I watched the anime when I was younger, so I decided to watch it again instead of reading the manga. Being sick all week, I finished the anime pretty quickly.

While the beginning was a bit edgy for my taste, I quickly became hooked. I think the show is a masterpiece until Mello and Near enter. The entire second half of the show just isn't up to par. Near and Mello are nowhere near as interesting as L, and after L's death, Light makes far more mistakes. His actions in the second half don't match the caution and thoughtfulness he displayed earlier.

For example, Light attacks Near right after he starts investigating Kira and has Kira call Takada in their first meeting. I understand he felt a sense of urgency, but he could have handled it differently. He could have kept Misa's knowledge and had her contact Takada instead. He could have written predetermined deaths for the Kira task forces or chosen a random group, then had Mikami do his thing with some Death Note paper on him for just-in-case moments. Light, Takada, and probably Misa had just-in-case paper before.

I understand Light gets arrogant, but this made the entire second half annoying. The Light in the first half would have taken precautions against multiple scenarios, including the incompetence of others. Near's and pretty much everyone's deduction skills also frustrated me. In the beginning, L spent his time collecting evidence. Near gets all of L's evidence and a sloppy Light to deal with, but he doesn't do anything amazingly smart.

The entire second half did not engage me at all. Mind you, I'm typing this at 4:30 a.m. after binging the whole show in three days, so I'm sure I missed plenty of details due to the nature of binges and being sick. This post is like all nighter nonsense. I just want to know if anyone else feels this way and what their thoughts are about the ending and the second half of the show.