I strongly recommend this anime [or manga if you're prefer, as the anime is taken straight from the manga so it's gonna be the same deal basically] for the sheer brilliance, plot and absolute genius twists! Seriously, this will have you in shock at some parts, motivated basically all the time and unsure about what's going to happen until the massive twists make it clear.

I've read a lot of plot descriptions so I'm going to try my own:

One day in the land of the death Gods, one Death God [or Shinigami] called Ryuk got bored and dropped a book called Death Note into the human world below. Light Yagami [a straight-A student] picks it up and reads inside, "The human whose name is written in this book shall die". He finds it interesting but doesn't believe it until he tries it out and someone dies. He decides that he will use the book to rid the world of criminals and create 'justice' and become a God of the new world [a world where evil ceases to exist]. Word soon spreads as criminals keep dropping like flies and soon the public name this mysterious force 'Kira' [or, 'Killer'] and one top investigator going under the alias of 'L' decides to try and solve the case along with the Japanese police force. Soon it becomes a battle between Light and L to find and get rid of the other, who will come out on top in this extreme battle of wits?

There are many other rules for the book that get mentioned in the series including: 'The note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.'

Light can't kill L because he has never shown his face or his real name and L can't get to Light because he has no idea what's killing people!

Light and L are both very clever so it's hard to decide who will win at the start, they keep outsmarting each other!

There are 37 episodes in total.

This is Light:

This is L:

I much prefer L, he's not as...well, insane and heartless.

Fact #??? about L: He always sits with his knees bent towards his face because it allows him to think better.

This has also been made into a live action movie, and the actors that play both L and Light are attractive [to me, anyway]! See:

Closer look at the one that plays L because, yum:

Ken'ichi Matsuyama who plays L in the Death Note Movie is also Shin in the live action movie 'Nana'. He also plays the voice of Jealous the death god in the anime of Death Note. Tatsuya Fujiwara who plays Light is also Shuya from the Japanese movie Battle Royale!

Both the movie and the anime can be watched on Veoh. If you can't find one with english subtitles, there are some there, you just have to find them. Typing in the episode number after 'death note' helps narrow the search down. I'll link to the first episode to start people off - Episode One

And my results from a quiz! ^_^ [http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=212155]

I could have been L if I didn't choose being simple above stopping Kira! ¬.¬ Misa annoys me, the only good thing about her is that she wears nice clothes!

Ohter animes I recommend:

Nana
Kashimashi
Ouran High School Host Club