DEATH NOTE

DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA DramaDEATH NOTE
SPECIAL MysteryDEATH NOTE Rewrite
ANIME DramaDeath Parade

REVIEWS

• 

  isahbellah

  65/100
  Interesting story but has sexist themes and the second half of the show is... not that good.

  [Disclaimer: Review imported from MAL and slightly adapted because this review was old.]

  Death Note is pretty good and has such an interesting story, indeed. BUT... here's a few reasons why it's not that great.

  1) it's really sexist. I noticed how only the male characters are "awesome" (like Light and L) and all the female characters are either there just because (like Light's mom and sister) or are there just to be submissive over men (like Misa and Takada).

  Not only that, but countless characters say sexist shit as well: the detective on early episodes saying that once his fiancé has kids she won't have to work anymore, some rapist guys saying that because a woman was wearing a skirt she was "asking for it", Light's dad saying that HE WON'T LET his daughter marry a policeman and that she HAS TO marry someone else, etc etc.

  No, but really: Misa's entire character only exists just so she can be """""useful"""" to Light. And then Takada, who is reintroduced to us as a strong female character who is successful at her job, is reduced to a Misa 2.0 as soon as Light gets to talk to her.

  No women in this anime are relevant. No women in this anime are important. And some of you may think "oh, that's just how japan's culture is!" but... really. Really.

  2) The second arc of the anime is HOOORRRIIIBBLLLEEE. When a certain event happens to a certain character, it all just goes downhill.

  We're introduced to Near and Mello, which are the poor man's version of L, and they just... they're not L. Near is the one that comes closest to what L is, but Mello????? WHAT WAS HIS PURPOSE???? WHY DID HE EVEN EXIST???? HELL IF I KNOW

  I hated these characters, I hated that the anime kept losing its essence ever since that plot happened, I hated the plot, I hated how it only got more sexist as the episodes gone by, I HATED IT. I kept watching out of stubbornness, not because I was actually enjoying it.

  The last 3 episodes are good, but that doesn't erase the two facts stated above. Nor does it change my mind.

  I think that if they hadn't [spoiler about that character], things would've ended better. It would still be a sexist show, true, but at least the second arc wouldn't have been so bad.

  Or: if the story had ended when that spoiler happened. It would have been an interesting ending, it would have spared us from the mess that part 2 was, it would have given the audience a different kind of message (not "better" than the one we actually got, just a different one).

  So. Is it an interesting watch? it is, can't deny that. I enjoyed some parts of the show. But it isn't "the best anime ever", as I've seen many people call it. I guess it depends on how much you're willing to ignore certain things.

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• 

  hanari

  90/100
  Death Note is one of those shows that we can easily call a classic, just like an opening ''the world''. [OP ANALYSIS]

  

  Death Note is one of those shows that we can easily call a classic. It was one of the first anime I ever watched and is one of my all time favourites, so I couldn't start my new ''hobby?'' better. I should explain first what will I do here, so give me one minute for it.

  __This post contains spoiler!__

  The main goal for what I want to do here is analysing openings and endings at an angle of symbolism, interesting creations and ideas. I don't want to judge it or rate it, I just want to show you that the op/ed can be amazingly good creations and sometimes it's worth to not skip them.

  

  When Light opens his eye, you will first notice that they are piercing red eyes. You will notice it quite a lot during opening. What these red eyes mean? There are at least two answers to that question, they can symbolise either the eyes of a shinigami or just evilness.
  At the start we can see that Light is looking down. This could be a sign of a godlike position, him looking down on humans. This might be how he sees himself - a god among mankind.

  

  Here we see Light laying on what could be the stained glass ceiling of a chapel, the way he postures himself is very careless but also has a godlike aura to it, which would suit how Light thinks of himself, referring to his ego complex.
  It might not be relevant but it is worth noting that during this scene the singer sings the line "hirogaru yami no naka kawashiatta kakumei no chigiri", in translation this reads "in the spreading darkness I exchange a pledge for the revolution" My thought on this is that in the darkness of humanity and how the world is going to ruin, Light aka Kira wants to start a revolution, to fix humanity, to rid of people he deems not worthy of living, getting rid of the plague that has spread upon the humanity.

  

  In this scene we see the shadow of Ryuk behind Kira, this could signify that Ryuk is controlling or using Kira from the shadows for his own gain or amusement. It might also represent the pact that was made between Ryuk and Kira via the Death Note.

  

  Here is one of the most iconic scenes in the opening for Death Note, as you can tell it itself is a recreation of the ‘’Creation of Adam’’.
  There are many symbolisms or ways in which this scene could be interpreted, but to me this scene shows that Light aka Kira is raising his hands to the god of death Ryuk, reaching for the apple which is a symbol of original sin.
  What elevates this scene is the usage of light and shadows, with Light having the appearance of an angel with light beckoning upon him, while Ryuk is lurking and reaching out of a veil of shadow and darkness. This represents the tainting of Light by Ryuk when Light was handed the Death Note, with the apple also serving as a symbol of the note.
  We can also see that Light is chained down, this could be in relation to his feelings of him being more than just a human and how he is chained down to the society around him.

  

  This scene shows the two main characters of the series, Light and L standing on two towers above the ground. Even though the distance between them is small, it appears near impossible to overcome, this could symbolise their relationship throughout the series, that even though the two are so close and alike, there is a whole valley of differences that will be impossible to cross. This scene could also symbolise the mind game between two characters, the game of cat and mouse that the pair play, the challenges that they give each other.

  

  In this short scene before the title of the anime, we see the screen filled with roses, these roses could be a symbol of martyrdom, that Kira might think of his actions as a sacrifice for the greater good. That he wants to build a road to something beautiful (the flower) but the road is covered by obstacles (the thorns). It would be even compared to that of Jesus Christ, that Light holds himself in such high regard that he himself might believe he is the second coming of Christ sent to make the world a better place.

  

  In these next scene we see the apple fall into Kira's hand, this could symbolise the Death Note falling from above into Kira's ownership and the passing of this "original sin" onto him.
  We then see Kira standing above the city looking over it, surveilling it. This could be related to when he's finding and watching people to add to the Death Note or simply him assuming an all watching godlike role. We also see another two instances of this apple representing original sin being shown, one where Light is walking around the city with it in his hand and another with him in the reflection of the apple. This could symbolise the sin that Light carries around with him from the Death Note and that maybe he himself is full of sin.

  

  With Light in the foreground and the sky with doves in the background this scene gives me the sense of the freedom that Light is experiencing from the power of the Death Note, that he feels like he no longer has to walk amongst man but is instead able to be free in the sky, this might also be a sign for limitless potential. You will also notice that behind Light is a shadow, this shadow might be the representation of Kira, the alias Light uses when committing his acts.
  Though it could represent the opposite, that instead of gaining freedom, his freedom has been lost.

  

  Here is Misa, doing nothing as always :v

  

  With this scene it is important to note what I said about the apple representing the idea of original sin and the story of Adam and Eve, how they succumbed to their greed. This scene visualises Light succumbing to his desire by deciding to take a bite of the apple, the original sin.

  

  This scene shows us more of the cast of Death Note, with one being the police, in here we can see that all except one are looking in every direction, possibly due to fear of Kira. However the middle officer, Light’s dad, is looking straight ahead, he isn't letting fear get to him, he wants to find the killer, he’s seeking justice.
  They are the opposite for a shinigamis, they look like watching a show.

  

  Next we have a recreation of the sculpture Pietà, Pietà depicts the lifeless body of Jesus Christ over his mother’s lap after his crucifixion. Penbar's lifeless body being Jesus and Penbar's fiance Naomi being Mary. You can see that on Naomi's face that she is in pain and grieving yet also dedicated to catching Penbar's killer, she remains calm even when a massive amount of pressure has just been placed on her.

  

  In the next of couple shots we see a prisoners bloody hands scraping against the wall, then clutching onto a prison fence, till now Kira has been running rampant killing prisoners, with this one just being one of his many victims.

  

  In this scene we see Light’s reflection falling apart and smashing to pieces on the floor. It can signify that Death Note has destroyed him both physically and mentally, this also could mean that the Light we knew at the start of the series isn’t here no more and this persona, Kira, has taken over and consumed him.

  

  The battle between L and Kira has now moved, they are standing in close proximity of each other as opposed to earlier when they stood at the top of the pillars above the city with a deep gap separating them, this shows that their battle is coming to an end, L is catching up and has nearly overcome that impossible gap. He's closing in.
  The fact they are in this dark, dirty and gloomy tunnel might also show that the tricks they are using, the tactics they are applying are also dirty and underhanded, all they want is to beat the other, no matter the cost.

  

  We see Kira and Misa standing in the rain, with Misa reaching out her hand to Kira and Kira going to reach out for hers. This scene shows that Kira is accepting Misa, but for his own reasons, he wants to use her for his own gain. This is Kira using anything at hand to gain the advantage and further his own ideals.

  

  This scene shows Kira in an almost angelic and godlike state, with the imagery of an angel in the background and him in the foreground, this could signify that at this moment Kira thinks of himself as untouchable or having already ascended. It could also mean that light is finally free after his death as Kira.
  Another viewpoint of this scene could be that this is Kira and Light, with the latter being in the foreground and the angel representing Kira, Light accepted the sin and fell from heaven thus becoming a fallen angel, turning his back on god.

  Thanks for reading! Do you have any favourite scenes in this opening?

  Like and follow me for more! And leave a comment on what should I analyse next!

  https://anilist.co/anime/1535/Death-Note/

  This analysis wouldn't be possible to write without @Nexus95. Thank you!

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• 

  DarkKnightofAnime

  82/100
  My Rewatch Experience with Death Note

  So Death Note a series where you ask yourself what left is there to say about it apart from the obvious? Well maybe a couple things to be sure because the thing about Death Note for me is that it's such a heavy handed series that I can really only afford to revisit it every so often to avoid suffering my emotions getting scrambled but after having recently rewatched it after FINALLY buying it on DVD/Blu-Ray I figured it was about time I let out my thoughts so lets just dive right in

  __Story__

  The story is something everyone is familiar with so I won't spend too much time rehashing it but basically it follows academic genius Light Yagami who finds a notebook called a Death Note and after discovering it's power to kill people by writing their name on it's pages vows to use it to rid the world of all criminals and become the new god of the world while being aided by the Shinigami Ryuk.

  Now the thing about a story like this is that it's bare bones level it sounds pretty standard and while it is in places the series still does an amazing job at balancing and exploring this very grey area about justice and how there really is no clear answer to what's the morally right thing to do I mean yes we can perceive Light's actions as evil and immoral all we want but at the same time there is an aspect to what he's doing that we also kind of sympathize with but never enough to where we are fully on his side either allowing us to just as much get behind the detectives and authorities trying to catch him

  Now the one problem people constantly bring up about the story is that the second half after L dies does dip a bit in terms of pacing and overall storytelling and while I do have that exact same issue I'd argue the second half isn't the only one with this problem, true the slower pacing is more prominent in the second half but having re-watched the series I've noticed there were the occasional moments that did drag the overall pacing down just ever so slightly. Anyway going back to the second half it's like I said I do recognize the issue but I only have a 50-50 issue with it as I believe the mangaka duo behind the series Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata did say they wrote themselves into a corner after L died so that kinda validates the second half a little more to me

  Now if I did have a genuine criticism of the second half I will say that I am a bit more of a fan of how the Manga ended compared to the anime and it really does come down to a personal preference as the manga's ending did feel like Light's influence as Kira had a long lasting effect whereas the ending to the anime just gave off the vibe as if life moved on without him. For those who don't know then SPOILERS: In the manga's ending we see countless numbers of hooded Kira worshippers marching through Japan ready to care out his will whereas the anime just sees Ryuk returning to the Shinigami Realm. On one hand I do understand why the anime went a different route: to avoid encouraging cult-like behaviour but on the other hand I do feel the manga did better at showing just how many people actually agree with Kira's ideals long after his death

  8/10

  __Characters__

  So this one is probably gonna be one of the shorter sections as my favourites are all your favourites I love Light, Ryuk, L, Every character on the Task Force, nearly all the characters on the show are just so fleshed out with a likeable personality and each one has a viewpoint on Kira I can get behind in one way or another. The one character I will say that I think most people are gonna disagree with me on in this review is Misa, now on one hand when I first watched the series I was like everyone else and I did think she was a rather annoying character like everyone else but after revisiting the series I actually felt quite a bit more sympathetic towards her because she actually was a rather tragic case: She gave up everything to support Light but in return all Light really did was manipulate and abuse her in order to achieve his own personal gain. In that sense it really is a very unfortunate tale of love that was not meant to be

  And going off what I said about the Task Force and L being this contrasting entity that opposes Light/Kira I really like how the characters are what drives the story as each one has not only a distinct personality but also a different viewpoint that drives what they believe to be their own sense of justice and each character has a viewpoint that you can agree with which helps reinforce the middle ground and grey area tone that the series balances throughout. Hell I'd even argue Near and Mello for as forced into the plot as they felt were still very interesting characters

  If I did have one criticism about the characters in the show however is that outside of the main cast there are a lot of secondary characters that don't really feel like they serve much purpose other than show they exist or at the very least serve their purpose in the plot like for instance outside of Light's father Soichiro Yagami, Light's mother and sister Sayu didn't really serve much of a purpose to the overall story. I mean I guess you could argue they kept Light grounded from losing his humanity completely to the Death Note but that quickly got thrown out the window in the second half but honestly this is just a minor nitpick as the rest of the cast are very likeable especially everyone's favourite Shinigami Ryuk

  8.5/10

  __Visuals and Audio__

  So I thought I'd combine these two together a. Because I'm lazy and b. They really compliment each other in a lot of cases especially since the series has to balance it's dark gothic style with it's heavy religious symbolism and you'd think trying to capture both through music and visuals would turn out distracting but in a lot of ways it works for me personally however it really works it's best when it's trying to capture a certain mood or atmosphere as those are the point where they use outstanding scores of choir music that just make us feel the weight of the scene that accompanies it like that scene with Light on the skyscraper after killing L as he begins killing criminals again, the entire scene plays out like he's orchestrating an opera and the music just booms with the sound of a church choir as people are killed

  Also on the visual angle one thing I really liked is how the anime accented the character appearances with contrasting colours every time they would go into an internal monologue allowing us to hear their thoughts but also giving us a little more glimpse as to their thought process of how they were planning to counter each other accompanied by some very tense music and it plays out like a mental chess game throughout the series. Even the scenes that aren't like that still are great at showing what each character is thinking through their expressions alone

  Now if I did ever have a problem on the visual aspect and luckily it's not all the time is that there are RARE and I mean VERY RARE occasions where every once inn a while the visuals can look a little...Derpy to say the least and what's meant to be serious can come across as a little funny but like I said that happens very little

  On the audio aspect of problems for me the only thing I really have a problem with there is that the Second Opening lacks both the visual and musically emotional feel that the first opening had, it's almost like MADHOUSE decided to drop all the religious and emotional symbolism about the show and wanted to go straight for a heavy metal cover which can be a little bit of a turn off in a series like this. Also the visuals in Opening 2 are definitely a little weird in places

  So ya overall the Visuals and Music are slightly more divisive for me but majority of what they do definitely gets it's intended reaction out of me, as I said the strongest part of both lie in the actual show itself and less in the openings with the exception obviously being Opening 1.

  Visuals: 7.5/10
  Audio: 8.5/10

  __Conclusion__

  So taking everything I've said I can't recommend Death Note more than enough to people but as I said in the beginning it is in fact a very heavy handed anime and one I wouldn't recommend watching on a constant basis otherwise you might find yourself an emotional wreck but make no mistake it is a very entertaining and thought provoking anime, it's one of those series that really shuts down the argument that anime isn't just for kids as it provides an interesting look into the psychology of Justice and that the world isn't so black and white as we think it to be

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