This anime started out as a manga series by Tsugumi Ohba, artwork by Takeshi Obata and ran from 2003 to 2006. It was then turned into an anime series in October of 2006 and finally in 2007 it was turned into 2 live action movies. The anime series has 37 episodes and was directed by Tetsuro Arake and was produced by Madhouse in Japan and licensed by Vis Media for the English language conversion. Death Note has had a lot of praise from various critics for its story line and use of violence making the anime very entertaining. It has also been banned in China because kids were altering their notebooks to look like a Death Note.
So what happens when a Shinigami (or Death God) gets bored? The result is this series. Death Note focuses on Light Yagami a very intelligent high school student and Ryuk a bored Shinigami. Ryuk manages to get his hands on an extra Death Note, and as the world of the Shinigami is so boring he tosses the extra Death Note down to Earth to see if he can get a little entertainment. Light is disillusioned with the up rise of crime and the lack of justice in the justice system in Japan. One day he finds the Death Note and after thinking that the notebook is some kind of a lame joke he decides to try it out. When it works Light's whole life changes; he meets Ryuk who explains that he is only along for the ride and Light can do what he likes with the Death Note. Light decides to exact his own justice on those he sees as evil, as well as those who get in his way. He is dubbed Kira by the public because no one knows who is killing the worlds worst criminals. At this point crime in the world is virtually non-existent and the worlds law enforcements agencies get together to try and bring down Kira. At this point L the worlds best detective is brought in to try and find Kira. No one knows what L looks or sounds like or his real name.
Now you have two world class geniuses pitted at one another. We the viewer know who all the players are and it's this game of cat and mouse, and just how far Light is willing to go that makes this anime work so well. Just when you think Light is going to get found out something else happens and he is able to go on. What would you do if you had a Death Note: Me, well after I took care of all of the people on my s*@t list (you know who you are) I might be tempted to do the same as Light.
I loved this series from the start it has everything that turns a good anime into a cult sensation. The story line has been thought out with precision to hook you in from start to end. The artwork is top of the line and the soundtrack is also good. I was able to get the first 24 episodes very quickly when it first came over to the UK and made the mistake of thinking that it was only 24 episodes long. Needless to say I was tearing my hair out when I found out that it was 37 episodes and there was a hell of a long wait to get the rest. Luckily I was able to get the rest fairly quickly from the states. With is anime series I really can't see anyone not liking it, it is that good. Please note that I am talking about the series and not the so called anime films (Death Note R and Death Note R2) these are just the condensed versions of the whole series and you miss out on so much that it ruins the whole feeling of that anime.
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