Forum - View topicWhy is Death Note so popular?
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wii.sabi
 Posts: 5 Location: US |
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What did it for me was the question of what if. "What if" a book that allowed you to judge other people randomly fell from the sky, and you just happened to be there, and just happened to pick it up. This notebook gives you god-like powers, but the real question is would you exercise them, and if so, in what way?
I think from a psychological standpoint, that’s why it’s so interesting to me. I picked up early on that Light was a tad bit arrogant, to say the least, so it was really hard to figure out what exactly he would decide to do with the book in the end. Sometimes though, it’s interesting to ask yourself, what would you do in that position? The answer for some may be surprising, for others not so much. Just my 2¢. I’m new to the anime world (and around here), so my own discoveries are on-going…as JesuOtaku mentioned, most fans are a bit twisted anyway, right? |
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arachneia
 Posts: 415 Location: On the wings of Bob Lennon |
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That's a disgusting attitude. Prisons are supposed to be correction facilities, not death traps. I find it truly awful that people can consider themselves above convicts because they haven't transgressed as much (or gotten caught doing it) while at the same time being completely indifferent to their well-being.
Is it really a question the anime is posing? No one apart from Light - who is a deranged megalomaniac - has any inclination towards "judging" everyone else. At any rate, it should have been something to delve in deeper, but Death Note was apparently too concerned with pulling off those unlikely twists to consider something truly interesting and relevant like human morality. |
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JacobC
ANN Contributor
 Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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Not necessarily in a bad way. I kinda meant that we otaku are always going to be a strange breed. In whatever way, people who like anime generally view the world differently. I mean, everytime I've gone to a con, 2/3 of the people I meet I think "WOW. This person is really different and refreshing and wonderful to get to know." And the other 1/3 is "Oh geez, this person is freaking me out, I think there's something REALLY wrong upstairs..." Just the way it is. I am happy that the majority of fans I meet are really cool and unique people, though, they tend to be people who enjoy learning about other cultures and exploring the wild and imaginative in everything...But that does leave the Narutards, Death Noobs, etc. and people who like anime because...their minds never matured, but their bodies did. I'm gonna leave it at that. -.-'
THANK YOU. I'm SO tired of hearing people say "Death Note is a really deep and complex show." Ha ha, no it isn't. It's closer to CSI and similar crime shows where they exploit the dark twisted nature of the crime itself instead of morally ruminating on human nature. "Look at how the body was hidden so we'd be deceived about the time of death!" not "Why would anyone do this, and were there extenuating circumstances?" That would be why it grosses out some viewers, not because of violence, but moral irrelevance to the chase. Look at the review for Death Note DVD 3 and you see evidence of that. Death Note is not concerned with whether it is right or wrong to kill all criminals if the end result is safety of the innocent, and who is allowed to make that call. The viewers are posing that question. It is never a concern of the anime to answer that question, in fact, the feeble attempt it makes at answering it in Near's logic at the end of the series is somewhat akin to, "Not gonna think about what's right and wrong and where a line can be drawn, but I KNOW you're a crazy sicko, Light Yagami." And who can argue with him? Most of what the show does is lead us on a wild mindgame rollercoaster of killer vs. detective. It's a "catch me if you can," a mental action movie, not a moral conundrum. If it was a moral conundrum, the show wouldn't be as kitschy and fun as it is...and the writers wouldn't have had so much delicious fun with "potato chip moments" in the series. I LOVE those!  Heck, Light's opposition isn't even interested in the amorality of his foe: he just wants to win the chess match to keep his record perfect.
If I were to theorize, I think people who say Death Note is really profound either haven't been exposed to much really masterful art and/or philosophy, or, quite simply, don't know what they believe and think that posing a question is the same as exploring it. Or the obvious answer: maybe they're just immature. That's probably it. Which has nothing to do with age, sadly. Childhood is temporal, but immaturity can last forever. Why else do you think Desperate Housewives is so popular? Bleugh. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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And so you pull off one of the classic blunders. The most famous is to never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: don't expect an Anime - and a Shounen Jump derived Anime at that - to make huge statements about humanity or morality or whatever is related to your pet-peeve. How many Anime can you name which go into detail about whether killing criminals is wrong, and which simply do not retread the same tired arguments that have been put up countless times before? Anime is first and foremost, from consumers' point of view, here to entertain us. I rated Death Note a Masterpiece because it was smart, because it was novel, but mostly because I received tremendous enjoyment from it. This Anime never tried to be the seminal work on the rights and responsibilities of criminals and society (and the interrelationship thereof). Anyone who actually expected it to be needs to soul-search deep inside and ask themselves why they continue to embarrass themselves with such laughable assertions. Death Note is "smarter" (i.e. more intelligently written and presented) than at least 95% of all Anime or Manga out there. Yet at the end of the day it exists to make the author, illustrator and publisher money, and give us consumers a great story to read. It is not an academic paper; stop trying to tell me that it is, and grow up. If you don't enjoy this Anime then just say so; you don't have to resort to absurd excuses to justify what is ultimately subjective experience. But remember; lack of enjoyment does not necessarily imply bad source material, something that so many people (like Mr. Kimlinger, but also myself now and then) get wrong. |
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JacobC
ANN Contributor
Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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@dtm42: Okay, okay, put the bloody fangs away, arachneia didn't say anything against Death Note, he...she...uh oh, I hate when this happens, um, he(?) simply stated the obvious: Death Note spends more time on melodramatic flourish and exploitation than it does on guiding people to think about what the story is telling them about truth and morality.
That doesn't make it a bad show, no, but there is truth as well to this statement: something can be awesome, maybe even a masterpiece, with no depth or dimensionality, getting by on finesse and smart execution alone. Watch Pulp Fiction. Watch The Matrix. But depth makes EVERYTHING better. Period. If Death Note had been reorganized to make a statement about martialism, ambiguous morality, and the superego of man, it would have been better. It probably would have put off less people like Carl Kimlinger, who I rather disagree with, but still respect for saying something controversial and backing it up substantially instead of just "hatin'." I still think Death Note is very good and that it doesn't need to be more mature to be well-executed, but I do get frustrated with people that accuse it of being something it's not: deep and profound. I hear this about Pulp Fiction and The Matrix too, and with every fan pretending he understands some Freudian intricacy of it, I lose more faith in the common sense of the human race. Especially in the case of The Matrix. It's a fun action movie, but in terms of philosophy, it's hodgepodge, self-contradictory, and often asinine. People are so easily taken in by big words and big concepts. *sigh* My favorite anime in the world are not "scholarly" oddities like Kino's Journey or Lain either. They're ones that combine depth of art and purely enjoyable entertainment, like Fullmetal Alchemist, Paranoia Agent, and the most blended combination of pure armchair entertainment and intricate philosophy/theology I've yet seen: Wolf's Rain. (Not saying it's the best, I'm just saying it perfectly balances being pure "turn thy brain off" entertainment if you want it to be, but if you WANT to think about it what it really means, its wealth of references, symbolism, and unique themes are enormous.) P.S. Death Note is not smarter and more well-done than 90% of anime out there. Maybe 75% or something, because it is REALLY well-done, and plot-wise, very "smart." But it has its enormous drawbacks, and I think Ghost in the Shell is deeper, which is saying something, because Ghost in the Shell is another series fans read WAAAAY too much into. |
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wii.sabi
Posts: 5 Location: US |
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Haha, you said it better than I did. Indeed that's one of the other reasons I've begun to dive into anime, not only for the content itself, but because of the people. Having been surrounded by (and being a pilot by trade, for the most part continue to still be) people who share NONE of my other interests or views, aside form aviation, it seemed like this group was the place to be. I have yet to attend my first convention, but registration is just around the corner...
I agree. I think it all comes back to personal tastes. For me, I like the entertainment that Death Note offers me. I like JesuOtaku's CSI reference, and I think it's partly correct. Asking weather or not I would do what Light did is more for entertainment value than anything else. Death Note is not Eva, and I'm happy it's not (And I'm an Eva fan to, so hush  ).
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ChristenZilla
 Posts: 21 Location: Missouri |
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Well am currently watching Death Note, and now from reading the spoilers in this thread, I know how it ends. I have to say I didn't see that ending coming, however the twists are my favorite part of the show.
I was watching it the other day, I remembered being %100 shocked at what had happened. So this show is refreshing to me. Then I started thinking, if I got the Death Note who would I kill and how. That would be totally awesome if I had one. I'm not so sure I could kill someone without having a guilt trip though. I usually like the bubbly happy girls, however Misa kind of put a damper on the show. I love the fact that they threw the moral handbook out the window. All in all, its a show well worth watching. |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 7985 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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It was interesting because it was essentially a show told from the villain's perspective as tries to do what he believes is right. You see him gradually change and grow as, despite his initial noble intentions, he spirals down the path of villainy. It's a character study that shows how having absolute power brings out the worst in people and corrupts them. Death Note is a show for thinkers even though sometimes it's not all that thought out and I could out-think it.
 I think if you don't enjoy a good brain exercise and mulling over philosophy, psychology, or morality you will probabally not enjoy the show.
In addition to that, it was also fantastically animated by Madhouse which is one of my favorite animation companies. It also has an excellent soundtrack, good character disigns, a story that was continually entertaining, and some unexpected twists. Well that's why I enjoyed the series at any rate. Not exactly one of my top ten but think it's at least in my top 50 somewhere. |
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arachneia
Posts: 415 Location: On the wings of Bob Lennon |
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My God, that's the longest non-sequitur I've ever seen. You've made so many random assumptions that I don't know whether to laugh this off or actually put some thought and energy into a reply. Well, I'm just going to say that I'm not about to lower my standards because the supply is mediocre to idiotic, and also that I don't understand where your vitriol comes from as I've never said anything against Death Note that went beyond stating the obvious. As for this specifically...
...I am very happy to recommend Monster, which dedicates 74 extremely well-made episodes to this very issue. @JesuOtaku, I'm a she. I always assume people are able to tell because I get all fangirl over certain things *cough* Mustang *cough* but maybe not. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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No, they (that's the word you wanted) simply put out the same old argument that I've seen numerous times before, and one that unfairly singles Death Note out. Why is it okay for most Anime to get away with being generic and lowest-common-denominator garbage, and yet a show that stands out is held to account for every minor detail. At a guess, I've seen more criticism of Death Note on these forums than I have of many shows that are of significantly lower rank on the Encyclopedia, such as Shuffle!. Actually, that sort of segues into the next point:
He backed it up? Did you even read his review, especially the score he gave it? He hated Death Note, and I have no problem with that. But to give Death Note such a pathetic score despite the technical merits, the soundtrack, the writing, the characters; well he basically assassinated his own reputation. He certainly didn't back up his claims. How could he? He dragged down the score for the third DVD from a "A-" to a straight "C" just because he hated it, a completely undefendable position. The subjects of these eight reviews, also by Mr. Kimlinger, got better scores (scores listed are for the subbed version): Kyo Kara Maoh! DVD 2.2, "B-" Girls High Sub.DVD 1, "B" Galaxy Angel AA DVD 1, "B-" Hell Girl DVD 4, "B+" Best Student Council DVD 5, "B-" Kannazuki no Miko DVD 3, "A-" Project Blue Earth SOS DVD 1, "B" Ramen Fighter Miki Sub.DVD 2, "B" And that's just what I found from a very short time of using this search. All eight Anime volumes were given inferior technical merits than Death Note DVD 3 (or the DVD Boxset 1 for that matter), but still garnered a higher overall score. This is so not because Death Note somehow "failed" to entertain Mr. Kimlinger, but because he did not or could not make the distinction between the quality of the Anime and the subjective enjoyment that he personally received from it. As a reviewer he doesn't - or in my eyes shouldn't - get the same leeway to allow his personal feelings to reflect in his overall score. I can rate Death Note a Masterpiece because no-one cares for my opinion (hah). But he is being paid to offer a neutral account of how "good" or "bad" the third DVD of Death Note was. I don't mind him saying in the review text that he hated Death Note. But to ignore how good the show is (and how many people get enjoyment from it) and let his hatred colour his final decision, well that's what I and others took such issue with.
That's right, bluster when I call you out on your shoddy statement. Don't address my points, don't try to pull my argument apart, just go with a lame comeback. I'm sure it will work.
Admit it, you were criticising it for not going deeper. I'm simply asking why you expect it to go deeper in the first place. It already is far more intelligent, and has far more depth, than most Anime. You wouldn't expect some "Moe-fest" Anime to "go deep", so why single out Death Note? Unless you are looking for an excuse to simply criticise it.
Congratulations, out of the thousands of titles that have been made, you managed one (1). I asked how many, not for a single instance, unless that is how many you can think of. You'll need more than that if you want to show me up. Last edited by dtm42 on Wed Apr 15, 2009 12:25 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Ausdoerrt
 Posts: 481 |
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When it comes down to it, most of anime ever produced is wash, and even out of the ones that try to be thoughtful only a handful are truly smart. Let's be honest, anime writing in general is not something to be extremely proud of. So, even saying "it's better than most anime" doesn't really make it a masterpiece. An anime is excellent if it manages to pull of great visuals plus a story that is reasonable and maybe a bit novel. An anime is a "masterpiece" if it goes beyond the usual limits of anime, and can compare to some of the best non-anime titles. IMO, people are often too generous in giving out "masterpiece" ratings. That's the way I see it anyway.
Also, dtm42, you should realize that the more hype a series gets (and hype ALWAYS equals overrating), the more criticism it will get. Both Shuffle! and DN get their fair share. |
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mrgetalife
 Posts: 60 |
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Oh the obvious choice is the opening theme music
 man you just can't unhear things..
The rapid twist ending ruined it for me. Especially as parts were just thrown in as like HA look what I did when the camera wasn't looking without any subtlety. But the what really put a smile on my face in the ending. spoiler[Because Light dies finally. And that dumb girl Misa's going to have a really short life for being an idiot.] And don't forget the Manga. I've never read the manga but from what i've been told its much different. So maybe its a mix between the two. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Tell that to The Dark Knight, which was one of the most hyped movies in recent times. Many people - not to mention plenty of professional reviewers - would agree that it lived up to (if not exceeded) the hype.
Any "system" where bad shows get less criticism than good shows is no system I want around. |
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Ausdoerrt
Posts: 481 |
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Well, reviews are opinions, even professional ones  I'd not be so cynical, but some recent trends I have seen, especially with reviewing big titles (game titles, specifically), make me completely disillusioned in the review industry (not that I have ever considered journalist completely trustworthy anyway). The Dark Knight was a decent movie, but it in no way "lived up" to the hype, not under my definition anyway. There's much better films out there that did not get as much credit. The fact that too little people have the balls to write an unbiased review is part of the consequence of something being overrated.
Tell that to the reviewers. The way I see it, the blatantly mediocre stuff gets the fanfares, while the good stuff gets completely overlooked. For example, average shows like DN or Geass got the hype that season, while the gems like Bartender or shows with a fresh feel like Pumpkin Scissors got not nearly as much attention as they deserved.
If you want to be an optimist, think this way: harsh critique contributes to the popularity of a show as much (if not more than) positive reviews do. Although, IMO, DN deserves every ounce of criticism it got in this thread. And harsh critique is always a good thing - it makes the producers put more effort in their works. It's the apologetic statements and fanboyism that allows the companies to get away with stuff like, for example, Shuffle or Rosario. |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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I can totally agree with this one. Hell, people were ready to storm the Academy because they snubbed it for Best Picture. If Heath Ledger hadn't won people would have been calling for the Academy members heads. |
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