I wanted to like this. I really did. And I did for about the first 10-15 episodes. Death Note is probably the most popular anime ever, and when I read the summary, I could see why. After viewing 27 episodes and reading a summary of the subsequent 10, however, that opinion has changed a little bit.
First, a review of the things I DID like:
A) The Concept. Notebook that kills whoever has his name written into it, death gods that love apples, and two genius teens: one a student with a god complex, and the other a highly famous detective with a strong sense of justice and a wide variety of quirks. Who wouldn't want to watch this?
B) Protagonist/Antagonist Switch. Stories where the protagonist is the bad guy and the good guy is the antagonist are more in-depth. It makes you think more about whose side you should be on as opposed to the normal setup, where it's obvious that you should be behind the protagonist.
C) L. He's a great character, period. I love how the creators made him a quirky, unattractive genius instead of an attractive, pretty boy genius (*cough* Yagami Light! *cough*). This makes his likability depend on his personality and mannerisms instead of his looks. This so defies any male protagonist guidelines in general, and I love when authors have the brain capacity to create a likable character without making them look like they belong on the front of a magazine.
Now for the things I DID NOT like:
A) The Plot Randomness. After the first 10-15 episodes or so (and especially after 26), the plot seemed to have this "made up on the spot" feel to it, as if the author made the story up as he went along instead of mapping it out before he started writing it. Stories like that tend to tell me that the author is either overconfident or too lazy to plan it out beforehand. While this story had a few plot twists, none of them were really that twisty (except for the unpleasant one I'm about to mention in point B), considering that I wasn't really surprised by any of them and that I was thoroughly bored by episode 18. So if you like spur-of-the-moment plot development, this is the show for you.
B) They Killed L. Seriously. Many of you are probably saying, "It's good that the author was willing to kill off the main good guy. It's a great plot twist, and you don't see many stories where that happens, so it's creative." I do agree that it's a good plot twist, but IT'S L. The creators are quoted as saying that L is "the smartest character in the series," but yet, he gets outsmarted and dies. Not to mention that in the episodes leading up to this, Light wasn't exactly getting the upper hand. In fact, somewhere right before the middle of the show, Light seemed to start drifting away from his previously praised intelligence. L was so close to connecting all the pieces, when BAM! And why did he die?
Because no one seems to realize that Light's girlfriend is the most annoying creature to inhabit the universe.
I mean, really. Two death gods fall in love with her, Matsuda idolizes her, Light's sister loves her, and everyone else acts as if there isn't a little pest buzzing around the room. Honestly, how can you not make her want to shut up? I hated her 30 seconds after she first showed up. She's not even necessary to the story, to be perfectly honest, and it would probably be 10 times better without her. But still, L dies because of a shinigami's misguided love for her.
And then they try to replace him with children, one of which is an obvious ripoff of L himself (dark circles under the eyes, crouching position, black eyes, calm demeanor, etc.). And they don't even offer something like a clever he's-still-a-genius-because-he-planned-his-death solution, which would have made sense considering how smart he's supposed to be. The authors also made L's death out to be unimportant. No one grieves for him or gives him a funeral. Everyone's just like, "L's dead, we need a replacement." Instead they just killed him off and pretended that nothing major just happened.
Overall, it was a great concept with a great start that spiraled into a bunch of random not-so-well-thought-out plothole coverups. I can see why most people like it, but it got way too boring and unoriginal to me.
Finally, I would like to say that this is my opinion. Everyone has them, so I'm sorry if mine is unsatisfactory to you, but I'm just sharing why I think a very popular show is a bit overrated.
