If you are new to the whole genre of anime (as I am) you should probably watch 'Death Note' just due to the relative popularity of this title.

It turns out to be a curious examination of the concept of justice through a teenager / young adult's eyes. The setting laid out in the beginning of the series with a bored-to-death shinigami, a god of death, deciding to amuse himself by venturing to the human world is rather non-trivial, although his own story is quickly sidelined and, unfortunately, not explored in any detail.

The plot develops with the introduction of some well-written characters, like the protagonist Light Yagami and his antipode L, as well as the skillfully devised twists to keep the viewers engaged and eager to watch the next episode. With the Misa storyline, however, it all goes a different direction and when the Higuchi narrative comes into play, the whole show simply starts to drag.

I would also hope that the original dialogue is more sophisticated than the English-dubbed version, which at times seemed painfully simplified, childish and, by and large, too westernised.

So, since it was just about 11 episodes that I could watch without feeling like the series was losing its potential, after the fact I would give 'Death Note' a pass... But who knows, maybe it is just because I didn't like the over-the-top predictable ending and let this cloud my judgement.