Death Note Volume 1

2006, Japan

Director: Tetsuro Araki

Writer: Takeshi Obata, Tsugumi Oba

Starring: Mamoru Miyano, Kappei Yamaguchi, Shido Nakamura, Naoya Uchida

Genre: Anime, Thriller, Fantasy

DVD Distributor: VIZ Media

Rating: T+ for Older Teen

Running Time 100 minutes (4 episodes)

Website: http://deathnote.viz.com/

Buy it here

In my limited experience, it’s rare that North American audiences get to start watching an anime series from scratch. Naruto episodes run into the hundreds, they had to invent a new number high enough to count Pokemons, and it would take longer to watch every entry in the Dragonball Z series than it did to make them, which doesn’t even make any sense. Jumping on an anime bandwagon that’s already rolling can be as unsatisfying as showing up to a house party after all the good chips have been eaten and subsequently thrown up in the sink.  

The Death Note anime series, however, is just now hitting our shores, providing a great opportunity for viewers perhaps unfamiliar with anime to see what the genre has to offer. And Death Note, based on a Manga and also adapted in live-action form, is an excellent starting point for new fans, as it’s a perfect distillation of some of the essential elements of anime.   

COMIC BOOK BIN

Firstly, like a lot of anime, it moves like a freight train running meth across the border. In the first episode, high school student Light discovers a notebook dropped by a death god. If someone’s name is written in the book, they will die within 40 seconds. He quickly decides to use the book to create a criminal-free utopia over which he will rule as a benevolent despot.   Light moves from timid experimentation to the My Lai massacre in maybe 15 minutes tops, a drastic leap in character development that betrays schizophrenia either on Light’s part or that of the editor’s. But the brisk pacing keeps everything up-tempo and exciting, instead of spiralling out of control.

Secondly, Death Note quickly becomes extremely complex. Even in the first four episodes, the notebook has more rules than most probations. If I found a notebook with so much power yet so many regulations, I’d probably throw it out before I started feeling like I was studying for a bar exam in math law. But that only adds depth to the story, rather than confusion. And once the character of L, a mysterious detective, is introduced, it becomes clear that the layers of complexity will only serve to create a dense Sherlock Holmes-like plot.

Finally, there’s a guy in the movie that looks like an undead KISS fan. No matter what, there always seems to be someone somewhere in every anime that could play bass in Gorgoroth should the need arise. In this case, it’s Ryuk, the death god who originally dropped the book. The animation in the series is top-notch, which gives Ryuk and his fellow death gods an ominous look that avoids camp, but never gets heavy enough to slow down the meth train.

The bassist from Gorgoroth, in case you're interested.

VIZ Media’s DVD contains the first four episodes of the series, in both English and Japan, as well as behind the scenes features and audio commentary.

Rating: 8 on 10

alkratina@comicbookbin.com