[Review] Death Note anime

On the surface, Death Note is and will continue to be one of the most unique and mind-blowing anime in recent history. The tale of a young man full of disgust towards the world and society is nothing out of the ordinary, no, it’s very commonplace these days. The world is in a downward spiral, murderers, sexual predators and thieves all walk the streets alike, free from the constraints of a struggling government and prosecution system. Where are the gods when an innocent child is murdered, when women run through alleyways in terror of an ever approaching rapist? I’ll tell you; they’re watching. And a few have come to play.
If you were granted the power of a god, if you had the power to kill, would you? Would you kill to save others? Would you kill for justice? Would you be able to maintain your own sanity and morals? Would you be able to prevent yourself from greed for recognition, or maybe even simple fun? Where will it stop, how will it end, how many innocent people will you have to sacrifice for a world of peace? These are all questions Yagami Light faces when he discovers a Death Note and encounters a Shinigami, a Death God, named Ryuk.

When he realizes the full power of the Death Note, Light knows exactly what to do. He will kill all those with evil traits and will lead a new world into sanctuary. His excitement is frightening, never once does he regret his actions. He’s hollow, his only emotions come at the thought of eternal glory as Justice itself, and when he must mentally battle his equal, his only obstacle, L. Light, dubbed as Kira, is able to kill simply knowing the name and faces of his victims, by writing their names into his Death Note, but his plans for greatness continue to be thwarted by the mysterious and cunning L.

The mental battles between L and Light can be astonishing, but they all boil down to one thing: “Will he outthink my outthinking?” It’s a constant turn-by-turn board game. Both are 15 steps ahead of the real-world, the one who wins won’t be decided on wit, but rather by trust. The trust in others will be what makes or breaks these players. Trust the wrong person and you’ll die. Trust the right person and you’ll survive.
The animation is average for the more recent popular anime, but the key scenes are delicately touched up. The character animations are realistic, to give that feel of connection with the viewer. The music is great, minus the last opening and endings which sound like a middle-school band banging on garbage cans and ripping their vocal cords with retched screams of incomprehensible lyrics.
Death Note is an amazing anime, the plot and story are perfected beyond greatness. But there’s one thing that keeps this anime from being renowned as a masterpiece, character development. There’s very little depth to the main characters. They are all clear-cut with no inner-emotional battles. Light himself never once thinks twice about actually killing thousands of people, he uses and abuses the few allies he has, which will end in his destruction. He has no conflicts with himself, yet he’s not a senseless killing machine; in essence, he’s nothing. The creators of this series failed to recognize these inhuman attributes as just that, inhuman. When viewers cannot fully understand the main character, they cannot connect with him.

Thankfully, I can forgive the shortcomings of Death Note. What really made me love this series is its unmistakable perfection of suspense. Every episode will leave you begging for more, and yet there are no horrible cliffhangers! The ending of this series really pushed it to become one of my all time favorites. In the second to last episode I honestly felt like I was about to have a heart attack. My heart was pounding against my chest, my blood was rushing. I knew what would happen, the only way the series could end, but it didn’t matter! I was so enthralled with the emotion of the episode; it sends chills down my spine just thinking about it! No other anime has ever given me such a thrill, the emotions I experienced were surreal and benign.


Written by Josh@animecorporation.com

Synopsis

Yagami Light is as perfect a hero as you could imagine--perfect grades, perfect public record, perfect looks--in every facet, his image is squeaky clean.
This all ends one fateful day when the Shinigami known as Ryuk drops his Death Note out of the realm of the afterlife, into Light's schoolyard. Light stumbles across it and reads the directions: write the name of the person you want dead in the Death Note--with their image in your mind--and they will die in the manner you have specified in this supernatural journal. Otherwise, if the circumstance is not specified in writing, the victim will, within minutes, suffer a fatal heart attack.
Thinking it a stupid prank initially, Light puts it to the test when saving an innocent woman from being assaulted. To his horror, it works. Could ridding the world of criminals be this easy?
Inspired with a new renewed sense of justice, Light indulges himself completely in his newfound power, self-righteously declaring himself the bringer of a new, utopian future--
--one name at a time.

Review

Probably the most anticipated anime of the 2006/2007 Winter season, and perhaps of the new year (Nodame Cantabile, maybe?) Death Note carries story elements and an intellectual integrity that is more commonly seen in your collegeate literary classics than your usual Shounen Jump title.

First we have the Platonic "Gyges' Ring" scenario--in a discourse in Plato's Republic, the integrity of mortal justice is questions and sequentially deemed fundamentally flawed by sinful, finite capacity of man and their deeply ruooted sense of pride and self-righteousness. The lead character Light is the incarnation of this discourse, a once seemingly flawless character driven to obsession over the notion of becoming like a god. At first his intentions are decent--rapists, child molesters, serial killers--deserve to die, right? The world would be better without them, right? But putting such power into the hands of a mortal--as perfect as Light might be--corrupts, as history proves time and again.

Accompanying the Death Note is its original owner, the Shinigami Ryuk. Rather than being morally bound to Light or serving as a conscience or guide, Ryuk hangs around simply to be a spectator--proclaiming humans to be "interesting."

While this itself makes for an interesting plot, what really makes Death Note a top caliber series are the characters who cause an obstruction to Light's mission. Topping the cast is the fan-favorite L, whose character is just beyond description. A shady, mysterious, but somewhat eccentric genius, L is probably the only mind that could match the scheming Light. The cat-and-mouse power-play between the two young men is enticing and riveting, making you laugh (not for comedy's sake) and keeps you fixed on every frame, soaking in all the details and anticipating the next move. The adorable, yet tragic Misa is another owner of a Death Note, and becomes pathetically infatuated with Light and obediently does his bidding, while at the same time threatening his immunity to the task force tracking him down.

This is just within the first ten episodes or so. This series is simple enough for anyone to understand, but at the same time deep enough and clever enough for those looking for something really meaty to sink their teeth into. Additionally, this series offers something that not many other series do--a moral conundrum. What if we had a Death Note? Would we use it? How would we use it? Is it possible to use it without turning into what Light becomes?

Its production values leave me with nothing to complain about. A top-selling series like Death Note, like Nana and other popular manga titles, have an obligation to its fans to give them something that is quality work. The animation is smooth, the character designs are loyal and really bring life to the characters. The music is fantastic, and some of anime's top seiyuu are among the cast, including Miyano Mamoru (Tamaki from Ouran High School Host Club) as Light, Yamaguchi Kappei (Inuyasha from Inuyasha) as L, and Hirano Aya (Haruhi from The Meloncholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) as Misa. You really cannot go wrong with this series. And this is coming from a Christian--I am not at all offended by this series, it is a fantastic philosophical and theological scenario.

How about looking at this series as social commentary? Any side of the political spectrum or anyone with any kind of religious affiliation can find hot topic issues that make for excellent discussion. This is a series that will make you think. It's more than just passive entertainment, though it is just what you make it. That's the beauty of Death Note. And fortunately, it shines bright through the ugliness that is undoubtedly to come to its characters.

It's every bit of the hype, people. I cannot think of anyone with half a brain that wouldn't love this series. (Then again, if you have half a brain, you probably wouldn't be able to appreciate its brilliance.) — Melissa D Johnson

Recommended Audience: Anyone and everyone who can handle the dark tones.

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[Review] The pen is mightier than the sword – especially when writing a Death Note

Written by Katherine@forbiddenplanet.co.uk

“The human whose name is written in this note shall die…”

No manga series has truly hit the big time until it’s got at least a TV adaptation, whether live-action or anime (or sometimes both), and preferably also drama CDs, character song CDs, light novels, visual novels, video games, and miscellaneous “character goods”. But it’s relatively rare for a manga series to be adapted to a live-action feature film, especially for manga with supernatural elements. This makes the DVD release of Death Note (the 2006 live-action adaptation of the phenomenally popular manga series) particularly interesting. How faithful can such an adaptation be? And how well does the story work in live action?

The answers are “more than you might think” and “surprisingly well”, respectively. The film-makers didn’t feel a need to tamper with the story much, perhaps because Death Note has such a strong central concept – the notebook that kills anyone whose name is written down in it, the crusade that the notebook’s owner embarks on to rid the world of criminals, and the cat-and-mouse game that ensues when the police start trying to hunt him down. The film only adapts the first nine chapters of the manga; there have been two sequels covering later storylines, not yet released in English. Some of the plot details are different, even so – though if anything, they’re improvements on the manga; the introduction of two new female characters and the expansion of the role of Naomi Misora is highly welcome, since one of the manga’s weaknesses is its paucity of interesting women. In other ways, the manner of storytelling has been changed to fit the new medium: where the manga depended a great deal on thought bubbles and narration, the film naturally opts for punchier, simpler visual exposition, which has the odd side effect of slightly softening the character of Light: he seems less calculating in the film, if only because we’re not constantly being told what he’s planning.

Although, that said, a certain amount of the softening comes from Tatsuya Fujiwara’s performance. Fujiwara has an open face and a ready smile that makes it hard, at first, to think of him as the cold and sociopathic Light Yagami of the manga. As Light uses the Death Note more and more, and graduates from killing vicious murderers to killing people who get in his way, he smiles less and less, and during the train sequence (very faithfully adapted from the manga) he finally displays the cold, triumphant grin most often seen on the manga Light’s face.

Fujiwara aside, one of the most striking things about the film is how recognisable the characters are: as soon as there was a glimpse of the police unit investigating “Kira” (the codename for the owner of the Death Note), I could immediately pick out Matsuda, Aizawa, Ide and Soichiro Yagami, before a single word had been said. Naomi Misora, Watari, and L are likewise uncannily true to their manga incarnations. As with the manga, the film kicks into high gear as soon as L appears. Ken’ichi Matsuyama is perfectly cast as the eccentric but brilliant detective who comes close to rooting out Light’s secret.

But perhaps the most remarkable achievement of the film is Ryuk, the shinigami (god of death) who drops the Death Note into the human world and follows Light around to watch what he does. Ryuk’s ghastly, clown-like appearance is rendered in CGI, and while there are occasional moments when the animation doesn’t quite work, for the most part he’s utterly convincing; he moves that little bit more fluidly than the human characters, floats around weightless, flies on his bat-like wings, and passes through solid objects, but still looks just as real and just as present as the live actors. Shido Nakamura gives Ryuk a deep, gravely voice that likewise marks him out; it’s not surprising that Nakamura was cast for the same part in the Death Note anime.

 

As both a stand-alone film and an adaptation, Death Note works remarkably well. Its faithful without being slavish, transferring both the narrative spine of the manga and the dark, tense atmosphere that makes it so compelling to read. I enjoyed it a lot, and I look forward to the English-language release of the sequels.

[Review] “The human whose name is written in this note shall die…”

Written by Katherine@forbiddenplanet.co.uk

---o0o---

A little over a year after the final volume was published in English, I’ve finally gotten around to finishing one of the most hyped and most heavily-spoiled manga series ever: Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata’s Death Note. Death Note is based on the highest of high concepts: “The human whose name is written in this note shall die.” If you had a notebook you could use to kill anyone whose name and face you knew – what would you do? Death Note‘s main character Light Yagami decides to use it to cleanse the world of evil people – evil by his definition, of course.

After a brief reflection on the morality of this decision, Light sets about his task with glee and gains the attention of police forces worldwide, who dub the mysterious murderer “Kira” (a Japanese pronunciation of “Killer”). The eccentric detective L decides to join the chase. Once L comes into the picture, the story settles into the form it retains for the rest of its run: an increasingly complex cat-and-mouse game between Light and the people investigating him.

It’s in the twists and turns of the pursuit that Death Note comes into its own. Tsugumi Ohba doesn’t go in for character development, and doesn’t bother much with exploring the moral dilemmas the existence and use of the Death Note throws up; instead, the focus is on the plans and manipulations and gambits and counter-gambits Light engages in to cover his tracks, fool his pursuers, and further his ascent to virtual godhood. Sometimes these plans get ridiculously convoluted; in the words of TV Tropes, they cross the line from Xanatos Gambit to Xanatos Roulette, with all parties involved seeming to know too much and manipulate events with far too much skill. More than once, the moment when you’re convinced that Light has been caught in a trap and cannot possibly get out of it will be followed by Light grinning his evil, satisfied grin and thinking to himself: “Exactly as planned!”

There’s always an explanation, but it’s not always terribly convincing, and even when the plans are more or less reasonable, there’s always a lot of lengthy introspection along the lines of “he thinks that I think that he doesn’t know that she knows that I know…”, repeated for each character so that you can be absolutely sure who knows what about whom. Provided, that is, that you can hold it all in your head.

I get lost a lot when I’m reading Death Note, and sometimes it’s irritating, but it’s worth it for those moments when the dominoes fall in exactly the right way and Light’s plans — or someone else’s — work out just perfectly. The bizarre thing about Death Note is that I actively dislike most of the characters, and yet that doesn’t hinder my enjoyment at all. Would you enjoy a chess game less if the king was a sociopath and the pawns were all naive morons? It’s the moves that matter, not the pieces; not even the players.

Takeshi Obata’s art is never less than gorgeous, and one of the interesting things about revisiting the first few volumes for this blog entry has been seeing how his style evolved over the course of the series, growing smoother and slicker by imperceptible increments. The subtle, understated touches he adds in facial expressions and body language make up somewhat for the thinness of the characters as written. It says something for his range of faces that characters as superficially similar as Mogi, Ide and Matsuda are impossible to confuse for each other.

Does Death Note live up to the hype? Yes and no. Yes, in that it’s a compelling read from beginning to end with more twists than a ten-mile corkscrew; and no, in that every aspect of the storytelling other than the simple unfolding of the plot is thin and unsatisfying. Ohba gestures towards moral reflection, but doesn’t follow through, and most of the characters are, as I’ve said, either very lightly sketched or thoroughly dislikeable. (Don’t get me started on Misa. I don’t normally hate fictional characters, but dear God, it’s so easy to make an exception for her. As Shaenon Garrity put it: “She’s the stupidest creature on planet Earth. Even stupider than the other female characters in Death Note, who are all stupid. Even stupider than other idol singers… a woman with the mind of a squirrel monkey.”) What’s more, after volume 7, there’s a sudden dip in the quality of the plot, as the events of that volume leave a hole in the manga’s narrative structure that’s never quite filled. The last five volumes are less compelling than the first seven, and the plotting begins to get sloppy by comparison. To be fair, the pace picks up in volume 9, and even if it never quite matches the tightness of the early volumes, it’s always fun to read.

And, ironically, a large part of what makes it fun is the very sketchiness of the aspects I’ve described as “unsatisfying”. One of the Death Note fandom’s favourite characters is Matt, a character who appears in a grand total of 12 panels. Not 12 pages: 12 panels. The very concept of the Death Note encourages speculation: if you had one, what would you do? If you were in Light’s shoes, and wanted to do what he did, could you do a better job? If you were investigating Kira, what steps would you take to find out who he was? Death Note is set up to encourage the fans to read between the lines, to speculate, extrapolate, and come up with their own ideas. It may not be deliberate, but that’s the effect, and that being so, too much detail in the characterisation or in the moral reasoning would be counter-roductive — it would leave less space for the reader’s imagination.

So in the end, the thing that makes Death Note so powerful is the same thing that makes the Death Note itself powerful: the fact that you can write anything you like in it.

Just don’t write any real person’s name. After all, “The human whose name is written in this note shall die…”

Death Note Artbook