The Perfect Netflix Horror Anime For Halloween Is One Of The Best Series Of All Time
Halloween is just around the corner, and a perfect Netflix horror anime for Halloween is actually one of the best animated series ever. Of course, we’re referring to Death Note.
Imagine being granted the power to kill absolutely anyone without anyone ever finding out it was you. On top of that, you wouldn’t even need to leave the comfort of your home. Would you use your powers for the good of society by eliminating societal threats, such as terrorist ring leaders and serial killers, or would you abuse your power in order to gain even more of it?
For those unacquainted with Death Note, it’s perhaps one of the best anime ever made, as it explores how power, nearly unlimited power, can corrupt even the most well-intentioned individuals, underscoring that all actions have consequences.
Besides an interesting concept, the series delves into complex questions about justice, morality, power, consequences, identity, and human nature.
The story opens up with a bored Shinigami—deities that invite humans towards death in certain aspects of Japanese religion and culture—drops his Death Note, a mysterious book that grants the owner the ability to kill others by simply writing down their name, into the human world, thus setting the events of the series in motion.
The Death Note is then found by Light Yagami, who realizes Death Note’s purpose and the potential associated with his use. Light is initially a well-intentioned individual who uses the book to kill the wrongdoers of the world, such as hardened criminals, killers of all sorts, terrorists, and other types the society typically locks up.
Of course, he does most of this work by writing down their names in the Death Note from the comfort of his room, assuming the identity given to him by the masses—Kira.
Naturally, a good chunk of the public is openly against such acts of vigilantism, with one person acting as judge, jury, and executioner, but the majority of people actually support Kira (Light’s adopted persona).
The state, which can’t place its justice system in the hands of a single fallible individual, seeks to bring Kira to justice, but lacking any knowledge of the persona or the Death Note in his possession, they employ L, a highly intelligent and enigmatic detective well-renowned for his exceptional deductive reasoning skills.
Through a series of events, Light ends up working together with L to capture Kira, which grants him intimate knowledge of the task force’s plans to capture him and prevent him from carrying out his own vision of justice. So, the game of cat and mouse ensues, with Death Note at the center. Will Light manage to evade his pursuers? Or will justice prevail, with L finally catching up with Light, exposing him as Kira?
Death Note has a fantastic score of 100 percent Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 96 percent average audience score, which attests to the fact that we’re discussing one of the best anime shows ever made.
There’s a reason why Death Note is hailed as one of the best anime series ever made. Besides an interesting concept, the series delves into complex questions about justice, morality, power, consequences, identity, and human nature.
The protagonist of the show, Light Yagami, initially believes that he’s using the Death Note to rid the worlds of criminals and thus create a more just society, but his own actions quickly blur the lines between what’s right and wrong, and his descent in megalomania is a central element of the Death Note narrative.
His use of the Death Note led to a series of unintended and disastrous outcomes, both for himself and those around him, and he ended up hurting more people than he initially wanted to protect. So, besides exploring what near-unlimited power over death can do to even the best of us, the series underscores the idea that absolutely all actions, for better or worse, have consequences.
Death Note has a fantastic score of 100 percent Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 96 percent average audience score, which attests to the fact that we’re discussing one of the best anime shows ever made.
The Death Note Live-Action
Unfortunately, the Death Note anime received several live-action adaptations, with the most recent one coming from Netflix, and it pains us to say that they’re all of subpar quality. We expected more from Netflix in this regard; in retrospect, there was no way for an intricate story with heavily layered characters to be adapted into 100 minutes’ worth of film.
For those interested in watching Death Note anime, the masterpiece is currently available for streaming via Netflix.
