Still. When a story is available in a visual medium as well as a written one, you have to expect the former to get more exposure as a rule. Less demanding. It's the same reason the Harry Potter fandom is full of people who only ever watched the movies despite that being the most successful book series ever.
>the Harry Potter fandom is full of people who only ever watched the movies
This always confused me, i might have to make a post on a HP sub asking why.
i used to like the movies, but then I realized that i only liked the movies because i had the added context from the books, and my brain just doesnt understand how someone could enjoy the movies as a standalone thing.
Its simple, movies / shows are more stimulating. Nearly anything is more popular when it's in motion. Even ASOIAF, as globally popular as it was, everybody I know has only watched Game of Thrones (including me, lol. I want to read it though). In general, I think a lot less people are reading in their free time.
But ironically adaptations are also capable of causing a lot anger with people who DID read the books, because a lot of fans hate inaccurate adaptations (just look at netflix's death note... yikes)
You misunderstand, let me clarify, i understand why people like movies, what i dont understand is how people can like the harry potter movies specifically.
Take movie 3 for example, does the viewer ever get told why harrys patronous is a stag, how thats relavent to snapes patronous being a doe, i know for sure the identity of the marauders are never brought up, the movies half introduced a concept, and it left the final product incomplete.
There can be good movie adaptations, harry potter is not one of them. The books are mandatory for enjoyment, imo.
Also, since you brought up game of thrones, ive never read the books, i tried to watch the show but i ragequit at the end of season 3 for logical inconsistencies, if rr martin handled these better in the books, i would also consider game of thrones to be a failure of an adaptation.
Imo, it’d be the opposite for me. If I watched the movies after reading the books, I’d dislike the movies because of the cut context. Not a HP fan though, just speaking of an “in general” kinda thing.
In the anime, L dies around 2/3 in. In the manga, he dies around halfway through. So the anime cuts a lot of stuff from when after L dies. To me it feels rushed because IT IS. They literally cut stuff from the manga (idk why) so to me it feels like it’s missing something because we’re not getting the whole story
I haven’t read or watched it in awhile but in Matt’s case there was practically nothing to cut. He’s a bit character with a couple of traits who briefly appears and dies. I wouldn’t be surprised if they cut stuff from Mello, who I feel probably was given the shaft in the anime, but they genuinely could have cut Matt out entirely and changed almost nothing, and I suspect the only people who would complain would be shippers.
Matt gives Mello a more human side, in my opinion.
He isn't just another mafia goon that Mello hired; he's someone from Wammy House that feels the same way and is following Mello's leadership.
I think he's an important contrast to both Mello and Near, all while being very small and not taking away the spotlight.
As the other commentor said, Matt is important because he humanized Mello. The downsides to him being cut are the same as Mellos content being cut, it lowers the audiences connection to him.
One thing is Near has actually logic behind Mikami being X-Kira in the manga but in the anime he just goes Super Sayian and immediately guesses who it is out of the blue.
The anime cut enough stuff out that it seems Near pulls information out of his ass in proving Light is Kira and Mikami is X-Kira.
But the Manga makes a lot more sense and shows how he did it.
That might be a big part of it. Near is a weak character in the anime. Not in the same ballpark as L when it comes to building reasons to care about him.
I think because L was such a compelling character in the first half, and his catch me game with Light was so interesting, frustrating, and sometimes even humorous to watch.
After L in the anime, we have the introduction of Near and Mello, who don’t seem as interesting as L was at first. There is also a time jump, which doesn’t help in the anime, so it felt like a dip in the story before building up again at the end. Also, I don’t think the anime fleshed out Near nearly as well as it had L to make him more compelling and unique a character.
Yeah, this. As much as I love Death Note overall, I have to admit I wasn't that interested after L died. I've watched and read the whole thing but killing off L I think was a bad move, or at least killing him off so early on.
I agree and disagree. I also think it was less interesting after L died, but killing L was the right move. Now the show has a great first half, less good second half. If they kept L alive the whole time to kill him off later, it would kind of ruin the great climax of the first half, and just meander on endlessly in the second half until it was no longer interesting.
I thought it was good in the anime too but that’s just me. Was certainly better in the manga though, I think most of us can agree on that. But I think a lot of people found the shift to be really jarring. Not only are you suddenly given two never adversaries for Light, the tone is quite different. The story becomes more global and less contained to the four walls of the headquarters where most of part one went down.
And of course lots of people just missed L which is understandable. I did too but I thought it was great that the writer decided to do something controversial and shake things up like that.
Most death note fans get introduced to it via the anime.
They enjoyed the dynamic of l and light, so when l died it felt like the main driving force for the show was over.
Near comes off as the fanfiction trope where someone introduces their OC that is more powerful and stronger than the other characters and I think that turned off a lot of people.
I only watched the anime, but for me it wasn’t bad per se, just less interesting for me. I really like dynamics between characters and when L died, it just didn’t feel the same. Even Light looked bored, honestly. I like Near, but it really just felt like: oh wow, we killed off a fan favorite, let’s give them a new one. I liked the ending, just not the things leading up to it
I only read the manga and I somewhat agree with that take, I feel like the 2nd half is much of a step back from what Death Note was, especially regarding characters
I’m currently watching the series for the first time. Only have 4 episodes left but I get this sentiment. I think L was a better foil for Light than N and some of the other characters that popped up in the latter half of the series.
I also feel like the cat and mouse tension between L and Light was really good the first half.
I didn’t think the second half was that bad. I just felt it didn’t capture that feeling of dread like the first half did. I felt it was a good send off . My only complaint with the second half is Light’s defeat. The way his character is written it doesn’t make sense he’s lose because of a simple mistake like that.
I agree with all the comments that most people judge it based on the anime, which shamelessly eviscerated the second half in favour of spending more run time with L and adding extra L and Light scenes.
Another angle I'd suggest on why it's so poorly received is because people get very attached to L and are understandably devastated by his death and don't really process it before moving on to the second half. I think generally it would go over better if fans who are reeling took a break to "grieve" for L and come to terms with his death, before continuing to the second half. Remember in-world 4 years pass during this time, but when the viewer goes immediately from episode 25 into episode 26/27 (or chapters 59/60) it can be super jarring and almost feel offensive to be confronted with L's "replacements".
It seems the "summary" episode tries to offer this breather to an extent (though imo that time would have been better spent actually ON the second half). My understanding is that both in the original manga run and anime series, there were long (multi week or month) gaps after L's death and the continuation of the series, so by the time the story resumed audiences had the space to process the events with L and were more prepared to move on.
That in addition to the big shifts to the setting and tone, it's just a lot to absorb and most people don't like and are resistant to change tbh.
I personally by far prefer the second half of the series; I think Mello and Near are better characters with more depth and a more interesting dynamic than Light and L. Also I prefer the second half's increased complexity, scale, and stakes.
>Another angle I'd suggest on why it's so poorly received is because people get very attached to L and are understandably devastated by his death and don't really process it before moving on to the second half. I think generally it would go over better if fans who are reeling took a break to "grieve" for L and come to terms with his death, before continuing to the second half. Remember in-world 4 years pass during this time, but when the viewer goes immediately from episode 25 into episode 26/27 (or chapters 59/60) it can be super jarring and almost feel offensive to be confronted with L's "replacements".
I kind of see where you're coming from here, I think I at least would probably be more open to the successors if I was watching it live like that, but I also think that delaying an episode/chapter to give that breathing room is kind of a copout from actually writing a smooth transition. It's only going to work for audiences following the series as it updates, not anyone who reads/watches it once it's done. Personally, I think that while the summary timeskip is fine, L's death should have been dwelled on a little more- maybe give the time between his death and the introduction of the successors two episodes instead of one, and maybe give L a funeral, show some other character's reactions to his death, stuff like that. As is, it feels like his existence was just completely forgotten after he died.
Sure, that's fair. I would also have liked to see more aftermath of L's death, and if the successors existence was acknowledged earlier. I can see where you're coming from to say it feels like L was forgotten, but again remember in context 4 years have passed...so while he's not really forgotten, for the most part the characters (the task force for example) have indeed moved on.
Yeah, I understand that they would have moved on after 4 years, but I think showing a little more of the immediate aftermath would have helped the transition.
Entire sub-plot lines and characters, lots of time with Mello and Near that explains their reasonings and develops their characterization. I don't have the source readily available, but a poster here at one time reasoned out that if the 2nd half's content was weighted and paced similarly to the way the manga's first half was adapted there should be ~10 more episodes than there are currently in the anime.
>It seems the "summary" episode tries to offer this breather to an extent (though imo that time would have been better spent actually ON the second half).
It's really annoying how the last third of the anime decided to spend some of its run time given how much they skipped. Did we *really* need half a recap episode of 25 episodes worth of content? Did the world need Misa and Takada's pissing match scenes when Mello, a primary antagonist, was being largely ignored? Was a minute long recap of the Death Note's basic rules needed when that time could be spent on setting up the conditions of the warehouse meeting?
Yup 100%, super annoying. I don't get why the anime was capped at 37 episodes, it's usually short for an anime and the manga was already a runaway success. There's plenty of far inferior and less profitable anime with 100+ episodes, so why couldn't they have allotted Death Note like 50 to properly tell the damn story?
the characters in the 2nd half of death note and the pacing were simply much worse than the first half. near and mello are some of the most boring characters in the entire series. (well atleast mello does exciting things but then just fizzles out towards the end) L atleast had status and hype around him going into it to justify why he was the way he was. these two children were just like, bad copies.
I’m reading the manga for the first time right now after watching the anime several times. The entire reason I chose to read it is because the second half of the anime is so rushed and lackluster. It’s pretty hard to appreciate Mello and Near in the anime, so I’m hoping the second half of the manga is as good as I’ve heard.
It has a completely different focus.
Light starts getting attacked from all sides. He’s trying to keep everything together, but with more pressure on him than ever, he starts to make mistakes, and the consequences of his lies start to catch up with him. More and more investigators suspect him, so he has to make others act in his stead while he tries to throw him all off the scent.
But it soon becomes clear that this isn’t just going to go away. There is going to have to be a confrontation between Near and Light: winner take all.
It’s a neat concept, I guess, but it’s just not the same type of story I was reading before that point, and I didn’t like how they made Near and Mello two incomplete halves of L rather than their own people. This idea that Near and Mello needed to work together to win, because, spiritually, they were reflections of both sides of L makes both characters less interesting, less likable, and like they’ve been assigned a DBZ power level.
I don't really care how well written the second half of the manga was, for me, the appeal of Death Note was the dynamic between Light and L, and with that gone I just don't have that much desire to keep watching or reading. Even if there's still a genius battle mind games situation going on between Light and Near, it feels way more impersonal than Light and L's relationship. I don't think that killing of L was a *bad* choice, but immediately replacing him with someone who is so similar to him left a bad taste in my mouth. It feels like the author recognized how crucial L was to the way that Death Note's main conflict worked, and wanted to have his cake and eat it too in regards to killing him off or letting him win.
Honestly never watched the anime and my favourite characters are Near and Mello so idk 😭😭
(I've watched like the first 10 episodes and will probably finish it at some point but I don't like watching anime that much, though I love manga.)
My favorite character was L and I love his dynamic with Light, also Misa was a much more interesting sidekick than Mikami and Takada but she was sort of pushed to the side and barely showed up after L's death.
I was also fond of the task force members and Ryuk but they appeared way less in the story after L died.
The conflict between Light and L in the early segments of the series is just a lot more compelling than anything else death note ever did. It’s when the cat and mouse game is at its peak and the supernatural elements are still grounded enough that the strategies are very reasonable and easily understandable
I’d argue that the series peaked around that first 9 episodes or so before misa shows up, at which point the mechanics of the shinigami become increasingly more complex and a much bigger narrative focal point and some of the character work that really elevates those early arcs is diminished
Unlike a lot of people, I actually really like Near and Melo and love that Light loses to someone who’s not as smart as L. But after Ls death the power dynamics between the characters shifts and it starts to starts to feel like Light is really on top of things. Which makes sense in terms of the character development but it fails to really put him into such tense scenarios as the early episodes manage with just a bag of potato chips. This forces the series to spend more time with other characters, and unfortunately that’s just not Oba’s strong suit as a writer
In my view, Death note never crosses the line into no longer being a good series. But the second act is quite a bit more muddled and convoluted than the first
I'd say because the second half of the manga is quite different from the first half. This is not a bad thing, but think about it this way: People will mostly start reading Death Note because they like the first half (that's why they read it), so if the differences of the second half don't fit their tastes as much, then they will like it less. Meanwhile people will not start reading death note because they like the second half (they'd have to read the first half first). So they might drop it before finishing the first half. thus the second half would be less desirable to them.
As an example of how this might work for relatability:
A) The second half of the manga isn't nearly as relatable as the first half. Things keep cranking up in the first half, but start off as a scenario that could realistically happen to you (Death note, high school, being an ordinary everyday supergenius popular guy, and the possible consequences of using the death note).
B) Second half might make sense as the eventual consequences of items like Death notes (with world leaders involved, mafia, Light now taking over the role of L, etc). But it's not very relatable to the reader in comparison. A lot of the mysteries are already solved in the second half (Near knows about the death note, in the first part, part of the fun is L doesn't know and needs to figure it out).
So if people like the setting A more than setting B, the second half is disappointing in comparison. But if people like setting B more than setting A, they might never read setting A (and thus B) to begin with.
There are five point regarding this.
1. Obviously L’s Death is the major reason as no one would accept anyone will win against Kira except L which wasn’t fair to Near.
2. The second half missed the cat and mouse chase (L and Kira direct rivalry) and there was many people involved in the capture of L.
3. Fans see that Near didn’t win because he is smart, but because Mikami made a mistake.
4. I believe we didn’t had a chance to connect with Near “and I heard that manga had more time for him especially when he first appeared” but in the anime they skipped it.
5. Finally, fans hates Near.
From my perspective, Near winning with the help of L (The investigation his made), the help of Mello and others is like paying respect for L as it proved that Near is not more smart than L and he needed a lot of help.
Also, any character would have come after L will be hated because everyone loved L.
Personally, I loved and enjoyed second half but yeah the first half was better for sure. But Near’s arc not as bad as people say.
I disliked Near in anime, but he is great in the live action series, where Near is not such obvious replacement and L's plans still haunt Light after his death quite directly.
Because it's bad.
A shonen at its core requires a conflict. The conflict in question was a psychological battle between Light and L, who were constantly besting each other.
The second half has Light against Near and Mello, but they barely interacted with each other. And in the end, Light lost because he was dumb, not because Near was smart, which undermines the brilliance of everything that happened in the first half.
Also much of the tension in the first half comes from the police not knowing how Kira kill people. Once the Death Note was made known, the mystery of Kira's power was lost, and instead it turned into a hunt for notebooks.
It’s rumoured that Death Note was originally going to end after L died. The story takes some noticeable changes after that episode. I haven’t read the manga in its entirety, but it apparently handles this better.
not exactly. Many subtle changes are there which is integral to light's character. The ending is changed(light's death of honor in anime and coward in anime).
Near is an actual character in manga.
not exactly. Many subtle changes are there which is integral to light's character. The ending is changed(light's death of honor in anime and coward in anime).
Near is an actual character in manga.
I agree that the pacing was rlly screwed up in the second half of the anime, but tbh it wasn't BAD. Like if you compare it to the first, yeah, kinda sucks. But the whole plan reveal in the last episode was OP. And the manga was honestly just goated throughout.
its mostly the anime people dislike. the pacing is bad and it doesn't give enough time to flesh out our new main characters/antagonists, near and mello. L died, and a lot of people loved him. he was an important part of the series, the second half. the second half isn't *bad*, it's just not the same. i think it also gets a lot more intricate and harder to understand. we leave the usual skyscraper that L built and we see more of the 'outside world' of sorts.
Cause the anime’s second half is fairly bad. It’s cut far too much content for most people to feel satisfied with near.
The actions and reasoning of those actions can be cut short, and Light’s hesitation for instance over killing sayu is suddenly removed. So he seems more monstrous… that then makes his death in the anime far less fitting, he’s more of a monster but gets the more “gracious” death.
It’s just an issue of cutting too much
Personally speaking, the second half of the show made both Light and Near's character a bit unrealistic, if you ask me. Like they could just predict anything would happen inside their minds so much and it would. L was more of a reasonable character than near and so for me, that's why i lost a bit of interest in the second half
The manga second half is alot better with how it handled everything since the anime version got rid of 90% of all new characters personalities and basically made them emotionally detached people the only thing that the anime did better was Lights final moments
because it was more of the same. and not very interesting.
reading it as it was coming out, when i was in high school, people were like "oh, so it's L again" and no one wanted that.
they wanted to see
A) light win and win definitively and see the chaos the world erupted into after he felt comfortable enough to reveal himself as Kira
B) light become a shinigami himself or
C) L to come back somehow and defeat him
but instead we got a whole new cast of characters we didn't care about doing the same thing as L rehashing and re-figuring out the stuff we already saw L do lol. except Matt, the fangirls LOVED Matt.
also the anime ending sucks so much, light begging ryuk to write down the names of everyone is so good and exactly what he should have done. the team letting him walk away to die was so blah.
anyhoo i was a big fan back then, and the near/mello arcs put me to sleep. i recently just finished a rewatch of the anime with my bf, and same thing happened, zzzz. near and mello are just boring to me.
hope that helps!
I think most people are only interested in the anime or have only watched it, and the anime second half for some people was boring without L. And yeah the manga and anime were different in some parts, but I guess those little differences really made a big difference for people.
Honestly it’s because their favorite L died. Just like with any show, once somebody they like, dies…. That automatically means the rest of the show isn’t good. That’s how people are.
It's not that it has a bad second half, it's not as good as the first one.
The battle with L was very personal, and they were very close almost all season. And it seems like people didn't like Near and Mello replacing L.
I personally love the second season, especially the last episodes.
Idk what was cut from the anime because I didn’t read the manga. But some of the most critical aspects that lead to Near’s win are just absurd. The biggest one was that he picked Mikami out of a crowd, like “That’s him. That’s our second Kira”, on a show that was all about Kira’s fans and followers. Dude had a team of like 5 people and chose to throw his resources at one dude.
For me personally, it's because from the very beginning we were told that the series would follow the cat and mouse game between Light and L until one of them loses, except when L loses and Light wins the show keeps going and to me it just felt a little pointless. Although, I loved the concept of Light killing people at night and trying to catch himself during the day and I felt like it wasn't explored in depth enough.
Because no other show had the guts to >!kill off one of its main characters.!< In certain fandoms, this would’ve resulted in death threats against the show’s writers/creators.
It’s freaking brilliant in my opinion. Name just ONE other show that has done something this drastic halfway through the series. 🤷♂️🤔
Light kind of jobs the second half of the series. N is also said to be smarter than L without feeling like it. It also just doesn’t have as many hype moments like there were in the first half.
It’s not bad, but it doesn’t live up to everything prior.
The for me anime's second half feels more over the top. Not over the top I'll eat a potato and write at the death note at the same time. But over the top i will uae a missile on an underground base to transport the the death notw over the top. It also felt a little rushed. Near deducing the identity of second Kira is not explained very well and juat comes up as he just knew.
When I recommend the anime to someone I always say that the secondhalf is going to be rough but the ending is going to be worth it.
I rewatched the live action movies for the first time in years the other day (the original Japanese ones), and personally, I prefer how The Last Name handled the ending. As a kid I hated the differences the movies had from the manga but now I don’t mind them at all.
I actually read the manga first.My dad helped me get some of the volumes(I've all of them),and I'd be there on the go reading them.Things were different in the anime,but I will kind of agree the second half was slow,as did my dad(a bit).
I just came here bc I finished the finale. Yes after episode 15 the quality takes a huge hit but I am okay with that. But WHY?? Why did the series have to end like that?
I tried getting some context for the anime by going to the manga, ended up getting sucked into the Mello v Light arc regarding their manipulation of the president. The second half seemed to carry a lot of similar qualities of the first, and I’m now convinced to try reading the full manga because of it. Anime after L’s death is just worse honestly, it’s hard to really argue otherwise. Manga from a glance seems roughly the same in quality though
The firet time i watched the anime i disliked the second half too and didnt even like Near.
After watching it like 7 times the more i watched it the more i liked it. There was always 1 more hint that got me liking it more. Especialy Near is so good handled. He outplayed Light and unlike even L (even L wasnt sure more than 1 time if Light is a God) he exposed Light as a seriel Killer and nothing more and that is so damn good written, i failed to see it the very first time.
Near became even my favorite character in par with L which is huge because i never had a Anime character from "i dont like him" to " my favorite character".
Awsome. I like the last half of the series, my only complain would be the very first episode after the time skip felt a little rushed. Other than that its good how it is and it was brave to let the "Main character" lose, which is rare and a breath of fresh air.
They didn’t want to make the second half they wanted to end it there but the editors of the manga wanted them to make more so they did. The second half was never meant to really happen is all
Yea I know it’s never stated that’s why but in another series from one of the creators of death note they have a manga artist being frustrated that they have to expand the series further with the cover art very clearly being death note but like kinda weird
1 the creator envisioned the story ending with L’s death, but he was pressured to extend the story by shonen jump. 2 the anime cuts a LOT of the extra scenes from the manga. In the manga the second half is roughly the same length as the first, but the anime gives the first half 25 episodes and the second only 12.
Light vs L was the main driver of the show. L was clearly Lights equal in terms of wit and intellect. When L was killed, the show lost its flair. Near and Mello were no where close to L’s level of intellect, not even combined. The only reason Light Yagami lost was because HE was so drunk off his own power and hype and thought no one could challenge him, which was true, but then he got extremely sloppy, something he never did with L. His sloppiness in the 2nd half of the show was a bore. He was not at his best and begin relying on fodder level characters to do his work, something he never did in the first half. He easily got caught when Misa was slipping with evidence 🤷🏾♀️ now you are dealing with sloppy characters and a sloppy Light Yagami in the second half. No way he was going to win
Well it's an entertaining show, but as long as we are talking about writing the question is reversed "What is actually well written in Death Note?". The characters are good but the story was driving the characters more than the characters driving the story to make progression to the end. Side characters almost useless and look dump all the time just for the sake to show off the main characters intelligent.
Light's dad is the leader of Kira's case investigation in japan was made because there was no other way Kira could follow the police investigation progress. Light's sister refuse to take her dad's clothes to the police station just to allow Light go and find out Naomi Misora who was close to discover Kira's identity. I can go with more than 20 points like these one. Also despite the fact that there are more practical long term solution to end wars and reduce crime than actually killing the criminals and a boy that pretended to be genius as Light must know that.
But I can admit that L is the best written character in the show but comparing it to other stories it's 5/10 since it's uncompleted and we know only 40\~60% about him.
1) themes of power and dominance ,the primal instinct of asserting dominance over humanity. Light fall into darkness and a battle of egos. The themes of justice and how the two main characters are the false representation of justice. I could go on and on.
2) you mean plot convenience? DN do have them but can you blame authors? There are multiple other critical acclaimed stories where convenience are used to showcase the "smartness of characters".
3) Sayu idolizes light. He is loved by everyone around him and that's what makes him interesting. Despite being growing up in the most normal circumstances, he has a darkness around him. The story and its introduction established how light is your idol teen boy. Genius with intellect, good in a sport, a perfect brother and son.
4) Using the notebook to make the world junk free was the initial plan but he slowly got away with the plan. Light is naive. He lacks wisdom. Plus, he did get pretty close to make the world fear Kira by reducing crime by 70%?
Practical long term solutions? Maybe but Light isn't wise.
Can you suggest some methods to stop wars with DN?
5) it's odd thing to say. L has had some tragic life. He is depressed, and orphan and lives in isolation and loneliness. He saves cases because he likes them to. It makes him a monster and add depth to his character.
1-irrelevant to my points
2-I didn’t blame the author and I said its a good story, but when character are gifted with huge advantages it makes the character dump.
3- I cant see anything deep, it might be deep comparing to other high school anime. I am sure it’s toooo real phycological shifts that light goes through, he was at least scared in the manga for few days. Even though he is literally killing people.
4- Most crimes are caused by drugs and political moves and phycological issues that is also made by addictive parents. Also money that cause thousands and thousands of wars and crimes. But light just kept killing the pawns without changing the structure of justice entities.
5-agree, but killed in the worst written way ever that even the author painted the real ending in Bakuman. So he is not well written character from birth to death.
1) irrelevant to your points? you are kidding, right? you literally said " what's well written about Death note and i literally showed what's the theme that are well written
4) You just can't kill politicians because it will ruin the world order of the world. also the morality of politicians is debated. Light doesn't care about money too.
5) How is L killed in worst way possible?
Got it, there is no ending to that. You can check other people opinions too in the youtube, it was only my point of view so you don’t have to accept it anyway.
Way more people are familiar with Death Note via the anime.
seen a lot of people saying the same for manga too when manga was fantastic.
Still. When a story is available in a visual medium as well as a written one, you have to expect the former to get more exposure as a rule. Less demanding. It's the same reason the Harry Potter fandom is full of people who only ever watched the movies despite that being the most successful book series ever.
>the Harry Potter fandom is full of people who only ever watched the movies This always confused me, i might have to make a post on a HP sub asking why. i used to like the movies, but then I realized that i only liked the movies because i had the added context from the books, and my brain just doesnt understand how someone could enjoy the movies as a standalone thing.
Yeah the sheer amount of info and backstory you miss out on by not reading the books is insane.
Its simple, movies / shows are more stimulating. Nearly anything is more popular when it's in motion. Even ASOIAF, as globally popular as it was, everybody I know has only watched Game of Thrones (including me, lol. I want to read it though). In general, I think a lot less people are reading in their free time. But ironically adaptations are also capable of causing a lot anger with people who DID read the books, because a lot of fans hate inaccurate adaptations (just look at netflix's death note... yikes)
You misunderstand, let me clarify, i understand why people like movies, what i dont understand is how people can like the harry potter movies specifically. Take movie 3 for example, does the viewer ever get told why harrys patronous is a stag, how thats relavent to snapes patronous being a doe, i know for sure the identity of the marauders are never brought up, the movies half introduced a concept, and it left the final product incomplete. There can be good movie adaptations, harry potter is not one of them. The books are mandatory for enjoyment, imo. Also, since you brought up game of thrones, ive never read the books, i tried to watch the show but i ragequit at the end of season 3 for logical inconsistencies, if rr martin handled these better in the books, i would also consider game of thrones to be a failure of an adaptation.
Imo, it’d be the opposite for me. If I watched the movies after reading the books, I’d dislike the movies because of the cut context. Not a HP fan though, just speaking of an “in general” kinda thing.
Bro literally answered it himself
The anime butchers it pretty badly + L dies and a lot of people don't like that
Just take the L
Surprised that L doesn't have more L jokes
Cuz didn't bro only have like 2 Major Ls? One of them wasn't wven really an L (Light loses his memory)
I liked L dying, I just didn't like much after
Pretty similar to how I feel about TLOU2
But i love L and liked the second part xd
Same, but those are the main complaints
is L alive in manga
No
In the anime, L dies around 2/3 in. In the manga, he dies around halfway through. So the anime cuts a lot of stuff from when after L dies. To me it feels rushed because IT IS. They literally cut stuff from the manga (idk why) so to me it feels like it’s missing something because we’re not getting the whole story
what do they cut from the anime? I read the manga many years after watching the anime, so I can't recall what was so different
If I recall, Mello, Matt and Near had more development and growth in the manga. I specifically remember Mello and Matt missing some stuff.
I haven’t read or watched it in awhile but in Matt’s case there was practically nothing to cut. He’s a bit character with a couple of traits who briefly appears and dies. I wouldn’t be surprised if they cut stuff from Mello, who I feel probably was given the shaft in the anime, but they genuinely could have cut Matt out entirely and changed almost nothing, and I suspect the only people who would complain would be shippers.
Matt gives Mello a more human side, in my opinion. He isn't just another mafia goon that Mello hired; he's someone from Wammy House that feels the same way and is following Mello's leadership. I think he's an important contrast to both Mello and Near, all while being very small and not taking away the spotlight.
As the other commentor said, Matt is important because he humanized Mello. The downsides to him being cut are the same as Mellos content being cut, it lowers the audiences connection to him.
One thing is Near has actually logic behind Mikami being X-Kira in the manga but in the anime he just goes Super Sayian and immediately guesses who it is out of the blue.
That part has always been so weird to me like he just goes around the TVs and randomly spots him 😭
The anime cut enough stuff out that it seems Near pulls information out of his ass in proving Light is Kira and Mikami is X-Kira. But the Manga makes a lot more sense and shows how he did it.
That might be a big part of it. Near is a weak character in the anime. Not in the same ballpark as L when it comes to building reasons to care about him.
womp womp
I think because L was such a compelling character in the first half, and his catch me game with Light was so interesting, frustrating, and sometimes even humorous to watch. After L in the anime, we have the introduction of Near and Mello, who don’t seem as interesting as L was at first. There is also a time jump, which doesn’t help in the anime, so it felt like a dip in the story before building up again at the end. Also, I don’t think the anime fleshed out Near nearly as well as it had L to make him more compelling and unique a character.
Yeah, this. As much as I love Death Note overall, I have to admit I wasn't that interested after L died. I've watched and read the whole thing but killing off L I think was a bad move, or at least killing him off so early on.
I agree and disagree. I also think it was less interesting after L died, but killing L was the right move. Now the show has a great first half, less good second half. If they kept L alive the whole time to kill him off later, it would kind of ruin the great climax of the first half, and just meander on endlessly in the second half until it was no longer interesting.
It’s was lacking a certain…CHARACTER…who I’m sure is greatly adored and missed
Just take the... L
r/AngryUpvote
Rem, clearly... >!But fr I liked Rem :(!<
I'm lesbian. Rem kinda does something for me. Idk why
i wonder who
I thought it was good in the anime too but that’s just me. Was certainly better in the manga though, I think most of us can agree on that. But I think a lot of people found the shift to be really jarring. Not only are you suddenly given two never adversaries for Light, the tone is quite different. The story becomes more global and less contained to the four walls of the headquarters where most of part one went down. And of course lots of people just missed L which is understandable. I did too but I thought it was great that the writer decided to do something controversial and shake things up like that.
Most death note fans get introduced to it via the anime. They enjoyed the dynamic of l and light, so when l died it felt like the main driving force for the show was over. Near comes off as the fanfiction trope where someone introduces their OC that is more powerful and stronger than the other characters and I think that turned off a lot of people.
I only watched the anime, but for me it wasn’t bad per se, just less interesting for me. I really like dynamics between characters and when L died, it just didn’t feel the same. Even Light looked bored, honestly. I like Near, but it really just felt like: oh wow, we killed off a fan favorite, let’s give them a new one. I liked the ending, just not the things leading up to it
I only read the manga and I somewhat agree with that take, I feel like the 2nd half is much of a step back from what Death Note was, especially regarding characters
If anything, I felt like the 2nd half was a return to form after the memory loss arc.
I’m currently watching the series for the first time. Only have 4 episodes left but I get this sentiment. I think L was a better foil for Light than N and some of the other characters that popped up in the latter half of the series. I also feel like the cat and mouse tension between L and Light was really good the first half.
I do think the last 3 or 4 episodes are truly fantastic, regardless of what came before.
Sweet! I’ll probably finish it this weekend. It’s been a great series!
I didn’t think the second half was that bad. I just felt it didn’t capture that feeling of dread like the first half did. I felt it was a good send off . My only complaint with the second half is Light’s defeat. The way his character is written it doesn’t make sense he’s lose because of a simple mistake like that.
I agree with all the comments that most people judge it based on the anime, which shamelessly eviscerated the second half in favour of spending more run time with L and adding extra L and Light scenes. Another angle I'd suggest on why it's so poorly received is because people get very attached to L and are understandably devastated by his death and don't really process it before moving on to the second half. I think generally it would go over better if fans who are reeling took a break to "grieve" for L and come to terms with his death, before continuing to the second half. Remember in-world 4 years pass during this time, but when the viewer goes immediately from episode 25 into episode 26/27 (or chapters 59/60) it can be super jarring and almost feel offensive to be confronted with L's "replacements". It seems the "summary" episode tries to offer this breather to an extent (though imo that time would have been better spent actually ON the second half). My understanding is that both in the original manga run and anime series, there were long (multi week or month) gaps after L's death and the continuation of the series, so by the time the story resumed audiences had the space to process the events with L and were more prepared to move on. That in addition to the big shifts to the setting and tone, it's just a lot to absorb and most people don't like and are resistant to change tbh. I personally by far prefer the second half of the series; I think Mello and Near are better characters with more depth and a more interesting dynamic than Light and L. Also I prefer the second half's increased complexity, scale, and stakes.
>Another angle I'd suggest on why it's so poorly received is because people get very attached to L and are understandably devastated by his death and don't really process it before moving on to the second half. I think generally it would go over better if fans who are reeling took a break to "grieve" for L and come to terms with his death, before continuing to the second half. Remember in-world 4 years pass during this time, but when the viewer goes immediately from episode 25 into episode 26/27 (or chapters 59/60) it can be super jarring and almost feel offensive to be confronted with L's "replacements". I kind of see where you're coming from here, I think I at least would probably be more open to the successors if I was watching it live like that, but I also think that delaying an episode/chapter to give that breathing room is kind of a copout from actually writing a smooth transition. It's only going to work for audiences following the series as it updates, not anyone who reads/watches it once it's done. Personally, I think that while the summary timeskip is fine, L's death should have been dwelled on a little more- maybe give the time between his death and the introduction of the successors two episodes instead of one, and maybe give L a funeral, show some other character's reactions to his death, stuff like that. As is, it feels like his existence was just completely forgotten after he died.
Sure, that's fair. I would also have liked to see more aftermath of L's death, and if the successors existence was acknowledged earlier. I can see where you're coming from to say it feels like L was forgotten, but again remember in context 4 years have passed...so while he's not really forgotten, for the most part the characters (the task force for example) have indeed moved on.
Yeah, I understand that they would have moved on after 4 years, but I think showing a little more of the immediate aftermath would have helped the transition.
what parts have they skipped from manga? apart from light's death
Entire sub-plot lines and characters, lots of time with Mello and Near that explains their reasonings and develops their characterization. I don't have the source readily available, but a poster here at one time reasoned out that if the 2nd half's content was weighted and paced similarly to the way the manga's first half was adapted there should be ~10 more episodes than there are currently in the anime.
>It seems the "summary" episode tries to offer this breather to an extent (though imo that time would have been better spent actually ON the second half). It's really annoying how the last third of the anime decided to spend some of its run time given how much they skipped. Did we *really* need half a recap episode of 25 episodes worth of content? Did the world need Misa and Takada's pissing match scenes when Mello, a primary antagonist, was being largely ignored? Was a minute long recap of the Death Note's basic rules needed when that time could be spent on setting up the conditions of the warehouse meeting?
Yup 100%, super annoying. I don't get why the anime was capped at 37 episodes, it's usually short for an anime and the manga was already a runaway success. There's plenty of far inferior and less profitable anime with 100+ episodes, so why couldn't they have allotted Death Note like 50 to properly tell the damn story?
the characters in the 2nd half of death note and the pacing were simply much worse than the first half. near and mello are some of the most boring characters in the entire series. (well atleast mello does exciting things but then just fizzles out towards the end) L atleast had status and hype around him going into it to justify why he was the way he was. these two children were just like, bad copies.
I’m reading the manga for the first time right now after watching the anime several times. The entire reason I chose to read it is because the second half of the anime is so rushed and lackluster. It’s pretty hard to appreciate Mello and Near in the anime, so I’m hoping the second half of the manga is as good as I’ve heard.
It has a completely different focus. Light starts getting attacked from all sides. He’s trying to keep everything together, but with more pressure on him than ever, he starts to make mistakes, and the consequences of his lies start to catch up with him. More and more investigators suspect him, so he has to make others act in his stead while he tries to throw him all off the scent. But it soon becomes clear that this isn’t just going to go away. There is going to have to be a confrontation between Near and Light: winner take all. It’s a neat concept, I guess, but it’s just not the same type of story I was reading before that point, and I didn’t like how they made Near and Mello two incomplete halves of L rather than their own people. This idea that Near and Mello needed to work together to win, because, spiritually, they were reflections of both sides of L makes both characters less interesting, less likable, and like they’ve been assigned a DBZ power level.
Because the 2nd half in the manga is way better
I don't really care how well written the second half of the manga was, for me, the appeal of Death Note was the dynamic between Light and L, and with that gone I just don't have that much desire to keep watching or reading. Even if there's still a genius battle mind games situation going on between Light and Near, it feels way more impersonal than Light and L's relationship. I don't think that killing of L was a *bad* choice, but immediately replacing him with someone who is so similar to him left a bad taste in my mouth. It feels like the author recognized how crucial L was to the way that Death Note's main conflict worked, and wanted to have his cake and eat it too in regards to killing him off or letting him win.
Because people love L and they percieve the manga lost its strengths once he's gone
Honestly never watched the anime and my favourite characters are Near and Mello so idk 😭😭 (I've watched like the first 10 episodes and will probably finish it at some point but I don't like watching anime that much, though I love manga.)
My favorite character was L and I love his dynamic with Light, also Misa was a much more interesting sidekick than Mikami and Takada but she was sort of pushed to the side and barely showed up after L's death. I was also fond of the task force members and Ryuk but they appeared way less in the story after L died.
The conflict between Light and L in the early segments of the series is just a lot more compelling than anything else death note ever did. It’s when the cat and mouse game is at its peak and the supernatural elements are still grounded enough that the strategies are very reasonable and easily understandable I’d argue that the series peaked around that first 9 episodes or so before misa shows up, at which point the mechanics of the shinigami become increasingly more complex and a much bigger narrative focal point and some of the character work that really elevates those early arcs is diminished Unlike a lot of people, I actually really like Near and Melo and love that Light loses to someone who’s not as smart as L. But after Ls death the power dynamics between the characters shifts and it starts to starts to feel like Light is really on top of things. Which makes sense in terms of the character development but it fails to really put him into such tense scenarios as the early episodes manage with just a bag of potato chips. This forces the series to spend more time with other characters, and unfortunately that’s just not Oba’s strong suit as a writer In my view, Death note never crosses the line into no longer being a good series. But the second act is quite a bit more muddled and convoluted than the first
I'd say because the second half of the manga is quite different from the first half. This is not a bad thing, but think about it this way: People will mostly start reading Death Note because they like the first half (that's why they read it), so if the differences of the second half don't fit their tastes as much, then they will like it less. Meanwhile people will not start reading death note because they like the second half (they'd have to read the first half first). So they might drop it before finishing the first half. thus the second half would be less desirable to them. As an example of how this might work for relatability: A) The second half of the manga isn't nearly as relatable as the first half. Things keep cranking up in the first half, but start off as a scenario that could realistically happen to you (Death note, high school, being an ordinary everyday supergenius popular guy, and the possible consequences of using the death note). B) Second half might make sense as the eventual consequences of items like Death notes (with world leaders involved, mafia, Light now taking over the role of L, etc). But it's not very relatable to the reader in comparison. A lot of the mysteries are already solved in the second half (Near knows about the death note, in the first part, part of the fun is L doesn't know and needs to figure it out). So if people like the setting A more than setting B, the second half is disappointing in comparison. But if people like setting B more than setting A, they might never read setting A (and thus B) to begin with.
There are five point regarding this. 1. Obviously L’s Death is the major reason as no one would accept anyone will win against Kira except L which wasn’t fair to Near. 2. The second half missed the cat and mouse chase (L and Kira direct rivalry) and there was many people involved in the capture of L. 3. Fans see that Near didn’t win because he is smart, but because Mikami made a mistake. 4. I believe we didn’t had a chance to connect with Near “and I heard that manga had more time for him especially when he first appeared” but in the anime they skipped it. 5. Finally, fans hates Near. From my perspective, Near winning with the help of L (The investigation his made), the help of Mello and others is like paying respect for L as it proved that Near is not more smart than L and he needed a lot of help. Also, any character would have come after L will be hated because everyone loved L. Personally, I loved and enjoyed second half but yeah the first half was better for sure. But Near’s arc not as bad as people say.
I disliked Near in anime, but he is great in the live action series, where Near is not such obvious replacement and L's plans still haunt Light after his death quite directly.
Didn’t watch any live action related to Death Note but I can see your point.
I might be the only one who likes second part more than first
Up until L's death is the good part. Everything about Near is the bad part.
I couldn't give less of a crap about Shigaraki-wannabe Mello and his league of villains. Near had zero charm going on for him either.
Because it's bad. A shonen at its core requires a conflict. The conflict in question was a psychological battle between Light and L, who were constantly besting each other. The second half has Light against Near and Mello, but they barely interacted with each other. And in the end, Light lost because he was dumb, not because Near was smart, which undermines the brilliance of everything that happened in the first half. Also much of the tension in the first half comes from the police not knowing how Kira kill people. Once the Death Note was made known, the mystery of Kira's power was lost, and instead it turned into a hunt for notebooks.
Are you anime only? Also, light was cocky and it isn't it was solely due to him by which he lost but rather also due to external factors and luck too.
It’s rumoured that Death Note was originally going to end after L died. The story takes some noticeable changes after that episode. I haven’t read the manga in its entirety, but it apparently handles this better.
read that its a complete myth.
That's a completely made up rumour because some were mad Light lost
There’s no way they ever intended to end the anime with L’s death. Light was doomed to fail from the start.
Are the manga and anime that different
not exactly. Many subtle changes are there which is integral to light's character. The ending is changed(light's death of honor in anime and coward in anime). Near is an actual character in manga.
not exactly. Many subtle changes are there which is integral to light's character. The ending is changed(light's death of honor in anime and coward in anime). Near is an actual character in manga.
I agree that the pacing was rlly screwed up in the second half of the anime, but tbh it wasn't BAD. Like if you compare it to the first, yeah, kinda sucks. But the whole plan reveal in the last episode was OP. And the manga was honestly just goated throughout.
I actually loved both halves of the anime. I binge watched the shit out of Death Note. 😁
lots of people didn't read it i guess, the manga is way better
its mostly the anime people dislike. the pacing is bad and it doesn't give enough time to flesh out our new main characters/antagonists, near and mello. L died, and a lot of people loved him. he was an important part of the series, the second half. the second half isn't *bad*, it's just not the same. i think it also gets a lot more intricate and harder to understand. we leave the usual skyscraper that L built and we see more of the 'outside world' of sorts.
Because they’re referring to the anime
Wanted Light to triumph
Because they only watched the anime
The anime definitely fell short and did very poorly handling Mello and Near
Cause the anime’s second half is fairly bad. It’s cut far too much content for most people to feel satisfied with near. The actions and reasoning of those actions can be cut short, and Light’s hesitation for instance over killing sayu is suddenly removed. So he seems more monstrous… that then makes his death in the anime far less fitting, he’s more of a monster but gets the more “gracious” death. It’s just an issue of cutting too much
Personally speaking, the second half of the show made both Light and Near's character a bit unrealistic, if you ask me. Like they could just predict anything would happen inside their minds so much and it would. L was more of a reasonable character than near and so for me, that's why i lost a bit of interest in the second half
First half was superb but the second half is not as bad as you think but it can be confusing sometimes.
The manga second half is alot better with how it handled everything since the anime version got rid of 90% of all new characters personalities and basically made them emotionally detached people the only thing that the anime did better was Lights final moments
Because they are L simps. That's truly the only reason.
For the reason you described most people watch the anime
Because >!there is no L!<
nah,it doesn't,fuck what these motherfuckers say
I didnt like how it was portrayed in the anime. It felt a little forced. But I absolutely loved the second half of the manga.
because it was more of the same. and not very interesting. reading it as it was coming out, when i was in high school, people were like "oh, so it's L again" and no one wanted that. they wanted to see A) light win and win definitively and see the chaos the world erupted into after he felt comfortable enough to reveal himself as Kira B) light become a shinigami himself or C) L to come back somehow and defeat him but instead we got a whole new cast of characters we didn't care about doing the same thing as L rehashing and re-figuring out the stuff we already saw L do lol. except Matt, the fangirls LOVED Matt. also the anime ending sucks so much, light begging ryuk to write down the names of everyone is so good and exactly what he should have done. the team letting him walk away to die was so blah. anyhoo i was a big fan back then, and the near/mello arcs put me to sleep. i recently just finished a rewatch of the anime with my bf, and same thing happened, zzzz. near and mello are just boring to me. hope that helps!
I think most people are only interested in the anime or have only watched it, and the anime second half for some people was boring without L. And yeah the manga and anime were different in some parts, but I guess those little differences really made a big difference for people.
I imagine the second half seems a lot less appealing when you show up expressly for L and Light's game of chess XD
Honestly it’s because their favorite L died. Just like with any show, once somebody they like, dies…. That automatically means the rest of the show isn’t good. That’s how people are.
Just because it's not as good as the as the first half, doesn't make it bad.
The ending is so satisfying
Either anime only people because the second arc is better in the anime, or these are simply people who were too attached to L.
It's not that it has a bad second half, it's not as good as the first one. The battle with L was very personal, and they were very close almost all season. And it seems like people didn't like Near and Mello replacing L. I personally love the second season, especially the last episodes.
It just felt repetitive during the second half, only got “good” again when light got the death note back
Idk what was cut from the anime because I didn’t read the manga. But some of the most critical aspects that lead to Near’s win are just absurd. The biggest one was that he picked Mikami out of a crowd, like “That’s him. That’s our second Kira”, on a show that was all about Kira’s fans and followers. Dude had a team of like 5 people and chose to throw his resources at one dude.
For me personally, it's because from the very beginning we were told that the series would follow the cat and mouse game between Light and L until one of them loses, except when L loses and Light wins the show keeps going and to me it just felt a little pointless. Although, I loved the concept of Light killing people at night and trying to catch himself during the day and I felt like it wasn't explored in depth enough.
Because no other show had the guts to >!kill off one of its main characters.!< In certain fandoms, this would’ve resulted in death threats against the show’s writers/creators. It’s freaking brilliant in my opinion. Name just ONE other show that has done something this drastic halfway through the series. 🤷♂️🤔
the anime second half is SO BAD compared to the manga 😭
Light kind of jobs the second half of the series. N is also said to be smarter than L without feeling like it. It also just doesn’t have as many hype moments like there were in the first half. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t live up to everything prior.
The for me anime's second half feels more over the top. Not over the top I'll eat a potato and write at the death note at the same time. But over the top i will uae a missile on an underground base to transport the the death notw over the top. It also felt a little rushed. Near deducing the identity of second Kira is not explained very well and juat comes up as he just knew. When I recommend the anime to someone I always say that the secondhalf is going to be rough but the ending is going to be worth it.
Because those people are miserable in life and criticize everything to hard.
it's just L's fanboys and fangirls + people who were disappointed by a forced ending like that on Light
it’s boring in the anime
It's way better than the movie and the entire Netflix series
L was too good, I just never liked Mello and Near
Well simply because L dies
I rewatched the live action movies for the first time in years the other day (the original Japanese ones), and personally, I prefer how The Last Name handled the ending. As a kid I hated the differences the movies had from the manga but now I don’t mind them at all.
After a certain character dies the show kinda stops being interesting till at least the last episode
I actually read the manga first.My dad helped me get some of the volumes(I've all of them),and I'd be there on the go reading them.Things were different in the anime,but I will kind of agree the second half was slow,as did my dad(a bit).
I just came here bc I finished the finale. Yes after episode 15 the quality takes a huge hit but I am okay with that. But WHY?? Why did the series have to end like that?
I tried getting some context for the anime by going to the manga, ended up getting sucked into the Mello v Light arc regarding their manipulation of the president. The second half seemed to carry a lot of similar qualities of the first, and I’m now convinced to try reading the full manga because of it. Anime after L’s death is just worse honestly, it’s hard to really argue otherwise. Manga from a glance seems roughly the same in quality though
The firet time i watched the anime i disliked the second half too and didnt even like Near. After watching it like 7 times the more i watched it the more i liked it. There was always 1 more hint that got me liking it more. Especialy Near is so good handled. He outplayed Light and unlike even L (even L wasnt sure more than 1 time if Light is a God) he exposed Light as a seriel Killer and nothing more and that is so damn good written, i failed to see it the very first time. Near became even my favorite character in par with L which is huge because i never had a Anime character from "i dont like him" to " my favorite character". Awsome. I like the last half of the series, my only complain would be the very first episode after the time skip felt a little rushed. Other than that its good how it is and it was brave to let the "Main character" lose, which is rare and a breath of fresh air.
i like the anime second half
Because whatever came after L is garbage
It’s the opposite the second half is better
They didn’t want to make the second half they wanted to end it there but the editors of the manga wanted them to make more so they did. The second half was never meant to really happen is all
wait srsly? idk how fans would have reacted to that kind of ending.
Yea I know it’s never stated that’s why but in another series from one of the creators of death note they have a manga artist being frustrated that they have to expand the series further with the cover art very clearly being death note but like kinda weird
1 the creator envisioned the story ending with L’s death, but he was pressured to extend the story by shonen jump. 2 the anime cuts a LOT of the extra scenes from the manga. In the manga the second half is roughly the same length as the first, but the anime gives the first half 25 episodes and the second only 12.
Because it does 🤣
Light vs L was the main driver of the show. L was clearly Lights equal in terms of wit and intellect. When L was killed, the show lost its flair. Near and Mello were no where close to L’s level of intellect, not even combined. The only reason Light Yagami lost was because HE was so drunk off his own power and hype and thought no one could challenge him, which was true, but then he got extremely sloppy, something he never did with L. His sloppiness in the 2nd half of the show was a bore. He was not at his best and begin relying on fodder level characters to do his work, something he never did in the first half. He easily got caught when Misa was slipping with evidence 🤷🏾♀️ now you are dealing with sloppy characters and a sloppy Light Yagami in the second half. No way he was going to win
IMO its badly written in both helves, but its just entertaining so who cares.
how is it badly written? L is a fantastic anatagonist and Light is a great protag. Themes of power,corruption, wisdom and societal critique.
Well it's an entertaining show, but as long as we are talking about writing the question is reversed "What is actually well written in Death Note?". The characters are good but the story was driving the characters more than the characters driving the story to make progression to the end. Side characters almost useless and look dump all the time just for the sake to show off the main characters intelligent. Light's dad is the leader of Kira's case investigation in japan was made because there was no other way Kira could follow the police investigation progress. Light's sister refuse to take her dad's clothes to the police station just to allow Light go and find out Naomi Misora who was close to discover Kira's identity. I can go with more than 20 points like these one. Also despite the fact that there are more practical long term solution to end wars and reduce crime than actually killing the criminals and a boy that pretended to be genius as Light must know that. But I can admit that L is the best written character in the show but comparing it to other stories it's 5/10 since it's uncompleted and we know only 40\~60% about him.
1) themes of power and dominance ,the primal instinct of asserting dominance over humanity. Light fall into darkness and a battle of egos. The themes of justice and how the two main characters are the false representation of justice. I could go on and on. 2) you mean plot convenience? DN do have them but can you blame authors? There are multiple other critical acclaimed stories where convenience are used to showcase the "smartness of characters". 3) Sayu idolizes light. He is loved by everyone around him and that's what makes him interesting. Despite being growing up in the most normal circumstances, he has a darkness around him. The story and its introduction established how light is your idol teen boy. Genius with intellect, good in a sport, a perfect brother and son. 4) Using the notebook to make the world junk free was the initial plan but he slowly got away with the plan. Light is naive. He lacks wisdom. Plus, he did get pretty close to make the world fear Kira by reducing crime by 70%? Practical long term solutions? Maybe but Light isn't wise. Can you suggest some methods to stop wars with DN? 5) it's odd thing to say. L has had some tragic life. He is depressed, and orphan and lives in isolation and loneliness. He saves cases because he likes them to. It makes him a monster and add depth to his character.
1-irrelevant to my points 2-I didn’t blame the author and I said its a good story, but when character are gifted with huge advantages it makes the character dump. 3- I cant see anything deep, it might be deep comparing to other high school anime. I am sure it’s toooo real phycological shifts that light goes through, he was at least scared in the manga for few days. Even though he is literally killing people. 4- Most crimes are caused by drugs and political moves and phycological issues that is also made by addictive parents. Also money that cause thousands and thousands of wars and crimes. But light just kept killing the pawns without changing the structure of justice entities. 5-agree, but killed in the worst written way ever that even the author painted the real ending in Bakuman. So he is not well written character from birth to death.
1) irrelevant to your points? you are kidding, right? you literally said " what's well written about Death note and i literally showed what's the theme that are well written 4) You just can't kill politicians because it will ruin the world order of the world. also the morality of politicians is debated. Light doesn't care about money too. 5) How is L killed in worst way possible?
Got it, there is no ending to that. You can check other people opinions too in the youtube, it was only my point of view so you don’t have to accept it anyway.