Deathnote's reputation as an excellent anime is well-earned in my eyes and it was a pleasure to watch. However, it is not without flaws and while I would strongly encourage any anime fans to watch it, I would also never recommend this to someone who didn't already have an interest in anime.

The series greatest strength lies in taking the relatively simple premise of the deathnote and building complex and highly engaging characters around it. The challenges and interactions between these characters is the singular driving point of the series, and what keeps the viewer engaged.

Kira and his continuous battles with his pursuers, most notably L, are fascinating to watch and well executed in concept and form. The visual animation is excellent and the production values, scripting, and voice work (in both Japanese and English) are very well done. I also noticed that the music for the last 7 episodes was especially perfect. The major plot twist at the end of the second act of the series is absolutely stunning and there have been few times I've felt so engaged in what I was watching.

Despite these winning combinations, I did find some faults with the series. First and foremost is that the final act failed to live up to the second. I found many of the key actions of the characters lacking in previous brilliance. Yet an ultimately satisfying conclusion is still there.

Secondly, the series can seem a little too long at times. While I don't think it could be fit into the usual 25 episode anime format without losing some of its quality, I did feel that there were at least 5-6 episodes that could have been cut out for being ultimately inconsequential.

My third and final criticism is more about my personal preference. I found that it held on far too strongly to the conventions typically associated with Japanese-animated film. Deathnote lost some of its potential by making use of several overt stereotypes, most notably the highly annoying character of Misa Misa who seems to exist only to provide fan service, and the far-too-perfect Chief Yagami who's every comment is both unneeded and boring. In addition, the over elaborate settings, resources, and quirks the characters are provided with are somewhat over-the-top.

The core focus of deathnote remains the brilliant game of cat-and-mouse between Kira and his pursuers, but the fact that it is framed within the overly-conventional aspects of anime means it lost both its accessibility and some of its potential to be truly unique. I'm aware that the series is extremely faithful to its source material and thus don't see this as any fault of the series creators. Yet this is why I consider more accessible/nonconformist works such as Watanabe's Champloo and Bebop to be slightly superior to Deathnote, and certainly a better introduction to anime for new-comers.

Despite my complaints, the pros far outweigh the cons and I'd like to reiterate that this is an exceptional series that should be watched by anyone who claims to be an anime fan.