Death Note

What would you do if you could kill anyone you wanted without leaving any evidence?

That is the situation brilliant high school student Light Yagami (Yagami Raito in Japan) finds himself in after finding a notebook called a Death Note in Death Note , an anime based on the manga by manga writer Tsugumi Ohba and artist Takeshi Obata.

A Death Note is the notebook of a Shinigami, a God of Death. If you know the name and face of a person you want to kill, simply write the name in the notebook and the person shall die. It's primary use is to extend the life of a Shinigami but when a Shinigami drops it in the human world and it is picked up, it is for the humans use and the Shinigami is forced to watch the human. This is what happens to a Shinigami named Ryuk and Japan's top student,. Light Yagami. At first Light thinks it's crazy but before long he is writing hundreds of names a day. There is one thing in common with all the people he kills: they are all criminals. Light is known by the public as 'Kira' and is confident that he will be 'the God of a new world.'

An eccentric, sweet-loving detective called L, along with the rest of the police, beg to differ.

Death Note is an excellent anime and makes the most of it's thirty-seven episodes. It explore the concept of 'justice.' Some people would say Light is justice with his 'kill-the-bastards' style yet others agree with L's more socially acceptable, even if a tad left of the law, methods.

I would recommend this show to anyone who likes an intelligent show, whether they ace every exam or like drinking sugar cubes with a bit of tea.