Rebirth
Let me just tell you, I’ve been told to watch/read this anime/manga by many people and so, like a good little sheep I downloaded all the available episodes. There are five of them right now, I think? As soon as the first one was done downloading, I was watching it.From the first episode, this anime is not what I expected at all. Not even a smidgen of what I expected. There are no indicators from this first episode that people would rally behind it screaming, “It’s so good!” I suppose I have to continue on.

An unusually bright kid named Light finds an interesting notebook. Baring a black cover, this notebook is mostly blank, save for its title on the front cover and a page of instructions. The notebook claims that any person who has their name written in it will die either by a default heart attack or the manner of the writer’s choosing. Light tries the notebook out and finds it works. Instead of shying away from sucha dangerous power, he decides it would be best to kill everyone he considers scum.

I think this is the first time the “with great power comes great responsibility” or “there is a large price to pay for these powers” cards have not been played. The main character is not harmed, nor does he keep the powers in check. He uses them as he sees fit and wishes to become something akin to the ruler of the world. So far, I do not like Light. He doesn’t even come close to having any of those likable villan features and, instead of being good or somewhat human, he is just there, doing these things as he sees fit. Hopefully the other characters will make up for what he is lacking or perhaps Light himself will become more three-dimensional.

There is still much to be learned about the seperation of worlds and the death gods themselves. Ryuk is an interesting character. Looking much like a disgruntled clown, he sends the Death Note into the human world and watches the havoc it causes when Light gets ahold if it. He also likes apples, finds them juicy. Most of what he said about Light using the book made little to no sense to me. Oh, of course I understood the stuff that he said plainly, but much of his innuendo was lost on me.