Death Note – Complete Series Box Set
Label: Manga Entertainment.
Certificate: 15
Discs: 9. (37 episodes)
Running time: 840 mins approx
Video: 16.9 anamorphic
Sound: English 2.0, Japanese 2.0
Subtitles: English.
Release date: 28th September 2009
RRP: £59.99- Amazon – Play
Brief synopsis:
What would you do if you suddenly held the power of life and death in your hands? What would you do if you could kill someone silently and unfailingly from half a world away as easily as writing in your own diary? And what would you do if your identity as the killer could never be traced? Academically gifted but intellectually uninterested high school student Light Yagami, finds these questions to be no mere “what ifs” when into his possession falls a “Death Note”, a tool of the Death Gods mischievously tossed into the human world by a rogue Death God. If the holder of a Death Note writes the name of a human within in its pages then that human will quickly meet his, or her, maker. Realising that he literally holds the power of a god, the power of life and death over mere mortals, in his own hands, Light mounts a one man vigilante campaign against every criminal on the planet in an attempt to rid the world of evil, snuffing out the lives of wrongdoers one after another.
Whether the victim was a saint or a sinner, mysterious deaths still require investigation but the Police are at a loss at where to even start. As the number of dead criminals grows ever larger the mysterious though highly successful investigator known only as “L” who quickly surmises that there’s a serial killer on the loose. When Light learns that L has vowed to track down the culprit and bring him to justice what begins is a cat and mouse game between two intellectual powerhouses with the lives of every criminal – or innocent person – on the planet as their game pieces. L knows that when your target seems able to kill anyone, anywhere, at any time and stay completely undetected then the stakes couldn’t get much higher.
Comments:
Over the last few years it’s become and all too common occurrence to hear the phrase “modern classic” being bandied around with too few series that actually live up to the plaudit. Death Note however is one of the few shows of recent times that can be labelled as a “modern classic” and have the accolade not be undeserved. Based on a 12 volume manga of the same name that spawned this 37 episode anime, a number of movies (allegedly with a Hollywood remake on the cards), light novels, video games and Lord only knows how many cosplayers, this series manages to be both clever and entertaining at the same time. It’s much like an old episode of Columbo in that we, the audience, know who did it, we also know that various characters know only know who did it but they also know who knows who did it, and much of the fun can be derived from watching the mental feints and lunges each side makes in order to get the other side to show their hand. It would be easy for a show with this premise to fall into the old standard “good versus evil” territory but in this case both sides really believe what they are doing is for the greater good. Light believes his quest for a brave new world to be just and right even if it requires some pruning of the species to make it happen while L, on the side of Law enforcement, believes that no murder should go unpunished, no matter who the victim be. Unless you’ve already read the manga, or had some smart-arse spoil it for you, watch out for the big shock episode part way through the series which about 90% of the audience just did not see coming..
It’s not just the script that’s impressive as visually this show is also top notch with animation quality displaying high production values throughout. The animators have paid much attention to detail, probably more than they really needed to, and it makes for a far more interesting and engrossing viewing experience than many lesser series have to offer. In fact, even the recap episodes are more engrossing than the majority of the other stuff out there. This release doesn’t disappoint with a good, solid encode keeping the quality intact. In-fact the only negative comment I could make about the DVD quality is that it’s a real shame that this series is only presented in stereo 2.0, as a 5.1 option would certainly have been a welcome addition as this show is for the most part a real treat to listen to. Much of the background music will sound strangely familiar to fans of the Horror and Thriller genres drawing inspiration heavily from the likes of Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, O Fortuna from Carmina Burana and the score for 2001: A Space Odyssey, to name but a few. Both the original Japanese language version and the English dub are extremely well crafted, both in the scripting and performances, and this may actually be one of those (disappointingly rare) cases of the Dub version being the superior of the two. A special mention here has to made of L’s Dub actor, Battlestar Galactica’s Alessandro Juliani, who is absolutely spot on the money. To be honest, after hearing his take on Death Note’s enigmatic detective, I now can’t think of any other actor who could come anywhere close to capturing both the sharpness of L’s mind and the drollness of his attitude at the same time.
Extras:
Plenty to be found spread across the nine discs. These include: Production art galleries; Behind the scenes: Interviews with English dub cast & Recording Sessions; Japanese Animation Director & Character Designer Interview; Audio Commentaries for 8 different episodes, Trailers and Textless opening and closing animation. To top it off the whole thing comes enclosed in deluxe box complete with limited edition booklet.
Death Note – Complete Series Box Set is available now from most high street and online retailers.