Anime Review: Death Note (2006)

Director: Tetsuro Araki Studio: Viz Media Episode Count: 37

Runtime: 900 minutes Availability: ON DVD and Blu-Ray

Steaming on TV, for subs only, Hulu, Crunchyroll, Hoopla, Peacock, Roku, HBOMax, Netflix in English and Japanese,

Check where Death Note is streaming in your country here. 

Story Summary

Death Note is a very popular Japanese anime about a high school genius named Light Yagami discovering a mysterious notebook called the Death Note after it is dropped by a bored Shinigami, or god of death, from the Shinigami Realm into the human world. If a person writes down another person’s name in the notebook, they will die. Light initially thinks it’s a prank, but when he tries it out and it does work, he decides to become the god of a new world and punish evil people. This doesn’t sit well with the Japanese police, and they call upon the world’s best detective, only known as L, to discover and capture the figure the world calls “Kira” or “Killer”.

 

A Detective Story With a Supernatural Twist

Death Note is very popular among anime fans because it’s well-written, it has an intriguing storyline, and the mind games are a lot of fun and very entertaining to watch. It’s a detective story with a supernatural twist, and you don’t see a whole lot of anime or live-action shows like it.

Interesting Concepts of Good and Evil

The concepts of good and evil in the show are also very fascinating to look at. Although some people might not like the fact that Light Yagami is a villain protagonist, he’s still an interesting character to watch, and L is very interesting and quirky too.

 

Characters Are Shallow and Mostly Unlikable

Unfortunately, if you like characters with depth, you’re not going to get that here. While the characters are psychologically complex, they have the emotions of little kids, but they make up for it with their genius intellects.

Light Yagami is a character I found to be very unlikable, and I love anti-heroes. I didn’t like him because he didn’t care about anyone but himself. If he cared about his family and friends, he would have been a character I could root for; his god complex annoyed me.

L is my favorite character. I found him to be quirky and neat; he was the guy I rooted for during the anime, and he’s one of the few characters who had some depth to him.

Misa Amane is known for her crazy fangirl view of light, and that’s all we associate her with. The other characters like Takada and Mikami, Mello and Near are interesting, but Misa is the character we remember the most.

Ryuuk is interesting because he’s just along for the ride, and he just takes it all in.

Audio And Subtitles

Audio:	Subtitles:
Japanese (Hulu, Netflix, TubiTV)	English (Netflix, Crunchyroll, TubiTV, and Hulu)

 

Audio:	Subtitles:
English (Hulu, Crunchyroll, and Netflix) (Reviewed)

The English Dub Is Very Good!

The English dub is also very well done, and Brad Swaile sounds very good as Light Yagami, but he tries a little too hard at the beginning. He soon makes it sound natural, and he’s a very good actor. Alessandro Juliani is perfect as L. He’s a genius, he’s quirky, and he’s likable. It’s fun to just watch him try to sort out the clues and try to find the identity of Kira. Brian Drummond does an excellent job as Ryuk. Shannon Chan-Kent is good as Misa Amane, but her voice might get on people’s nerves a little bit, but she’s good.

The Japanese track is no slouch either, so either way, you'll enjoy the anime. I just prefer the dub to take in the visuals without having to look down at the bottom of the screen to read subtitles.

The Japanese track is also excellent, and I have watched a third of the anime in Japanese, and it’s worth a listen, as well. If you enjoy listening to the Japanese audio, you’ll enjoy Death Note in Japanese.

The Animation Still Looks Great!

The animation is very well done, and Madhouse Studio, which made the same Trigun, brings this story to life with vibrant colors and very nice animation. This anime looks fantastic. They make the lighting so atmospheric and set the mood for the anime perfectly.

This anime is very dialogue-heavy, so it doesn't move around too much, but when they need to do anime action scenes, they do that very well, and it looks terrific.

They also make very good use of the lighting for dramatic effect in the anime.

The Soundtrack

The musical score is also very well done and has a lot of trumpets, violins, and ominous Latin chanting. It’s a very nice score, and the opening and ending themes are pretty good, but if you dislike screaming music, you might not like the second opening and ending song.

The Characters Are Shallow and They Changed the Ending

A major flaw of the series is that the characters only have surface depth, and they’re not particularly deep. The story is overdramatic at times and over the top, which may turn off some viewers.

The one flaw that stands out most in the anime compared to the manga is that they changed the ending of the story. The same event occurs in the manga, but in the anime, it’s meant to make a character more sympathetic, and the character was never meant to be seen as a tragic character, as the anime turned him into.

 

Parental Advisory

This anime is recommended for ages 14 and up because of language, violence, a little nudity, and the subject matter of the story. Some kids have been known for taking “death notes” with them to school, so parents might want to see this before their kids do to decide if they’re mature enough to handle it.

 

I Recommend the Anime Even if I Don't Like It That Much

This anime is recommended for longtime fans who are looking for an anime to watch, and if you’re a newcomer to anime, this is definitely a good title to pick up. It’s well written, the dialogue is entertaining, the mind games will keep you guessing, and it’s well worth watching at least once through in either language. It’s a very fun thrill ride with clever twists and turns, and it’s very entertaining.

I don't particularly like the anime, but not because of poor production values. I hate the main character, so I don't go back to rewatch, but that doesn't mean I think that Death Note (2006) is a bad anime. It's a very well-done anime that I recommend to other people, but I dislike the main character.

 

Quick Summary

 

What Works:	What Doesn't Work:
Great mystery story	Characters lack depth
Nice animation	They changed the ending from the manga, and they didn't need to
Nice soundtrack

Overall Grade: A-

Death Note could be perfect if they hadn't changed the ending. Despite some dislikes I have of the main character, Light Yagami, the anime is so well done, and everything is nearly flawless, until the ending. I can understand why the fans don’t like the anime ending, especially if you have read the manga ending, which is much better than the anime’s ending. I would recommend anime fans watch it and remember, teenagers, the Death Note isn’t real, so don’t take it to school; you’ll cause an unneeded uproar. It’s a brilliant story that suffers from shallow characters and an ending that didn’t need to be changed, but it was. It’s well worth your time and money to watch and buy. It’s also an anime you can introduce to new people wanting to see what anime is.

Just because I don't like the main character on a personal level doesn't prevent me from recommending Death Note to other people, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good mystery thriller.

Netflix is making a live-action movie, and I'll be reviewing that when it comes out!

Anime Review: The Seven Deadly Sins Season 1

Quick Info

Director: Tensai Okamura

Distributor: Netflix for streaming, Funimation Entertainment for home video release
Runtime: 600 minutes
Release Date: May 16, 2017
Availability: On Blu-Ray and DVD, buy on RightStufAnime or Amazon

Story Summary

Elizabeth, the third Princess of Liones, sets out to find the Seven Deadly Sins, an order of knights composed of the most despicable knights in all the kingdom. She is searching for them to battle the Holy Knights that have taken over the kingdom.

Traveling in disguise, she stumbles across a tavern called the Boar Hat and meets the young owner after he helps her after she passes out. Pursued by the Holy Knights, she inadvertently gets him involved, only to learn that he is the Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins, Meliodas, the Dragon's Sin of Wrath. Together, they set out to find the other Sins: Diane, Ban, King, Merlin, Gowther, and Escanor.

The Story is Cliche

The story of The Seven Deadly Sins is very cliché on the outside. The Princess searches desperately for the rogues who supposedly did horrible things. The pervy male lead, the clingy, jealous giantess, the lazy but good fairy king, the greedy jerk with a heart of gold, the mysterious female mage, and the emotionless smart guy.

Even if many of these character tropes are cliché, they're still very interesting characters, and that's why I like them. The plot is also very well done, and even though some complained about how predictable it is, I still enjoyed the story overall, and I found it to be very entertaining, and it kept me watching, and I couldn't wait to see the next episode so I could find out what was going to happen to all the characters.

The Animation Looks Good

A-1 Pictures did an amazing job with this anime. The animation is very fluid, the fight scenes are very well done, and I like the character designs. The animation looks especially good during the one-on-one fight scenes between various characters. It looks good throughout the entire anime, and the world designs and art style are very appealing, and I can clearly remember various characters because of how they look.

I Enjoyed The English Dub

The Japanese voice track is great, but I'm primarily focusing on the English dub of the anime, and it's terrific. Bang Zoom picked an excellent voice cast for the characters, and the actors did a fantastic job as their characters.

Bryce Papenbrook does a great job as Meliodas. I will admit, I'm on Brice Papenbrook overload because I'm currently watching voice acting in him in Durarara!! X2, Fate/Stay Night, and Attack on Titan, but he brings his A-game to this role, giving Meliodas both comedic and serious to his character, and he's mastered the art of very loud screaming, as can be seen from other roles he's played.

Cristina Vee is delightful as Hawk, the animal sidekick. Being a pig, the character can't do much, but Hawk is still an important member of the group and gets his chance to shine much later in the series, and Christina Vee is also excellent in this role as she's great at portraying the character in the anime.

Erika Harlacher does a great job as Elizabeth Liones, but the fact that her character's main job is to be the damsel in distress is cliched and annoying. Fortunately, she goes through a lot of character development and is a much stronger character by the end of the first season, but the cliche is still annoying.

Ben Diskin portrays all the different sides of his character when he voices Ban. Ban is a character that embodies the jerk with a heart of gold trope, and he gives an excellent performance. I like how Ban and Meliodas play off each other, and their dynamic is really fun to watch.

Erica Mendez does a great job as Diane, portraying her character's jealousy over Meliodas and Elizabeth's relationship. I also love her interactions with Max Mittlerman's King. I think their relationship is really adorable and fun to watch.

Max Mittelman's portrayal is interesting when it comes to King. There are multiple facets to his personality and character, and I like that even though he may seem lazy, there's a lot more to him than just one trait, and his relationship with Diane and the fact that he just can't spit it out make the two of them adorable.

Erik Kimerer is very interesting in his role as the aloof and eerily emotionless Gowther. What makes his character so interesting is that he's very different and more aloof than the others, and his powers are very different than the others.

Lauren Landa is excellent as Merlin. She doesn't appear until much later in the series, but she did a great job, and I like her character a lot.

Robbie Daymond voices the primary antagonist Gilthunder, and like the other characters, there's more to him than just being the cliched evil villain. And Robbie is very good in his role, and he makes a great antagonist.

Kaiji Tang is also very good as Hendrickson. He's also another important character on the antagonist's side, and he did a great job in this anime.

Soundtrack, Openings, and Endings

Hiroyuki Sawano's musical soundtrack is good, but it doesn't exactly stand out. But the music does sound good and fits the tone and mood of the story, but unfortunately, I can't recall any particular musical themes outside of the opening and ending songs of the anime.

The first opening for The Seven Deadly Sins is "Netsujō no Spectrum" (熱情のスペクトラム) by Ikimono-gakari. It's a very good opening that sounds really good and gives you that sense of adventure.

"Seven Deadly Sins" by MAN WITH A MISSION gets you really pumped up for the episode and gives off the exciting vibe that, yes, this episode is going to be awesome.

"7-seven-" by FLOW x GRANRODEO gets you all excited and pumped up for the next episode. Season" by Alisa Takigawa has a very soothing and hopeful tone, and you'll need it for the latter half of the anime.

The Perv Jokes Get Old Really Fast

One main criticism I have of the anime is that Melodas is a perv, and not just that he talks about girls in a pervy fashion, he tends to grope them, a lot, not that I get "offended" by this as a female fan of anime, I'm used to fanservice, and so I expect it. In fact, Melodas' perverted behavior is a running gag that becomes annoying because it's funny the first few times, and then it's like, "Okay, I get the joke, now it's old!" and now

 it's unfunny.

Unfortunately, it can also reinforce the perception that anime is just a bunch of pervy jokes and that every single anime is always like this when it comes to fanservice and gag jokes, and it could possibly turn off new viewers from what is a very fun and enjoyable anime to watch.

Not Everything Is Explained

Another flaw of the anime is that not everything is explained, such as how the Seven Deadly Sins got their powers and how magic works in the world. But with a second season coming, there should be more explanations.

It's also too bad we don't even see Escanor, and I was hoping we'd see all Seven Sins. Fortunately, he'll be in season 2, so I have that to look forward to.

Parental Warning

There is violence, but it's mainly fantasy-style violence, and it's not too bloody or gory. It's mainly magic spells.

There isn't too much profanity, but characters do swear sometimes.

Meliodas being a pervert towards Elizabeth is annoying, and there is fan service, as in, Meliodas trying to look up her skirt and being a pervert around her.

My Rating: A-

With a stellar story based on Arthurian legends with a fun and engaging cast, excellent animation from A-1 Pictures, and another great English dub from Bang Zoom Entertainment, The Seven Deadly Sins is a series that is so much fun, especially if you love fantasy anime like I do. It does, however, have a lot of anime cliches that might turn off some people and the Meliodas is a perv gag wears out his welcome. Fortunately, it does stop after a while, and not everything is explained completely, but I had a fun time watching this anime, and I recommend it to anyone who has a Netflix streaming account.

If you watched the fansubs already, please support the official Netflix stream since the Japanese do look at the viewing numbers from official sources and not fansub sites. I found this out by listening to a Funimation podcast on Anime News Network, so even if you just get a free trial of Netflix just to watch this show, the official creators are paying attention. The viewing numbers are enough right now that they've already started making season 2, so officially support the stream.

There are also multiple language tracks and subtitles to choose from.

Seven Deadly Sins: Signs of Holy War, the four-episode OVA, has been uploaded to Netflix on February 17, 2017. The second season comes out this year.

Funimation has licensed Seven Deadly Sins for home video release.

© 2015 ReViewMeMedia

Anime Review: Strait Jacket OVA

Quick Info

Director: Shinji Ushiro
Distributor: Anchor Bay
Released: October 7, 2008
Runtime: 76 minutes
Rating: Not Rated, MA
Availability: On DVD, out of print

Plot Summary

Strait-Jacket is an anime Original Video Animation or OVA; it is not based on a manga.

In an alternate universe in the year 1899 in the city of Tristan, magic is the science of the day, and it is used for everyday tasks. But using magic is addictive, and if you use it too often, you’ll contract a disease called the Malediction and become a demon. This can happen at any time, and demons will go on rampages and kill people.

To stop them, Tactical Sorcerists are called in, people who use magic to fight demons while running the risk of becoming demons themselves. People call them Strait Jackets.

Nerin Simmons works for the Sorcery Management Bureau and is called to the scene of a demon attack. There she meets the mysterious Leiot Steinberg, an unlicensed Sorcerist who is renowned for killing demons and leaving a chaotic mess in his wake. Isaac Hammond is another Sorcerist who sees him as a rival and dislikes him while feeling a strange connection to him.

The Story Is Very Average by Anime Standards

This OVA is an all right piece. It’s not outstanding or particularly innovative. It has its share of cliché storytelling, but it’s still entertaining, it has decent characters and a decent storyline, it’s just not new or innovative, and we’ve seen plenty of things that are in the OVA in other anime.

It also tries to be an action anime OVA, but there isn’t a whole lot of action. It’s mainly Leiot showing up and using magic to blast away the demon with his big gun using a magic spell, but there aren’t even a lot of fight scenes in this anime OVA.

It also has the problem of having some cliches that show up in a lot of anime, with the hothead, the veteran, the mysterious girl, and the audience POV character dealing with supernatural creatures.

The Animation is Decent

The animation for the Strait Jacket OVA looks decent, the art style is good, but it's not an amazing anime. The fight scenes are decent, but not the most memorable fights I've ever seen.

The animation is decent, but it's not the best I've ever seen. It's nothing that really stands out. It's just an average anime that you'll only watch once.

The Music Isn't Memorable 

The music composed by Takeshi Yanagawa is good, but not very memorable. I can't recall a single thing about the score that stood out to me. The opening song was "The Last Hope" by Takeshi Yanagawa, and the ending song is "Le Chemin" by Kyo.

Parental Advisory

As a note to parents, this is a very violent and gory film. There is a lot of blood and gore in this OVA. People tend to die in gory deaths that involve exploding, and it is not suitable for young viewers. This is definitely for ages 17 and up.

There is nudity, but it's not sexual; it's mainly characters showering.

It was Decent

While the story and the music are okay, what makes up for the lack of deep plot and character development is the English dub voice acting. Steve Blum gives a good performance to Leiot Steinberg.

Crispin Freeman is also good as Isaac Hammond; he’s a good actor, and his performance is something his fans should expect from him.

Bridget Hoffman is a great actress, and she does a really good job in her role as Nerin Simmons. I like her acting, even though I haven’t seen her in a lot of anime roles, even though she’s in quite a few anime.

Kari Wahlgren’s work as Rachel Hammond is good too, but her role is very short. She still did a good job, though.

My Rating: C-

Overall, I would recommend renting this if you’re unsure. It’s not bad, but it’s not the best anime OVA I've ever watched. It's interesting but not very memorable. It’s worth watching, but you’ll have to decide for yourself if you want to buy it. If the story weren't so average, I would recommend buying it, but now that it's out of print, it's not going to be worth the inflated price online sellers have listed.

If it could have been something that wasn't a one-off project, the story might have been better. It just didn't quite turn out to be an outstanding OVA.

The only reason I watched this OVA is that it aired on the Sci-Fi Channel's AniMonday block, and I watched it on TV. I managed to borrow it from my local library system to watch it again. Unfortunately, it's out of print, and the library no longer has it available for me to borrow.

Overall, It is going out of print and will probably end up being very expensive for collectors to get a hold of.