Thoughts On Death Note....

Well...I just finished watching Death Note.

Overall, I thought the series was...umm....interesting, I suppose.

Netflix has the series listed as having only one season with 37 episodes. However, as characters and motives change due to the progression of the story line, I think that it's acceptable to view the entire series as having two definitive parts....

Okay. If you haven't watched the show yet and think that you might like to watch it at some point...you should stop reading this post now...some of the things I'm about to say about the show are going to be MAJOR SPOILERS...now that the disclaimer is out of the way, I'll continue...

L

Those who are familiar with the anime or manga know that this odd looking character is L. [L is the brains behind the operation that is trying to capture Kira] He is odd and quirky but he is undeniably a genius...[this is proven several times during the anime]

Bahahaha!

At first, I found his character to be off-putting and rather annoying...but as the story progressed, he quickly became my favorite character. I mean, what's not to like? He's brilliant, self-assured, and delivers some of the funniest lines in the anime...the little comic strip to the right? That's an actual scene from the show...hilarious!

Anyway...somewhere around the halfway mark of the series, L dies. Guys...L dying, to me, was a slightly less scarring version of Harry Potter's Snape dying. [Yes, yes...the death of Snape was much more gut wrenching...but this character death is definitely up there...]

I can understand why L's character had to die for the sake of the story...well, kind of...but this was a pivotal point for me. I found the series to be far less interesting once L was no longer a key player. The absence of his character changed the show to the point that I almost stopped watching it...obviously I continued on to finish the series...but, honestly? I didn't really want to.

Light Yagami

This handsome looking fellow to the left is Light Yagami, pretty sure that it's alright to say that he's the main character of the story.

As the story begins, Light is introduced as a very intelligent high school senior [he boasts the best test scores in Japan] who has the brightest of futures ahead of him. His father is Chief of the Japanese Police Force, a detail that Light eventually uses to his advantage.

Light is the first human that encounters the Death Note dropped by the shinigami Ryuk [I mentioned Ryuk in my previous post on Death Note] and he ultimately becomes the mastermind behind all the Kira killings and the fallout that follows.

Light's character development is...well...it's crazy! He begins with intentions that are, for the most part, 'good.' He aims to rid the world of evil doers and criminals, and he's found ways to do so utilizing the Death Note...but it doesn't take long at all before his intentions become warped into something much, much more sinister.

Truer words have never been
meme'd...

Before you know it, Light has become determined to become the new 'god' of his idea of a Utopian world...one that has been shaped and groomed by himself acting as Kira. It becomes clear that Light intends on achieving this goal through pretty much whatever means are necessary...Light goes so far as to using deaths of his family members to insure his coming out on top...which is just plain dirty.

The depth and detail that Light puts into his plans are remarkable. He is able to correctly anticipate people's actions even months in advance...so, in that aspect, he's quite impressive. There's one twist that occurs shortly before L's death that definitely had me giving him mental applause...but his thought processes are just too insidious to overlook and, in my opinion, render him unlikable. At the end of the story, Light had zero redeeming qualities. None. And that's a lot coming from a girl who typically sympathizes with the bad guy!

Though, I definitely give the writers credit...the progression of Light from innocent high school senior to world dominating sociopath is extremely well-done. By the end of the series, Light becomes a character that is truly unsettling...watch the last episode...tell me that his laughter isn't that of a maniacal villain!!

The 'Post-L' portion of the show focused heavily on Light's interactions with Misa as he manipulates her to fit into his Kira plans.

Misa's the blonde...not the
shinigami behind her...

I really, really dislike Misa's character. Really dislike her.

She's the second human that encounters a Death Note...she becomes the first 'Second Kira' in the story...and she goes to outrageous lengths to meet up with Kira/Light. The story says that she's infatuated with Kira due to him killing the murderer of her parents, but then she meets Light and 'falls in love' with him and the fact that he's Kira.

I was very disappointed that her character never developed any real depth...throughout the whole series, she's just this gullible, stereo-typically dumb 'pretty girl' who will do literally anything Light asks her to just because she fell in love with him at first sight.

I mean...seriously.

Misa goes along with whatever Light says [she even goes so far as to sacrifice half of her remaining life span, twice!] in hopes of being useful to him so that he might love her back. It's pathetic.

But...the introduction of Misa and therefore the second Death Note does create more complexity for the story...and it gets interesting at times to see how Light manages to juggle not just one, but two Death Notes. [But I still don't like Misa. Nope.]

What else....

Oh, yes. Near.

Near

Near steps in and fills the role as L's true successor [After L's death, Light fills in as the replacement L for the media and what not...but Light isn't actually going to pursue Kira now, is he?]. The story reveals that L and two younger potential successors grew up together in the same orphanage. The two younger ones, Near and Mellow, seems to be at odds over who will be L's true successor...L didn't have the chance to pick one of them before he died. Mellow, the older of the two, gets frustrated at this and relinquishes the role to Near [though, as I'm sure you'd predict, Mellow leaves to pursue Kira on his own].

As a stand alone character, Near is very likable...but as a successor to L? Meh...not so much.

Oddly enough, I can't really pinpoint a reason why I didn't like Near...I think it's because I liked L as much as I did.

In the end, Near is able to out-smart the officially-lost-his-fruit-loops Light, prove that Light is Kira, and expose the second Kira [X-Kira, at this point] all in one fell swoop. Everything goes down inside of an abandoned warehouse...and the scene begins with Near wearing an L mask. That was creepy...

Wait...what?!?

The series has one of the most 'wtf' endings that I've seen to date.

Light has a clear mental breakdown, X-Kira dies with an actual geyser of blood spurting from his chest, and Ryuk has a few words to say before he writes Light's name in his Death Note...

 I grabbed a screenshot from a YouTube video of the blood geyser scene...I'm not going to post the actual video [you're more than welcome to look it up, if you'd like...the character's name is Mikami...] but that should give you a good idea of how crazy Death Note's ending is...

I've read that there have been a few post-production thing released that kind of elaborate on the story's ending and some of the events that happened afterwards...but I'm really not interested in watching them. [That is, with the exception of the one showing Ryuk's thoughts on the whole thing...that, I'd watch...]

Overall...I think Death Note is a good anime, and I suppose that I would recommend it. But once you reach the point that L dies, feel free to skip to the last two episodes or so...but beware of the L-masked Near...there are something that you can't un-see!!