Death Note might be the strangest anime on this list. Although like the others it sits comfortably within various sub-genres - in this case fantasy/drama - unlike the others it doesn't really have an underlying message that it's trying to put across. All it has is a question; what would you do if you had the power to kill anyone on the planet by just writing their name on a notepad? Although it starts off very fantasy heavy, it quickly becomes a cat and mouse thriller as you watch two wonderfully intelligent minds in protagonist L and antagonist Light Yagami fight back and forth as if it was a chess game. Although it's a brilliant show, it's also as dark and can only really described as a mix of Michael Mann's criminally underrated Public Enemies and David Fincher's Se7en. If you want a roller-coaster ride that often offers up a few more questions alongside its answers then this is the show for you.
