By Emil Favila, Reporter

Recently released in time for Christmas is the highly acclaimed series by written by Tsugumi Ohba and drawn by Takeshi Obata, Death Note: The Complete Series.  All 37 episodes are included on 10 discs along with over 3 hours of bonus content including creator interviews, behind the scenes with the Japanese voice cast, production art, and audio commentary.

Death Note first started as a weekly series from Shonen Jump from 2003-2006.  The 108 chapters were adapted into 37 anime episodes from Madhouse. Three live action movies were made from 2006-2008 and Konami has released various video games based on the series on Nintendo DS.  In a behind the scenes interview with series director Tesuro Araki, he explains how Death Note has “all the key ingredients for great entertainment. Captivating characters who give the viewer a sense of pleasure by stimulating their intelligence.”  And Death Note definitely delivers on that promise.

What would you do if you had the power to kill simply by writing someone’s name in a notebook?  Death Note is the story of brilliant high school student Light Yagami, who stumbles upon a notebook dropped by a bored Shinigami named Ryuk.  The Death Note allows the writer to kill anyone in 40 seconds by simply writing their name down.  The person whose name is written down will either experience a heart attack or some “accident” depending on how their death is described. What starts out as an experiment for Light to kill the wicked of the city, becomes a mission to bring a new world order at all costs.  Light will kill anyone who gets in his way without thinking of the consequences.  Death Note has enough twists and turns in this supernatural crime story that will have you rooting for the “bad guy.”

Watching Death Note is the first time in a while I’ve sat down and binge watched an anime.  Every episode has some sort of cliffhanger that keeps you pushing the play button for the next episode.  While the tone of Death Note is mostly serious, there are humorous parts within the series. A lot of character development also takes place within the 37 episodes.  Characters go from hated to liked from each episode to the next. Non of the characters are completely static. With that said, I would recommend watching Death Note from the beginning as this is not a procedural show.

If you only have time to watch one anime series at the moment,  I would recommend watching Death Note: The Complete Series.  It has action, drama, mystery, romance and a little bit of comedy thrown in there.  If you like crime thrillers such as Infernal Affairs with a little bit of sci-fi horror mixed in, then this show is right down your alley.  Pick up your copy of Death Note: The Complete Series on Amazon just in time for this holiday season!

Rating:

ComicsOnline gives Death Note: The Complete Series 5 out of 5 apples.

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