My Death Note Overdose

So, Death Note is one of those animes that I had no doubt I would enjoy.  I've owned the entire series for years, but never watched past the first disc.  I'm a finicky anime fan, and as much as I proclaim to love it, sometimes I wonder if I really do.  It's like I love the theory of it, but something about actually watching it never leaves me quite as satisfied as I feel watching shows with real actors.

However, lately I've been migrating back into anime and enjoying myself so far.  I think I'm finally in a place where I can enjoy it for what it is without worrying too much about what it isn't.  So, when my roommate suggested we watch Death Note, it seemed like a great thing to do.  For the past few years, he's mentioned that we should watch it off and on, but we never did it.  Now that he's leaving in a few weeks, it seemed like a great thing to do, so over three LONG nights, we devoured this 37 episode series.  And what a series it was.  Below I'm going to share my spoiler free thoughts on it.  

For any of you who aren't into anime, or don't know what Death Note is, it's a series about this guy named Light who finds a notebook that was dropped into the human world by a bored Shinigami, which is basically like a death god.  Light learns that if he writes the name of someone in the notebook while picturing their face, they'll die.  Seeing a chance to clean up the world, he decides to use the notebook in an attempt to wipe out all the terrible criminals, thus becoming something of a huge mass murderer (or a savior, depending on how you wanna view him).  The world quickly becomes aware of his existence (though not his identity) and a huge investigation is started to bring him to justice.

So that's the basic idea.  If it sounds dark, that's because it definitely is.  For 37 episodes you kind of have to constantly fight the moral battle that the show presents.  How bad is someone who kills murderers and rapists?  Every character, even the ones who are trying to find the killer, has to confront this.  They also have to contend with the fact that just by trying to find this guy, they are putting their lives at risk, because if he ever learns their name and face he can kill them easily.

The show is insanely good, with an emphasis on insane.  This is some of the bravest storytelling you'll ever see.  I don't know if it's always the best, but it's definitely among the bravest.  This show produces jaw dropping twist after jaw dropping twist and stands proud and tall beside each one.  Obviously this is a great quality, but it does mean the tone and direction of the show can veer wildly at times.  In the heat of watching it, there were sections that I was a little unhappy with, as it broke away from my favorite elements of the series, but looking back on it I mostly just admire the show for having a no fear attitude towards completely demolishing itself and building it into something different a few times over the course of 37 episodes.

One thing that amazed me is how easily followed Death Note is.  The story is complex to a nutty degree, but at the same time it never feels like its getting away from you.  I think this was greatly helped by the fact that we watched 12 episodes a night, 3 nights straight, so there wasn't much chance of us forgetting any plot points.  But still, it's definitely a strength of the series that it was able to remain easy to follow despite delving into some of the craziest, twisting, complex ideas and plots you'll ever see.

The only thing I have to compare Death Note to is The Shield (or maybe Dexter).  In both shows, you're mainly watching someone who is probably defined as a villain.  Also in both shows, you live every moment with your stomach in knots, eyes wide as you watch the intricate ways in which the characters weave their web and stay one step ahead of those who are after them.

The ending of Death Note was definitely satisfying.  I felt a lot of conflicting emotions over it, and you really can't predict which way it's going to go, which is nice.  For a show this crazy, the sky was the limit for how they wanted to close it, and that works to their advantage, because you really can't even begin to have a clue as to where things will end up when the final credits roll.

So there you have it, my thoughts on Death Note.  It was fantastic watching it in one huge chunk, and I think I'll probably watch more anime this way in the future.  I'd definitely recommend this series to people, as long as they're into this kind of super dark, complex, kind of thing.  It's definitely not for everyone, as you spend the majority of the time with some really morally bankrupt characters, but it's just such a smart, engaging, deep, and insane show, I'm really glad I finally sat down and watched the thing.