I didn’t like the long, drawn-out, convoluted plot throughout the series. Once “L” died the series really became tedious to watch. I struggled through it and didn’t have much interest in continuing.

I really hated the ending; the way the character Light broke down, seemed out of character. Even for a character that has just lost an arduous and stressful 6-year chess match, and even for a character so deluded and self-righteous, it just seemed too much.

I did enjoy and appreciate the fact though that it was Ryuk himself that took Light’s life at the end. BUT, I think that it should have shown what happened to Light afterward. The Death Note says that the human that uses the Death Note can neither go to heaven nor hell. The Shinigami also all admit that they have no knowledge or memory about how they got to their realm they inhabit. My conclusion was that humans that used the death note in life, would become shinigami in death. It would make sense, because the shinigami write down human names to kill, adding to their own unique version of life.

I actually expected, and hoped, that the real “L” would have been shown to NOT have died and be moving the pieces in secret. Because when Rem killed Hitari, I thought that they could only kill one human to save the life of a human they loved before they died. I guess Rem wrote fast enough to write both L and Hitari’s names.

In comparison with the Netflix movie based on the manga and anime, I really do feel, without irony, that the movie is far superior in story and characters. I am still glad I took the time to watch the anime series, but I am confident that I would still have preferred the live action version even if I had seen the anime first.

I rate it 2.5/5 stars.  It was “not bad” but I struggled a little to finish the series.