Deathnote (デスノート Desu Nōto) is a very popular manga first published by Tsugumi Ohba and produced into in anime by October 2006, and it aired for a little less than a year ending in June of 2007. Deathnote was incredibly successful, so much so that an American live-action film adaptation was produced and released by Netflix in 2017.
The show begins in Tokyo following the point of view of an intelligent yet disaffected high-school student named Light Yagami who finds the “Death Note”, a mysterious black notebook which can kill anyone as long as the user knows both the target’s name and face. After verifying that the notebook works and initially being terrified of its god-like abilities, Light begins to consider the possibilities of the Death Note’s abilities and sets out to create a utopian world without crime, killing numerous high-profile Japanese criminals, before eventually targeting international law-offenders around the world. Eventually, Light is visited by Ryuk, a Japanese god of death and the Death Note’s previous owner, who dropped the notebook into the human world out of boredom. Ryuk, who is invisible to anyone who has not touched the Death Note, is amused by Light’s actions and serves as Light’s companion. As numerous criminals and convicts around the world begin to die of inexplicable freak accidents and heart attacks, the global media begin to believe that an individual is responsible for the mysterious murders and start designating him as “Kira”, a Japanese transliteration of the word “killer”, who is both feared and beloved by the public and the law enforcement agencies. Hoping to apprehend Kira, Interpol requests the assistance of an enigmatic and highly-esteemed international consulting detective, known as L, who has cracked numerous crime cases around the world, to assist them in the investigation.
The entire show is a game of wits between the two main characters, Light and L, and to see which person will give up first. One of the most iconic scenes is shown towards the beginning of the show when L suspects Light of being Kira. After placing exactly 64 cameras in Light Yagami’s house as a way to try to prove Light is Kira. Light is able to outsmart L by hiding a miniature TV in a bag of chips as well as writing down names of people to kill in his left hand and doing homework in his right all at the same time. The level of genius Light Yagami has hit is incredible and throughout the show, you will see moments of Light’s brilliance shine. Below is a video clip of this exact scene described.
Light’s brilliance is what makes this anime shine and why I decided to watch this anime. Light thinks of himself as a God and believes all those who have committed crimes should repent and die for their sins. Even if the show is a little demonic I still highly recommend this show to anyone.
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アニメ (Anime) 
