8. Death Note Review

Left: L
Right: Light Yagami

In this installment of the Anime Analysis Blog; I will be reviewing an anime that has made quite a name for itself due to its suspenseful story-line and unforgettable characters. This is my Death Note review.

Light Yagami is an extremely intelligent high school student who has become bored of the world he lives in. Crime is at an all-time high; death and bad happenings almost completely surround the media. Light thinks that "this world is rotting."
In the world of the Shinigami (Death Gods,) life has become dreary as well. This is extremely apparent to a certain Shinigami by the name of Ryuk. Ryuk decides that the human world is boring, so he drops one of his "Death Notes" into the human world. Once he has done so, he goes into the human world to "retrieve it." When in reality Ryuk wants to see who will pick up his death note, and how that person will use it.

A death note is an extremely special kind of notebook. The notebook has a special power, and rules on how to use that power. There are many rules, but I will display the important rules for your convenience.

1: The human whose name is written in this note shall die.
2: This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.
3: If the cause of death is written within the next 40 seconds of writing the person’s name, it will happen.
4: If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.
5: After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.
6: The owner of the note can recognize the image and voice of the original owner, i.e. a God of death/Shinigami.
7: The human who uses the notebook can neither go to Heaven nor Hell.
8: The notebook shall become the property of the human world, once it touches the ground of (arrives in) the human world.

Light is on his way home to work on his school work when he notices a notebook fall from the sky and land on the grass. Curiosity gets the better of him; Light walks over and picks up the book. It is a black notebook with a single distinguishing feature. The book reads "Death Note" at the top..

Light reads through the rules of the notebook and assumes it's some prank played by an immature student (who wouldn't?) Despite his better judgement, Light brings the book home to test it out. 

When Light comes home, he immediately goes to his room and tries using the Death Note. He takes the rule of thinking of the person's face when writing the name into consideration before he writes. Light turns on his T.V; there is an urgent news broadcast of a man holding an orphanage hostage for ransom. The criminal's face and name is shown on the television screen; Light writes down the man's name (Kurou Otoharada) on the first page of the Death Note. Forty seconds pass by and nothing happens. Light is not surprised by this fact and goes back to his work.
Suddenly the victims of the hostage situation run out of the building; none of them are harmed. The police force charges the building and finds Kurou dead on the floor. The report says that he died by a heart attack.
.

Light is astonished by this information and immediately considers the possibility of this being a coincidence.
Light: "I have to make sure this thing actually works, to make sure that wasn't a coincidence."


Light goes out to a local convenience store to buy some comic books. Outside there is a young woman being harassed by a group of bikers. Light overhears one of the men introducing himself, his name is Kasaragi Tetsuo. Light remembers the fifth rule of the Death Note. 5: After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds. Light writes Tetsuo's name down in the Death Note then writes that he will die by being hit by a truck. The men try to molest the girl, but she runs across the street after 40 seconds. Tetsuo tries to chase her on his bike; he hops on his bike and goes onto the street. A truck comes out of nowhere and kills him instantly.


Light has no doubts anymore, he knows the power of the notebook is for real. Light races home.
Later on, while Light is at his desk, he encounters the Shinigami (Death God) Ryuk. Ryuk informs Light of the darker meanings behind having a Death Note.
Ryuk: "Having the Death Note means that you can go to neither heaven nor hell. When anyone touches the notebook, they see the Shinigami who originally owned that notebook; which is me." Light says that he already prepared for Ryuk's terrifying arrival, and says that " I'm glad you're here Ryuk, I want to show you something."
Light reveals to Ryuk the first three pages of the Death Note; each page is packed with the names of the worst criminals in the world. Light's plan is to rid the world of all the evil people who are corrupting it. Humans will begin to notice all of these criminals dying and think of it as too convenient. They will know there is someone out there judging the wicked, and all people will learn to start living their lives as good people.
Light's goal is to be the God of this new world of kind and hard-working people. The populace has designated this bringer of judgement as "Kira" (which means killer in Japanese.) When the world has accepted the way of Kira, Light will reveal himself and take over the world as its God.
The Death Note series gets much more interesting as you continue to watch it. A highly respected, and talented detective by the name of "L" has been contracted to find out the identity of Kira. L and Light have many mental confrontations over the series that overjoy the viewer. Death Note is a true intellectual anime.

The music in the series adds to the drama perfectly, it helps to keep the viewer on the edge of their seat. The voice acting is very well done as well, like most of the anime I have reviewed. Death Note is suggested for an older youth audience and over. If you are a fan of suspense, story, and crime mystery; Death Note is definitely the anime for you. My hope is that this review will urge you to try out the Death Note anime.
Until Next Time; I Am...
.
- The Anime Analyzer

Signing Out...

http://justdubs.tv/death-note-episode-1-english-dub/


^ First episode of Death Note; Youtube has taken the full episode down so I must link you to it in this manner.