First time watching this I know how it ends but still
Yeah first half is good second is meh
H
Life Note
its good until the timeskip, afterwards it feels a bit too drawn out but still decent
Shit
yes
i recommend reading it too
It's alright
this but the Netflix adaptation
No.
The manga is good.
The anime really is worse in every way. There's no harm in just watching it, but it would definitely be a mistake to watch it before reading the manga. Anyone paying attention would understand what I'm saying if they watched the anime after the manga. It is, of course, true that with the exception of what they did at the end, the anime is mostly quite faithful to the manga. (due to the short consolidated length of the manga, this is to be expected.)
The most egregious problem with the anime is what they did to the ending. They not only completely changed the very end with how Light dies, but on top of that completely removed the final chapter and epilogue that existed in the original manga. The omission of the epilogue, the changing to the penultimate chapter with Light's death, and other changes they made throughout are consistent with the complete mangling of the ending.
The anime depicts Light more negatively and in the wrong. For example, the anime has a scene where a desperate guy begs the police to not publicize a minor crime he committed on the internet, for fear Kira will kill him, conveying the public in general is terrorized living under his influence. Whereas in multiple instances the manga drives home the fact that the majority of people in the world support Kira, being ordinary people against crime who want to live in peace.
In a strange way I consider the change to Light's final moments consistent with this. In the manga, Light is more human, desperate to his last moments and dying a humiliating death, as in a final act of desperation begging Ryuk to kill the Task Force members with his own Death Note. The anime writers decided to give Light a more "dignified death," but in the manga we not only get a more realistic and human one, but an entire epilogue that acknowledges the nature of the Task Force, harrowingly essentially admitting they did the wrong thing, and the people still devoted to Kira and his ultimate sacrifice. It is at once more uncompromised, human, candid, and encompassing.
In general, the anime has a far worse tone than the manga. The manga has consistently good tone and humor, but this is largely lost in translation in the anime. Furthermore, visually the manga is if anything very above average in execution, whereas the anime is at best average and often outright shoddy for anime standards.
This is undoubtedly all due to the fact that anime is television and hence reaches a wider more mainstream audience, so the writers of the anime consciously dumbed things down for normies.
In my subsequent reply I will proceed, with covers for all spoilers, to attempt to demonstrate my point about the manga leaning in the direction of Light being righteous moreso than the anime with evidence from the manga. If someone has both read the manga and watched the anime, they will understand where I'm coming from, even if their views on the story and characters differ for any reason.
I later plan to make a more concise and focused version of all of this as a post in the Anime/Manga section.
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Overall, the manga is mostly neutral in regards to how Light and his opposition are presented. With the exception of the start of Chapter 60, I would even go as far to argue Light is depicted as being more in the right than the people trying to stop him. This is exemplified completely by the contents of the omitted epilogue: in it, both Matsuda and Aizawa outright admit the world is worse for having gone back to the way it was now that Light is gone. In the next scene, Near and the rest of the force are depicted with something to do. The manga concludes with Kira's followers, ordinary people desperate for a world where they won't be victimized by criminals, paying respect to him.
Also, prior to this, Near admits he is motivated by his role and seeking vengeance for the killing of his idol L, not because stopping Kira is necessarily the right thing in the broader interests of people in the world. (on the contrary, they make a point of acknowledging most people in the world support Kira, war is a thing of the past and crime is well on its way to being the same. In this scene, it seems the author's views are directly conveyed: just like the narrative mostly is, it is morally neutral in respect to who is "right" or not...there is no such thing.)
Mello's entire character exemplifies this: he is purely selfishly motivated by the desire to be the best detective in L's footsteps, and to get Light before Near does. Unlike Near, having no principles and not caring who he has to kill to get there. He is no less ruthless a killer than Kira himself and worse yet is not operating on the basis of any general principle or outcome. He just cares about being the best, not the lives of the criminals, (like Soichiro) nor what will happen to the world with Kira gone.
The author has said the Mafia Boss is the most evil character. He is purely motivated by the desire for wealth and power. Ryuk also exemplifies Chaotic Evil, but is very different, given how detached he is and his motivation being entertainment. Misa is a Neutral character, purely motivated in her actions by wanting Light and admitting this is more important to her than changing the world.
L himself is depicted as wanting to continue the case for its own sake and be victorious properly defeating Kira for its own sake, which is both why he seeks to prolong the case at one point, acts differently from other members of the task force, and also why he becomes depressed when he thinks getting Kira is hopeless. (whereas Soichiro is purely motivated on moral principle, and is the epitome of Lawful Good.) Shortly before Rem dies, she has a change of heart about Light, and says that Light killing people in the way of his goal was understandable.
It seems clear that Light was the first person in history to try to use the Death Note this way, because Ryuk makes it clear that all the former human users years ago used it in self-interest, probably attaining it when they were older. (in the end, Light did fulfill Ryuk's prediction his use of it would lead him to disaster and ruin, but crucially, for a different reason.) At the beginning and end of the manga, Light acknowledges any adult older than him would almost certainly just use it in self-interests, being more selfish and jaded.
Many fans have already debated whether Light or the Task Force is the side in the right, or neither. While about "who is in the right" are rather obvious, I'm more interested in being objective about how the manga presents itself, which as I said in the start is very morally neutral overall. I argue that it clearly is morally neutral and hence refuses to settle that one is "right" and the other "wrong," or that there even is such a thing objectively, but in the final analysis it leans toward Light being more right, as I have attempted to demonstrate.
One of the biggest arguments against my stance is people who say "it depicts Light as losing his mind." While this is true, I would argue this is mostly due to how he is pushed by circumstance: obviously all the people he kills are justified means in his eyes to his ultimate end, as previously mentioned that Rem acknowledged. Not only does he keep it together until the very end, when he's lost anyway, observing that he eventually "goes crazy" is not the same thing as claiming that all of his actions were merely "motivated by insanity."
Also, prior to this, Near admits he is motivated by his role and seeking vengeance for the killing of his idol L, not because stopping Kira is necessarily the right thing in the broader interests of people in the world. (on the contrary, they make a point of acknowledging most people in the world support Kira, war is a thing of the past and crime is well on its way to being the same. In this scene, it seems the author's views are directly conveyed: just like the narrative mostly is, it is morally neutral in respect to who is "right" or not...there is no such thing.)
Mello's entire character exemplifies this: he is purely selfishly motivated by the desire to be the best detective in L's footsteps, and to get Light before Near does. Unlike Near, having no principles and not caring who he has to kill to get there. He is no less ruthless a killer than Kira himself and worse yet is not operating on the basis of any general principle or outcome. He just cares about being the best, not the lives of the criminals, (like Soichiro) nor what will happen to the world with Kira gone.
The author has said the Mafia Boss is the most evil character. He is purely motivated by the desire for wealth and power. Ryuk also exemplifies Chaotic Evil, but is very different, given how detached he is and his motivation being entertainment. Misa is a Neutral character, purely motivated in her actions by wanting Light and admitting this is more important to her than changing the world.
L himself is depicted as wanting to continue the case for its own sake and be victorious properly defeating Kira for its own sake, which is both why he seeks to prolong the case at one point, acts differently from other members of the task force, and also why he becomes depressed when he thinks getting Kira is hopeless. (whereas Soichiro is purely motivated on moral principle, and is the epitome of Lawful Good.) Shortly before Rem dies, she has a change of heart about Light, and says that Light killing people in the way of his goal was understandable.
It seems clear that Light was the first person in history to try to use the Death Note this way, because Ryuk makes it clear that all the former human users years ago used it in self-interest, probably attaining it when they were older. (in the end, Light did fulfill Ryuk's prediction his use of it would lead him to disaster and ruin, but crucially, for a different reason.) At the beginning and end of the manga, Light acknowledges any adult older than him would almost certainly just use it in self-interests, being more selfish and jaded.
Many fans have already debated whether Light or the Task Force is the side in the right, or neither. While about "who is in the right" are rather obvious, I'm more interested in being objective about how the manga presents itself, which as I said in the start is very morally neutral overall. I argue that it clearly is morally neutral and hence refuses to settle that one is "right" and the other "wrong," or that there even is such a thing objectively, but in the final analysis it leans toward Light being more right, as I have attempted to demonstrate.
One of the biggest arguments against my stance is people who say "it depicts Light as losing his mind." While this is true, I would argue this is mostly due to how he is pushed by circumstance: obviously all the people he kills are justified means in his eyes to his ultimate end, as previously mentioned that Rem acknowledged. Not only does he keep it together until the very end, when he's lost anyway, observing that he eventually "goes crazy" is not the same thing as claiming that all of his actions were merely "motivated by insanity."
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Typo: While *my views about "who is in the right" are rather obvious
Great post. I never read the manga, so it’s interesting to read about how different the portrayals of the characters are. I was never a big fan of how all adaptations of DN suck off L so much.
As for if the anime is any good or not —
I enjoyed it up until L died
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