Death Note - My 2025 Experience of a 2006 Legend (Review)

Okay... why am I only watching Death Note now? In 2025? sighs. I just started watching anime this year, and there are times where I wonder why and what I have been doing all this time. I would have missed out on so many amazing stories, if I had kept on ignoring anime, . Death Note would have been one of them.

The Plot

Death Note tells the story of a boy called Light Yagami. He is a genius high school student. He randomly finds a black notebook, but it's no ordinary notebook, it's a Death Note. One that belongs to a Shinigami (who is basically a god of death). The rule of the book is simple but dangerous. Write someone's name in it and they die. Light, being who he is, decides that he's going to use it to "fix the world" by killing off criminals. Sounds noble at first but then it slowly turns into something else. Light was no longer just targeting bad people, he started playing god.

Then comes L. He's mysterious, weird, and also very smart. The whole Light vs L battle honestly felt like two genuinses playing chess but instead of chess pieces, it was people's lives that was being moved around. That back and forth kept me glued. Every time I thought Light had pulled it off, L would flip the table. And when I thought L had cornered him, Light would pull a crazy move. The suspense was insane.

Now, I have to say it, L's death felt so unfair. I had already fallen in love with him. That scene honestly crushed me because their rivalry was the heart of the show. The energy wasn't the same anymore. Some parts that followed even felt unnecessary, like they were just stretching it until the end. Then there's Light, seeing him die was painful and sad in a different way. There were people around him who actually loved and cared for him, but he only ever used them in his games. Misa, especially. She genuinely loved him but he just manipulated her like she was disposable. Still, when Light finally lost, watching him break down and die hit me harder than I expected. He brought it all on himself, yes but it was still sad.

I also can't forget Ryuk. He is a god of death and owner of the Death Note Light found. The whole time, he just stood there as this amused spectator but it gave the show this eerie balance. He was not a villian nor an ally, he was just watching the chaos because he was bored. But him being there, reminded me that Light was still just a human messing with something far bigger than him. And the Shinigami world in general gave the anime this creepy edge that made it even darker.

The truth is, the second half didn't hit me as hard as the first. The energy dropped after L's death. But I still enjoyed the way the anime ended. It was tragic but satisfying. The show generally was amazing. I'm talking about the plot and graphics. You should give it a watch, if you haven’t till now.

Images source: IMDB