Death Note review
8.9 / 10 — CineScope score
Overview
A brilliant student finds a notebook that kills anyone whose name it contains, and decides to remake the world — until the world's greatest detective starts looking for him.
The short verdict
A cat-and-mouse thriller with no fighting at all — just two geniuses out-thinking each other across a table.
Story
The first half is close to perfect plotting: every rule of the notebook becomes a chess piece. The second half restructures the board and loses some of its tautness.
Direction
Tetsurō Araki directs the mind games as spectacle — dramatic chip-eating, extreme close-ups and internal monologue used like action choreography.
Performance
Mamoru Miyano's Light is arrogance you can hear, and Kappei Yamaguchi's L turns eccentricity into genuine menace.
Cinematography
A gothic, shadow-heavy palette that gives even a library scene a sense of dread.
Music
Yoshihisa Hirano and Hideki Taniuchi's score is ominous and operatic — the choral stabs are iconic.
Pros and cons
What works
- Tense, intelligent plotting
- Two all-time great characters
- Rewatchable structure
What does not
- Second half drops in quality
- Later episodes repeat the same beats
Final verdict
Watch it for the first twenty-five episodes; stay for how it all ends, even if the middle drags.
8.9/ 10