Death Note Mini Review (manga/anime/movies/etc.)
March 18th, 2008 by Lianne
PG-16 for violence, mild sexuality, dark themes, etc.; official series website and Death God, which will give you pretty much all the info you need
Death Note is a fantastic manga series, a decent anime series, and a surprisingly good set of movies with unique and intensely clever endings (although don’t watch them until you complete the manga, because they spoil the story up through Volume 12). Death Note has dedicated fans of every age, gender, and culture. Still, I think Death Note is more than good - it’s revolutionary. While trying to explain why, I promise to avoid spoilers.
Death Note is about a brilliant teenage boy named Light who finds a supernatural notebook that gives him the power to kill whomever he wants. He decides to kill all criminals in order to make himself the proper leader of a world without crime - and that, to him, is justice. Then another brilliant boy his age named L is dispatched from Interpol to stop him, because the police, and L, believe that true justice (and the foundation of civilization) is holding everyone to the same rules formed by group consensus (aka laws). Misa, another girl with the power to kill, believes in a very subjective justice that will allow her to punish or reward the people she feels she has the right to judge, aka people directly involved in her life. Then there’s Near, the young detective who believes true justice dictates that one must never compromise even the smallest of morals for the greater good, and Mello, who believes that justice is allowing the personal freedom of any man to chase his ambitions, no matter what rules he might break. There are a number of other characters who have different interpretations of what “justice” is (and some views are repeats or slight modifications), but those are the big ones.
Death Note ran in Shounen Jump alongside series like Yu-Gi-Oh, so it used a traditional shounen formula to gets it point across - a relatively quick premise set-up, a cast of characters with obvious motivations, and then lots and lots of action with lots and lots of explanation; in Death Note, the action is Light trying to out-deduce L, the police, the world, etc. and not get caught while killing off the world’s criminals. However, the only real theme the writer him/herself pushes is the futility of mortality, since the Death Notes originally come from gods of death and humans can only manipulate those greater powers to a certain degree. But the broader theme of Death Note - the definition of true, universal justice for all people - is left entirely to the reader. The intentionally flat (albeit interesting) characters each represent an interpretation of what justice is, and the manga itself doesn’t claim that any character is right or wrong. It’s up to the reader to decide whether or not there IS a universal justice and what that justice might be, after s/he has been exposed to a number of different viewpoints. The reader can also easily come up with his/her OWN viewpoint after digesting all the characters’ views, since most of the characters aren’t even shown in a positive light. Death Note took its young readership by the hand and introduced it to heavy, broad themes about crime & punishment, murder, and the legal system and then forced those readers to think for themselves. Some junior high boy in Japan could turn a page in that magazine about ninjas turning into demons and then face a story that made him decide who in a world of killers was doing the right thing - if anyone was doing the right thing, really.
Death Note obviously has a broader audience than Japanese junior high boys, but the service it did that historic readership is nothing short of revolutionary. I think a lot of the criticisms I hear about Death Note don’t take into account the original intent and/or audience of the manga. Here’s a short list of common Death Note criticisms and my arguments against them:
Death Note is too wordy/rambly. For anyone who’s never read a shounen manga before, weekly deadlines, long serializations, and a younger readership have traditionally encouraged very long, detailed explanations of the action in a series. Besides, in Death Note, most of the main characters are sociopaths, so I think a meticulous unraveling of their thought processes and motivations is justifiable.
The characters are unlikable. The average reader would be lucky to really relate to any of the members of the Death Note cast. Most of the characters are decidedly creepy, and they rarely grow or develop over the series because they’re each representatives of different interpretations of justice. They’re interesting, but symbolic - and definitely not cuddly. Which is why I find plush versions of the characters deeply confusing.
The second half of the series is bad. I think pretty much everyone will agree that the second half is substantially weaker than the first half, but a.) the second half brings up a new collection of interesting developments/insights and thus has a reason for existing and b.) the fact that an insanely popular Shounen Jump series was allowed to end on Volume 12 was nothing short of a miracle. On what planet could a money-maker like Death Note end after seven volumes? We’re lucky it didn’t drag on well beyond 12 and completely sabotage its artistic merit.
Death Note is sexist. I actually think this is the strongest complaint one could make about Death Note, and I think the series barely dodges the misogyny bullet - and possibly by accident. Every super genius in the series is male, the women are all largely if not completely motivated by the men in their lives (while the men are usually broader thinking), and even the male characters with very open minds seem to offhandedly undermine the efforts and successes of the female characters. Misa proving that the patriarchy can be beaten at its own game by using men’s low opinions of her against them just barely saves the series from being definitively sexist. But the fact that the writer him/herself seems to be trying to undermine Death Note’s female characters at every available opportunity - including Misa - makes me think that s/he makes Misa succeed for the sake of the plot and not feminism.
Anyway, despite these or any other complaints that can reasonably be made, I think Death Note’s successes in writing, art, and intent vastly eclipse any flaws the series has. Death Note has a definite, noble purpose, and it nails that purpose while simultaneously being addictive and appealing to an extremely broad audience. I’ll stand by Death Note until the end of time.
Educated impression: I think this is one of the best comics ever put to paper. No series can completely please everyone or change how all of its readers think - but Death Note comes shockingly close. (Lianne)
So you’ve restructured this site as a blog…
You should have a blogroll and put me on it!
(btw–I’m the WH person who went to wesleyan who emailed you a while back!)
The sexism pretty much kills it for me; as a woman, I’m not interested in a series that actively undermines what few female characters it has. That’s not a small flaw, and it drops Death Note from ‘revolutionary’ to just really good. With other manga that manages to be good /and/ woman-friendly, Death Note isn’t exactly at the top of my list.
The sexism pretty much kills it for me; as a woman, I’m not interested in a series that actively undermines what few female characters it has. That’s not a small flaw, and it drops Death Note from ‘revolutionary’ to just really good. With other manga that manages to be good /and/ woman-friendly, Death Note isn’t exactly at the top of my list.
I can understand the sexism turning you off, but again, I think some of the Misa concessions did keep the title from being entirely sexist, along with the fact that women were undermined in the plot but not in the biggest theme; women took part in the universal justice debate, and were both murderers and murdered. The fact that Death Note is a title that revolutionized many things but didn’t get over the pretty traditional sexism typical of shounen/seinen (and even shoujo/josei) makes it, in my opinion, still revolutionary, just not in the realm of feminism. I think the sexism just stood out more than in the usual shounen, since everything else in the series was so broad-minded.
I don’t know many other shounen/seinen titles that are both good AND woman-friendly, unfortunately. At least one of the strongest feminist manga I can think of is One Piece, and that’s a shounen. God bless One Piece.
I think it’s rather unjustified to say that Deathnote is sexist because of how one female character was portrayed. The lack of female characters is not odd due to how most of the series takes place in a police investigation. Studies also go to show that male intellects span across a wider range of IQ than females, which results in there beeing more male geniouses than women but also more males who suffer from beeing slow or a light retardation.
If you wish to find sexism in anime you can find much worse cases in most other series, sexism in Japan is a pretty huge issue afterall. There are a ton of “fanservice” and “harem” animes that objectify women to the extreme and then occasionally boys alike.
Bweh.. I ranted too much…
I think it’s rather unjustified to say that Deathnote is sexist because of how one female character was portrayed.
I agree with you…but that wasn’t what I was saying. Misa was the only specific example I used, but I specifically stated that my issue is with how Death Note handles its female characters. Here, more specifics? The FBI agent in the beginning is motivated by her fiancee, the reporter lady toward the end is motivated by Light, and Light’s mother and sister are bystanders in a game played by Light, his father, and Mello. The men in Death Note are motivated by much broader ideals then “I want to do something for someone of the opposite sex.”
I actually think some of the handling of Misa is the ONLY shade of feminism the manga portrays. And I’ve heard about the IQ spread in men vs. women, but that would only be justification for all the super geniuses being male, not the sex-driven motivation and the general not-taken-seriously-ness of the females. My complaint is with a number of things.
And saying there are more sexist manga out there isn’t justification for Death Note being sexist - that’s like saying one movie having sexism is okay just because another movie is MORE sexist. I will admit that since Death Note is a shounen, I wasn’t expecting it to be particularly feminist (shounen rarely is), but it’s such a broad-minded shounen that leaves behind so many of the weaknesses of the genre that its failure to overcome traditional shounen sexism stands out as being particularly unfortunate. Death Note tries to appeal to themes about humanity, justice, and society - it hurts itself by not taking HALF OF THE HUMAN RACE very seriously.
Heya!
Thank you for a well written and thought through response! I think you’re making the misstake of staring yourself blind at the fact that theese characters are women, instead of simply side-characters (with the exeption of Misa). The FBI agent’s vendetta seems perfectly understandable to me and she acts on her own accord, I don’t see any problem there really. The family’s passive role would’ve been the same if his sister had been a little brother instead, or is there any reason to think otherwise? The thief and reporter’s bodyguard seemed to driven by their own agenda. Hmm, I’ll admit that the reporter’s actions were strange, but I think that her weak character was one of many in the second half of the series. As for Misa she’s just the typical j-idol sterotype in addition to her sociopathic behaviour.
It’s true that other series beeing sexist doesn’t justify Death Note arguably beeing so. However, my point was that there are series far more suited to be brought up for debate. I think that this is a genuine problem, especially as anime has become more widespread. The sexism in anime and other Japanese culture is commonly accepted and may therefore tint the productions of series such as Death Note.
As for Death Note appealing to the subject of justice and ethics I think that’s where a major flaw in Death Note is. It never portrays any of the interesting dilemmas that ‘Kira’ would have been facing. Like where he should draw the line of judgement? Just murder? Can the killing of another person ever be justified & is every conviction that of someone guilty? I’d also like to think that the Media is to blame when they throughtout the series continue to publish photos and names of criminals.
In any case, I can’t see the sexism that you speak of despite a little effort. If it’s there it’s subtle and I don’t think that it hurts the entertainment value. To me Death Note was just a decent detective fiction drama that lost itself somewhere in the end…
- SajT
As for Death Note appealing to the subject of justice and ethics I think that’s where a major flaw in Death Note is. It never portrays any of the interesting dilemmas that ‘Kira’ would have been facing. Like where he should draw the line of judgement? Just murder? Can the killing of another person ever be justified & is every conviction that of someone guilty? I’d also like to think that the Media is to blame when they throughtout the series continue to publish photos and names of criminals.
I still believe that the point of Death Note is to not spell out a clear theme about justice. Light kills people he considers “criminals” and anyone who gets in the way of his “just” cause. L believes in the law deciding who lives and who dies. Misa kills in an attempt to protect and please herself and Light. These are all “Kira” dillemmas that each character faces in a different way. CAN the killing of another person ever be justified? I don’t know. The comic doesn’t know. The manga lets each reader decide for him/herself, and that’s the entire point. Each character justifies murder in his or her own way in order to provide example of how people CAN think about the issue. I think Death Note NOT answering those questions clearly and directly is what makes it so good.
Good point about the media. I forgot to mention that - the media ethics in Death Note are another good brainbuster. At what point are they helping Kira, hurting Kira, fulfilling a duty to the public, hurting the public, etc.? The media has a definitive (and oftentimes shifting) role in the story, and again the reader can decide if and when the media is in the wrong.
Yes, a lot of the male side characters are also treated flippantly in Death Note. But there are multiple strong male characters, whereas Misa is only sometimes a strong female character, and all the other female characters are practically throwaway (the FBI agent less so, maybe, because of the post-series novel that includes her). But a broad-minded character like L commenting on the FBI agent being good at her job “even for a woman”? Light claiming he can manipulate everybody, but then failing with certain male characters while NEVER failing at manipulating every woman in his life? And then Matsuda, who the manga always considered a sort of joke, really coming into his own by the end while a major female character’s fate isn’t even revealed until the post-series informational Volume 13 for no good reason (other than the author not caring)? Sorry, but when you try to write a story about the human condition and then you try and cut out your female characters whenever you can for no good reason (other than their being female, I suppose), your story’s sexist. It’s definitely not the most sexist manga you can read, and I still think Death Note is one of the best comics ever written and everyone should read it, but I still think the sexism in the story is worthy of critique.
I think the sexism answer is a little less complicated than that. Simply, both the writer and the artist are men. It’s easier for them to relate to male characters, not because they have any kind of low opinion of women. I’m a budding writer and I had the same problem for a while.
And the artist in particular actually has difficulty with female characters.
If you want to know why Naomi was killed off so fast, you should go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Death_Note_characters
Scroll down to “Conception and development of Naomi”. That page also has multiple references on Obata(the artist)’s difficulty drawing female characters.
Interesting point about the artist not being able to draw women. But still, that doesn’t excuse the writing-specific undermining of the female characters. A woman doesn’t have to be on-screen to be taken seriously.
I think the sexism answer is a little less complicated than that. Simply, both the writer and the artist are men. It’s easier for them to relate to male characters, not because they have any kind of low opinion of women.
I’ve heard that justification for mild sexism before, and I just don’t buy it. Feminism is the idea that men and women were created equal. No one’s asking a male writer to accurately represent the female experience in order to be a feminist writer - if you write a female character whom the writer and reader can take seriously, you’re good to go. Look at One Piece. Nami and Robin aren’t particularly admirable people, but they’re important members of the team, and other characters and/or the reader would only look down on them for their flaws - Nami’s greed, Robin’s apathy, whatever. Nobody’s looking down on them because they’re the girls, because them being “the girls” isn’t an issue - they’re members of the team. Period.
Bottom line: your female characters have to be human beings with flaws and goals, just like how your male characters are human beings with flaws and goals. If you have trouble writing female characters, either make your story entirely inhabited by men, or develop a male character with all his goals and drives and flaws and then draw boobs on him. If you can only write some sort of sloppy compilation of female stereotypes onto a character who’s only a caricature of a human being, just leave her out - you’re not helping anyone. Oh, and all female characters in a work shouldn’t be inherently driven by, providing, or representations of sex, either, unless there’s a particular reason for that being the case in the work. Are men entirely defined by their sex, even though straight women and gay men are attracted to men? Nope. So women shouldn’t be, either, just because straight men and gay women are attracted to them.
Death note is very good. Is one of my favourite anime.Have you seen how amaizing is Ryuuku drawn? And the phsychological war between L and Light is great. I like it so much because is very differet of what i’ve seen.
Hi, Lianne, long time since I saw you!
I agree with your assessment of this awesome show/manga (the movie opens shortly here). I joke pretty often that it rocks because Madhouse was the studio who animated it, but honestly, the manga is pretty amazing.
The central conflict is easy to grasp; what makes it work plotwise is the cleverness of the rules-lawyering and resource management that Light and L engage in. But what makes it resonate is that horrible yet tantalizing worry that we’d do better…or worse…than Light at carrying that burden. Only the naive believe that they’d never be tempted to use the book. Most of us would hope to use it as carefully as Light does at first, without falling victim to the allure of that power.
I will have to get back into reading your very insightful blog!
I’ve only seen up to episode 20, and I’ve been going back and forth on whether I want to finish the series (I haven’t read the manga.)
I have some issues with the plot that have made my interest lessen (mostly that neither L nor Light seem to act as smart as we the audience are supposed to believe them to be, and some boredom with the business industry group pay-for-murder plot), my main objection with the series, and the reason I’m trying to decide to quit or continue, is the sexism.
I’d like to say that I appreciated your comments in the discussion about about how women are portrayed on the series– I agree with you all your points, and I could see those patterns even though I’ve only seen 20 episodes.
My biggest complaint was the lack of female characters–of female populace– in the “world” that Death Note creates. It seems like there’s just less women present than you would normally see. Especially after L moves into the high-rise building and so many scenes are in a closed setting where the only female character of note is Misa (plus that one thief that gets only a couple lines). And Misa seems like a Bratz doll come to life, though I do appreciate her resourcefulness at least. Even with the idea that there’s less women in the police force, and less women in the business world, there are *some*, and I felt often like the author kept forgetting that women existed, at least in a professional environment. He remembered they existed at Light’s home (because a mother is an accessory to a good little police chief’s household) and they existed in the shape of sexual objects like Misa (who is not only defined by sexual context but epitomizes the “emotional/crazy/irrational” stereotype of feminine behavior), and then every once in a while you get the FBI agent’s fiancee in the beginning, who would have been amazing if she hadn’t been eliminated for reasons directly related to her male counterpart. Even looking past the fact that the ambitions of the women were tied in with the male characters (happens a lot in anime) I felt the general absence of women in the overall cast was disturbing, and much more noteworthy than in other anime series. Instead of being around half of the cast, it seems like in the world of DN there’s only 20% women to 80% men.
Like I said, that was my impression of the first half of the series. I have been told “it only gets worse” by others, though.
-Rashaka
Jim: Always lovely to hear from you, hope you’re doing well.
Rashaka: Amen to pretty much everything you just said about the sexism. It’s subtle and insiduous, which is further reflected by the lack of women in “power” positions for no good reason; granted, the lack of background women can probably be attributed at least somewhat to the fact that the artist doesn’t enjoy drawing women. And yes, the first half of the series of Death Note is the strongest, so plot problems and the sexism will only increase as time goes on. I still recommend following the series through to the end at least once, though. And the manga is the best version (and at $8 a pop, 12 volumes max isn’t much of an investment).
I do, however, think L and Light are believably brilliant. The first time L tricks Light to discover Light’s location in Volume 1 still gives me shivers, it’s so damn clever.
Althought this might not justify all of the ’sexist’ claims, but writer Tsugumi Ohba and illustrator Takeshi Obata admitted that they weren’t very good with female characters. That alone is the reason why there weren’t many female characters in the series to begin with. The issue around Naomi Misora’s death is quite interesting. Apparently she was orginally planned to be in the series much longer, even possibily within the Near and Mello arc. However, since she was able to learn that Kira could kill victims by means other than heart attacks faster than anyone else, they felt that they had to get rid of her or else face problems with the story line(although they didn’t elaborate what the problems were). Believe it or not, killing her off was a difficult decision for both of them. In Misa’s case, she was merely used to convey Death Note’s Gothic Imagery as well as being the comic relief of an otherwise serious plot; along with Ryuk and Matsuda. If I were with them, I would’ve changed the plotline in such a way that would put Naomi in a near death situation, but still keep her alive; such as Light attempting to kill her in a car accident, but he miscalulates the time and position and she survives the crash. …but what’s done is done. What can I say?
Volumes 1-7 are a masterpiece. The awesomeness weakens after that. But the last few chapters are a knock out of an ending.
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The shallow female characters in Death Note and lots of other Shounen titles don’t really bother me, we all know how one-dimensional guys in shoujo manga can get. No manga is obliged to represent human society in its entirety. If the artists behind Death Note wanted to make a manga about guys, good for them! Well, that’s what I think.
My actual problem with this story was that the entire plot was so awkwardly constructed, I started to feel the author was making fun of me. The trick in story-telling is not to let everything about your story seem staged, even if all of it is. Death Note was BAD with his.