Deathnote Rant(because it sucked).

[Atheist.]

I recently watched the entire DeathNote series and I really have to say, of all the anime's I've watched over the years, DN was potentially the best, and absolutely the most disappointing of them all.

Why? Here's why.
THIS IS THE PART WHERE YOU STOP READING IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT BECAUSE THERE ARE (many)SPOILERS.
snip
/rant.

EDIT: Do let me know of any grammatical/punctuation errors you find, it's late and google chrome's spellcheck is a bit bananas.

I completely agree with one exception. Doesn't

Spoiler

Mikami kill himself with a wound to the throat in order to spray blood everywhere for Light's escape?

Light wasn't shot....

Ryuk wrote Light's name in the Death Note.

[/unhelpful twobits]

Actually he was shot. Multiple times. Ryuuk just finished him off by writing down his name. At least in the anime, not sure about the Manga.

 

[Detective Prince]

I liked the ending of Death Note. I think that, in order for the plot to continue, L had to die. We had to be shown how far Light was willing to push in order to realise his goal that's why we had to see the best character so far die.

Near is cool. He's probably my favourite character. I think that if they'd brought in ANOTHER L we'd have been pissed off even more. Instead we're given an 'incomplete' L. He has the potential but he needs to learn boundaries as part of his immaturity and callous nature.

Mello is equally cool. He's the other side of L that Near needs. He is the decisive one, the emotional one. Both need each other.

Light is insane. There was no way Light was going to be able to get away with anything because by this point he was beyond corrupt. It would have made the ending terrible if Light had won.

 

[Accountfailed]

I recently watched the entire DeathNote series and I really have to say, of all the anime's I've watched over the years, DN was potentially the best, and absolutely the most disappointing of them all.

Why? Here's why.
THIS IS THE PART WHERE YOU STOP READING IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT BECAUSE THERE ARE (many)SPOILERS.
snip
/rant.

EDIT: Do let me know of any grammatical/punctuation errors you find, it's late and google chrome's spellcheck is a bit bananas.

I completely agree with one exception. Doesn't

Spoiler

Mikami kill himself with a wound to the throat in order to spray blood everywhere for Light's escape?

Light wasn't shot....

Ryuk wrote Light's name in the Death Note.

[/unhelpful twobits]

Actually he was shot. Multiple times. Ryuuk just finished him off by writing down his name. At least in the anime, not sure about the Manga.

He did stab himself, I didn't think it was the throat though, Can anyone (who doesn't mind rewatching the sucky ending) confirm this?

 

[Fwee]

One of the main themes in Deathnote is Justice, and the story that plays out to show how people's situations in life often leads to directly conflicting views on what justice actually is.

Spoiler: Characters and Justice

Keep in mind that Light started killing people out of curiosity. Doesn't seem too heroic.
He decides to use his new-found power to shape the world to his vision. Basically he's become Lulsec but uses heart-attacks on criminals (and anyone trying to stop him) instead of hacking Sony for the thirtieth time.
He wants L dead because Light wants to win. L uses that tactic to try to catch him. L had basically caught Light at episode 2, and even had him under "arrest" towards episode 11? Something like that. But since he had no real way to catch Light in the act with solid proof, he was killed. The way I see it he had already won, so there was nothing more that he could bring to the story.
Mello was unlikeable for a reason: He's supposed to be different from L and Near, but have the same goals and use much different (read: more brutal) tactics.
Near only continues what L has started, but with an almost L-worship complex and adapting some of Light's personal affectations. Kind of like the saying, "Become a monster to kill a monster."

I also thought that Schizophrenia was another theme to the show.

Spoiler: Schizophrenia

Light is acting like he's just a model student who would love nothing more than to help his father bring in the criminal "Kira", when he actually IS Kira and merely trying to help his own goals. He's acting to the point of believing 99% in his "good" persona when he has to.
He's constantly talking to an entity that only he can see, becoming best friends with someone he's trying to kill, winds up heading the secret operation with the task of catching himself, while co-operating with a rival group that knows what he's up to.
Finally on Schizophrenia: my own personal reaction to the show. I went through the show constantly shifting between cheering for Light and enjoying how he's squeak through traps right when I though he was finally caught, and hating his smug face and eagerly anticipating his downfall.

There are some plot holes, to be sure. But when are there not plot holes in any story, if you get down to a certain level of detail?
Personally I saw Deathnote as almost a new Shakespearean character study. The audience is basically given the perspective of the Shinigami, who can travel through the human world unnoticed. We watch as one person is given unmatched power and their use of it, the aftermath of his decisions, his rise to power, and his eventual collapse.
I went into the last episode with so much anticipation I could hardly sleep. I didn't know who I wanted to win, but with the way the previous episode ended I had a slight inclination about how everything was going to turn out.
I can see how some people would be upset about the way the story ended, but in a way it's fitting. Consider all the characters that are alive at the end: How are their lives affected by everything that's happened? Criminals were caught, justice was served, and no one's happy about it.
I love Deathnote.

 

[Fwee]

Both of you remind us that the series is actually a lot more subtle ad thematic than the OP takes it to be. I am not the worlds greatest deathnote fan but I at least attempt to understand the backdrop to it.

I take Deathnote personally to be basically "why your teenage notions of justice will not work in the real world" or "ideas that look great on paper seldom function as expected". It's almost like someone visited a news thread on here, read the average reply and wrote a story outlining why it wouldn't work.

"ideas that look great on paper"
I kind of laughed at that, considering the Deathnote itself. Almost ironic symbolism.
Reading through many of these replies and posts, I can say I'm very happy to see so many thoughtful opinions and discussions on a series in a medium (animation/comics) that is widely considered by the public to be "for kids".

 

[TheAmazingHobo]

Okay, here is the thing:

If you are watching Anime in this day and age and somehow seriously expect a really good finale, that is not only satifying in and of itself, but actually brings some decent closure to the series as a whole, YOU are responsible for you own suffering.

I´m not exactly sure WHEN it happened, but it appears to me that most people involved in the creative process of making Anime have lost their fucking mind and couldn´t come up with a decent, clever and satisfiying ending if said ending turned up, morphed into a giant robot and solved all their personal and creative problems via glowing fairy dust. (If you got that reference, you can hand in your nerd-card to my TA, he will give you that passing grade you so clearly deserve)

The time of good endings has come and gone.
There are no more left.
They have all been washed up on some symbolic island in the middle of a red ocean and have been chocked to death by a whiny emo.

 

[Himmelgeher]

I don't know how to do the spoiler thing. Spoilers ahead.
I actually recently finished the anime as well (thank you Netflix Instant) and I have to say... I completely disagree. Sure, the first 20 episodes are FANTASTIC, and the episodes immediately following L's death drag somewhat, I really liked Mello and Near. Yeah, Mello was a massive prick, and I wanted to see him die, but he was still an interesting villain, almost an anti-hero. You also seem to be under the impression that Kira was right, even at the end. It's pretty clear that he's gone bonkers-evil by the end. Yes, crime rates were down, but they only stayed that way while someone was active as Kira (info is from the TV Tropes page, I don't recall it in the Anime). As soon as he went inactive crime rates returned to their normal levels. And it's not Like Light lived by any sort of code. Anyone who he personally deemed evil: dead. Anyone who got in his way: dead. Anyone who had information to give him: dead. It's frankly disturbing that you view someone who, at his very best, was morally ambiguous as some sort of righteous hero. And as for Light's panic in the last episode being "out of character," well, that's only sort of true. Light came dangerously close to giving up when he thought L had caught him. Not only did N catch him red-freaking-handed, but EVERYBODY was a witness to it. It's never suggested that Light is completely devoid of emotion, and nobody with emotion is completely above panicking. No matter how much they're convinced that they're God. The whole point of the show is "is it really worth it?" and the answer it gives is "No". And it's also pretty clear that Mello and Near together easily outclass Light, so no, they didn't let the message get in the way of the plot. Unlike certain other shows which shall remain nameless.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

I stopped reading after Mello and Near were introduced (never watched the anime)

They just seemed so irrelevant, and with L dead there was no reason to stay interested. I hated Light as a character and wanted to see L, who I liked, winning over him. And I hated Mello and Near within seconds of their introduction, partly because it really seemed to me like the writer went:

'Huh, my comic has gotten into a really boring game of Batman Gambits between Light and L, I should introduce some tension. ZOMG L's dead. Oh wait, now I have to contrive some way for Light to not win.'

And thus were bad characters introduced.

 

[Remleiz]

I stopped reading after Mello and Near were introduced (never watched the anime) *snip*

I Felt the exact same way with the Anime, i felt after L was killed off that the series should have ended because it made it seem like Light had finally won, he beat his greatest opponnent

 

[Zeema]

I read DN and REALLY LIKED IT but when L 'won' i throught it was the end but then Near and Mello appeared and i was like 'okay...?'

i really liked stuff that Near did to solve the crime

 

[lapan]

SPOILERS

While i didn't particularly dislike Mello or Near, i felt like they were created way to similar to L in personality. I'm sure people would have liked them more if they were more unique. There were even several characters introduced in the second part of the story which i really liked.

The ending itself just didn't fit Light. Up to this point he always was a calm, calculating individual. He was that calm of an individual that he would even sacrifice his family to his justice when necessary. Yet once he was cornered in the ending he suddenly completely changes.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I think the problem was that Light outsmarted everyone, especially himself. He relied too much on Mikami, Light had become used to him anticipating what he wanted and that he trusted that he would only do what he wanted him to do. He didn't take in to account free will, Light trusted the wrong person.

The entire series was a testament to how careful and thorough Light was in his actions. Every detail plotted, every turn anticipated. His meltdown wasn't a result of him being caught or exposed, it was from that he realized his "perfect" intelligence had failed him.

Didn't like Near much, he won through sheer luck.

 

[default]

Right, I just literally finished watching Death Note about 20 minutes ago.

I hated Near and Mello. They were uninteresting, had no charisma and were bloody annoying half the time.

But you know what? I'm still glad the writers mixed it up. I was genuinely shocked when Light killed Ryuzaki, but the fact that he was killed just as you begin to learn a tantalisingly little bit about him just before he dies is pure genius.

You still don't really know anything about him, and now you never will. He remains an enigma.


However, I do think Light's character was handled... strangely... in the last episode. It is CLEARLY obvious he had been falling into a deep madness all this time, and this was illustrated perfectly with the unnerving change to his character.

But he dies a martyr, still as self-righteous and passionate about his goal as he ever was. There is no self realisation or actuation. Perhaps this is a good thing, perhaps the writers wanted to illustrate that he cannot be saved, that he is too far gone.

No one wins in this anime. Kira had become law and justice across the globe. Millions were devoted to him, he had cleared the world of crime and war. He had brought peace.

His ideals and acts will scar the world for centuries to come. Is Near really going to be the one to clear that up? I don't think so.

 

[archaicmalevolence]

i'll just agree on that the show did start to make me lose interest after L died, but i liked light as a character enough that it made me keep watching it.

 

[LogicNProportion]

I disagree, as I hated most, if not all of the anime in it's entirety. xD

But still, kudos.

 

[Loop Stricken]

I think most people try and forget season two. Because it was shit.

=====

Normally i'd say somthing like. I think the Magna ended perfectly and the series is great its my favorite and near and mello were cool but were all entitled to our opinion and i'd maybe try convince you but.

IT seems like you didnt buy it, you just watched for free, stole it, maybe pirated it watchred it online for free? all bad things that if you were a gamer people would hate you for. maybe if you stayed up with the series and bought all Magna like i did or maybe buy the DVDs i'd try to talk to you, but why should i care what a theif has to say about a series i love.

I just can't take this seriously when you call it Magna.

 

[Accountfailed]

Normally i'd say somthing like. I think the Magna ended perfectly and the series is great its my favorite and near and mello were cool but were all entitled to our opinion and i'd maybe try convince you but.

IT seems like you didnt buy it, you just watched for free, stole it, maybe pirated it watchred it online for free? all bad things that if you were a gamer people would hate you for. maybe if you stayed up with the series and bought all Magna like i did or maybe buy the DVDs i'd try to talk to you, but why should i care what a theif has to say about a series i love.

I am a gamer, and I also don't make assumptions of others, how's the weather up there on your pedestal by the by? And for all your masquerading as some kind of justicar striking down the filth of the world, your post amounts to "well fuck you because I like it and that makes you wrong." You've justified your hereto untold opinion by discrediting me, how do you know that I didn't buy the DVD online? Or that I don't have a Netflix account? Or any other means of watching this series legally. But is that relevant? Even if I hadn't bought it, would it make my argument moot?

No, no it wouldn't.

Maybe, just maybe you should think before you go mouthing off like you are the authority on the matter, because this thread has been mostly filled with logical and polite posts objectively analyzing what this anime(only the anime, I have not made any mention of the manga or the films, neither of which I have seen and therefore are not relevant) means. Yours is not one of those posts, in fact, your post doesn't contribute anything at all to this thread aside from projecting yourself and even then I wouldn't call that a contribution.

Also it's called a spellcheck dude, get to know it sometime.

 

[Accountfailed]

I feel like you missed a sizable part of the point. The ending isn't about "crime doesn't pay" (okay, it is by default, but it's bigger than that). At its core Death Note is a debate between the two largest debating schools in moral philosophy today. Light represents the utilitarian philosophy, a school whose core principal is that the moral choice is the one that does the most good or the least evil. Juxtaposed is L, who represents the deontological school of moral philosophy. Deontologists say that there is an absolute good and an absolute evil. The ending isn't about "crime not paying," it's a statement that there is an absolute good and an absolute evil, and clearly the writers believed that in a conflict absolute good would win.

Light's slow descent into power fueled madness is clearly a critique of utilitarianism, meant to point out that when you allow that sort of thinking it becomes all too easy for people to twist their ideas of what is for the best to fit with what they want for themselves. Inversely, L, who represents the deontological side, can not compromise, and has to make the ultimate sacrifice. In the context of the show, what that means is that he knows that ultimate good comes before his own desires (I.E. to live).

Now, I will admit that I have never been sure why it was Neir and Mellow who took over. Perhaps they were just the best way that the writers could think of to wrap it up, and demonstrate the affects of L's sacrifice, I really don't know. Still, I think maybe you owe the show a little more consideration before you write it off because of the ending. There's a lot of depth to it, and I don't think that the writers made their decisions carelessly.

I think you've possibly missed the point of the anime somewhat. I almost missed it too until I read a synopsis of the plot.

Spoiler

Light is a bad person. Light was the villain of the piece, albeit a villain who's shoulder you peer over. like all great villains he's not a madman or a cut-out monster; his methodology and viewpoint seem reasonable if you view it through his personal lens. He is a villain because he does bad things to other people, he is not a villain because he IS a monster.

however, Light was a narrow-viewed idealist who started to decompensate, his story mirrors that of real world serial killers in that what he views as an epic battle of wits ends up in him being taken down by someone who's existence he barely even registered. His quest to rid the world of rapists and murderers devolves into a quest in which he kills any and all criminals, then anyone who he is asked to for any reason.

What Light was doing was NOT reasonable, it only looks reasonable because he explains it to you very slowly and calmly. Light is a deeply flawed and self destructive individual, he was doomed to fail from the start. He is in no sense of the word 'admirable'.

Bravo bravo. You peoples could not say it any better. Both of you remind us that the series is actually a lot more subtle ad thematic than the OP takes it to be. I am not the worlds greatest deathnote fan but I at least attempt to understand the backdrop to it.

As a side, I will say that I did actually understand the thematic content of the show, and I knew that Light didn't have much of a chance, I do understand the whole monster-villian-hero swapping to blur the three concepts(this is not new to me ^^), my point is that they broke the established personality of the characters to achieve a particular ending, and message or not, that break is why I made this post. I would of loved the series if the ending had made any sense, ie: still worked within the characters traits, or even if they had made an attempt to shift the traits or the plot towards it, but you don't see Light getting more panicked in the last few episodes, you don't see Nier developing his conclusions like L did and creating backup plans, you don't see Mellow struggling with his hatred of Nier if he should team up or go it alone. Everything just sails on for a bit and then ends in a way that the audience is not content with. Lack of closure springs to mind.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I liked the second season, i don't think they could have pulled off another 15-20 episodes of L vs Light without it devolving into a complete mess.

Plus i like the fact that Light would have steamrolled over Near if he'd actually treated him as the "second L" rather than "that guy who is far inferior to L and poses no threat" Not to mention his almost complete dismissal of Mello.

It's a nice commentary on his overwhelming self confidence and insanity that led to his defeat.