This is one of the few series where I would love to see a *faithful live action adaptation series (e.g. HBO). As is somewhat typical with anime, the 20 minute runtime for episodes means that amidst all the fast pace action, there is not a lot of room to flesh out characters or the really provocative themes the source material introduces.

Light is an extremely compelling character and I would love to see more of him and get into his head. Does he ever have doubts? What about some of the other characters. How are people in the world grappling with this? What is it like for multiple national police agencies unable to get control? What's the vibe like in the bureau? Are any cops struggling with their conscience, struggling with their fear, what does that look like? Does anyone have a change of heart? What is the meaning of "justice" when it comes to punishing crime, and how does that differ across nations and across cultures? Light uses women and sex to accomplish his goals, do other characters do the same, is this always wrong, do we all do it to each other?

There are so many provocative and meaningful questions this series brings to the surface, but does not dive into. It instead spends more time in the cat-and-mouse of the chase, which is indeed very fascinating and understandable given the anime medium and the run-time available. But if I could have a wish, it would be to see someone expand this into a multi-season series which meditates on all the many dark and cerebral elements that remain under-explored. Maybe flesh out the characters so they don't seem so exaggerated. Maybe capture the brilliance of Light, L, Near, and Mellow without indulging in some of the exaggerated leaps of reasoning that are preternatural to the point of being cartoonish. This serves to make the plot interesting and keep the viewer guessing, but I think this can be done in a way that feels a bit more grounded.

Ultimately the show is creative in its use of a dark protagonist who is also the villain, however who also has a well-fleshed out moral framework that is not simply evil for the sake of evil but which genuinely is oriented towards improving the world. I think I would have liked to see this done a bit more service.

Ultimately the characters are engaging but a bit superficial, and the story is engaging but a bit exaggerated, and the themes are dark and provocative but under-explored. It's 8/10 generally, but I think it ranks more favorably among anime for its willingness to portray dark themes in an adult fashion that feels more grounded in the real world even if told through animation.