduced in the later episodes are a mixed bag. Some are great, and really add something fresh, while some (Mello) feel like archetypes that I've seen in shows past. One of the new main characters, Near, was very well-done, and helped me through the show even after that terrible death in episode 25. In short, great characters, small lifespans.
Verdict - I was surprised how a show with such great moments could such stupid decisions at certain points. Still, despite some dumb turns here, boring parts there, Death Note manages to do something that few shows do; it made itself memorable. I would recommend this show to almost anyone.
Score - 8.5/10
Wallpapers:
Hero by Nickelback (All about L! =D)
Last Night, Good Night by Vocaloid2 Hatsune Miku
Behind Blue Eyes by Limp Bizkit
Animation - The animation in this is very well done, going with a harsher, more realistic look. It gives the world an appropriately bleak feel. A nice touch added to the animation in this show, specifically later on, is that main characters have their eyes and hair change to a certain color when they have asides. For example, many times when Light is plotting, his hair and eyes become red, while another character, L, will have his eyes and hair turn blue when he is thinking to himself. This serves to give characters their own identity, which I think is used to great effect.
Plot - Now we come to the meat of this anime. What makes this anime so great is the conflict between the two main characters, L and Light. Their clashing ideologies and unique mannerisms endear (and at times disconnect) you from these two. Both L and Light are extremely intelligent, and the constant outsmarting will have you jumping up and down from overexposure to pure awesomeness more than once. Another thing that makes these characters so great is that, despite the fact that they are trying to take out each other, they are also very similar. The great thing about this show is also its downfall at times, though. With so many amazing things happening, the parts that lack the amazing moments are very obvious. Thankfully there are only two or three episodes that drag in the beginning. Now, my next qualm with this anime. This show spends its entire time building up the confrontation between the two characters, and the final battle between these two happens at episode 25 of 37. Not only was the confrontation ridiculously anti-climatic, the plot keeps moving after the battle between the two intellectual titans has ended. Another battle begins in the next episodes, and although the ending was MUCH better this time around, these episodes felt a bit derivative at times. Still, I am impressed at how interesting and unique the new characters are. They add a cool dimension.
Characters - The biggest problem with the characters in this show is that so many of them get killed. A lot of the characters steal the spotlight for a few episodes, only to be offed a few moments later. The main characters L and Light are amazing. Both of them evolve extremely well, and they play off each other beautifully. These two characters sold the show for me. The new main characters introduced in the later episodes are a mixed bag. Some are great, and really add something fresh, while some (Mello) feel like archetypes that I've seen in shows past. One of the new main characters, Near, was very well-done, and helped me through the show even after that terrible death in episode 25. In short, great characters, small lifespans.
Verdict - I was surprised how a show with such great moments could such stupid decisions at certain points. Still, despite some dumb turns here, boring parts there, Death Note manages to do something that few shows do; it made itself memorable. I would recommend this show to almost anyone.
Score - 8.5/10
Wallpapers:
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AMVs (Note that all of these contain spoilers):
EPIC! Stole this one from Matt's Cool AMVs post. Let it Burn by Red
Last Night, Good Night by Vocaloid2 Hatsune Miku
Prelude 1221 by Unknown - Short but great
I wish you would have talked about the sub plot, only talked about in the manga. If you were able to look up anything on this, I'm sure you would be interested. It's called the L.A BB Murder Cases. BB is only talked about in the manga once, and then suddenly doesn't exist. Anyways, it's fairly interesting enough to look into. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Note_Another_Note:_The_Los_Angeles_BB_Murder_Cases (I know Wiki isn't very trustworthy, but it gives enough needed information.)
ReplyDeleteI actually did read up on BB, though I have not read the actual light novel. I tried to stay away from talking about that because, although I would have liked to see some references in the show, I wanted to review the show on its own right, without connection to other source material. Thank you, though, I probably should have mentioned it somewhere. I really appreciate your input. =) - Roxas
DeleteI would like to see a blog about the L.A BB murder cases, and see your point of view on the manga series.
DeleteSure. That will be my next review. I try to post every Tuesday, so I will do my best to have it up then.
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