Death Note (will spoil series)

[orangejulius56]

OK hi guys!
So the past few days I have been relatively un-busy(real word?), so I decided to watch the entire Death Note anime, and both live action movies. I have accomplished this task and would like to discuss some things.

First off, amazing series, anyone who hasn't seen it, do so now. This is my first time even seeing an episode. After the first, bam I was hooked. The english voice acting was amazing. The story made me actually take sides, and relate with characters. I do not do this often.

For those who have seen it. What side did you believe was right? I always seemed to take Light's side. I knew what he was doing was morally wrong, but found he was justified. Nobody else would do what he was, and the legal system was becoming corrupted. Criminals were free to do as they wished. My favorite character was L, even though I wanted him to lose. His character was intelligent, witty, and had habits that made him sort of a comedic relief at parts.

*Here come the major spoilers*

After L's death I leaned even more to Light's side. The new characters introduced to replace L seemed too shallow and not worthy of stopping Kira. First off, Mello was an absolute joke. His whole schtick was he was "Hey im a genius, but not as smart as Near so I make up for it by being a tough guy!" "Hell yes I love chocolate!". Gimme a break, L would never respect someone with Mello's persona. Secondly is Near. I like Near in the beginning. He seemed like a true L2. Eventuall his personality became more developed and his childishness made me despise him. How did you guys feels about these two?

Misa-Misa is my second favorite character after L. At first I hated her for seemingly ruining Light's plans. She grew on me fast. Anyone else I discuss this series with seems to hate her. Why is that? How do you guys see her?

Next I wanted to say the ending completely dissapointed me. Well, not dissapointed.... but it was not what I wanted, A good ending none the less. I soooo wanted Light to beat Near. In the final showdown where they both thought they trumped each other I was rooting for Light the most. When Light revealed his plan first I knew Near's was going to trump his. I was waiting for Light to reveal that he knew Near knew his plan. But no the stand in screwed it all up for Kira. I felt bad when he realized he was in the shitter and start to go crazy/cry/laugh like a maniac. The part about Ryuk finishing off Light was pure gold. I just wish they had not replaced L. L deserved to be the one to trump Kira. Not his pathetic trainees. What did you guys think of the ending?

Lastly, does anyone have any other similiar animes to suggest? Or any animes they like at all, not neccessarily of the same genre. And don'f feed me the Naruto bullshit. Gimme a break, half retarded kids running around in bright colors pretending to be Ninja masters of stealth? Sheesh.

[Cheetah]

Death Note is steller. I never watched the anime actually, I just kept current with the manga. I don't know if there are any differences.

There are plenty of good animes. If you are into something really gritty watch Berserk, if you can handle that and want more then read the manga. The anime is like a quarter of what there actually is for that series. Amazing stuff.

Though when it comes down to it the only Anime that has kept my attention still is One Piece. It takes a bit to get into, but it gets absolutely epic. I read the manga and then watch the anime just to get my fix each week.

[orangejulius56]

Berserk eh..... I will give that a look. What is it about and why is it good?
Also I have seen most of One Piece. I never like the main scrawny kid Luffy, he kinda annoyed me. Sanji was a favorite and anyone who can use three swords at once is a complete badass (his name eludes me at this point).

I have never been a manga guy. I have read the odd one, but I prefer watching it. Heh maybe im lazy. What im really looking for is an anime with a good plot that makes you think. That is what I loved about Death Note, the twists, the intrigue. I actually felt anger and sadness at certain points to an extent no movie or book has in my life.

[Cheetah]

Death Note is definitely kind of one of a kind in that respect.

Berserk is basically the most horrifically graphic and morbid piece of literature that I have ever encountered that I would still consider having content of value. That main character is basically the ultimate badass fictional character IMO, even above the likes of Wolverine, Vegita, and Zoro (the three sword wielding character from One Piece). Lots of action, adventure, with quality comedic releaf. The manga has be written in monthly installments for like the past two decades (literally) and the anime is basically the origin story. Though a lot has been cut from the anime that was in the manga just because it is so graphic. I really can't say enough good stuff about this series. The anime is a good starting point, but to truly appreciate it you would have to read the manga because it is the real work of art (make sure the american version isn't a dubbed down piece of shit). Online fan translations are really the only way to read these mangas.

Hopefully when you watched One Piece you weren't watching the american dubbed version, because then the series was probably ruined for you haha. Fan subs all the way. I think the japanese verion is up to episode 364 or something, I think I will go watch it now in fact. One Piece just gets better and better. It will never have the realism and though provoking nature of Death Note, or the grittiness of Berserk, but I just love the free spirited nature of the series and the characters. Though I hated the art style for a very long time.

[orangejulius56]

I am interested in the Berserk Manga. Do you happen to know where I can find a good English fan translation?

[Cheetah]

http://www.evil-genius.us/

This is the group that has basically been doing them forever, real good quality stuff. Now remember it is just like a quick 19 page chapter every month or so, so they are actually up to date even though they are slow releases. I'm not sure if you will find all the early stuff there though.

Oh here is a good read online site though:

http://www.cartooniverse.co.uk/en/Berserk

I would ask that you do support the official American release of this manga if you can though. If they are doing a good job that is, I haven't been able to pick up the first few volumes yet.

The main character Guts/Gatz is pretty much the number one reason why I would want Great Swords to be a weapon in FFT haha.

[Kourama]

Yeah I second Cheetah's suggestions. Berserk is an incredible mange although I have yet to watch the anime, and yeah it is incredibly bloody and graphic in many parts.

One Piece is also great I read each new manga religiously (one should be coming out today), and Cheetah is right about the anime. Don't watch the american dub version, it sucks.

As for a website with online manga, I use http://www.onemanga.com. Free manga online, lots of selections, good quality viewer and no pop ups.

[Archael]

You're gonna kill me

I have only seen the VERY FIRST episode of Death Note

I just dont have time to sit down and watch (or even get my hands on) every EP..

but I will some day

[LastingDawn]

(SPOILERS)

I felt the ending to Death Note was very fitting. Near would have fell completely on his face if it weren't for Mello, and in essence the true genuis behind their final plan is Halle Lidner "This can all be solved by having a name written in the notebook?" She was the intermediary for Mello, as well as the one who alerted Near to that specific plot. Keep in mind the ending only turns out as it does, because they completely relied 100% on the heartlessness of Kira. I believe it was Halle who had guessed that there was a second notebook, now this isn't a plothole whatsoever, "He's pulling out a cellphone.. he pulled out a notebook! The man is dead!" Near may have missed this but I doubt Halle would have done so. From there one can surmise that there must have been a reason for the cellphone and only guess that it's a decoy, no doubt that was what Halle had thought of the whole situration. In those terms Gevanni and Halle are the real heroes while Near and Mello merely take the spotlight... with Commander Rester being as useless... as ever.

[Austin]

If you can deal with the art style Code Geass is quite similar to Death Note. The main character is very similar to Light (gets special power, tries to change the world with it, extremely smart, etc.) and the story has quite a lot of twists.

Otherwise Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, and Samurai Champloo are others I'd suggest watching, and Berserk is definitely worth seeing.

[Argg0]

I also reccomend Code Geass.

[orangejulius56]

Cool. Thanks for the answers guys. I will for sure check out your suggestions. I don't think anything is gonna top Death Note, but that is just my opinion.

Also I think the only real plothole is how Gevanni could copy the whole notebook precisely in one night. That strikes me as impossible.

And I have seen Cowboy Bebop (it was good) and Samurai Champloo. Have not seen any Trigun though.

[orangejulius56]

OK, so I watched the first 4 episodes of Code Geass and I think it will hold my interest. I always enjoy a good story involving politics. From what I have seen so far it has similarities to Death Note. It has more straightforward action which is good, I don't think I should expect it to be as complex and calculating as DN but good so far none the less.

Also on the subject of Berserk. I watched the first episode of the anime and thought ... meh. Then I read the first manga and wow the anime does not do it justice. The whole plot in the anime was unexplained and I was left confused and bored. In the manga many scenes explained alot and it was much more gruesome. I liked this. I will probably continue with this manga, along with the Code Geass anime. Even though Lelouch is a dumb name.

[orangejulius56]

Oh lord how I was wrong. When I said Code Geass would not be as good as Death Note I was mistaken. I have now watched all of season one, and R2 up to the point it is at now.

For serious, I like it better than Death Note. When I was watching DN I loved every second and thought nothing would surpass it. Man was I wrong, what other animes/mangas have been hiding away from me? OR has it been just recently the creators feel like weaving intricate plots? Death Note was great because of the mind games, the twists, the different relationships characters have under different situations, and the supernatural element woven into it.

FWOOOSH!! Code Geass multiplies this ten fold. The emotions I felt watching Death Note seem like nothing compared to this. I think the decisive factor in this is the motives. In Geass every character has a reason, they have personal objectives and goals. In Death Note Light had basically a hobby. He referred to it as a game whenever he mentioned the competition with L, and then the same with Near. Without the Death Note Light would have had no worse a life, probably better. He would have no regrets.

In Code Geass, Lelouch had his whole family taken from him, and his only remaining family was blind and crippled. The whole society was based upon the strong being in charge and the weak having no say. How could his sister live in this world? Did Light have this personal of a vendetta against the world? No way. He was a kid who wanted to rule his own little play world.

The size of Geass' cast and how they develop almost all the characters is amazing as well. I either connect, feel pity, or hate every character on the show. There are none I can live with. Lelouch is a genius just like Light, but his battle has far more dire of consequences, Light only has himself to worry about. Lelouch needs his allies, he does use them like Light, but in the end without them he would be nothing.

The three best characters in this anime have got to be Lelouch, Kallen/Karen, and C.C. Every one of them has alot of depth. What are the thoughts of everyone else watching on these characters? Who do you like?

Also Geass has another aspect that makes it better.
FANSERVICE!!!

Bowchickabowwow....

[Xifanie]

Dream: I am Kira.

I'm in my room. Suddenly the police forces their way in and took me by force saying that I am a suspect for being Kira.
And they took my computer too.

[...]

They confined me with 2 other Kiras and Vice-President of the Police. They brought my computer next to me. The Vice-President then explained to me that they are suspecting that I am Kira and found a program on my computer to kill but they don't understand how it works. They tried reverse-engineering it but it was so poorly coded that they never managed finding anything. So, they just wanted to watch how I kill. Kira 2 was rather young, 17-19 years old and looked like a thief of some sort. He was playing with the cops by have them try to catch him. Killing method: Unknown. Kira 3 is a girl, but I don't see her again until we get out. Killing method: Unknown.

[...]

Hours passed, they tried various methods to make me speak and try killing someone, all failed. Then comes their weirdest attempts: a class of kindergarten girls.
I seriously don't understand what was the point, I felt like they wanted me to feel pity and reveal everything but in reality they just annoying me and I tried to take away my computer somewhere else far from them. From this point, I concluded that in my dream, I always wanted to have my computer near me to kill quickly if necessary.
The Vice-President stopped me, and I had to endure this for about 30 more minutes.

[...]

Time passed again. I have no idea of how long I was confined in there, but it looks like the Vice-President got pissed or something. He tried stealing my keyboard and fails then, to prevent me to kill in any way without removing the proof, he says he was going to disable my program or something and right when I was watching somewhere else for a second, he started typing.
(Note: Btw it was in DOS)
I quickly ran to the computer but he managed to finish typing the command.
I was too late... from far away the command looked like rubbish, and it was.
I tried typing the same command as him and it gave me options which seemed like unicode characters like:

dnt:
- 4      8F  ;
-   6 45  Ao d

I'm saying unicode chars just because I tried finding a reason for the characters to display a blank space instead.
So somehow, I could not use my program anymore; at all.
I couldn't kill anymore so I just waited...

[...]

A few hours passed. A huge evelator came down, with only one person on it; The President of the Police. He was here to tell us that we are all free to go but wouldn't explain why.
He told us to all get on, so we all did. After exiting the bunker we were all walking to the parking and WTF, all this suddenly became a movie for some no apparent reason because I started asking Kira 2 things like:
- Do you think I look like Kira?
- Well, you look a bit like him.

He didn't seem too interested though.
So after grabbing my bicycle, I made my way back home.
I met two young girls on their bicycles on the road, and that reminded me the class... I was saying to myself: "Common hurry you slowpokes", because they were going left just like I did and one of them even cut me in the face.
Well anyway at the next stop there was a police car. I arrived behind it then I noticed it was way after the stop line, but it wasn't moving. The guy who was driving was a black man, and his teammate was a black girl and the driver went drove backwards without noticing me, I was quick enough so he didn't even touch me even if I was very close to the car to begin with. Then he said I was sorry and offered to take me home with his police car.

[...]

BAM! Somehow the police car turned out into a bus for no apparant reason with many cops in it.I noticed it stopped going in the direction of my home so the next stop I took my bicycle and went home, this time without any encounters.

I open the door, hear my family (like the whole family) talk about me being Kira and all, wonder what will happen of me, etc. I go see them and explain to them it was a movie. My mother asks me when it will be released so I replied to her probably in two years for them to translate from Japanese to English then to French.

[...]

WTF REALLY

Seriously this is just a weird way because no one was killed during the making of this dream. I didn't even get how the other 2s were killing. ;(

[Cheetah]

Well I just watched the series finale of Avatar and feel guilty for not mentioning it in this thread earlier. Because Avatar the Last Air Bender is without a doubt the most original and well done american cartoon ever! I have no respect for Nickalodion at all (I don't even think I spelled it correctly just to further my point), but this series is amazing and shouldn't be missed.