The anime genre can be frustrating as a majority of the shows looks down upon women, revolve around goofy characters, contain brainless plots and battles that span countless episodes. Thankfully, there are intelligent, cleverly plotted shows like "Death Note" that don't insult the viewer's intelligence.

The plot: A teenage boy named Light finds a note book which belonged to a God Of Death named Ryuk. The book allows Light to wish death upon anyone, but he mostly uses it to rid the world of criminals. All he has to do is write the exact name of the person in his book while having an image of the person's face in his mind. Volume 2 contains episodes 5-8. Here are the plot summaries: Episode 5- Tactics- Light attempts to eliminate several FBI agents who are tracking him. Episode 6- Unraveling- Brilliant police officer L reveals his real identity to fellow police officers. Episode 7- Overcast- Light encounters a smart woman who can potentially find him out. Episode 8- Glare- As L has hidden cameras set up in all of the police officer's homes (including Light's father's home), Light tries to continue his work by finding a way around this predicament. If I had to sum the show up, I would describe "Death Note" as an intense, dialogue driven continuous serial anime drama that succeeds primarily because of superb writing. Unlike some shows in which writers seem to be making up plots as they go along, the writers of "Death Note" know exactly what they're doing. Every little detail is meticulously thought out. For instance, take a look at the character of Light. As the FBI and police try to discover his identity, Light has to carefully plan his next move to avoid being caught. Via a voice over, we get to hear his inner thought process which puts us (the viewer) into his frame of mind. It's very rare that anime shows dig into the characters. One of the main flaws of anime shows (or any show for that matter) is that viewers often feel detached from the central characters. That is not the case here. One of the other appealing aspects of the show is the premise. By having a very intelligent teenager get a god-like, dangerous gift, the story possibilities are endless. The writers can easily go to town by having Light become more and more consumed by his powers (not to mention more untouchable) while he continues to wreaks havoc on people.

The 16X9 widescreen picture is generally clear, although the foggy/noirish look to the show takes some getting used to. Viewers can watch the show in Japanese with English subtitles or an English dubbed version. The audio on both tracks is perfectly audible, but the music is sometimes too overpowering. The two tracks are presented in Dolby Digital Stereo.

* Production art * An ad for Manga titles available from Shonen Jump * Trailers for "The Prince Of Tennis," "Bleach," and "Naruto." * A 12 minute minute interview with the "Death Note" director and character designer. * A 9 minute "Behind The Scenes Part 2" that focuses on the English voice recordings. Fun fact: Alessandro Juliani (Gaeta from "Battlestar Galactica") does the voice of L. * Tabitha St. Germaine and Jiro Okada do a commentary track for episode 7. They don't really have much to say other than discussing voice recordings and pointing out what they liked.

Simply put, "Death Note" is hands down one of the best anime series to date. A must see for all fans of the genre. Death Note ? Tsugumi Ohba, Takeshi Obata/Shueisha ? DNDP, VAP, Shueisha, Madhouse