The Disturbing Truth Behind Death Note (Complete Series Review)

Death Note, as a complete series, has a disturbing truth behind it. One that has gone unnoticed by the vast majority of those that have decided to watch and read this incredible but not entirely flawless series over the last two decades.

Many love Light Yagami’s plotting and quick thinking, many more love the stoic and mysterious character of L, but what is it this series is actually telling us at its core and did the author and artist behind Death Note craft the best series they could? Let’s find out.

MUSIC USED:

-Beethoven's 9th
-Bones (over by Martha Kovalchuk)
-Golden Township of the Rising Sun (Cover by SeMi Piano)
-Biotope (Virtue's Last Reward)
-Clarification (Virtue's Last Reward)
-荒廃した街で (Devil Survivor)

Covers by Gabriele Motta:

-Dark Light
-L's Theme D
-Senritsu
-Near's Theme
-Mello's Theme
-Solitude (Kodoku)
-Reasoning

Video edited by Editor-san

[danieljudahcastillo]

As a wise man once said, "When L died, Light should've known that the end was Near."
I'll show myself out now

[YukiKitty]

I like how Ryuk feels like a stand-in for the viewer.
From the very beginning, it all just starts because he's bored.
Then the whole time, he's just eating snacks, never directly rooting for or excessively helping anybody, just this near omniscient watcher hoping to see something interesting.
Always laughing when there's a funny interaction.
At the end, without attachment, he just ends the story and goes "Yeah, that was pretty fun. Thanks for entertaining me, Light"

[Jonathan-gkjq]

One of the things I really love about death note is that light is an intelligent character, and one of his fatal flaws is that deep down inside he's actually very immature. It shows what happens when you give a child too much power and the responsibility intelligent people have to be mature. I really love when L calls Kira's view of justice "childish" because that's exactly what light is, a child.

[jeetgit]

I think the anime ending is more about the tragedy of a talented young man with a bright future destroyed by desires, showing how everyone can go down the path of evil even with good intentions. I never saw it as a way to justify Light.

[omnianimator]

I haven't seen anyone say this so, the person who suffered the most by the end of the series is Light's mom. By the end of the series, her husband is dead, her son is dead(unless they tell her he was a mass murderer which would suck even more) and her daughter is a vegetable. In the span of a few months her family disappeared.

[markymark]

One interesting thing I noted while watching, it was clear to me Light was afraid of death. He never once considered taking the Shinigami eye deal and instead manipulated others to do so. That was a hint to me he would go out begging for mercy in a sense

[calvinnguyen]

I disagree with your take that the Christian imagery is misplaced/gives the wrong impression. Far from it. I think it is a perfect representation of how Light sees himself - a god. Death Note is a story about a talented, successful young man defeated by his own arrogance. He sees himself as being so far above everyone else that even human life holds no value to him. The anime portrays him as having an insane god complex, and if you go back and listen to some of his dialogue, I don’t think the anime was wrong for doing that in the slightest.

[gloomsi]

Also disagree with the christian imagery. Light literally has a God complex. I don't think anyone who watches it is thinking 'oh, guess he must be god then' like no, its clear that's just how light sees himself. Super grandiose and it's very fitting, and I love the imagery. Anime's are supposed to build upon the source material, and I loved what it did with the imagery.

[deriqdgraves]

To me, the ending of the anime just highlighted how much of a coward Light truly was, not wanting to face the consequences of his actions, running like a scared dog. So yes it humanized him, but not in a heroic way, it just added to his pathetic nature.
Also, the only images that flash by of his life are ones where he's alone walking. Not of his family, nor of anyone from the task force or even L. We see clearly he was alone due to his own disregard for his own and others' humanity.
The light shining on him as he dies on the staircase is just highlighting how pathetic and human he actually is.
He didn't even make it up the stairs, which to me represents the whole story. He tried to ascend to a higher state, but because of his own actions, he was unable to climb any higher before succumbing to the human nature he hated within and without himself.

[lukenewton]

I think you greatly misunderstood what the anime's version of the end meant. When the flashbacks happened here, they were of the day he walked home with the Death Note and the flashbacks ended when he ran passed a younger version of himself who walked towards the place he just got shot implying that the Death Note had ruined his life. It doesn't in any way say his actions were right but, for a second, it gave the viewer a chance to have pity for this man who could've been someone great.

[CakesWarden]

Matsuda shooting Light in the finale is one of my favorite character moments in all of fiction. Absolutely gut wrenching.

[freddy]

In the earlier episodes where Light tells Ryuk about his plans to kill all criminals, I like the part when Ryuk counters Light by saying he'd be the only criminal left, if he were to succeed.

[bf]

While I don't particularly like Near, I feel like his character still matters and represents an important theme; "the idea of justice outliving individuals who embody it." L is the character we all love and rooted for, but like many heroes in real life, he inevitably dies and can no longer carry out his role. But his role lives on through others. Near is not the same charismatic hero who carries out justice as L was, but he carries out this ideal nonetheless, and eventually prevails.

[alien]

I do really love how Near doesn’t put Kira on a pedestal like L does, to me it feels fitting that Light / Kira was exposed by someone who never considered him an equal or worthy opponent, but someone who could see right through all of the grandiose claims and see Light as little more than a mass murderer with delusions of grandeur.

As much as I enjoy L and Light’s constant cat and mouse battling as a climax I do think Near was the perfect character to strip Light down to the rather pathetic and cruel person he actually is

[TheLastArbiter]

I didn’t interpret the theming that way in the anime. I think the god-like imagery around Light is meant to illustrate how HE sees his actions, not how we are meant to see them. And I think the somber ending (which did include some groveling, just not directly to Ryuk) means to show how he feels as he has been left totally alone with no one even bothering to come find him. He has just enough time to reflect upon what he did with his life and if it was worth it before he dies alone on a cold staircase to no glory and no pity. Nothing.

[Sammysapphira]

My ex-cop 75 year old Dad found my death note manga one time and started reading it and enjoyed it. Some truly special magic surrounds death note, it appeals to so many audiences.

[lesibalto]

What i loved about the part that light had his memories erased is that even in that state he slowly starts thinking if kira's actions are the right actions in his pov. It shows that the death note didnt change light at all, it just showed who he really is

[AFoxInFlames]

I will say that I have never seen someone write in a notebook with so much drama. I'm a writer and I always chuckled whenever he was furiously writing and the anime dramatized it so much. Never thought writing in a notebook could look so cool. Love it.

[kradeiz]

Another problem I had with Part 2 was how complicated it was to keep track of who had which Death Note and which Death Note belonged to who.

[tristansylvester]

I would actually, genuinely, argue ryuk's main thematic purpose is as a stand in for the audience. Always there, egging light on, cheering for L when he pushes light, laughing the entire way like he's watching his favorite drama. Because that's exactly what he's doing, and that's exactly what the Audience are doing. The face he makes during the famous chip scene while watching light murder dozens, while dramatically hiding it (that's a fun oxymoron) is exactly how everyone reacts to that scene. It's a funny scene, why wouldn't we react that way?