Death Note is a 37 episode anime based upon the manga series. The series has since spawned several live-action movies, games and novels. It follows Light Yagami, where he noticed a black notebook fall from the sky while looking out the window bored at school. He picks it up and has the words "Death Note" on the cover. Inside was a list of rules, which are slowly revealed over the course of the series. The special thing about the Death Note is that any name written int he book will die. You can specify various conditions such as time and the cause of death. If only the name is written down, the person will die of a heart attack. Throwing a spanner into the effects of the ownership of a Death Note is that you see the Shinigami (Death God) who owned it. In Light's case, that would be the horrific and nightmare-inducing design of Ryuk.
Death Note has excellent pacing and there is nary an episode where the plot isn't moving forward at a brisk pace. Furthermore, the dramatic music and scenes make even the most mundane of events (such as writing a name, or eating a potato chip) exciting. At some point, you will wonder how the story can keep itself going when Kira's methods are undetectable. This is answered when Light likes a challenge, takes risks and deliberately leaves crumbs for L until they clash. Light himself loves to put forward swatches of exposition and Ryuk, as a cheeky bystander yet not completely impartial self, will often reveal something new about the Death Note at the worst possible time to Light. Light will then have to think up of a plan on the fly to accommodate this. The risks escalate ever higher and no party can afford to lose the gamble.
Pretty soon, the clashes between Light and L escalates to the point where it becomes a massive case of "I know that you know that I know..." and each act accordingly. They deduce so many steps ahead it is ridiculous. Before you can even recover though, the plot throws in several new characters that completely change the landscape of things up until that point. It is also interesting to see the "friendly" rivalry between Light and L, something that may order on friendship and respect. It gets to the point that when it gets near the end and either one will have to lose, it feels surreal.
If it is even possible, Death Note picks up the pacing even more during the middle as Light proceeds to put his biggest and boldest plan to date into motion. It does feel like it takes a different direction and you won't understand why Light is doing it until the very end. Even then, it's kind of forced when so many things could have gone wrong and Light be found out. Death Note takes a risk after two-thirds of the way and seemingly resolves a major conflict point between Light and L. It is a risky move and one where everything that comes after it... doesn't quite work as well as before. Sure it is unexpected but the events that happen after just doesn't feel quite right. The plans from the characters feel very cheap too, as they break the rules or use underhanded tactics. Generally, most of the characters in the final third become either unlikable or cheap knockoffs of earlier ones.
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