Is Death Note Still Worth Watching?

What is Death Note about?

Light Yagami, a brilliant high school student, finds a supernatural notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it. He decides to use it to eliminate criminals and remake the world according to his own idea of justice — which draws the attention of an eccentric detective known only as L, who sets out to identify and stop him.

How many episodes is it, and is it finished?

37 episodes, fully complete, with a definitive ending. No ongoing story, no unresolved threads waiting on a revival. That matters more than it sounds: a large share of the shows people bounce off are ones that never actually end.

What happens at the midpoint, and why is it so contested?

L Lawliet dies in Episode 25, titled "Silence," adapting Chapter 58 of the manga, titled "Feelings." It lands almost exactly halfway through. After it, the story introduces a time skip and two young successors from Wammy's House — Near and Mello — who take over the investigation.

The reaction has been remarkably stable for nearly twenty years. Many viewers felt the intellectual tension of the series was specifically the Light-versus-L dynamic, and that two replacement detectives read as an extension rather than a continuation. Near was often called a watered-down L without the eccentric charm; Mello's more impulsive approach struck others as tonally mismatched with a psychological thriller.

There's a structural complaint underneath the character one, and it's the more concrete of the two: the second half compresses roughly 50 manga chapters into 12 episodes. That pace costs the show much of the tactical, chess-like back-and-forth that made the first half work.

What does the creator actually say about it?

Unusually for a decision this contested, there's a direct answer. Writer Tsugumi Ohba addressed it in the companion book Death Note 13: How to Read, stating plainly that L had to die for the story to progress — because Light could not realistically be caught by L without undermining the entire premise of Light's genius.

That reframes the choice. It's not a creative misstep so much as a trap the premise built for itself: the two leads were designed so well matched that the story could only end by removing one of them.

Does the story recover?

This is genuinely debated rather than settled, and it isn't a simple decline. Even critics who found the second half uneven tend to acknowledge specific strong stretches, and there's a broad view that the final episode redeems much of what precedes it.

The common pattern in retrospectives is worth knowing before you decide: a lot of viewers dropped the show at Episode 25 on principle, and in doing so missed an ending most people who finished it rate highly. If you're going to stop, stop knowing that.

Does it hold up almost twenty years on?

Largely yes, and for a specific reason. The show's appeal was never tied to animation trends or to genre conventions that have since dated. It runs on psychological tension, moral ambiguity, and a long game of deception between two people — and that kind of writing ages far better than spectacle or era-specific humour.

What has dated is the production itself: it looks like a mid-2000s TV anime, because it is one. That's worth knowing going in rather than discovering with disappointment.

Is it a good first anime?

One of the best, and for reasons that have nothing to do with anime specifically. It doesn't require familiarity with the medium's conventions, its structure maps cleanly onto Western crime drama, and 37 episodes is a realistic ask in a genre where the alternative is often several hundred.

Is the live-action Netflix film a substitute?

Not really, by most accounts. The 2017 Netflix film drew heavy criticism for changes to characters and plot logic that longtime fans felt undercut what made the story work. If you want the version people are actually recommending, it's the original anime.

Frequently asked questions

How many episodes is Death Note? 37 episodes — a complete, self-contained story with a definitive ending and no ongoing continuation.

What episode does L die in? Episode 25, titled "Silence," which adapts Chapter 58 of the manga, titled "Feelings."

Does Death Note get worse in the second half? It's genuinely debated. The midpoint changes the show's central dynamic, which some find weakens it, while others find the second half compelling in a different register. The finale in particular is widely praised.

Is Death Note a good anime for a complete newcomer? Yes — it's one of the most consistently recommended entry points, thanks to its manageable length and a psychological-thriller structure that translates well for viewers used to Western crime drama.

Is the Netflix live-action film a substitute for the anime? Not really. The 2017 film was widely criticised for changes to characters and plot logic. The original anime is what people mean when they recommend Death Note.

Want something else with a real ending?

If a story that actually finishes is what you're after, we've written about movies with a genuinely satisfying ending and a guide to short, completed anime with no filler. Or try the anime recommendation quiz for something matched to tonight.