Death Note

Release date: June 17, 2006 (Japan)
Director: Shusuke Kaneko
Starring: Tatsuya Fujiwara; Kenichi Matsuyama; Shunji Fujimura; Takeshi Kaga; Asaka Seto; Shigeki Hosokawa; Erika Toda
Sequel: Death Note 2: The Last Name
Box office: $31.3 million
Languages: Japanese; English

Summary

Light Yagami (Tatsuya Fujiwara) is a normal, undistinguished college student -- that is, until he discovers an odd notebook lying on the ground. He soon discovers that the notebook has magic powers: If someone's name is written on it while the writer imagines that person's face, he or she will die. Intoxicated with his new godlike power, Light kills those he deems unworthy of life. But a mysterious detective known only as L (Ken'ichi Matsuyama) becomes determined to put a stop to his reign.

Review

A great supernatural thriller that happens to be animated..

Light, a Japanese high school student, finds a so-called Death Note, that enables the user to kill people by writing their names in it. He sets about cleansing the world of evil, while the police try to determine who he is... and stop him. This is the first animé series I watch, so I can't draw comparisons to others. It gets extremely visual at times, but at least half of the time, it isn't, particularly. The focus is on the writing, the twists, the mind games. There is a lot of cat-and-mouse going on, and we follow the investigation. Thankfully, both the law enforcement and our young lead are rather smart, so it is a very even match, and quite interesting to follow. In fact, at its best, this keeps you on the edge of your seat, and you'll find yourself watching multiple episodes in a row. At least until about the halfway point, after when it, at times, seems to not particularly move forward(and it suddenly decides to follow something that hasn't been brought up at all prior to that point, and sometimes soon after stops doing so). There are a few plot threads that go nowhere, or that could have been removed to tighten this up. The characters vary... L is awesome, definitely. We do have some that are clearly mainly comic relief, and yes, this does have a little of the silly humor that can be found in a lot of mainstream manga. The animation is nicely done, with some stunning moments and impeccable style. There is brutal, bloody, violent content in this. I recommend it to those who like the concept and want to see it explored, or anyone who enjoys this kind of detective thriller. 8/10

Really interesting

I'm not an anime fan at all, simply because I've never given it much chance but also because the few times I have, it's just not for me. But a friend heavily pushed me to see this, and I'm glad I did. It's an anime TV show that I could see having influence on many of the dramas going on right now (Breaking Bad perhaps as one of them). I saw the dubbed version, but the voice acting was pretty spectacular. It hits some rough spots, the second half or so (after the first 15 or so episodes) isn't as great as the first half, but the final two episodes are magnificent and end the series on a very high note. This is definitely recommended, it's full of extremely moral dilemmas

Source > https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0877057/reviews