TRIPP pants have always been the final form of pants, but this factoid poses the question: what, then, is the final form of TRIPP pants? Enter: the physical manifestation of what it means to dress to impress, Death Note TRIPP pants.

Let's back up a bit: for those unfamiliar, TRIPP NYC is a fashion brand that's particularly well known for its bondage pants. If you ever went into a Hot Topic (or an anime convention rave, for that matter) in the 2000s, you've probably seen them in all their pockets-straps-and-zipper-centric glory. It's tempting to want to call TRIPP NYC's aesthetic Kingdom Hearts-ian, but TRIPP NYC has been around since the early 80s—it would be Kingdom Hearts that looks TRIPP-ian. Their Death Note line went live in February 2024. It consists of multiple different styles of pants and tops, as well as a skirt, but this review specifically is for my personal favorite item in the line, the TRIPP NYC X Death Note - Super Screen Pant.

So now that we have all this context, without further ado, let's finally talk about the chosen pants. I cannot begin to tell you how much I wish I could've been in the room when the divine inspiration for these pants struck. “What if TRIPP pants,” I imagine someone wearing a suit constructed entirely out of belts and zippers says in a room full of similarly clad business people, “but Death Note jpgs.” Everyone claps. And amidst the cacophonous clanging of a thousand flapping zippers, you can hear an unrelenting onslaught of compliments on this brilliant vision. Everything's going according to plan.

Jokes aside, there's something so charming about the idea of just covering the pants in various stills from the iconic 12D chess anime that is Death Note. It feels so lazy and silly that it wraps around and becomes hilarious and iconic. And aside from taking a potato chip and eating it, or making a self-igniting desk complete with a drawer containing a fake diary that rests upon a false bottom, what else could possibly be more in the spirit of Death Note than unintentional camp?

Also, it needs be said: this truly is the ultimate anime convention pant. Allow me to explain: for starters, obviously, they're incredibly stylish. Heads will be turned, jaws will be dropped. You will instantly look like the coolest person at a convention from 2009. I wore these at Naka-kon all weekend long and got nonstop compliments. But also, they're not just fashionable—they're functional as well. More specifically: there are so many pockets on these bad boys. Six to be precise: two on each side (four total), and two on the butt. They can simultaneously carry phones, Nintendo Switches, all five seasons of Symphogear on blu-ray—the list can go on. But you don't need to take me at my word. I spare no efforts for the wonderful readers of Anime News Network, so you just know I put these cavernous pockets to the test.

Let's talk about the pockets in a bit more detail: as I mentioned, there's six of them in total. And as you can see in the video, they have more than ample space for whatever manner of merchandise you plan on lugging around with you throughout your local convention, or I don't know, trip to the grocery store. The good news is, the straps in front can be used as suspenders, so you don't have to worry about the contents of your pockets weighing down your tasteful trousers. The catch is that you will 100% look like a cartoon shoplifter.

But the utility of these pants neither begins nor ends with the pockets. Perhaps the most whimsical of these pants' features is a zipper just below each knee that allows you to turn them into sort-of-shorts. I say “sort of” because candidly, I can't tell if there's a way to fully detach them that I'm just not parsing, or if the bottom part doesn't fully detach. But either way could be a fashion statement unto itself, and you still got a way to show off some fun socks which would otherwise be obscured. I don't think it's worth deducting points for not fully becoming shorts.

Simply put, this is the apex pant. I'm not sure I've ever described a pair of pants as being powerful until these—not unlike a Death Note—suddenly fell out of the sky and entered my life. Plus, like I said, they're probably at their strongest as a potential con-going pant. Come to think of it, there's more than a little real estate on these pants for acrylic charms and such—plenty of hooks and straps from which they can dangle. Especially as a convention pant, they only get better and better the longer I think about them. People would've lost their minds over these pants in the 2000s, and I don't see why that needs to stop now. These pants are the culmination of style meeting substance, fashion meeting function.