Yeah, it isn't licensed yet and the sub of the first episode has barely been out for more than two days. I really feel like chatting about it however, so I'm putting the thread up and seeing what happens.

Personally, as an enormous fan of the manga who's been all but frothing at the mouth for the past few months about this, I was far from disappointed. It stayed true to the manga while not being afraid to waver from it to come into its own. I can't wait for it to be brought over.

A summary, courtesy of the Anime News Network:

I haven't had time to watch the sub, yet, but I did watch the raw. I agree, the first episode was great. Couldn't be more pleased. Madhouse did such a good job; the colors, animation, and general style are gorgeous. Hands down, my favorite part of the episode was where Light really starts using the Death Note.

The opening and ending are my favorites of the fall season. I especially love the part where you see Naomi holding Raye, like in The Pieta.

I really can't wait to see L. I'm dying to know how Kappei will voice him.

I KNEW someone was going to make a thread for this! While I love seeing anime being made out of manga I love for some reason I feel that Death Note doesn't really need an anime, but here it is. The first episode looked really nice, I love the opening. I also like the backround music. And I like Light's voice actor a lot (for anyone who watched Ouran Host Club Light=Tamaki :D). Light is really pretty, I forgot just how much he likes himself even in the beginning, he just thinks he's so great... I really dislike him. Actually when I think of it he's like a typical shonen main character, exept for CRAZY.

As for the manga (BIG SPOILER for volume 7) I stopped reading it after L died and I realized that he was never ever going to come back, while Light IS really clever and smart I don't like him at all and N and M were nothing great. But with the english volumes up to that point and the anime coming out I'm trying to pick it up again.

I think this would be a really great addition to Adult Swim someday in the far off future. I can't wait to see more. I actually watched the pilot episode for Dexter before I checked out the DN sub. If anyone else checked out that show, Dexter is kinda like Light: killers with a sense of justice complex who are intelligent, methodical, and like you said Ryan227, definitely crazy.

I liked hearing Tamaki's VA as Light, too. Ryuk's voice was pretty interesting - I always pictured him with a goofier voice though, but I actually think the raspy, deep tone suits him. I've been meaning to read the manga where I last left off, so now is a good time to revisit it with the anime starting and all.

Ditto. I especially like the way his flourishes seemed to act as actual jabs at the criminals. It was really fluid in animation and effective.

I think you should try to finish it off. Near and Mello aren't as strong as L as both a character and opponent but they work well enough as a concept to be almost a better reflection of Light in some ways.

I agree, whenever Viz gets around to licensing it. The manga's getting more and more popular, and by the time it does get brought over the FMA and Naruto craze will have died down a little.

I'm waiting for a few more episodes to really see what I think about the voices. I liked Light's and Ryuk's more as the episode went on, but they both jar a little with what I had in my head. Ryuk especially - I had always pictured with him a high-pitched, goofy voice as well.

I was a fan of the manga up until a certain point but still finished reading it. After seeing the opening I was all pumped up to watch the anime just because it looks so good.

I like the voices so far and I also thought Ryuk was going to sound goofier, but I think the raspy voice works as well. I really can't wait to see L, although there won't be much of a surprise when they show his face since he's already in the opening animation.

Yeah! So glad there is a topic for this. I absolutely loved it. Great opening, I really have no clue where it's going with this. Please don't spoil it if you have read the manga. I just hope we get some more mythology thrown in down the line.

Anyone know how long the show will run? I thought i read 30 episodes or so.

This is totally just guessing, but I'd guess it'll be between two and four seasons long, depending on how long they want to milk it. If it's two, the first season would follow the first fifty-eight chapters of the manga and the second would be the rest of it. If there's one more season, I'd guess the first season will end with the events of the twenty-sixth issue of the manga, and if they did that it wouldn't surprise me if they decided to put a season break after... eh, the events of chapter seventy-four maybe. Can anyone think of a better season-ender than Raito's dad's death in the second half of the manga? The only other thing I can think of is when Mikami became the new Kira, but that seems like it'd be too close to the end. But most of that part of the manga kind've runs together in my mind, so I could be forgetting something. The other times I picked, if you don't remember the chapters when things happened, are when Raito gave up the death note, which'd make the second season the Yotsuba arc, and then L's death of course.

So, that'd be a hundred and four episodes max by my guess, if they go for full twenty-six episode seasons and make four of them.

I of the opposite opinion of the animation of this show. It's too dark. Deathnote's appeal is how it plays with expectations we kinda see light first midway into his fall and then see him go in deeper and deeper. As now he seems too far gone into the villain mode to elicit rapport and sympathy in part because they are shading him and the environments needlessly.

Its going to make his reversion into a mostly decent human being when he gives up the deathnote all that more difficult. That arc let us see the true light at the beginning and has let us in on not only how much has the events changed him but how the DN is not completely at fault (for no reason but self-serving he doesn't mention crucial data he remembers)

ANN and a few other sources are saying there will be 37 episodes, but no one's been able to offer official confirmation on an episode count. I'm really hoping that the anime will cover the whole manga because there's some stuff in the second arc that I'd love to see animated.

I just hope there isn't much filler, or if possible any at all . There's a lot of plot that the series needs to cover, even if the anime stops before the second arc.

ETA: The raw for the second episode appears to be out. Subs shouldn't be far behind.

I watched the raw, and Kappei Yamaguchi just completely dispelled any doubts I had about him voicing L. If I didn't already know it was Kappei, I never would've guessed it was him. Mamoru Miyano also did a fantastic job at giving Light a crazy edge to his voice. I didn't think of Tamaki once.

For those of us who have read the manga, L's real name was revealed today: L. Lawliet. It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected (considering the names we've seen in the past; Quillsh Whammy still kills me), though I can't stop thinking, "Tis the east, and Lawliet is the sun!"

I just finished it. Miyano has completely won me over. That was some fine acting, especially at the end. I really like Yamaguchi as L too, and whoever is voicing Watari sounds exactly as I imagined.

Hee, Leanan. The manga-ka does have a habit of picking strange names. I rather like the sound of Lawliet, actually. It suits L.

Deathnote is one of those author and writer mangas so the mangaka (the artist) doesn't likely pick the names... I forget the pet term for manga writers is.

D'oh. Thanks for clearing me up on that. Two years and I'm still learning. I always just figured that manga-ka worked for creator, regardless of what he or she did.

Subs are up!

I thought the second episode was a little boring, to be quite frank. Until the end, that is. But i didn't think that's where the story should go. but we'll see, i guess.

I've never read the manga, so I'm being spoiled like crazy about characters I haven't even seen yet (I can't resist a spoiler tag). I'm going to try and forget everything I learned and keep watching this though, since it's an incredibly intriguing idea, and a lot of people seem to like the manga.

Personally I think they have made it all a too dark (both tone and animation-wise) this early on. I was almost put-off completely by the sheer level of insanity Light reached in the first episode.

Just got done watching the raw for episode three. It's not quite as fun as the first two, and Light looked a little funky in the beginning of the episode when he was talking to Sayu. They've got Matsuda down pat, though. He's so cute and endearing. Kappei continues to impress as L. I can't wait until we get to the part where L enrolls in Light's college.

Best scene of the episode is when we see Light acting like a normal schoolboy while the criminals die. Ryuk's shinigami eyes were extra creepy, too.

I don't know if it's just me and the episodes I've been downloading, but does anyone else think that the opening *possible spoiler; just being safe* showed more of Naomi's face than before? I uploaded screencaps from the first and third episodes to compare. Episode one vs. Episode three.

I love Yamaguchi as L. I can't say that it was...an expected choice, but still, love! (Yamaguchi Kappei's one of my favourite VAs, up there with Seki Tomokazu and Suzumura Kenichi, so...yeah.)

I can't help it, though; when I hear Light, it just sounds like Tamaki attempting to be sinister. With any luck, this will change.

I never really got into the manga while it was running, as it was too grim for my taste (even though I loved Angel Sanctuary, which is about ten times as dark), but I've rediscovered it and I'm looking forward to the anime series. (Bigass spoiler-related thought. I have to admit that I can't bring myself to read past L's death, though. I really liked the character, bizarre as he was, and I couldn't see anything replacing him. The big appeal for me of Death Note was L vs. Light. Once that particular battle ended, so did my interest in the plot. I can't wait to see it animated, though, especially that lovely spread where L, dying, stares up at Light (who looks appropriately demonic). Great stuff.)

I'm getting behind! I'm going to try and catch up on all the subs this weekend.

Zif, a lot of fans feel that way. Although I personally don't want the anime to stop before the second arc, I wouldn't be surprised at all if they did.

Ha, I was just talking about that the other night to a Dexter-watcher. I watch both. It's interesting, because where Dexter begins from basically sociopathy and is caged (in a way you could say tamed) by the Code of Harry, Light starts as a law-abiding teenager who very swiftly veers right over the edge in intellectual and moral arrogance to become a monster.

And Light gets a totally classic villain's end, too. Seriously...I read that part of the manga and was amazed. It almost felt cliche, but very appropriate. Done to death by his own cleverness.

Don't know what happens in Dexter, haven't read the books. But I find it interesting how Dex and Light start from different points but cross paths--or walk the same path--in the middle.

i liked the fourth episode more. I started to care about the L and Light rivalry.

This show is so awesome. But I hated how they showed the relationship between the FBI guy and fiance, I mean what was with the whole once you have children the old habit will stop. Like she isn't suppose to think, geez! I was a little happy that he died.

I felt the same way. I was very sympathetic towards him until he started in on the whole 50s housewife bit. Then I was just impatient with her for going along with the whole thing, when it was apparent she was missing her job. Well, doesn't make much difference now, I suppose.

I just got through watching up until episode 10 this past weekend. I'm impressed with how disturbing Light's character is, and I frequently find myself admiring how clever and messed up he is. I'm really enjoying the interplay between Light and L, too. Can't wait to see where it goes next. Especially with the whole "he might be L, but he might just be L's proxy sent to see if I kill him to prove that I'm Kira... So I'll be friends if he wants, and just wait to see if I get enough proof to kill him later" theme that was hinted at in the last episode. I can't decide who's more devious, but I'm definitely hooked so far!

Ray does sound sexist, but that's sadly still a fairly prevalent attitude in Japan. However he's supposed to be Japanese-American, which does make it seem a little odd.

The only reason why Ray's chauvinistic attitude didn't bother me was that it made for a nice flaw. It would have been easy to make him a heroic, almost perfect character, and make Light's killing him a definite mark of his changing goal. However, he wasn't; he was a bit of a jerk who underestimated his fiance, and and was surpassed by her, awesomely enough. Not to mention that Light killing him, while still definitely motivated by selfish concern, has a touch more gray to it. As you said, Sunburn: as a reader, or watcher in this case, his death was somewhat welcome. Or, like me, there was no real desire to lament over him.

I was goign to make a topic about this, but thankfully I didn't. I just have to put my love for this show. The relationship between L and Light is amazing in that can you top this type deal. Misa is just beyond words though. Thankfully Rem seems to be the more stable of the duo.

Oh, whoops. Didn't notice this thread before.
Mods, strike me down.
Anyway, lovely show. Any idea how many episodes there'll be?

Rumour has it that there will be 37 episodes, but from what I've seen, nobody's been able to confirm that. At the rate the series is going, though, it looks to me like they could cover the whole manga with that many episodes.

A third trailer is up, this time graced by the presence of the possible English VAs for Light and L. So far, I am rather fond of Light as he sounds closer to what I imagined myself, but L's voice seems really deep. I really like the effect used to mask his voice though.

The dubbing is being handled by Ocean in Canada, as well. Normally not a problem for me, but apparently this also means I miss out on Vic Mignogna and Liam O'Brien, as both were very interested, being involved. So, boo on that.

Just watched episode one--I really liked it! I've read the manga through volume 7 so I pretty much know what's coming, still, it's great to see it all acted out just for me.

I like Light's voice, and yeah, Ryuk's eyes are luminous and creepier than they are in the manga. The montage of the criminals dropping dead and the music was excellent. And so was Light's crazy-eyes rant.

It's strange... I'm completely in love with the manga. I have a ton of Death Note merchandise, including the game for DS, which is a little hard to play seeing as I can't read Japanese.

Yet I can't get into the anime series. I was so excited to hear that DN was finally going to be animated. I eagerly waited for the first episode and watched it as soon as it came out... and I felt nothing for it. I was just vaguely bored. I thought the next episode would be better...nope. The excitement I got from reading the manga is totally gone when I watch the anime. I'm on episode 12 now and months have passed between each ep I watched. I'm not sure why I can't get excited about it, either. It's not that it's bad, but to me it feels like...I don't know, like it's missing something. The only scene from the series I DID like was the scene where criminals were dying while Light was having a normal school day.

Maybe it's just me?

So just saw the last episode, damn if it wasn't good. Actually thought that Light might have beaten Near, but man was that an awesome twist. Now I want to read the manga and see how it played out there. I realized that I really missed Ryuk once he reamerged and was talking to Near. I think that is what really made the show for me was the interaction between Light and Ryuk.

I wasn't able to catch up fully when Viz licensed the series, but I like what I've seen of the anime. However, Dilandau, I can see what you mean. It can be hard to get into seeing the events a second time, although I think the series was successful in making it not seem like a direct copy from what I've seen. I really don't like however how over-dramatic the anime tends to be. I also felt they placed too much emphasis on Light as evil and how "cool" that is, instead of starting him off reasonably grey and innocent and slowly pulling him down into the depths of darkness and insanity.

That said, I adore Madhouse, and will definitely be buying the DVDs when they come out.

I finally forced myself to watch a few more episodes. I'm on episode 30 right now.. Once the show picked up momentum around the episode where L goes to visit Light at school I actually started enjoying it. In fact I really liked L's death in the anime a lot more than I did in the manga. The episode was beautifully done. ...And that foot massage scene was HOT.

Unfortunately, that didn't last long. After episode 26...I'm not really enjoying it anymore. But that might just be because I really, really, REALLY hate Near and Mello. I can't remember disliking ANY anime character as much as I dislike them. Though admittedly, I hate Near more than Mello, and it's strange, because Near didn't really bug me right off the bat like Mello did. It took me a while, but eventually he surpassed Mello! But yeah..for a while I didn't read volume 10 and 11 of the manga. Before I had been getting them as soon as they came out...but those two kind of ruined the series for me. When the last volume came out I got all three books..and ended up hating the ending because I felt it was cheap. Light lost because of a fucking error Mikami made? That's so lame. Laaame. Things worked out too well for Near. I had to put the last volume down repeatedly because it was making me so mad and I just couldn't read anymore.

So anyway, yeah..it's no surprise that I don't like these episodes. I just hope episode 37 will be good. Not that it won't make me as angry as the last volume did, but I just hope they handle it well.

I stopped watching anime a few years ago and for some reason I went back to one of the anime streaming sites and I found Death Note. I'm now a Death Note fan. Light is incredibly clever yet so twisted. The ways he thinks up getting information is crazy. L wasn't what I expected at first but I like him as well. I've only watched 7 episodes so far but from the way it's been going it seems like it's going to be a great anime. I can't wait to watch more episodes of this!

Light puts on swim trunks in U.S.

I've read the first six volumes from the library, and I've seen bits from the first two episodes online, so I'll be watching with interest. I really want to see if friggin' Misa-Misa, the one I don't adore, is as annoying in the anime as in the manga. Also: handcuffed Light/L fistfights. Good times!

ETA: I hope you guys have seen this. Way too funny, right?

I figured, but confirmation is always good. Hopefully we can get some good discussion going!

Yep! The comparison is rather fitting, if creepy.

Getting ready for Saturday night. Hey, somebody's gotta promote it...aside from three seconds in a preview of Saturday programming and a print on their site (where I got the second image from), Adult Swim hasn't been hyping the show.

I'm looking forward to it. I actually recently read the manga up through volume 10, and it's pretty interesting. Not the usual action packed fantasy-laden parade of vampires, girl-ninja groups, or futuristic cops. It's more a modern Sherlock Homes vs. Moriarity kind of thing, very cerebral and all about plots and logic and outsmarting your opponent. Very cool, especially within the context of a notebook that can kill anyone at anytime.

Hee. Great job, Lantern.

The lack of promotion for this show is absolutely ridiculous. Yes, it's anime, but there usually is at least a commercial, and this is an extremely big show for them. It would be well worth their time to actually let people know about it.

Maybe it's a lack of fanservice...the last Bleach promo I saw was a bunch of Orihime footage, and that girl is stacked. I mean, she's ditzy and cute, but she's friggin' stacked. That would work against this show...at least until Misa Misa shows up. And even then, I don't know if she's that hot in the anime.

For anybody interested in jumping the gun on "Rebirth," the first episode is up on Adult Swim's website.

Eh? Is the protagonist and main character of this series really a serial killer? Light's not even a reformed murderer, he's a budding one. Certainly makes this anime different than all the others I've seen.

I'm already wondering when Light will kill somebody and realize afterwards that his victim was innocent.

Occasionally the death note guy's VA reminds me of Kai's VA in Blood+.

Oh yeah, Light = power-mad. He must not have heard, or has forgotten, the saying, "absolute power corrupts absolutely."

I watched this last night on The Fix, and again tonight. And I was shocked by the following:

1) we discover that Light (subtle name, yeah?) is an ego-tripping jackhole with a god complex from jump; normally, this revelation would take a couple of eps., and the Death Note would turn him bad; but nooooooo, in this story the Death Note only lets his inner asshole come shining through
2) his goal shifted from getting rid of the most heinous criminals to getting rid of people who aren't "good" from his narrow, immature worldview
3) he'd already killed so many people in 5 days

Truly, Light is a protagavillain, and I am so hooked.

Little details I really dug: at the beginning, Light's teacher dings him for not paying attention, when everybody else is having conversations with themselves, Light reading about God what he believes about himself; when Uryuk (sp.) points out that Light would be the only bad person, he doesn't understand because he believes he's God's gift to humanity (or his own gift to humanity?); the look Uryuk when Light says he doesn't understand is quite "You are soooo gonna be my bitch, little boy."

In the Dexter forum, Light was brought up as being somewhat similar to Dexter Morgan. Now that I've seen the first ep., I can say that they're similar in that they serial kill criminals (and those who serially harm other and don't get caught), but Light's and Dexter's perspectives on themselves and others are universes apart.

Umm, I guess this Dexter referred to is different from the one in Dexter's Laboratory?

Oh yeah, the Death Note didn't look very thick--I wonder what will happen once all the pages are used up?

Edit. Quotes are not the same as italics.

I think the fresh maker is referring to Dexter the serial killer, from the Showtime tv show.

Whoever created Death Note have balls!!! You take this ordinary kid who you think will be a good guy and then he starts during crazy shit and liking it!

I damn near choked to see how many names Light had written in his Death Note! That a helluva lot of names! It only took that SOB, 5 days to fuck his soul and I like how the series creator didn't waste our time to get to that point!

Geez, and that speech at the end made him the perfect candidate to be the next Adolf! I just hope this series won't go soft. I want the guy getting his dessert and none of that redemption BS towards the end...at least not too much of it!

So far so good! I can't wait to see more!

Yeah, Light's a complete sociopath. Although he doesn't quite go from 0 to crazy in 60 seconds like this in the manga, it's more gradual. Also no dramatic arm waving while writing.

The thing that was driving me crazy by the end was the escalating "I know that you know that I know..." The story degenerated into "I have taken steps X, Y and Z", "Ah but I expected that and have done X, Y, Z and Q!", "But I knew you'd do X, Y, Z and Q which is why I have also done X, Y, Z, Q, and A!!" Just somebody die already.

Yeah I'd heard that Light is portrayed as more of a villain right from the start in the anime than he initially is in the manga, I take it that's true then?

I wonder what would have happened to Light if he had never found the Death Note. Would he eventually have gotten over his boredom and lead a 'normal' life, or would his desire for vigilantism have manifested in some way despite not having Death Note?