reikah: i know what you mean. for me the anime is less exciting from a plot perspective. but since i read the first chapter of death note i've wondered about AMVing it, and now that i've seen the effort they have put into the anime, it's a distinct possibility.
I still did have a hell of a lot of suspense though; i started reading the manga about halfway through it's release, so i quickly caught up to the manga as it began to draw to a close. So you could say since i had to wait for a new chapter each week then it was even more suspenseful for me

. To top it off i used to be a part of the townl.com forums (a large DN fan base) so there were fan-clubs, postulations and predictions flying about all over the place. It certainly ended up being a dramatic close for me.
i also know what you mean about hearing people hypothesize about possibilities, and anytime they get close to the real thing it makes you feel uneasy.