Story by Ooba Tsugumi; art by Obata Takeshi (The mangaka of Hikaru no Go)

The human world is rotting. The gods of death are bored.

Death Note begins when the shinigami Ryuuku, 'accidentally' drops his death note in the human world. It is discovered by 17-year-old academic genius Yagami Raito, who decides that he wishes to create a world free of evil. To what extremes will he go, only needing a name and a face to kill? Or rather...how will he be stopped?

Story & Characters

Oof...the new format takes some time to adjust to :P

Terms Dictionary:

Death Note - A mysterious notebook that will kill and manipulate others before their death.If the purpose of death is not stated,the victim will die 40 Seconds later.If the purpose is stated,the user have another minute or so to write in the details.A piece of paper from the note will also have the same effects as having the entire note itself.

Shinigami - Death Gods of the Shinigami World.Their basically immortal unless they break the rules or did not write a name in their notes for a long time.Every time a Shinigami kills some one with the Note,their remaining lifespan will be added to the Shingami's lifespan.Shinigami also have the power to see names and their remaining lifespan just by looking.But Shinigami cannot kill a human to expand the lifespan of another human,if they do,they will die.

Shinigami Eyes - If a trade is performed,the eyes of the Shinigami can be converted to the ones who are using the Death Note.But it comes at the prices of reducing the lifespan of the human and Shinigami by half.But the Shinigami will not be affected since they can restore their Lifespan but humans cannot.

Shinigami World - A world which is barren and this is the world which Shinigami lives in.They will look down from above and write down the names of a random human being to expand their own.The Shinigami world is also goverened by the Shingami King.

Character Overview:
(Note: I know that I had been placing their surnames at the back in the past few reviews but I shall change..now :P The people of Japan have their surnames at the front..so...)

Yagami Light / Kira - Main Character of Death Note.His a bright and intelligent student whose constantly the top scorer of his school.He is bored and sick of the world he is in.When he found the Death Note,his intent on cleansing the world of criminals and thus,creating a New World and to be the God of this new Utopia.

Amane Misa - Misa is the Second Kira,thus,another owner of the Death Note.She have is completely devoted to Light and is unaware of the fact that Light is simply using her.She's also a Japanese star.

L - The most well-known detective.However,his appearance is unknown,even to those he have investigated cases with.However,in the case of Kira,he is forced to reveal himself and thus,the battle of will and mind begins between the two.He also have some weird social habits and he seems to enjoy eating desserts/sweets.

Ryuk - The owner of the Death Note Light picked up and a Shinigami.He,like Light,is bored and so he dropped the Death Note onto the Human World by "accident".He is also sick of the Shinigami World and finds humans entertaining.Ryuk also likes apples.

Rem - A Shinigami whose Death Note was picked up by Misa.Rem is actually a female.She is also disturbed by Misa's devotion to Kira and her ignoring the fact that Kira is simply using her and Rem occasionaly warns Kira to protect her otherwise she would kill Kira herself.

Sidoh - Another Shinigami that made a brief appearance in the Anime.He tries to retrieve his Death Note from the human world.He also likes Chocolates.

Yagami Soichiro - Light's father and the high ranking officer of the Japanese police force.He later formed the Kira investigation squad to look into the case of Kira.Despite not spending much time with his family,his actually a devoted father and a devoted policeman with a strong sense of justice.

Matsuda Touta - His the underling of Soichiro.He,too,have a rather strong sense of justice but this sense is often hampered by his rash decisions that often causes troubles to others.

Aizawa Shuichi - He is part of the investigation squad for a while and returning later.Otherwise,I don't have much to say about him.

Watari - The spokesman of L and carries a laptop that have direct connection to L.However,he later appears to be a old man whose apparently the butler and partner of L.

Takada Kiyomi - High School classmate of Kira and also an ex-girlfriend.She later appears in the plot as a reporter whose supportive of Kira and later,she aids Kira..

Mikami Teru - A lawyer and a fanatic supporter of Kira's ideals.Kira later selected him to be a new Kira so he can go on with his plans.Kira chose Mikami because he believes that he can be trusted and that he would think like him.Oddly enough,his a rather "overly-scheduled" sort of person who strictly follows his schedules and stuff like that.

Mello - An arrogant figure who is one of the selected successor of L's place if anything happens to L.He likes eating chocolate.

Near - He behaves alot like L,except his hobby is stacking cards.
(Side Note:I only written down the names of recurring or vital characters)

Overall :
A very interesting storyline with no violence (None in the typical sense) Either way,Death Note is one of a kind.
Genres:
Mystery
Supernatural

Rating: 9

Art

Artwork:
The...artwork is brilliant...yeah either way I don't have much to describe for this.

Rating: 9

Sound

Music Review:
The first opening was great but I dislike the second opening...okay,I hated it.Either way,if you like heavy rock and vulgarities,the second opening is devoted for you.Either way,there is not much music in the scenes of the Anime itself but it hardly matters,since you will be plastered all over the scenes instead.

Voice Review:
I have to say that the voice acting were excellent.Even Light sounds different depending on what role his currently playing (There are cases of which Light have to "switch" roles...watch the Anime to know more)

Rating: 8

Presentation

Overall:
It is a great anime I should say.Though probably not for those who prefer "fighting only" sort of things.Either way,there are two concepts of Justice and morality here so this is pretty much brain-melting if you think hard into it.However,most of the plot is dark and there is no humor content AT ALL.Well,unless you count L's personality into it or something.

Trivia:
-Note that this is adapted from the Manga so the Manga have much more content than the Anime version.So check out the Manga for the ENTIRE PLOT since the Anime is a fairly compressed version of the Manga.
-There is a film adapted for it,Death Note I and II and L changes the World.But this is even a much more compressed version :P But it's still pretty cool to watch.
-There are three games of it released to the DS.Death Note Kira Game,Death Note:Sucessors to L and L the Prologue to Death Note.Though their not really that enjoyable to play in to be honest.
-Death Note Characters appear in Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars or something like that.
-There are about...50 Episodes or so for the Anime.
-Death Note is banned in China...how unfortunate.
-Interestingly enough,there are cases of arrest of which there are teens who have their own copies of "Death Notes" with a list of staff and fellow classmates' names in them.Either way,the copyright system is strong and such acts is not tolerated in some countries so please,do not imitate a Death Note and sway it around.

Rating: 9

Final Verdict

8.83 (very good)

Reviewed by z827, 10wk 6d ago

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