Review - Death Note (2007-2008)

         Hey guys, Chuck here. With HallowScream kicking off this Saturday, I thought it would be fun to take a look at my personal favorite anime series Death Note. Based on the manga created by  Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, the Death Note anime aired in Japan from 2006 thru 2007, and in the United States from 2007 thru 2008. The series aired stateside on the Adult Swim block on Cartoon Network. The series was produced by Madhouse Productions and dubbed in English by Viz Media.  

       The series opens with the Shinigami (God of death) Ryuk dropping his Death Note into the human world on a whim, as life in the Shinigami realm is dull and boring. The book lands in Japan, where it's picked up by high school student Light Yagami. Light lives with his parents and younger sister, and. His father, Soichiro Yagami, is the detective superintendent of the local police force. Light, upon investigating the Death Note, decides to test out the power of the book by writing the name of a criminal whose name is announced on the evening news. After another test on a different criminal harassing a young woman, Light realizes that the Death Note does, indeed, work, and proceeds to go forth with a very unique plan of using it. 

        After five days, Ryuk appears before Light, and reveals several details regarding the Death Note. First, Ryuk wrote the name of the note and all of its rules in English, due to it being the most popular and clear of human languages. Second, the owner of the note, upon their death, will neither enter Heaven nor Hell. Third, the Shinigami who originally owned the note will appear before the new owner, but cannot directly influence that person. So, basically, Ryuk is just there to explain and expand on Light's knowledge of the Death Note, as well as crack jokes and eat apples. Okay, so in the world of Death Note, apples are to Shinigami what alcohol is to humans. 

          As Light continues killing criminals with the Death Note, his actions have begun getting the attention of law enforcement and the press, who've started calling him "Kira," which in Japanese sounds a lot like the English word "killer." The Kira investigation leads the global law enforcement community to call upon the services of L, a mysterious private detective whose managed to solve every unsolvable case brought before him. L has ultimately determined that, based on the fact that the first handful of Kira-related deaths happened in Japan, and their names were only made public before their deaths in Japan, Kira must be somewhere in Japan. 

          So, the series starts to become a cat-and-mouse mind game between two geniuses: Light on one side, seeking to bring about a just new world free of crime and lawlessness, and L on the other end, seeking to stop the Kira killings from continuing. After several attempts at baiting Kira, which leads to the deaths of the FBI agents sent to assist in the investigation, L eventually introduces himself properly to Light, and looks to get him on board with helping with the investigation. All the while, L is also looking into the possibility that Light is, in fact, Kira, and has various hidden cameras all around the Yagami household, predominantly in Light's bedroom. 

         As time goes on, however, we see the emergence of a second Kira, who is later revealed to be Japanese model Misa Amane, referred to professionally as "Misa Misa." Misa is discovered to have been saved by a Shinigami named Gelus years before. By the time we meet Misa, she has a Death Note, travels with a Shinigami named Rem, and made a deal for the Shinigami Eyes. Light and Misa eventually meet, and she is revealed to want to be Light's girlfriend, as Kira killed the person that killed Misa's parents.  Light uses this to his advantage, and manipulates her love for him to get her to do his bidding, although eventually he does start to develop romantic feelings for her as well. 

         The series continues to progress with Light doing his best to throw L off the scent, even to making himself and Misa give up their Death Notes, forgetting all about them, and using a patsy to carry out the Kira killings. This seems to work, and eventually L, Soichiro, and the rest of the investigation team learning of the Death Note and the Shinigami, and eventually all three of L, Watari, and Light's patsy are all killed by the Death Note, with Light taking over leading the investigation team as the new L. 

          With the real L dead, two others from the same orphanage as L appear to take over his aim to bring down Kira. These are Near and Mello, and while the Mindy game between Light and these two isn't as intriguing as the one between Light and L, it's still neat seeing how things play out. More Shinigami come into the fold, and things start spiraling out of control for Light, and it all comes to a head with the death of Light's father. A face-to-face with Near leads to, well, things really falling apart for Light, who begs Ryuk for help, resulting in Ryuk writing Light's name in the Death Note. The series ends with Light dropping dead from a heart attack. 

         Okay, so easily the best part of this series is the art style. The shading and pacing of the animation is definitely among the best of any anime series I've seen. Clearly the artists took to heart the visual design from the manga and put it into motion in a way that is the most faithful to the original work. 

         The voice cast for the English dub is also fantastic, with both Brad Swaile and Alessandro Juliani at their best in the roles of Light and L. They play up the intelligence and intellect that both men have, and Alessandro also plays up the more bizarre and eccentric nature of L in a way that is phenomenal. Cassandra Chan-Kent is also fantastic as Misa, and she definitely gives a performance that fits for the character, who I might describe as the Harley Quinn to Light's Joker. But easily the best part of the series is Brian Drummond as Ryuk. A creature design as terrifying as Ryuk definitely needs a voice and personality to match the design, and Brian definitely delivered a performance that really defined the character. 

          Now, as much as I love this series, I do feel that the one weak element was that it kept going after the deaths of L and Watari. Really, after that, everything just felt like dragging on til the end. Don't get me wrong, Near and Mello were fina additions to the cast, but there's just something about the ongoing battle of minds between Light and L that just made the series so memorable. 

        Overall, I highly recommend the anime Death Note. It's run is only thirty-seven episodes, but that's pretty standard for an anime. It may have dragged on past the point of the story being engaging, but I still enjoy even to this day. I give the anime series Death Note a rating of 4.85/5. 

        Well, that'll wrap up this review. Be sure to join me this Saturday for the official start of HallowScream  with my review of Sweeney Todd . This is Chuck signing off, and HallowScream is right around the corner, and I can't wait to get started.