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A very popular anime that I somehow managed to avoid watching until now; though I caught a glimpse or two on Adult Swim back in the day, only in the last month have I managed to at last watch it in its entirety..

Immediately, I could see what caused such popularity. Take a realistic, modern setting, add one solitary, yet very potent, fantasy artifact, some strong leads, a dark and tense atmosphere and a unique protagonist/antagonist relationship and you have a series that should interest even the most stubborn and particular anime fan. And even those living under rocks or who staunchly defy ... modern anime or even anime in general as a medium likely know, to some peripheral degree, about the series and its basic premise -- which alone is enough to, eventually, draw in any viewer as it finally did myself.

Following a brilliant young man who simply happens upon this artifact of complete destruction, the series sets itself apart by having a protagonist that, though with good intentions, is near-immediately painted as a bit of a twisted psychopath who would commit to the most dubious means in order to reach his apparently well-justified ends.... while the antagonist, a world-class detective tasked with catching this young man (and ironically about the same age himself and just as thoroughly gifted), though cold and quite far from 'pure', has a more humane justice in mind, one that, in all but the most dire of circumstances, would avoid the death of any human being, no matter how sinister -- and one that clashes rather directly with the protagonist's views. Basically, the main character's the bad guy and the antagonist's the good guy, though it's a bit more complex than that. Kinda like Code Geass.. and in fact this series shares another major point with that one as well which I'll mention later... although it should be more like Code Geass is kinda like Death Note, though I personally watched the former first.

Now, I'm going to do my best to avoid any type of spoilers here, but I'll forewarn you that this and the next paragraph will contain spoilers as to the structure of the show, at least. Basically, from the very beginning to about 2/3rds through, the story is interesting, engaging, and constantly builds up, introducing and expanding upon various interesting sub-characters and weaving deftly through entertaining and gripping sub-plots, all the while keeping the main focus on the brilliant and engrossing battle of wits between the "hero" and "villain"... as well as the thoroughly amusing relationship between the main character and his death god... "friend", the original owner of the note whose job it is to follow him as long as he owns it. (Ironically, this character is the closest thing to a mascot or comic relief, despite being the only physical 'monster' in the initial cast...) The anime continues this trend, each mini-storyline becoming more interesting and tense than the last, threading the overarching plot forward bit by bit without pushing things too far in any direction; the raw genius of both leads and the prowess with which they're written equates to a story that manages to feel as if it's satisfyingly moving forward, while no real weight is put into either corner, allowing things to become further and further exciting and riveting with each passing episode, but without interfering with the delicate balance of the wondrous cat-and-mouse game.

But then, most suddenly and for seemingly no good reason, something happens. About two-thirds through the series, an event abruptly occurs which thoughtlessly renders several of the most interesting and enjoyable characters in the entire series moot for the rest of it. Chief among them being a particular character who I did not expect to like very much at all, but who ended up growing on me far, far more than I would possibly have expected. That being said, after this point many new and very intriguing characters are indeed introduced, but given the honestly sloppy and rushed feel of this last leg of the journey, they mostly fail to live up to the incredible potential that they might have had. Plus, one of them is just too shameless of a lesser clone of one of the extremely likable and memorable previous characters, so much so that even trying as I might, I couldn't force myself to like him very much at all. Quite the opposite effect of the predecessor which I mentioned having a turnaround about a bit ago, in fact... And yes, as mentioned before, this is the other point this series shares closely with Code Geass. In many was, the last third of it feels like R2. Either way, the finale of the series ended up being quite satisfying in some ways, and did help to redeem these characters at least somewhat, but for all it did well it feels like it fell short an equal number of ways...

When all is said and done, Death Note is a thoroughly fascinating series with enough thrilling moments to warrant a watch, if only to see what all the fuss is about and be able to acknowledge that you, like the apparent majority of anime fans by this point, have watched it. And for the majority of the series, it really, truly is crafted quite masterfully, to the point at which it even pains me to give it less-than-stellar scores... but I cannot overlook the fact that the latter story arc came so abruptly, came about so disappointingly and was handled so poorly, that my infatuation with the series very quickly dwindled down, like the flame of a candle being blown out to leave only a cinder on the tip of the wick. To put it in one blunt but factual way, i went at that point from watching about five episodes a day to watching about two episodes a week. Not good.

Even still, I can't go without mentioning that the artwork for the series is quite nice; many characters have unique and memorable designs, the use of subtle facial expressions to great effect as well as indulgence in completely over-the-top expressions in other scenes done equally well is great, and the rarely-used but done-so-with-great-effect "action shots" are a treat. As well, the soundtrack is quite superb, from haunting melodies to glorious choir pieces to understated "detectivework" themes and catchy character songs; "L's Theme B" is a particular favorite.

The long and short of it is that Death Note is a good series and is worth a look if you bear even the slightest interest in animated thriller; though the last act mars the overall series, its quality is high enough that I can say with certainty that it's worth a look.. and for its shift in tone to bother me so much, that only further proves just how wonderful the majority of it is.

Paranoia Agent is an anime I've been meaning to watch for many years now -- obviously it was on Adult Swim awhile back and I did see brief glimpses of it at the time, but I felt like it was the kind of show that one would need to watch all together, back-to-back, to follow clues and grasp with more solidity.

Little did I know, even watching it in order is about as haphazard and difficult to grasp as watching bits and pieces of it out of order.

This is one of those anime that takes adjectives like "surreal", "enigmatic", "cryptic" and so on and pushes them ... to their limits as it stretches on. It doesn't "unravel" or "unfurl" much at all, and when it does, it folds itself back up again afterwards -- it just "stretches" until it's over.

Now, usually I am a huge fan of anything that could be described as "surreal". I enjoy animated works of any type that reach into fantasy and the strange workings of the human mind and concentrates them; however, in Paranoia Agent it never feels quite whimsical in the way I enjoy most, rather sticking to the darker and/or just plain incomprehensible sides of the word "surreal". You truly must be in a certain kind of mood if you truly wish to enjoy this anime to the fullest -- you must want a mystery, but not one that you should expect to actually solve, lest you become like the crazed old man featured in the anime itself, obsessively scrawling indecipherable equations and "keys to the truth" on a sidewalk.

The anime actually begins simply enough, and seems to have a flavor as if it's going to be fairly straightforward but with the paranormal and such thrown in here and there. Then, however, you're suddenly watching something that feels more like an anthology of stories that pertain to the central concept of the search for Lil' Slugger/Shonen Bat and his motives as his victim list grows -- connected only by that thread until you watch later episodes and realize things that bring them together a bit more completely. But then -- and not very far at all into the series -- the unthinkable happens, all is revealed, and -- wait, really? That happens too! And then... and then...!

It's exciting and interesting at times like that, but then becomes even more confusing and difficult to digest. There are suddenly episodes (including my personal favorite, 'Happy Family Planning') in the middle of the series that feel even more like pieces of an anthology than earlier on, and are even less related to the overarching story, feeling more like a collection of tales centering around what may, at the end of the day, just be an urban legend blown far out of proportion. You suddenly realize that for every episode that's mysterious and intriguing in the way you assumed the whole series would be at first, there is another that's humorous in the blackest possible way, another that's just silly and fun, and another that's a straight dive into the psyche of the deeply disturbed.

It never quite goes "how you wanted it to". No matter what you like about the show -- no matter which episode gets you revved up to enjoy it, seeing that "finally, it's gone in a direction I truly enjoy!" -- the next episode will be a complete tangent in a whole different direction, and the next one again will branch off the road it had just paved. There are central themes and "lessons" that apparently are to be "learned" as one watches, things to think about and things to mull over, but in the end it leaves one a bit disappointed, I feel. It's an interesting experience, to say the least, but no matter how badly I wanted more episodes like my favorites, in the end they're very self-contained and for everything I liked about the anime there were several things I just was not as big a fan of. And perhaps the more egregious error to me -- I was introduced to so many characters that I became so interested in, whether they were innocent victims of mental anguish or terrible scumbags with little excuse to do what they do, and wanted to know more about them so badly, to know more of their story beyond the brief time I got to spend with them... yet, it just never came, at least not in a satisfactory way or in a way that I appreciated.

I suppose that's the point, though. Paranoia Agent is never what you expect, what you 'want', or what you may 'appreciate' at all. It seems to do this on purpose and, no matter who you are or what you enjoy or how you wanted to be entertained, it's not going to come just the way you want in this anime, and instead you're going to have to try and think a bit, even about things you don't want to think about, even about problems that you know you're not going to figure out -- in the end, even if you don't want to become like that old man, forever stuck in a loop of trying to figure out the impossible, this anime tries its best to make sure you do just that, at least a little bit. It doesn't care about your enjoyment, it doesn't care about you putting it on a pedestal of being your favorite anime, it only cares about grinning at you darkly like the bat-wielding antagonist within itself and making you uncomfortable, but perhaps striking a mental chord that resonates more than you would have guessed at first glance.

And for that reason, I can't dislike it, even if at times I wanted to. It's far from one of my favorite anime, but it is of a high quality and is something that all fans of intriguing animation should allow themselves to watch at some point, regardless of taste.