Death Note, Vol. 2

Distributed by Viz Media
100 minutes (4 episodes)

Synopsis
A shinigami (God of Death) by the name of Ryuk, bored of his humdrum existence, travels to earth, dropping his Death Note for someone to find. Someone does find it, namely a brilliant young boy named Light Yagami. After discovering he can use the Note to kill anyone by writing the time and means of their death in the book, Light sets out on a quest to purify the world of evil.

Not everyone views the random killings of people, criminals or not, as a good thing, and his activities quickly come under the investigation of the world’s greatest detective, a man known only as L. Now the two are engaged in a deadly game of cat and mouse as each attempts to ferret out the other’s identity. The four episodes on disc two cover Light’s attempts to evade detection as L narrows down the list of suspects until only two remain.

Storytelling/Characters
There’s a small group of regular characters that includes Light, L, the detectives in L’s group, and the shinigami Ryuk. Most of the series follows Light and L’s elaborate plots and counterplots, revealing their inner thoughts through lengthy monologues. Some minor characters get a surprisingly large amount of fleshing out as well, including Naomi Misora, a former FBI agent and fiancée to Raye Penber (a member of L’s investigative unit). Naomi especially comes across as an interesting and complex character in her brief time on screen.

But overall, it’s the intellectual dual between L and Light that dominates the story, and missing a single episode could result in you being quite lost and confused.

Animation/Visuals
Death Note is a dark and moody piece, with toned down colors, some simple but appealing character designs, and a visual style that creates an urban atmosphere tinged with the supernatural. The animators do some nifty tricks with the coloring as well, the most notable being the occasional switch over to brighter colors for hair and eyes. This technique is often used as a signal to help set internal monologue apart from the standard dialogue. For example, Light’s usually brown hair turns dark red when he’s contemplating a course of action or otherwise deep in thought planning his next move.

The animation is good enough and I didn’t notice any major problems with it. Then again, this series isn’t exactly a fast-paced action story; most of it consists of talking heads or walking scenes.

Voices/Music
While the English voice acting isn’t a dead match for the Japanese, it’s definitely one of the better dubs. No major complaints here, and highlights for me included Ryuk’s smokers cough laugh being nicely replicated in the English dub and Brad Swaile’s sadistic glee as he spits out Light’s dialogue.

The opening theme is a damn catchy tune that’s been stuck in my head for the last few days and shows no sign of leaving. Thankfully it’s a pretty decent metal-y song that does a good job at setting the tone for the series and even for Light’s ultimate goal. The rest of the music varies, but it always serves to enhance the mood, ranging from slightly odd and creepy to bombastic orchestra pieces that really gets you into… well… into watching Light write in a note book. Who knew that watching someone writing down names could be so gripping or dramatic?

Overall
Death Note is a nice break from the fight-oriented shonen series that currently dominate both the airwaves and the bookshelves. Folks used to dramatic battles that stretch out over episodes will probably be a bit disappointed at first, but given a chance I’d imagine that many will be sucked into the mental cat and mouse games characteristic of the series.