Anime Review: Death Note

This weekend, Adult Swim just wrapped up the Death Note: a very popular series in Japan. Death Note is a story about a young man named Light Yagumi who finds a mysterious notebook. Upon touching the notebook, a Shinigami (God of Death) appears to him and tells him that whatever name is written in the notebook, that person will die. From then on, Light uses the notebook to purge the world of evil-doers. As time passes, the public takes notice of these killings and proclaims there must be some divine man who is passing justice upon criminals. They people name this entity “Kira”. Eventually, the government is fed up with having some “thing” mass murdering people (even if they are criminals) and they call the world’s greatest detective, known as L, to figure out what is behind the killings. The story continues to follow Light and L and their battle back and forth to bring each other to justice.

This series is quite frankly amazing. The story is very gripping and the characters are loveable. Though Light is very much the anti-hero, you can’t help but be on his side the entire run of the show. Light is far superior in intelligence than everyone but L. So anytime Light pulls something on someone, you get the same thrill that he does about how easily they fall for his traps. Simultaneously, L’s intelligence is equal to that of Light’s, so whenever they clash wits, it’s always a thrilling and tense moment. Will Light avoid L’s trap and finally kill him? Or will L dodge the bullet again and finally determine that Light is “Kira”? Every minute of this show keeps you constantly guessing.

So for those who haven’t seen this series and you are looking for a thriller to keep you on your toes, check out Death Note. This show is highly recommended (though be warned that there are very mature themes involved in this show so it is necessarily recommend it for younger audiences).