Forum - View topicWhy is Death Note so popular?
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zhir
 Posts: 353 Location: Nampa, ID, USA |
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You DO know that Japan has the death penalty, and it's MORE popular than it is in the US, right? |
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dennou_san
 Posts: 14 Location: Manila |
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Hmm...to put it bluntly, I loathed Death Note right off the bat. Upon inspection, though, I was quite impressed with this anime. The thought of solipsism, although not once expounding on it, and aesthetics that feel inclusive (engrossing? I reserve that description for Mushishi) were enough to keep me watching until halfway through the show's run. I did not [want to] expect moral complexities because obviously this was meant to be an ivory tower. It's popular for it does get to think a lot (the oft-profound critical-analytical skills of L and Light) but barely says as much. Like me
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funkindagirl
Posts: 1 |
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I loved Death Note simply because I had never (and still haven't) seen anything quite like it before.
I thought the story was so original and bizarre that I was hooked on the idea of it from the very first episode. And the more I watched, the more I thought Ohba was a genius for creating such a tightly plotted story, the twist and turns were so unexpected and something that initially seemed like 'how is that possible??' all made sense once everything was revealed. Also what partly made me love it too was the wonderful animation. I love the feel of it, the dark and subtle colours used. And the characters felt unique and not one dimensional like a lot of other anime I've seen. |
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Toucanbird
Posts: 126 Location: Winona, Minnesota |
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I feel EXACTLY the same way although, I saw the English sub rather than the dub. I did watch a little bit of the dub later but it's practically the same. I liked it right away too but I lost interest quickly. Kira just isn't a very likable protagonist (if you can even call him that). |
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jarmisslim
Posts: 2 |
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It's been a long time since I watched DN, but I remember when I first first started hearing the buzz about it, that buzz being all about the intelligence and depth of the plot and as well as cool characters, and the concept sounded wonderfully spectacular and intriguing, so I watched it.
The first few episodes showed a lot of promise, beautiful animation, nice theme music, at the time I thought the development of lights character to be pretty shallow, but, "they've got the whole series to work on it", I thought to myself, and shrugged it off, as the series advanced, this wonderful concept that I was looking forward to started to slip away, the characters still had no real development, for example, Light went from a normal genius and began to walk the path that lead him to become an idiotic megalomaniac (one of the hallmarks of this series IMO is that all the "smart" people have so many moments of sheer idiocy), he barely stops to consider the morality of his acts, I find myself wanting to know why he is the way he is, sane people will think long and hard over murdering another human being unless in a situation where there is no time to think, instead he blithely hops, skips, and jumps over the line of murder, that's just not normal for a setting that I thought was supposed to a reflection of the world so I would expect some sort of interesting reason why a sane person would do such a thing. The plot was too predictable (for me at least, I love stuff that really doodles in your noodle like "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni" and "Monster" and makes you really think, yeah, I know different genres and all that, I just love a good noodle bender) , I like something that keeps me guessing until the end, or at least until the last handful of episodes, the plot twists didn't really "twist" for me, and seemed forced, (I would have loved to see Light WIN, and the epilogue be of a happy peaceful world where crime and war were practically nonexistent, with small children laughing and playing in a sunny park, all while a watching from a nearby bench, A much older Light smiles at their laughter all while he writes in his book. That would have been a much more interesting end in my opinion, simply because the bad guy isn't supposed to win as well as posing a wonderful "ends justify the means" moral conundrum at the end, but I digress) And the thing that got me was the horrific melodrama, it was dragonball Z but toned down, I hate wasting screen time on excessive melodrama, to much melodrama reduces the effect of it, for the same reason a good slasher flick doses the terror just right, not enough and it's too slow, too much and it becomes ho-hum. ,but that's me. there other things I don't care for in the series, but I won't bother with them. That being said, I can see why it's popular, those reasons have been stated by so many already, but it just isn't my cup of tea, because to me it's a significant letdown, a lot of that is BECAUSE of the hype, had I not heard all the hype I would like it a little more, but I don't deal well with disappointment, the concept was just full of potential, but to me, they missed the mark, it's like that awesome new video game you have been reading about for months *cough* Farcry 2 *cough* and you get it and play it and two hours later you throw your whole PC out the window, not because it was horrible, but because all the pieces were there, and they were never put together, so instead of going "well that wasn't too bad, it sure had some really cool parts, but they could have fixed a few problems" , you are instead left yelling at your screen "this is so lame, where the hell are all the incredible things I heard about!, the amazing AI, the cool game play, etc." after I had watched the final episode of DN, that's what I thought at the end, all the pieces are there, but nobody really tried to put the puzzle together, they stopped a little short IMO. |
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Akemi L. Mokoto
 Posts: 34 Location: Otaru, Japan |
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I honustly dont even know why in the hell Death Note is so popular. In my Opinion it sucks. Its not funny, not cute, not intresting. To me, those who like Anime like DBZ, Death Note, Inuyasha, Naruto, ect(American TV Anime), are not even worthy of saying there Anime Fans let alone otaku!
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Flame-baiting again, eh? Oh well, it is not like my opinion of you can get much lower. I do agree that some fans of shows like Naruto and Bleach are only into those particular shows, not Anime as a whole. It was the same with Dragonball Z, back in the day. Almost all the guys at my school at least knew of it, but most of them probably had never heard the term "Anime". That likely applied to even those who were fans of it. This phenomenon is hardly surprising, given that it was on after-school television. Kids will be kids and watch anything animated and colourful, whether they know the country of origin or not. However, to assert that being a fan of Shounen and being a fan of Anime are mutually exclusive, that is just absurd. I love Death Note, and I enjoyed The Place Promised in our Early Days. You'll find numerous other people here on the forums who enjoyed one of the titles you listed, and yet have probably spent more than you make in a year on their Well, I've done my "waste-fifteen-minutes-by-intelligently-replying-to-a-troll" duty for today. |
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Blackpeppir
Posts: 234 |
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I've found that the majority of Death Note fans (at least the ones I've come across) are people in their late 20's early 30's who are big fans of other crime shows like CSI or Law & Order. I think it's due to the fact that unlike so many shonen series it's not all about grunting, powering up or showing off with flashy attacks nor does it rely solely on cheap gimmicks like pandering moe blobs or gratuitous fanservice.
I remember showing it to my father when it first came out, he enjoyed watching FMA so I figured he may like this one as well. I was right and my friends did the same and shared it with people who are more into mystery novels and crime dramas. Amongst our little group it's become known as "the anime for people who don't like anime" for it's lack of over exaggerated reactions and the sort of things that usually come as a staple in anime. The fans may love these staples, but for many people they act as a deterrent. Personally I enjoyed Death Note, mainly for the art, but it was a decent series none the less. Not the best by far but fairly good in my opinion. It does seem to have a large fan following but as with Kingdom Hearts, is made up largely of yaoi fangirls who subscribe to the fictional relationship between Light and L. It's really true that fangirls ruin everything they inflate the fanbase to the point where they begin to give the series undeserved popularity and a large fanbase that becomes annoying to the point of writing down names in the Death Note itself. This also tends to make those who aren't rabid obsessive fans who just simply enjoy the series look bad as they're cast in with the loonies. |
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Blackpeppir
Posts: 234 |
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Really can we just not take the flame bait? Or even ignore it all together? I'd really hate to see the topic locked. I find people's take on the series popularity quite entertaining. Also sorry for sounding as if I'm calling you out or baiting flame or anything of the sort I'm really not. Oh, and sorry for double posting as well. |
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Miranox
 Posts: 247 Location: Montreal, Canada |
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It seems this thread almost got derailed a few times, but I will say what I know about some of the topics here even if they aren't about Death Note.
The main reason why any show is popular is first and foremost good marketing. If the general population doesn't know series A as much as series B, then obviously series B will get more "hype". The second most important aspect is the percentage of viewers that it appeals to. Even with typical story/characters it will get tons of hype if the writers know how to ring the viewer's bells. The final aspect is production quality which is related directly to the skill and budget of the company. On the topic of biased opinions, even if you didn't like something it sounds reasonable to me that you should rate it "good" or higher if it has any remarkable qualities such as good story, production quality, originality, emotional impact, etc. For example, I didn't like Monster but I gave it a good rating because of its story, characters and the interesting moral issues it deals with. The main reason I like Death Note is because it's one of the few plot-driven series where I could not predict any of the main plot twists, but they still made sense (can't say the same about Code Geass). Most of all, it's original (this is an extremely important quality and haters didn't even mention it). I've seen people saying it doesn't make sense, so I'll comment on the example I've seen earlier in the thread. More objections are welcome. spoiler[Raye Penber's wife gave out her real name for two reasons. One, Light didn't seem anything like the image of Kira that she had (she even says that he's like L who she trusts plus she didn't know about the Death Note), so she believed he couldn't be Kira. Two, Light has charm and she was pretty depressed. She needed some emotional support and Light played his part well. Her emotions got the best of her. Not to mention that Light would have made the eye deal and killed her anyway if he failed to convince her. I think his failure to make the eye deal is what cost him everything.] The show's purpose is not to write an essay on morals, but it does have interesting moral issues and ideas (though they aren't new). If I had a Death Note, I would definitely consider using it in a similar way, though not in such an extreme way (a world without crime is impossible anyway). Light also mentions later in the series that he had to become evil himself in order to eliminate it. This idea is not original but it makes you think. There's also the whole "power corrupts" issue which becomes apparent when spoiler[Light starts killing for petty reasons]. I myself am not sure if I could avoid being corrupted unless I just burn the notebook when I find it to dodge the issue entirely. People accuse it of not being "deep", but I've yet to see a consensus on the meaning of this term. If someone can give me a definition (in context of course), I'll comment on whether Death Note is or isn't deep. CSI and similar shows don't compare to Death Note. In CSI for example, the detectives run in circles for most of the episode until they find some vital clue that leads them to the real criminal and then the episode ends. It gets old very fast. |
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arachneia
 Posts: 415 Location: On the wings of Bob Lennon |
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Well, a couple of pages back, JesuOtaku gave a pretty comprehensive summary of why Death Note fails as a thinking man's anime. It toys with ideas that are truly interesting and far more satisfying in the long run than simple who-dun-it suspense, but instead of examining them in any detail, instead of questioning Light's goals and amorality from every angle, instead of bringing up the issue of higher powers deciding to screw around with humanity out of boredom, it simply turns into an insipid crime drama with some neat twists but overall ludicrous characterization and plotting. If Death Note does end up provoking some thought on the subject of ethics and the corrupting nature of power, it does so quite accidentally. If the series at any point meant to scrutinize any of the myriad moral quandaries presented by the events of the show, it could have easily done so without sacrificing the shonen appeal. Instead, we got a couple of brief nods to the inhumanity of Light's actions, after which the show continued as what is little more than a game of chess with the stakes barely recognized by anyone, least of all the players themselves.
I totally agree, and in fact, I rate Death Note fairly highly. It's just that it could have been so much better, had it not been made primarily to pander to an audience that enjoys cheap thrills from pseudo-intellectual plot twists and bishonen. |
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Miranox
Posts: 247 Location: Montreal, Canada |
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This is true. Death Note doesn't spend much time evaluating the moral issues it touches. Light decides what his mission is and how he will achieve it in just a few scenes and the other characters already made up their minds about what is right and wrong. It wasn't the show's goal to become an essay on morals. However, whether doing so would've made the show better is another story. For example, Monster spends a lot of time evaluating moral issues. However, the pacing is slow, it tries too hard to build suspense and many scenes are anti-climactic. It also lacks the "energy" that Death Note has. This is why I would pick Death Note over Monster any day. It becomes a matter of personal preference in the end. Both are good. I'm not an anime guru though. Maybe Monster isn't a good series to compare Death Note to, so if you know any that contains the depth you're talking about I'll definitely give it a try if I haven't seen it yet. |
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arachneia
Posts: 415 Location: On the wings of Bob Lennon |
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Well, if the comments in your "seen some" list are accurate, you've only seen less than a fourth of Monster. To begin with, I found it neither slow-paced nor lacking in energy - it's quite fast-paced and hard to keep up with once the story is set up, not to mention quite a bit more cathartic than Death Note which missed its one chance at great emotional impact by making spoiler[L's death] completely anticlimactic - but I digress. The reason why I originally recommended Monster in this thread is because it deals with exactly those issues that Death Note sidesteps (and Tenma's own hang-ups about equality of life are really just the tip of the iceberg), but also because there isn't exactly a huge amount of anime that is particularly deep in any aspect. I'd say Fullmetal Alchemist, Darker Than BLACK, Trigun, Ghost in the Shell, Bubblegum Crisis, Astro Boy, and many others successfully broach the topic of the value of life, but none with as much depth and dedication as Monster - and none really deal with the specific issue of a killer's right to life so thoroughly. If it's just depth you're looking for, though, without a specific theme, you can't go wrong with Miyazaki. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15484 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I like Death Note, the characters were often inteligent, and I loved how nothing made sense and then after a small explanation it made a lot of sense. You might say that Light should have thought about what he was doing but an explanation is given very early on in the series. When you see him after he killed the second guy (a flah back once Ryuk has arived) you see that he was realy distressed about him having no right to judge if someone should die, but then he tells himself that they deserved to die and that others deserv to die aswell and the only ay he could think of to not admit that he was a criminal, was that he was above them and that it was his responsibility to kill more and thus he created the insane Kira personality. spoiler[Note that once he lost his memories he returned back to the good guy he was before as he no longer needed to validate his own actions.]
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Akemi L. Mokoto
Posts: 34 Location: Otaru, Japan |
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I’m not Flaming and I’m not a Troll, so please refrain from calling me either. I voiced my opinion like everyone else and if you don’t like it, so what. It’s not disallowed on ANN. Anyway, I wasn’t implying that people who think Inuyasha, Naruto, Yu Yu Hakushu, or other American Televised Anime are kids or people who just like colorful animation. I was saying that they may call themselves Anime Fans or Otaku, but in reality, they wouldn’t know a good anime if it broken in to there house, slapped them in the face, pissed on there stuff, and walked out the front door leaving its I.D. behind( That was to long).
Also, I didn’t say those shows suck (I think), I said they aren’t nearly as good as many other Anime out there and those who say they are, don’t have a clue what is good anime. Now Blackpeppir, you said the Majority of Death Note Fans are in there 20’s. Well according to Demographical Data I Obtained from “Quantcast”, The Demographic’s of visitors to the VIZ Deathnote site are actually, in there teens(Though I’m not sure how trustworthy Quantcast is). |
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