Here is an anime that I consider a bit overhyped if not overrated, I will share my positive and negative thoughts about the characters, plot, world-building, art, moral and finishing with a small paragraph.

The premise is good but it is not like I wanted to watch it right away, it was the 50th anime I watched, I was not disappointed as I thought that the good outweighs the bad and the ending wraps up everything. If you ask me an anime or two that interested me more that I watched before that was a psychological thriller, Elfen Lied (I ended liking Death Note more) and Ergo Proxy which is my favorite are examples.

The characters are interesting, some are weird in a good or bad way depending on who but I love weird characters so I am completely fine with it, the variety of characters is good but I think that some needed more flesh out as the plot was more the focus than the characters, it is not about relating to characters, I do not need that to be interested in them in general but it needed to show more about who they almost fully are and other characters needed more screen time as they seem like afterthoughts.

Light being a 17-year old is logical considering the plot since only a teen like him would think that being a "god" to change the world would be a solution without consequences and as I expected since the beginning of the series, his plan was doomed from the start.

His relationship with his father is great, nothing negative to say here, I was not a fan of him being the son of the one that investigates the Kira case but it grown on me, it worked very well at the end, I would have liked to see more of Sayu and her relationship with Light and to see her concerns for him, Mr. Yagami's death was the most tragic for me, Light did not want his father to die but it is his fault anyway.

Misa was hit-or-miss for me, she is not pointless as she is useful at times but there are times where the purpose of the character was questionable, especially when she confronted Takada for example, I get that they are both fighting for Light and the latter used them but it felt flat for me just like when she was with Higushi, it was not pointless but was not necessary either, thing is that I was not a fan of the Rem part where she helps Misa to not have Light kill her by accident, it felt like stuff thrown out there and nothing more for me but Misa had a great character development at least and her committing suicide at the end revealed her sensitive side as she truly loved Light. She was more useful to know L's real name since she has the eyes but she ended up arrested but it was a good part but after that? Meh... I wanted to see a darker side of her.

L was a great and weird character in a good way, not a fan of him but his war against Light was great, his eccentric look fits the complexity of the case on the Shinigamis and... because you have to be weird just like the one you are chasing (Light). His death felt rushed for me, it frustrated me because he knew about the Death Note, Shinigamis (BEFORE he first saw Rem while Higushi was arrested), suspected Light to be Kira and was next to him in the helicopter when Light regained his memories while touching the Death Note then L died like he was clueless, did not like that at all.

Raye Penber and Naomi Misora were just there to strengthen Light's character, the Yotsuba case was completely uninteresting to me, did not care at all for Higushi, the police officers got good scenes but only Aizawa was interesting to me, a lot of fans like Matsuda, not me.

Takada had an interesting arc but unfortunately, she was an afterthought because there is almost nothing from her relationship with Light before, yes she talked with him in high school but their renewed relationship was just THERE, I get that Light was using her and it made sense but she does not question about anything related to Kira's case and Light's motives, she just listens to him even if she was a follower but she needed to be more skeptic than a robot, it is just how I felt.

Mello, his character was an afterthought, yes he helped Near to close the Kira case indirectly but he has little screen time (apparently, several scenes with him were cut according to some fans), personally, I was not a fan of that character, I also think that the competition between him and Near to capture Kira first was not enough developed BEFORE the indirect alliance between the two.

Near was my 2nd favorite character just behind Ryuk, I saw a lot of hate on Near on several posts or comments by fans because he is according to them a ripoff of L, I disagree with this because he is more strategic than L and does not wait too long before taking actions unlike L again, he might have cheated to beat Kira but at least, he wanted Kira to lose to his own game which was a great plan by Near (I support the "win by any means necessary even if it is not moral" ideology), I do not think he used the Death Note do defeat Kira like some fans think since he sees Ryuk for the first time at the end, fans related to Mello more since he is emotional and not cold-blooded and "perfect" like Near.

Ryuk was my favorite character, he was a god of death but he was more "human" than the other gods of death, he always made me laugh a lot with his obsession for apples and considered Light as a friend almost instead of being impartial as a god of death, it is well showed at the very end, I do not think he regrets killing Light but you saw that he was at least happy to have passed the time with him since it was an entertaining ride and was not bored like he was with the other gods of death playing cards or other stuff.

The art was great, despite some inconsistent faces of some characters at times (especially Misa), it succeeded at portraying the dark atmosphere and vibe when it needed to and portraying the tension and psychology of important scenes like Mr Yagami's death or the more happy days at first when Light and Misa met for examples by having it more bright.

The OST is good but there was not enough music for me, it is good that sometimes, it was discreet to keep the tension going.

The world-building was great, every place owned by a particular character fitted each of them, the only grip I have is Mikami's room, I mean, it was almost just a copy of Higushi's room.

The plot itself is very good but not great either, it is quite simple if you think about it but it was executed very well, I only disliked the case of Yotsuba and L's death, I will be in the minority there but I loved the war between Light and Near more than anything else, yes there are times when how Near investigated could have been showed more but I think it was enough, I am aware that the manga shows more but I am not interested in mangas in general, the Takada/Mello/Mikami parts were a bit messy for me, I had to check some posts about why Mello captured Takada because I was a bit confused by it, I was fine with Mikami.

The very ending saved everything bad for me when Light died and all the symbolism showed (the stairs, moon...), I did not feel bad for him tho, I was happy tbh, Misa committed suicide and Ryuk standing above were great visuals.

About the philosophy and moral aspect, the subject of wanting peace in the world by wanting to apply your justice as a doomed will from the start was an interesting concept, it was very well executed, more could have been done I think, especially on why your justice does not matter in a world that will move on from you anyway.

In resume, a great flawed anime for beginners but a bit overhyped as it is not a masterpiece like its fans consider it to be but it is one of the great anime from the 2000s and I love products like these with edginess, seriousness, darkness, deepness, goofiness and weirdness which are non-existent today.

I love Op 2 and hated End 2, Op 1 was very good and End 1 was fine.

Would I rewatch it? Maybe but it would not be in a rewatch list if I would create one.