[Disclaimer: Review imported from MAL and slightly adapted because this review was old.]

Death Note is pretty good and has such an interesting story, indeed. BUT... here's a few reasons why it's not that great.

1) it's really sexist. I noticed how only the male characters are "awesome" (like Light and L) and all the female characters are either there just because (like Light's mom and sister) or are there just to be submissive over men (like Misa and Takada).

Not only that, but countless characters say sexist shit as well: the detective on early episodes saying that once his fiancé has kids she won't have to work anymore, some rapist guys saying that because a woman was wearing a skirt she was "asking for it", Light's dad saying that HE WON'T LET his daughter marry a policeman and that she HAS TO marry someone else, etc etc.

No, but really: Misa's entire character only exists just so she can be """""useful"""" to Light. And then Takada, who is reintroduced to us as a strong female character who is successful at her job, is reduced to a Misa 2.0 as soon as Light gets to talk to her.

No women in this anime are relevant. No women in this anime are important. And some of you may think "oh, that's just how japan's culture is!" but... really. Really.

2) The second arc of the anime is HOOORRRIIIBBLLLEEE. When a certain event happens to a certain character, it all just goes downhill.

We're introduced to Near and Mello, which are the poor man's version of L, and they just... they're not L. Near is the one that comes closest to what L is, but Mello????? WHAT WAS HIS PURPOSE???? WHY DID HE EVEN EXIST???? HELL IF I KNOW

I hated these characters, I hated that the anime kept losing its essence ever since that plot happened, I hated the plot, I hated how it only got more sexist as the episodes gone by, I HATED IT. I kept watching out of stubbornness, not because I was actually enjoying it.

The last 3 episodes are good, but that doesn't erase the two facts stated above. Nor does it change my mind.

I think that if they hadn't [spoiler about that character], things would've ended better. It would still be a sexist show, true, but at least the second arc wouldn't have been so bad.

Or: if the story had ended when that spoiler happened. It would have been an interesting ending, it would have spared us from the mess that part 2 was, it would have given the audience a different kind of message (not "better" than the one we actually got, just a different one).

So. Is it an interesting watch? it is, can't deny that. I enjoyed some parts of the show. But it isn't "the best anime ever", as I've seen many people call it. I guess it depends on how much you're willing to ignore certain things.