Review: Death Note

Death Note Review

This is a review of the Death Note collection on 9 DVDs.

 There may be minor spoilers in the pictures shown, and notes but this was released in 2006 so i am a little late to the Death Note party.

There was a manga  released first but i have not read any of it, so this review is just the series.

 The series introduces Shinigami or death gods who live in a dull and boring realm and can extend there lives by taking the lives of humans.

 Each  Shinigami has their own Death Note, this is a book that will cause the death of anyone whose name is written within. The Shinigami will gain the life of that being.

 Light Yagami an intelligent young man, finds a Death Note and takes on a mission to make the world a better place by writing the names of criminals in it.

 The Death Note Light finds is dropped in our realm by the Shinigami Ryuk.

Ryuk seems to be visiting human realm to alleviate his boredom.

 Lights antics soon come to the attention of the authorities and of another young genius called only L. I am not sure who L works for but it seems he is like a private contractor hired by the government to solve crimes.

 The series follows the psychological drama as Light and L match wits in order to fulfill their desires. It is generally well done but does sometimes get a little into the "I out thought you and knew you were going to do that so i did this, but knowing you would know that i would do this,  i did this other thing as well..etc."

 The dynamics between Light and L are great and we were often left wondering if there was a little more to the relationship. The series doesn't shy away from such things as one female character was clearly in love with another. But the relationship between L and Light is only strongly hinted at.

 Don't come to this show expecting man on man loving, its sadly just not shown on screen.

There is only a very small amount of fan-service here.

 The art is amazingly good, and i absolutely love the design of the various Shinigami. Though i wish they and their real were explored more.

 What must be towards the end of the second season kind of takes a downward spiral for me, i wasn't as interested in where the story was heading.

 The show explores themes of morality, justice and death. I really did enjoy it and really want more.

 I am a little confused but Death Note Relight (1&2) seems to be the same anime but from Kyuks perspective and there are some live action movies also available. Be aware that the live-action movies may have English subtitles but may not be dubbed in English.

 This is a great show, low on the action but highly engaging. The DVD set is released by Madman in Australia and while the DVD set is of good quality i can not recommend purchasing it through the Madman web store after the problems i have had with them.

Review: Free! Eternal Summer Review

Free! Eternal Summer

review

This is season two of Free!, season one was titled Free! Iwatobi Swim Club. Sadly season one hasn't been released in Australia yet. Free! is an anime about a group of high school friends who create a swim club, and follows that summer. 

The story also deals with the rivalry between the Iwatobi swim club and their rivals the Samezuka Academy swimming group.

It should be pointed out that this anime is a story about friendship and rivalry. 

There isn't much action as such, no not expect giant  robots or alien symbiotic parasites.

 Expect a beautiful story about friendship, love and rivalry. I don't mean that to sound boring at all, the show if far from boring. It also left me with a smile on my face almost the entire time.

The story is amazing but the art is utterly beautiful. The use of shadow and darkness to aid in the mood of a scene is brilliant.

Light is used to equal effect and some of the night scenes are simply breathtaking.

 

Perspective is also used to great effect. 

It may be a slight SPOILER but there are some really terrible Australian accents, so much cringe.

I have to say i loved this season, other than it being too short, and the guys seeming to be missing some nipples i have no complaints. It was quite expensive though.

The Australian DVD set is released by Madman. I have a few Madman DVDs in my collection and they are usually good quality.

The inside cover of the DVD case has a cool picture of the club.

The spine of the DVD case says it includes four disks, while the front says it contains only two.

So my biggest issue with the DVD set is that it is missing the majority of the extra features. These features were listed on the Madman web store as well as on the back of the DVD case. I have crossed out the features that are missing, in the photo above.

 I have contacted Madman ans am still awaiting a response, i will update here with the outcome.
Also the copyright warning is long, a Madman video which is  yet another copyright warning thing and you cant skip any of them.

I will give this DVD set 3 1/2 out of 5, but the show itself would be 4 1/2 out of 5, i am lowering the score based on the missing features from the disks. 

I would not recommend buying this DVD set at full price until the issues are sorted out.