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Death Note
DEATH NOTE
2006 · TV series · 22 min episodes · 1 season
AnimationMysteryScience FictionFantasy
Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects—and he’s bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But will Light succeed in his noble goal, or will the Death Note turn him into the very thing he fights against?
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17 comments on Hacker News
I understand, I had started watching these evangelion summaries thinking oh cool robots but then, I have been aware of the loneliness and other things within the series which were thought-provoking but also not really at the same time. I
I don't watch much anime (shocking within my generation which seems to be anime-driven?) but ironically I have also watched berserk's golden age arc also because of an edit that I had watched before all the horrificness is revealed but that's the reason why I haven't really read more about berserk other than the golden age.
Yu-Yu-Hakusho, death note, AOT and bersek/(evangelion? Only watched documentaries explaining it) are the only series that I have watched/listened about a lot in this sense I suppose.
With berserk and evangelion, perhaps there is something about the style of both of these, both lure you in with a particular sense of art but both have some aspects of darkness hidden beneath the pages.
I have listened to and slept listening to this song more times than I can count: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSEkh4mgYqc
There is something about first discovering it even knowing through comments that things would turn south but I still decided to watch berserk because it so captured my attention. I wished for it to be a bland piece where things turn happy ever happily but I think that berserk's decision to not do is somewhat fascinating too. maybe the lure to watch these increases knowing the fact that these aren't just single dimensional things but rather multi dimensional with deeper topics.
Evangelion with concepts like loneliness and I would associate berserk with pain and hope (hope to still fight even after so much pain)
Edit: should probably mention Its late night and I should probably sleep and I didn't really intend to send this message, I sometimes write somethings and don't send them (but save them for myself to read in documents)* because I find that I think deeper about something during this and I accidentally pressed enter, thanks for reading this but I am sure that I might not be able to give my viewpoint away but I am grateful that you read till the end. Looks like the world wanted me to send the message so I did :-D
As another person posted, I think your friends might be overselling. Most anime is utter dross, and sometimes very weird / weirdly sexualised (eg. clearly underage characters who the fanbases pretend are 1000 years old).
The most well-known are typically the (very few) ones worth watching, eg. Attack on Titan, Death Note.
If you've sort of heard of the name or seen references to it, it's likely to be one of the more popular ones and is maybe worth a look. Besides those, it's fighting through weeds to find anything that's really any good.
Seconding Fullmetal Alchemist. I hear the remake (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood) is usually regarded as the better version. More suggestions: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Death Note, Sousou no Frieren, Cowboy Bebop, Nichijou, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Bakemonogatari. There's also quite a few good movies, anything by Studio Ghibli is great, and so are Akira, Perfect Blue, and Ghost in the Shell.
OT, but: I really don't understand why Death Note is so popular. It was an above average first season that went downhill super fast. I gave up on it the first episode after the recap episode (26 if Wikipedia is right), and nothing in my conversations with other people have led me to believe the last dozen or so episodes would change my opinion on it.
I can see there is a huge popularity of the anime One Piece. But do you not think watching One Piece is going to be a waste of time? I mean, it already has more than 1000 episodes. So instead of watching a single anime with lots of episodes, we can complete a number of anime like Death Note, FMAB, AOT, Tokyo Revengers, etc. In a nutshell, why watch One Piece when I can complete multiple anime in this time why do I give this amount of time for only one anime?
Read more on the link about this.....
There is a big lainon community around. JJ Chikada is releasing some SEL remixes from time to time, the release date is reason for a cyberia party each year.
SEL was also the entry point for me, with the Miyazaki movies, Death Note, NGE, Elfen Lied and Hellsing OVA being influential for me. But i think i've grown out of it during the last years.
Was obsessed with it back in high school. Death Note, Hikaru No Go, and Miyazaki movies I still rewatch sometimes (also the anime based on the Persona and Danganronpa games), but in general I got out of the habit and don't really seek out new stuff much anymore.
I also used to prefer watching it subtitled, but nowadays I'm usually trying to do something else while I'm watching TV, so it's too hard to keep up with subtitles most of the time.
I also enjoyed Ergo Proxy, Texhnolyze and Planetes. Ghost in the Shell is still the only movie I revisit every now and then (out of all movies ever). They are all slow, I want to take the time to watch them again some day.
Very different but I also enjoyed Naruto as I grew up myself. It's long (but you can skip all fillers) but sometimes very deep. I enjoyed Kenshin but never finished it.
As mentioned below Samurai Champloo is also nice and Steins Gate (nice, strange atmosphere) and Death Note: very psychological: He thinks that I think that he thinks and I'm smarter so... Love that. And One Punch Man, puts a smile on my face.
If you want weird: FLCL. What was that about?
(To be clear where I'm coming from: I'm not what you'd call an otaku, haven't watched many things of this kind. I really detest over-the-top stuff. I prefer realism to fantasy but can enoy it if it helps with the plot. I've watched and enjoyed Evangelion (wasn't enjoying it at all in the beginning but when it started getting "psychological" I loved it) and Ghost In The Shell, still haven't but want to watch the others you mentioned. I also watched Stein's Gate and felt exactly the way you did.)
Death Note is awesome, especially the first half. There's a bit of cringy overconfident adolescent personality going on, but I think it's all for the best considering the plot.
Monster is one I'm torn about. The themes it touches on are just perfect for a great dark story, but I feel like it under-delivers by always making it sound like it's gonna get really dark but never making it so. There's quite a bit of "semi-filler" episodes. Thought-provoking but never goes as deep as I'd like.
One movie I'd recommend is Perfect Blue. Realistic psychological suspense/horror with great animation.
Not at all the same genre, but Welcome To The NHK is pretty nice if you want some realistic "light-hearted dark humor" (if there's such a thing), but maybe not if you don't relate to being a hikikomori (or social recluse in general). There's over-the-top characteristics, especially in the first episodes, but it gets better. Watch, say, 10 episodes; if you don't love it by then, it may not be for you.
EDIT: Oh, I also watched Ergo Proxy in an overnight binge so I honestly can't remember much about it. A lot of people like it, I found it really boring and felt too grandiose for what actually happened in the end. There's an interesting story behind it all, but I had to resort to reading fan theories to get it.
EDIT2: For the sake of completeness, the show I actually love the most is Avatar (The Last Airbender. I'm right now watching the sequel and still making up my mind on it). Possibly because I was a kid when I first watched it, but it still really moves me. And yes, I said before I prefer realistic stuff, but this is one of the greatest exceptions. It's also not dark by any means - it's a kid's show after all -, plenty of light-hearted humor and all, but there are many many things I'd say even an adult can get from watching it.
A recent, fairly famous anime movie that I would recommend is Kimi No Nawa/Your Name. Very emotional, and just a great movie all around. I would also recommend any Studio Ghibli movie, particularly Spirited Away. If you want to watch some great artistic style anime series, watch any of Shinichiro Watanabe's shows, or if you're into psychological stories, watch Death Note.
There really is something for everyone if you look hard enough. There is a reason anime is so popular.
Future Diary has some pretty cool time battles. While it's not as good as death note, it definitely has it's moments. https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2069441/?ref_=m_nv_sr_1
Code Geass, Death Note, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Shingeki no Kyojin, No Game No Life, Steins; Gate (these are top notch) Boku no Hero Academia (Season 1 and 2), Sword Art Online (first 13 episodes, maybe 25, but after that is terrible), Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, Full Metal Panic (season 1, FUMOFFU, Season 2). Psycho-Pass, Made in Abyss, Accel World, Ga-Rei Zero (these are just amazing, but not top)
Be careful with FUMOFFU, leads to death due to laughter
They cover a wide variety of range, not all of them might be of your taste. You also need to get used to some things that are Japanese culture in animes (their way of being fun, their way of being embarassed by stuff that is not in your culture and so on).
Insane plot (like REALLY incredible): - Code Geass - Death Note - Steins; Gate - Shingeki no Kyojin (not completed, season 4 coming soon) - Made in Abyss (not completed, season 2 coming soon)
Epic (you feel hyped): - Sword Art Online - Full Metal Panic - Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (this anime is amazing, but I recommend watching it only after you've watched quite a few animes. Rewatching it leads to improvement. It's like when you try wine for the first time and it sucks, then it turns great) - No Game No Life - Boku No Hero Academia - Accel World
Laugh: - Full Metal Panic FUMOFFU (requires watching the season 1 first)
This list is purely based on my taste, but I watched over 200 animes (lot of bad stuff too, sadly), so for a beginner it's a good baseline.
Good plot (not like the insane ones, still good): - Psycho-Pass (AMAZING soundtrack) - Ga-Rei Zero - Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Death Note is a favorite. If you enjoyed that you should definitely watch Liar Game. It is a live action.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0978076/
The first episodes with the Teacher are okay, but it really kicks into high gear when they being playing 'minority rules' later on. Really marvelous!
If you enjoy a real challenge read The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. It's the most rewarding puzzle I've ever tangled with. I was up for days, weeks, thinking about it afterwards.
It's hard to give recommendations because the stuff I read is probably not what most people would like ;-) Especially, I tend to like sports manga which is pretty far from fantasy. (Currently Yowamushi Pedal is fuelling my cycling addiction!)
I mentioned Barefoot Gen, which is a very early manga and a classic that is actually taught in Japanese schools. It's not fantasy, though. It tells the story of the author's experiences around the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
For fantasy things, Full metal alchemist is an alternate-earth scenario with magic. It is extremely good. One thing that doesn't actually fit the epic story format because it is a series of short stories is Mushishi. I highly recommend it, although I've only watched the anime. Akira is a cyber-punk, distopian future manga which is very highly acclaimed. Personally, it is not my taste, but it is excellent. Another interesting manga which has no actual heroes is Death Note. It's another one I don't like because all of the characters are really nasty, but some people really, really like it for that reason. I asked my wife (who is Japanese) for a suggestion and she mentioned Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu (Legend of the Galactic Heroes). I haven't read it but Wikipedia indicates it was originally a series of novels. It seems Viz publishes both the novels and manga in English. Ghost in the Shell is a very good sci-fi manga, but I have to admit that it is years since I looked at it, so I can't really remember it.
One manga which I love is actually a baseball manga called Touch. If you read that, you will see the manga story structure very easily.
I started reading manga as a means to learn Japanese. At the time I had only a passing interest in graphic novels and comics. Over time I got quite hooked on it. But I only read in Japanese, so I tend to read things which are quite easy. There are very complex manga stories which are aimed at adults, but unfortunately I haven't spent much time looking at those things.
Of course the 2 current most popular mangas aimed at young boys is Naruto and One Piece. Naruto just finished. It has some very powerful moments and the story is quite good. I've found that there are quite a lot of useful ideas that you can take away from the story and apply to your own life. However, the characters are one-dimensional (on purpose, I think) so I suspect it wouldn't appeal to the original poster. One Piece is also quite good (the first chapter is actually really worth reading on it's own and can stand by itself even if you don't read anything else). Again, it is aimed at a young audience and the characters are very static. There are some extremely moving moments, though.
Hope that helps a bit. As I said, it's hard to give recommendations because some people will look at that list and probably absolutely hate some of the things on there. There is an unbelievably massive amount of manga being written and I truly believe there is something for every taste. However, the examples above are pretty easy to find in English and are all quite famous. If they don't meet your taste, I hope you'll explore a bit further on your own.
Funny thing about Death Note. My friend who is big into anime recommended this as my 'first time' anime I should watch. To make a long story (very short), I gave him shit about anime for a good 2 years if not longer. It was all light-hearted but eventually he snapped, he just couldn't take it anymore.
"FINE!!! F&#$&$ YOU. DONT WATCH IT. SEE IF I CARE". I can see 2 years of pushing his buttons and joking finally caught up with him.
I watched it, turns out I loved it more than I could have imagined. We tease each other about that to this day.
Hollywood, please don't ever try to make live-action remakes of anime. Why can't they just show the anime itself? It was already good.
I highly recommend watching Death Note in its original anime form (preferably in Japanese with English subtitles). It's excellent. A little culture never hurt anyone. Every story doesn't have to take place in the U.S.
Yes, too much though in my opinion. I really only watch 2 types of shows: sports and cartoons/anime.
I should be able to cut down on sports. It's easier if you're engaged in coding to forget to turn a game on.
The cartoons I watch all are shown on Cartoon Network. Since I've seen most of the Family Guy episodes, that's easy to skip. The anime is harder. I find the stories much better than other programs on television.
I recently found a place in NYC that sells some popular anime on DVD imported from Japan. That allows me to get huge chunks of the series in one shot, as opposed to 1 or 2 episodes/week on TV. For example, I bought the entire Death Note series 2 weeks ago. It came in 3 containers with 3 DVDs each.
Since I don't live in NYC, I don't have to worry about frequenting there too often.