Death Note – Every Episode Ranked

“Death Note” has been an anime on my watchlist for so many years now, so I finally bit the bullet and watched it. I can’t believe it took me this long to watch peak.

It’s one of the best written shows I’ve even seen – let alone anime – and there were so many episodes and moments that left my jaw on the floor. How would I rank every episode?

Before we begin, you can check out some of my related blog posts below:

Meh

37 – Renewal (Ep 26)

“Renewal” is mostly a recap of the story so far. I can see why they did it after the bombshell that was Episode 25 … but that automatically qualifies it as the worst Death Note episode.

Light misses having L around, he kills a few loose ends, and Mello and Near find out that L is dead. All very filler stuff.

OK

36 – Ally (Ep 18)

Most of “Ally” is spent setting up the next arc, showing two new members of the team (the conman and the thief lady) as well as how the new Kira must be a businessman.

The other two major events of the episode are Light and L’s quick fight as well as Aizawa leaving the team. All in all, not the most eventful episode.

35 – Makeshift (Ep 20)

Light blackmails a Yotsuba board member, L splits from the group (temporarily) and he comes up with a plan to use Misa against Yotsuba. Lots of set-up for action to come.

We did get one of my favourite L retorts though, when Misa said she didn’t want to live in a world without Light – “Yes, that would be dark“.

34 – Glare (Ep 8)

The only thing I had written down in my notes for “Glare” was “L bugs Light’s house”. So yeah … not a major episode in the Death Note canon.

It did give us an all-timer line delivery, though – “I’ll take a potato chip … and EAT IT!“

33 – Scorn (Ep 33)

Lots of chess pieces are on the move in “Scorn”. Light gives some notebook pages to Kiyomi, Near suspects Mikami, and Kiyomi and Misa have an argument over Light.

At the end of the episode, Mikami kills openly in front of an agent. Nobody’s life was ever the same again.

32 – Friend (Ep 14)

“Friend” is one of those Death Note episodes where the characters plot and scheme for twenty minutes.

L knows the two Kiras have met, Rem forbids Light from killing Misa, and Light gets Rem to agree to killing L. The series didn’t end there, of course, but that would’ve been funny.

31 – Justice (Ep 30)

Light finally gets the New World he wants – the USA accepts Kira, which means Light has won. All he needs to do now is rid his New World of his enemies.

Mello and Near meet after many years, and Near works out that one of the death note’s rules is fake. His base also gets attacked by some aggravated civilians.

30 – Performance (Ep 21)

“Performance” is Misa’s time to shine – rarely do we see her as proactive and capable in the series as this.

Higuchi wants Misa as his wife, so Misa manages to pull a confession from him. Rem also reveals herself to Misa for the first time in a while. All in all, you can tell the series is gearing up towards a few big episodes.

29 – Vigilance (Ep 34)

Aizawa really comes into his own in the last few episodes of Death Note – the way he worked out Light and Kiyomi were trading notes was very clever.

Elsewhere, Misa gets captured by Near and Near’s agent touches Mikami’s notebook … but nothing happens. Curious.

28 – Impatience (Ep 28)

For as action-packed as “Impatience” was, I was surprised how lacklustre it felt compared to other Death Note episodes.

Soichiro’s plane diverts and he makes the trade for his daughter. A helicopter explodes and a rocket takes off. Mello kills most of the SPK with his new notebook. Cool ideas on paper, but they all happen quickly and they don’t feel too important in the grand scheme of things.

Good

27 – Dealings (Ep 3)

The FBI starts to tail some Kira suspects – Ryuk tells Light as such, so Light hatches a plan to rid the world of his stalker.

Light also hacks into his dad’s police information and Ryuk offers the Shinigami Eyes deal.

26 – Selection (Ep 32)

“Selection” opens with a brief backstory for Mikami. It’s not the most interesting backstory I’ve ever seen, but it does a good job explaining why he’s the way he is.

The episode is mostly about Light meeting Kira’s new spokesperson, Kiyomi – a lady he happened to date in university. During their meeting, Mikami calls and Light reveals himself to them both. And then Light probably bangs Kiyomi. I guess.

25 – Transfer (Ep 31)

The walls close in a little bit for Light in “Transfer”. Near escapes the trap, Aizawa gives Near some information and Near starts to suspect Light as Kira.

The best part of the episode is definitely the ending – the TV host and his guests start dropping dead, and it turns out a guy named Mikami has become the new Kira. Intriguing.

24 – Abduction (Ep 27)

Fun fact – eight of the bottom fourteen episodes on this list come after L’s death. The series was fine in its second half, but it wasn’t the same without our favourite enigmatic detective.

Mello and Near are introduced in “Abduction” and they have some huge shoes to fill. Near heads the SPK while Mello takes a more up-front approach, holding the Deputy of the Japanese police ransom before kidnapping Light’s sister.

What ranks this episode higher than some others is the five year time-jump. I love a time-jump in a show, especially when we get to see how the characters have changed or gotten used to this new Kira-led world.

23 – Matsuda (Ep 19)

It’s finally time for everyone’s favourite goofball Matsuda to take the spotlight. As expected, he immediately messes up and gets caught by the Yotsuba Group.

“Matsuda” is all about getting the guy out of some hot water. The scene where he fakes his death was more intense than I was expecting.

22 – Doubt (Ep 10)

Light’s dad has a heart attack, I think I recall. But nobody remembers “Doubt” for that plot development.

This is the Light vs. L tennis match. Definitely the best (and only) anime tennis match I’ve seen.

21 – Confession (Ep 13)

Misa goes on the offensive in “Confession”, singling Light out as Kira and then tracking him down.

It’s funny how she immediately demands to be his girlfriend. That’s a girl with her murderous priorities straight.

20 – Decision (Ep 16)

“Decision” is the ultimate power play – Light gives up the Death Note, and his memories by extension, and is incarcerated alongside his father and Misa. The killing still happen after two weeks so he’s effectively cleared of being Kira.

How L still suspected him after this I’ll never know.

19 – Father (Ep 29)

Sido the Shinigami comes to the human realm to get his notebook back from Ryuk, and ends up revealing himself to Mello in the process.

A whole load of things happen after that – like Light giving up the Death Note again, the assault on Mello’s compound, Light’s dad taking the Shinigami Eyes deal – and it leads to one of the saddest deaths in the series.

Soichiro Yagami believing in his son to the end is both tragic and touching.

18 – Rebirth (Ep 1)

“Rebirth” does a great job establishing the Shinigami realm, Light as a college student and also how a boy like Light could become corrupted if given the opportunity.

Light finds the Death Note and meets Ryuk, and kills his first victim. The world was never the same.

17 – Love (Ep 12)

L invites Light to be part of the investigation team, with one caveat – he has to pretend to be Kira. Talk about playing 4D chess.

Elsewhere in “Love”, Rem recalls how Gelus the Shinigami gave his life to protect Misa, and Misa carelessly reveals to L that Shinigami are real.

16 – Guidance (Ep 22)

The team hatches a plan to catch Higuchi before he can transfer Kira’s power to somebody else.

The TV broadcast scene in “Guidance” is a tense one, and Higuchi leaves in a panic to set up a few crucial episodes in a row.

15 – Encounter (Ep 9)

Light passes his college exams with flying colours (as was to be expected), but what happened next was unfathomable.

L outright reveals himself to Light. This was a huge turning point in the series – the two were now locked in the ultimate stalemate, waiting for the other to make a lethal mistake.

14 – Execution (Ep 17)

L sets up Light and Misa for their “Execution”, and to make matters worse it’s Light’s dad who has to pull the trigger. He really sells the performance in one of Death Note’s most nail-biting scenes.

We know that the Kira killings are still happening, and it turns out Rem has chosen a successor – a businessman with ill intentions.

Great

13 – Malice (Ep 35)

Light and Near plan to meet, and they both claim to “know each other’s plan”. It’s cheesy, maybe, but it got me hyped for the final confrontation.

The real surprise of “Malice” is Mello’s sudden action – he kidnaps Kiyomi, which leads to Kiyomi killing Mello followed promptly by Light killing Kiyomi to tie up loose ends. When I say the back-to-back deaths were overwhelming, I mean they hit me hard.

12 – Unraveling (Ep 6)

I, like Light, thought his troubles were in the past after Raye Penber’s death. I never could’ve imagined how capable his fiancé was.

Naomi works out that Kira can control the means of death, and this leads to a super intense conversation with Light. Also, the police finally meet L after many episodes of seclusion.

11 – Wager (Ep 15)

“Wager” has one of the coolest Death Note shots with Light and L posing on the distant rooftops. That alone almost landed it a place in my top ten.

Misa meets L, gets arrested and forfeits the Death Note … so quite an eventful day for her. Rem threatens to kill Light if he doesn’t save her, which leads to Light claiming “This is goodbye, Ryuk”. Ominous!

10 – Tactics (Ep 5)

Poor, poor Raye Penber … he really didn’t deserve his fate in “Tactics”.

Light manipulates Raye into revealing the names of the other FBI agents, and then Light kills him and the agents in one genius, horrific fell swoop. If Light wasn’t established as a villain before, he was now.

9 – Frenzy (Ep 23)

Higuchi is still on the run in “Frenzy”, and the investigation team almost have him. To throw a spanner in the works, however, he takes the Shinigami Eyes deal – and all hell breaks loose.

He’s finally cornered thanks to Aizawa and the police intervening despite being told they shouldn’t. I was spamming the “Next Episode” button when the credits rolled.

8 – Pursuit (Ep 4)

Death Note rarely delves into outright action, but “Pursuit” – specifically the bus jacking scene – was edge-of-your-seat stuff.

Before that, Light rejects the eye deal and tests his victims by controlling the moments before death. This episode was the making of an intelligent, sadistic monster.

7 – 1.28 (Ep 36)

Light and Near finally meet in “1.28”. It’s an episode where the two men mostly talk in short sentences or stand in silence, but my god is it intense.

It turns out Mikami has been using a fake notebook, and Light is sure that Mikami is using the real one when he writes Near’s (and everyone else’s) name. I’m sure nothing could go wrong.

Amazing

6 – Revival (Ep 24)

The scene of Light getting both the notebook and his memories back – all while killing Higuchi without L’s knowledge – was one of my favourite scenes in the series.

Ryuk wrote fake rules in the book, Misa takes another Shinigami Eyes deal because she forgot L’s name, and Light and Ryuk finally reunite. A “Revival” of a serial killer and his friendship with a death god.

5 – Assault (Ep 11)

“Assault” was the only time I was watching a Death Note episode in a pure panic. I had absolutely no idea how all these newscasters and policemen were dying, and I was loving every second.

The twist that the Kira who’d been broadcasting to the world was actually a second Kira got my mind whirring. This second Kira had another notebook and took the Shinigami Eyes deal – in other words, they were deadlier than Light could ever hope to be.

4 – Overcast (Ep 7)

I’ve seen some people give “Overcast” praise while others call it one of the most boring Death Note episodes. Me personally? I call it a stroke of genius.

It’s a battle of wits between Light and Naomi, and I didn’t dare to blink once throughout the whole exchange. When Naomi finally loses by disclosing her real name, Light reveals that he’s Kira – but there’s nothing Naomi can do. She walks away to her doom, stepping up towards the noose and the angels. Devastating yet brilliant writing.

3 – Confrontation (Ep 2)

The pilot “Rebirth” did well to introduce the world and its characters, but it was world’s best detective L’s introduction in “Confrontation” that got me hooked.

He confronts Kira on live TV and tricks Light into killing, revealing Kira’s existence and general location. From that moment on, I trusted the storytelling completely. I knew this would be one of the most intelligent shows I’d ever watched.

2 – New World (Ep 37)

A big problem with the later Death Note episodes is that they’re all setting up for the finale. The good news, therefore, is that the finale was incredible.

None of Mikami’s intended victims die – it turns out that Near replaced the fake notebook with another fake. Near’s team hatched a plan when Mikami wrote Kiyomi’s name in the book – mere seconds after Light did. Poetically, this meant Mello’s sacrifice wasn’t in vain.

What follows is one of the craziest endings to a show I’ve ever seen. Light rants like a madman, gets shot by Matsuda, hallucinates his younger, innocent self as he flees, and then dies when Ryuk writes his name in a notebook.

I spent days after finishing “New World” wondering what could have been, whether Light was right in some regards, and mourning his turn from innocent schoolkid to homicidal maniac. That’s some good writing if it lingers long after the credits roll.

1 – Silence (Ep 25)

“Silence” is the end of the Light vs L arc. In many ways, that makes it the most climactic episode of the whole story.

When Misa goes on another killing spree, singing in a haunting way as she does, it forces Rem’s hand – she kills Watari and L to protect Misa, at the cost of her own life.

L’s death came as an enormous shock. I never expected him to go so early in the story, and the various scenes leading up to it – like the rooftop dialogue and the church bells – really hit you to your core. When L dies in Light’s arms and Light smirks, we know a monster has won.

Aaaaand that’s my list! You can check out some of my latest blog posts below: