I'm in the camp that thought the manga ending was much better than what the anime came up with. The anime seemed to want the audience to sympathize with Light more, while the manga was very appropriately chaotic and allowed us to see Light completely break. Also, what was, in my mind, the big reveal of the story was completely skipped by the anime, which makes the ending much less interesting.
In the manga, right before Light dies you see a glimpse into the past during Ryuk and Light's first conversation. It reveals that very early on, Light figured out that there were no consequences to using the death note (like the whole heaven or hell thing), and that death was equal. Obviously this doesn't make Light a better person, but I think this revelations makes it really interesting to look back and think about how Light could have justified all the stuff he did in his head, and it gives you an interesting new way of framing the story.