Death Note

[Darkchilde]

Μόλις άρχισα να βλέπω το Death Note... 2 επεισόδια είδα, και μπορώ να πώ ότι αρχίζει με τους καλύτερους οιωνούς. Δεν πιστεύω πως δεν είχαμε topic γι αυτό το anime ή για το αντίστοιχο manga, μιας και είναι αρκετά δημοφιλής. Από τα πρώτα δύο επεισόδια που είδα μέχρι στιγμής μπορώ να καταλάβω τον λόγο.

 

Περισσότερα μόλις το τελειώσω.

 

ΥΓ. Γαι όσους ξέρουν τι είναι το Death Note: τι θα κάνατε εαν βρίσκατε εσείς το Death Note; Θα το χρησιμοποιούσατε;

[heiron]

WTF???

Darkchilde,είσαι ακριβώς στη φάση που είμαι κι εγώ τώρα.Είδα πρόσφατα τα 2 πρώτα επεισόδια και μου άρεσε.Μάλιστα σκεφτόμουν να ανοίξω νήμα εγώ και θα έγραφα πάνω-κάτω αυτά που γράφεις εσύ.Το κακό είναι οτι ο φίλος που θα μου έδινε τo dvd,το αμέλησε και τώρα θα αργήσω να δω τη συνέχεια.Μου είπαν ότι κάπου στη μέση κάνει μια κοιλιά αλλά γενικώς είναι καλό και ενδιαφέρον.

 

Στην τελική έχει να κάνει τόσο με τη (κατά)χρήση της δυναμης από έναν υπερήρωα όσο και με το ηθικό-κοινωνικό θέμα της θανατικής ποινής.Αν δεν έχει δικαστεί ο άλλος που ξέρεις αν αξιζει να πεθάνει.Εδώ δεν ξέρεις ακόμη κι αν δικαστεί μια χαρά.Άσε που το μεγάλο ερώτημα είναι αν έχουμε το δικαίωμα να σκοτώνουμε ακόμη και τους χειρότερους εγκληματίες.

 

Πάντως και οι δύο χαρακτήρες είναι ενδιαφέροντες...Δε ξέρω,πρέπει να δω τη συνέχεια.

Edited March 19, 2008 by heiron

[Darkchilde]

L δαγκωτό! Τι πανέξυπνος που είναι. Απλά, ιδιοφυϊα. Έχω φτάσει μέχρι το 12. Heiron, σε βοήθησε καθόλου το ΠΜ που σου έστειλα?

[heiron]

Α,δεν ασχοληθηκα γιατί ήμουν στο χωριο μέχρι σημερα το πρωι.Μου το είχε πει κι ενας φίλος απλά δε το προτιμώ.Τέλος πάντων,θα δω.Αφου είναι Ελ,δε θα είναι γ..τος; Χεχ,λιακοπουλειο χιουμορ...

[Darkchilde]

Review: Death Note

 

O Light Yagami είναι ένας δεκαεπτάχρονος που βρίσκει ένα περίεργο τετράδιο, το Death Note. Εαν στο τετράδιο γράψεις το όνομα κάποιου έχοντας στο μυαλό σου το προσωπό του, θα πεθάνει σε 40 δευτερόλεπτα από καρδιακή προσβολή. Το όνομα και το πρόσωπο χρειάζονται ώστε να μην πεθάνει κανένας συνονόματος. Υπάρχουν και άλλοι κανόνες του Death Note, αλλά αυτούς θα τους αφήσω να τους δείτε στο anime. Ο Light αρχίζει να σκοτώνει εγκληματίες, στην αρχή. Enter L, ή Ryuuzaki. Αυτός που του ανατέθηκε να βρεί τον Kira. Η αντιπαράθεση αλλά και η σχέση μεταξύ των δύο, Light και L, είναι πραγματικά αυτό που αξίζει στο anime.

 

Αν και πριν το δώ, είχα διαβάσει διάφορα spoilers, αυτό δεν με επηρρέασε. Το Anime είναι έτσι φτιαγμένο, που ακόμα και όλη την ιστορία να σου πούνε, πάλι θα ευχαριστηθείς να το βλέπεις. Από το πρώτο επεισόδιο μέχρι το 25ο είναι ίσως από τα καλύτερα anime που υπάρχουν. Από το 26 μέχρι το 35 είναι πάλι καλό, αλλά έχει χάσει ένα μέρος από την όλη ατμόσφαιρα. Το γιατί και πως καλύτερα να το δείτε μόνοι σας. Στα δύο τελευταία επεισόδια επανέρχεται η προηγούμενη ατμόσφαιρα. Η τελευταία σκηνή, με τους τίτλους τέλους είναι συγκινητική.

 

Μέχρι στιγμής ότι έχω πεί βρίσκεται στο 1ο επεισόδιο της σειράς. Η υπόθεση δεν είναι να μάθεις ποιός είναι ο Kira, αυτό το ξέρεις από το πρώτο λεπτό του anime.

 

Ας πάμε στα επιμέρους μέρη του Anime:

Μουσική: Το 1ο opening και το 1ο ending από τους Naitomea είναι πολύ όμορφα τραγούδια. Δεν μπορώ να πώ το ίδιο για το 2ο opening και ending. Ιδίως το 2ο opening του anime, είναι ότι χειρότερο έχω ακούσει, και το πέρναγα συνέχεια. Όσο για το 2ο ending είναι καλύτερο από το 2ο opening, αλλά κι αυτό δεν σώζεται. Η υπόλοιπη μουσική επένδυση είναι ταιριαστή με όλες τις σκηνές του anime, και χαίρεσαι να την ακούς. Θα προσπαθήσω αν βρώ όλο το OST, αν και μάλλον δεν θα είναι εύκολο σε CD.

 

Σενάριο: Δεν χρειάζεται να το ξαναπούμε. Καταπληκτική η σχέση μεταξύ Light και L, και η όλη υπόθεση είναι γερά δοσμένη μέχρι το 25 και στο 36-37. Από το 26 εως το 35 είναι αρκετά καλό, αλλά έχει χάσει αρκετά.

 

Animation: Madhouse! Κορυφαίο το animation σε όλα τα επεισόδια, δεν μπορείς να βρείς κάτι το μεμπτό. Είναι από τα anime που χαίρεσαι να βλέπεις.

 

Σκηνοθεσία: Πολύ καλή σκηνοθεσία, ακόμα και στις πιο σκοτεινές σκηνές ήξερες και καταλάβαινες τι γινόταν.

Χαρακτήρες: Όλοι οι χαρακτήρες του Death Note, είναι καλά δομημένοι και ψυχολογημένοι. Ακόμα και αυτοί για τους οποίους δεν γνωρίζεις τίποτα, είναι καλοστημένοι. Ο L και ο Light είναι οι πρωταγωνιστές, και είναι πολύ καλά ψυχολογημένοι και άψογα στημένοι, σε όλο το anime. Και ναι, λάτρεψα τον L, και μίσησα τον Light.

 

Και για το τέλος να το 1ο opening και ending songs από τους Naitomea, για να σας ανοίξει η όρεξη.

 

The World - Naitomea (Death Note OP1)

Alumina - Naitomea (Death Note ED1)

 

Και τα PV από το Opening/Ending των Naitomea:

 

The World - Naitomea (PV)

Alumina - Naitomea (PV)

 

Συνολική Βαθμολογία 9/10.

 

 

L, Do You Know Shinigami Love Apples?

Edited April 1, 2008 by Darkchilde

[heiron]

Πάντως εκεί στα μισά περίπου κάνει μια κοιλιά.Βέβαια έχει φάση το σκηνικό με τον Light και τους διώκτες του.Από την αρχή ως το τέλος.Μόνο που προς το τέλος περίμενα μια έκπληξη από το επιτελείο των καλών.Αναφέρομαι στους δευτερεύοντες χαρακτήρες.

[Guest roriconfan]

Τι L, τι Yagami. Πάρτε και το δικό μου review να καταλάβετε τι εννοώ.

 

PROLOGUE [Talk about making a black list!]

 

I would normally never have made this review. Who would bother reading 10 reviews in a row and still be interested in what I specifically have to say? But anidb member drdeo insisted on making it, so here it is. Please excuse its really long size but it was the only way it could match the other fine reviews found here. Also, be warned that it contains a lot of spoilers as it is supposed to pinpoint its flaws with great detail. And if that spoils some surprises to you, I WARNED YOU ABOUT THE SPOILERS! … Nobody forces the readers into spoiling the surprise…

 

 

 

ANIMATION SECTION: 9 [Top notch, realistic and fluid, with amazing camera angles, movement and shadowing effects.]

 

Most Hollywood movies couldn’t do it better. There is variety in faces, so nobody looks the same and most characters change cloths all the time, so don’t expect the “Naruto effect”. Excellent, as long as you like dark palette colors. Still, there are also too many static frames that ruin a perfect mark.

 

 

 

SOUND SECTION: 10 [Thrash Metal and chorus/opera themes are not for everyone but I personally loved them.]

 

Opening and ending songs are simply mind numbing. Some music themes repeat too often and may become tiresome after the 100th time you listen to them. But I personally didn’t find that to be a bother. Voice acting had no obvious problems and was fitting with every character.

 

 

 

STORY SECTION: 7 [The God Of The New World!]

 

The Death Gods in the series are really bored with their existence and from time to time play tricks with mortals, just to kill the boredom with a little laugh. An ingenious and amoral teenager named Yagami Light finds a supernatural notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it. He decides to use this note to kill all the criminals in the world and establish a new world order of peace and justice… with him adored as a God! Although he hides his identity, people worldwide quickly realize his existence and divide into pro and against of his actions.

 

The theme of the series is morality. Is it moral to kill someone, without giving a chance of redemption for his crimes? Don’t you become a criminal by killing against the law, even with the best of intentions? Does killing all those you consider “evil” can really make the world a better place? How can you be sure if someone deserves to die? What makes your personal judgment criteria better than anyone else’s?

 

Of course, the protagonist doesn’t really care about morality. In fact, he clings towards the opposite direction. He doesn’t believe in universal morality, God, after-life punishment, or ethics in general. In fact, the main atmosphere of the series promotes such beliefs. God is either uncaring with the world or non-existent and all beings in Creation are left to do as they please, with morality and justice being just human fabrications for maintaining social order. Yagami is beyond such ideals. He believes that the end justifies the means and that brilliant people like him are superior and thus always correct before the opinions of pitiful commoners. If HE gets what HE wants, then nothing else matters. He is willing to do anything it takes to promote his way of thinking, including taking advantage of people’s feelings and good intentions, winning their trust just to abuse them, killing good-willing people who don’t agree with him, killing supporters who don’t follow his commands to the fullest and even killing his zealots when they are no longer useful to him. And all these without even lifting an eyebrow, since what he does is in his mind always correct. He is an extreme form of a Machiavellian character! Or a psyched version of Cao Cao from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

 

Yagami’s rival in the story is “L”, another ingenious teenager who believes that upholding the laws is the closest thing people have to justice and morality. Logic and thorough examination are his ultimate weapons. He and his aid are in fact a crazed version of Sherlock Holmes and Watson. The story is mostly about Yagami vs L and his successors, trying to outsmart one another with various, cunning, multi-layered mind tricks. Yagami tries to hide the fact he is Kira, the supernatural killer, and dispose of L & co. without leaving incriminating traces around him (a VERY hard task!). L & co. on the other side tries to smoke him out and arrest him for the murders (also VERY hard!).

 

The detective-story aspect of the series is exceptional. A crazed Sherlock Holmes taking on a Machiavellian / Cao Cao-like character! Wow! Unpredictable and yet ingeniously planned-out, most of the time. The two of them are next to each other most of the time and yet they can’t do a thing to eradicate one another, just like that. Not without an ingenious planning that doesn’t leave room for openings for the other guy’s ingenious planning! Man! It’s like watching a chess game between two world champions! All the people are just pawns in their hands; manipulated to do their bidding, without even realizing it most of the time.

 

But the supernatural aspect of it is simply bullshit. There is no realism or reasoning with all the weird stuff in the story. Death Gods that are bored and throw Death Notes at humans? What the hell was that? Although there are several attempts to explain and reason the powers of the Death Note, there are still no explanations about the general existence of it in the world. A few of the “holes” in the story are the following: Why does the Death Note exist? Who made it? Why do Death Gods exist? Why are they bored with their existence? Did something happen that made them lose their reason-for-being? How correctly does the accent of the name of the one you want to kill must be written? What if the language you are using does not support a proper pronunciation? How well must you imagine someone’s face? What if you remember him as he looked decades ago? Why the pages of the Death Note never end? How does someone forget about its existence without having memory problems with everything else he was doing in the meantime? How does Near figure out Yagami is Kira so suddenly?

 

So, ok, some can arbitrarily think that God made the Death Note and the Death Gods and then stopped caring about His creations’ actions, thus depriving everything of a reason-for-being. And that the Death Note works with a “Word: Death” spell, which is triggered by translating the victim’s written birth-given name to its True Name via the Death Notes’ metaphysical energy. But these are just unsupported viewers’ opinions and thus not really canonized as true.

 

The purpose of Yagami’s struggle in the whole story is also at fault and fails to convince us that he can actually accomplish something. Yagami’s depiction of an ideal world is incorrect from the get-go. There cannot be a world of justice and peace, based on the fear of death. That would only be a world of terror and hopelessness. Also, in theory every human being loses his/her temper and does something really stupid at least once in his/her lifetime. There wouldn’t be anyone left alive in Yagami’s ideal world! But such reasoning is not a scenario weakness as we can simply justify it by saying that Yagami is a delusional, insane and megalomaniac person, bound to fail from the start. Or that he became insane because the Death Note offered him the power to kill without being punished for it. Whatever the reason, there is not a second of actual belief that he will succeed. Or at least of a happy ending for him. Throughout human history, people with total control over the lives of others don’t become more just and caring, as time goes by. They become crueler and more uncaring, thus slowly bringing the fall of their own creation.

 

As you can tell, the ending is not a cheery one. And it will feel really dry with what you were promised with all the presentation so far. I must say that it is different than in the manga, because the scriptwriters wanted a more dramatic and moral ending. Censorship is the root of all “adaptation decay” and so, it is worse than the manga version. But in both versions, you simply feel that the message the series promotes is: “There is no meaning in life, goodness is for suckers, brains and cunningness are all that matters, live the way you like and screw how others feel about it.” Totally amoral beliefs.

 

I have noticed great similarities between the scenarios of Death Note and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion . Both stories involve an ingenious youth who gains a supernatural ability and plans to change the world from the shadows. Yet Code Geass is a lot richer in terms of emotions and motives, and thus it is superior to Death Note. But then again, it is far less serious with all that lukewarm humor and fan service moments that it simply loses credit. Still, if you like one of these, you will definitely like the other as well.

 

Another minus in the story is the deterioration of its seriousness towards the end. Yagami starts making terrible mistakes and L’s side reaches to unsupported verdicts, without actual facts. Which means, Yagami gets stupid and his rivals know the truth with Deus ex Machina revelations. Either the facts were not presented properly or the scriptwriter simply reached to a story dead-end and made a poor attempt to wrap the story as he could. Whatever the reason, the perfect image of the event storyboard is ruined in the last episodes and spoils your great impression of the series, like a tower of deck cards that crumbles because of a badly placed card on the top.

 

But don’t get bogged down with all this criticism. The story is indeed great but because of its story holes and lack of supported facts in the end, it looses some points. It is still worth watching.

 

 

 

CHARACTERS SECTION: 7 [black and white, flickering their tones.]

 

Yagami/Kira and L are the only characters that really matter, thanks to their non-stop mind-trap competition. All the rest are just supporting cast that exist just to criticize or promote the actions of those two. You cannot really connect with any supporting character. Why?

 

Problem no.1: All characters have the same demeanor. From the top criminals and detectives, down to the normal every-day people, they are all serious/cynical and with almost no grimaces. I don’t say I support cartoon-like, extreme grimaces all the time, but a few wouldn’t hurt anyone. How can you like characters that behave almost like robots of the same assembly line? Especially in a setting that has no excused global depression in it. It is supposed to be like the “real” world, where people have the freedom of emotional variety and personal individuality. Sure, there are times where characters do silly/funny things but even those are just there to ease the grim atmosphere, not break a smile on someone’s mouth. They may not look the same but really feel the same, no matter where you look.

 

So, even the top two characters are essentially the two sides of the same coin : It’s a “Do what you want to change the world” vs “Follow the rules and let the world learn from that” battle that spreads to the entire cast. Of course, this is a hard thing to notice as all characters dress differently (Misa with Goth lolita style, Ryuk with punk style), and have quirks and personal tastes (L loves sweets) that cloaks the truth and fools most of us to think that they are different. It would have worked if ANOTHER problem were not so obvious.

 

Problem no.2: There is NO CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! How could the scriptwriters miss that? Absolutely no one changes beyond a figment of an OBVIOUS FROM THE START way, during a series that is supposed to be deep, philosophical, and spanning several years in duration. This is so stupid, it deserves a punishment.

 

Also, I must point out the fact that many characters are really stereotypes and not even their quirks make them different. The following characters were easy for me to predict their role in the story from the first episode they appeared. Misa is your typical lolita pop-idol that exists solely for fan service. Yagami’s sweet sister exists just to be kidnapped and used against him. Matsuda is the silly police officer nobody takes seriously that will stand up to his beliefs in the time of need and save the day.

 

So, the characters are great to watch but lose appeal when seen as what they really are: Stale and homogenous variations of the same, central personality. Still, their cool demeanor is so imposing that really saves them from becoming shallow and uninteresting.

 

 

 

VALUE SECTION [Valuable lessons on what NOT TO DO IF YOU GET OMNIPOTENT.]

 

Historical Value 3/3: It is simply the best detective/thriller/fantasy series ever made into Anime. What else can you give it?

 

Note: (Ghost Hunt may steal the crown of the best detective/thriller/fantasy series. I haven’t watched it yet, but I hear it beats even Death Note)

 

Rewatchability 2/3: Mystery series tend to have little replay value, as the story is not that thrilling the second time you watch them. But it still has enough elements and perplex story that may spur you to watch it again, just to grasp any details you missed.

 

Memorability 4/4: Totally! If you love the first time and it sticks with you, who cares about the value of rewatching it?

 

Total for Value: 9/10

 

 

 

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 8 [Note to self: Never write my name in a notebook!]

-On going scenario without fillers is always a sign of enjoyment.

-The whole “God is Absent, Ambition over Goodness, Truth gets you nowhere” atmosphere may discourage most people who are accustomed to more cheery stories.

-The whole idea of a book that can kill you by writing your name in it is hard to swallow at first.

-The series tends to be less “smart” after the time skip, as Yagami gets stupid afterwards. His plans are easily falling through thereafter and his enemies know the truth from the “scriptwriter’s mouth”.

-It was a lot more interesting than the similar other famous series I have seen so far, which were great but also quite boring most of the time.

-Anyone who has been fed up with kids’ shows will find it at least interesting.

 

 

 

VERDICT [My Dear Diary … today the following people were really nice to me … Oh, shit, wrong book!]

The accused is found … NOT GUILTY! … He is amoral, illogical, snobbish and doesn’t want to mature. But he does all that in a pretty cool way.

 

 

 

SUGGESTION (DEATH) LIST

 

This series is better than:

Boogie Pop Phantom, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Monster, Jigoku Shoujo. All these are supernatural/mystery thrillers but have really slow and tiresome plot.

 

This series is worse than or equal to:

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. It is sci-fi instead of thriller, but the story follows the same path.

Ghost Hunt. It is amongst the best supernatural/mystery thrillers.

 

P.S.: Do you remember that Christmas song about “Santa Claus knowing if you were good or bad, making a list and coming to town?” … BE A GOOD BOY!

[JohnMad]

Να ρωτήσω εγώ κάτι; Γιατί πιστεύετε ότι είναι τόσο δημοφιλές στην Ελλάδα το Death Note; Εννοώ εξωπραγματικά δημοφιλές. Το έχουν δει ακόμα και άτομα τα οποία δεν έχουν ενδιαφερθεί ποτέ ξανά για άνιμε και δεν ξέρουν καν θρυλικές σειρές του χώρου.

 

Ένας τετριμμένος αλλά απόλυτα υπαρκτός λόγος που εντόπισα είναι το σύνδρομο της νέας κυκλοφορίας: κάποιος κοιτά "τι καινούργιο παίζει" στα ξένα torrent και το κατεβάζει μόνο και μόνο επειδή είναι καινούργιο ! Έτσι αναπόφευκτα πέφτει πάνω στο Death Note, ένα από τα πιο δημοφιλή άνιμε της τελευταίας τριετίας (που διαδόθηκε η τεχνολογία DSL στην Ελλάδα). Αλλά προφανώς δεν είναι μόνο αυτό.

[Ballerond]

HUGE SPOILERS AHEAD!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Πολύ καλό anime, και πιστεύω αξίζει την διασημότητα που έχει...είναι αρκετά σοβαρό, δεν έχει τις ιδιαιτερότητες που έχουν άλλα anime οι οποίες μπορεί και να ξινίζουν λίγο τον απαίδευτο θεατή, γι αυτό και έχει τέτοια μεγάλη απήχηση ;).

Εγώ προσωπικά ήμουνα με τον L γιατί ενώ στην αρχή ο Light ήταν πιο εντυπωσιακός και χαρακτήρας με @@ μετά δεν μου άρεσε το πως δούλεψε και προτίμησα τον L.

 

Βέβαια όταν πέθανε ο L, ξενέρωσα λίγο που το μεταφέρανε σε τόση μεγάλη κλίμακα αλλά το τελευταίο επεισόδιο το δικαίωσε

;)

Edited July 28, 2008 by RaspK
Πρόσθεσα [spoiler] tags.

[Guest roriconfan]

Φυσικά και είναι διάσημο. Είναι αρκετά ρεαλιστικό σε εμφάνιση για να το δούνε ακόμα και μη λάτρεις του είδους και πραγματικά έχει πλοκή που δεν είναι μια από τα ίδια για να κουράσει γρήγορα.

 

Μια φορά, εμένα μου άρεσε πιο πολύ από πολλές διάσημες σειρές, όπως 24, Lost, Prison Brake και άλλα. Αμερικανιές χωρίς πραγματικά κάτι να πούνε, όλες τους.