Someway later,my interest started fading away.It was rather odd in the sense that the series was beginning to repeat itself in the very essence of the beginning,Light VS L.Of course,L lost(duh)but somehow,Light just lost his brilliance in the later episodes.Bugging a place where he would hold his interrogation with only sound and no video?That’s way too obvious for any average person to figure out SOMETHING must have been done within the time frame.

I would probably have rated it about 70ish.

Man when I got to the Yotsuba storyline, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing….was that in the manga?

And plus, the show loses steam after Misa shows up.

84/100 is right….I would give it an 80/100.

This really is a fundamentally unique anime. Like you’ve said, it’s amazing how it breaks away from fighting/battle tradition (which is the very core of shounen anime), yet maintains an insurmountably compelling, suspenseful, and exciting plot.

Of course, there are flaws as well. One example may be a lack of background-probing for the central characters, like L. However, I also see this as a point of uniqueness. Instead of relying on the sob stories of each character’s past in order to develop their personalities, the show simply develops them through their thoughts/actions while moving the plot along. Considering the actual storyline of Death Note (a Kira-quest for world domination), the backstories of the characters are irrelevant. Also, with the display of so many different characters — Misa (model/bimbo), L (nobody/genius), Light (perfect student/crazy mastermind) — I think that one of the minor themes of the anime is that it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from; it’s about what you can accomplish with what you’ve got, here and now.

Also: minor characters. One thing I like about Death Note is its ability to twist minor characters into major players. Naomi Misora, who started out as just “that FBI guy’s fiancee” turned out to be a real threat-potential to Light. Likewise, although Matsuda was introduced as a moron (it pains me to say this; I think Matsuda’s an adorable idiot), in the end, /he/ is the task force member that takes down Kira. Because, hey, I didn’t see Near whip out a gun and empty some lead into Yagami Junior. (Though I’d love to see that. xD) Oh, and Ryuk. I believe that Ryuk was kept low-profile throughout most of the second half so that his sudden role at the end would come as more of a shock; we all pretty much dismissed his ramblings near the beginning of the series, so it’s a surprise when Ryuk comes back for the kill. All in all, even the minor (perhaps annoying) characters have their time in the limelight, which keeps them forever important to the show.

…But, okay, I agree that the Yotsuba arc was a letdown. xD

However. I still maintain that Death Note is one of the most suspenseful and compelling anime I’ve ever seen. Rating-wise, I think it deserves a place in the 90’s, at least. There /are/ flaws, but the sheer wow-ness of the anime and its periodic revivals of suspense outweigh the flaws undoubtedly.

ROCK ON DN!

Oh and I HATE shonen anime but I liked this one a lot since it didn’t shonen-y on me, ~~~

Near knowing everything, Mello being a top figure in the Mafia? Ridiculous. So many things were ridiculous, I can’t count them all.

Light, as a genius with such a powerful tool could easily destroy every opponent. Controlling anyone’s actions gives you more control than you think. First episodes were wonderful. You mentioned that Light is the only shounen character that declines instead of growing. Well, I have nothing against that. But only when it’s not screwed up. Near was the character that was artificially powered up. Like Songoku throwing his opponents into the heart of the sun. But on a different kind of level.

I think it was not Light’s mental power that was weakening - it was the scriptwriter’s/mangaka’s.

1/3 of the series was worthless. It could as well end when it was supposed to.