Death Note Review (TV Series, 2006) #31DaysofHorror
content warning: death by suicide
Death Note is one of the most iconic anime of all time. It is based on a manga series from writer/illustrator Tsugumi Ohba that is just the perfect storm of high-concept horror storytelling. Light, a high school student preparing for college, discovers a mysterious notebook, labeled “Death Note,” that claims the owner can kill anyone in six minutes 40 seconds (or 6.66 minutes…) by writing down their full name while thinking of their face. Light decides to become Kira (meant to sound like “killer”), a force of justice who will create a utopia by killing all the criminals in the world.
The story is much more complicated than that, but that logline? That logline? Do you know how many horror writers wish they could come up with a concept that strong and easy to explain? There are lightning in a bottle moments in horror that every creator knows they will never be able to top. Death Note is one of them.
The 37 episode anime adaptation is one of the greatest horror/thriller series of all time. It doesn’t take long for Light’s plan to create an international hunt for the mysterious Kira. L, a teenage phenom of a detective, is his intellectual match and societal opposite. Light is tall, strong, handsome, and popular; L is a scrawny, moody outsider who is just a bit too blunt for his own good. They both test into the same elite University and become friends, sort of. L knows that Light has to be Kira, but L cannot prove Light is Kira unless Light does something to prove without doubt that he can kill anyone he wants to.
It expands out from there. Light is being followed by Ryuk, a Shinigami. Shinigami are death gods who control what happens after we die. They get bored watching from above, so they occasionally set up tests for entertainment. Ryuk “drops” his Death Note in a random city, waiting for the mortal foolish enough to pick it up and use it. Ryuk is waiting for Light to die so he can reclaim his Death Note and give Light the fate he deserves.
Light also comes in contact with Misa, a famous model and actress. She has also been in contact with Shinigami, complete with her own Death Note. Misa and Light become unlikely allies when they realize what their combined powers could do for the world. They grow to share a dream of a crime-free utopia, which balances out the threat of what the Shinigami will do to them for using the Death Notes at all.
Death Note is incredibly stylized horror. It does deal with murder as its substance, but the actual deaths are rarely shown. You see and hear just enough to know what happened and it’s haunting. The use of color and angle should be studied as a way to learn more about how horror/thrillers function.
The Death Notes have a quirk. If you just write a person’s name, they will die of a heart attack at that 6.66 minute mark. You can also specify exactly how you want the person to die. Light and Misa know they need to make the deaths look like accidents so their method can remain a mystery as long as possible.
Death Note is ultimately a horror about privacy in an interconnected global society. Light, Misa, and L can find anyone anywhere in the world with the click of a button. Light poses as Kira; L is obviously an alias. Light cannot kill L unless he learns his true name; L cannot prove Light is Kira unless Light reveals his alternate identity by accident. The medium of the Death Note proves nothing, as it only works for the person who originally found it.
There are scenes in this series that I can vividly replay in my memory years after originally watching the show. The deaths of major characters are incredibly stylized, powerful moments of visual storytelling. There’s also the memed-due-to-poor-translation “I take a potato chip…and eat it” scene that is as perfectly calculated and chilling as any Old Hollywood noir scene. You know the kind I mean: where the villain is shown calmly executing a plan they know will never lead to them being caught and you can do nothing.
Death Note is one of the strongest antihero stories because it sees no need to pretend the protagonist is ultimately a hero. Light’s intentions are good at some point. A world without crime would be wonderful. His methods of achieving it are increasingly ghoulish and disturbing, turning him into a far more terrifying monster than the giant death god following at his heels. It is clear from the first episode that there is no way this show will end with a happily ever after; by the last episode, you wonder if anyone in the world will survive.
Death Note is streaming on Netflix and Hulu. Both platforms have the sub and the dub.
