Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba is the story of Light Yagami, a highly intelligent, but misguided, Japanese high school student who finds a notebook of death that kills whoever’s name is written in it. The best way to describe the series is to call it a “battle of the brains” between Light/Kira and his rivals L, and later, Near and Mello.
Personally, I was excited about reading the manga after seeing the anime’s pilot episode on Adult Swim. I was fortunate to stumble across a great deal shortly thereafter at a convention where I bought the entire Death Note series — new — for $65. Quite a deal for a manga that has great character design and an incredible story, not to mention about 200 pages per volume.
The positives, of which there are many, far outweigh the negatives. Ohba does an excellent job of pacing and not letting the story develop too quickly. Instead of using the death note right away in his quest for creating a perfect world, Light at first dismisses it, then to satisfy his curiosity, tests it on a criminal who dies of a heart attack. Knowing that this may simply be a coincidence, Light tests it on another subject who also dies, but in the manner that Light wrote down. Only then was he convinced that the death note was legitimate.
This leads to Light going slightly overboard and killing hundreds of criminals a day. Light isn’t concerned about profit or revenge. He believes that he is god and the only person capable of cleansing the world of evil.
This manga would get dull quickly if that were the entire story. Light soon meets his intellectual match when when “L,” a mysterious detective, starts investigating Kira. L, with his peculiar mannerisms and style, is as distinct as any character I have come across in any manga. I suspect that a prequel series about L could be made and would likely be successful.
Another appealing aspect of this manga was Ohba’s attention to detail. It’d be easy as the author to overlook such things as how to keep the death note hidden, but including this little dilemma made the story more realistic. It also helped to further evidence of Light’s intelligence and cunning, thus setting up future encounters with L, Near and Mello.
Including instructions for the death note was a brilliant idea. “One page taken from the death note, or even a fragment of the page, contains the full effects of the note,” would have to be my favorite rule. Even the fact that the rules were written in English, the world’s most popular language, was logical. Again, attention to detail by the author really pulled me in.
A wide variety of supporting characters kept the story moving. The dim-witted Touta Matsuda kept the Japanese police task force from becoming a group of stereotypical Dragnets. The bubbly and air-headed Misa Amane (volume 3) and Kira disciple Teru Mikami (volume 10) were introduced when the story needed a new twist. Both would play vital roles in assisting Light; Mikami would also play a vital role in bringing him down.
Though Light was the main villain, I couldn’t help but hope that he would attain his goal of becoming a god. He aspired to kill not only his enemies without remorse, but even his most loyal followers and the innocent: a girl he dated in college, the U.S. president, the entire task force who had been assisting Light for much of the series, and anyone else who knew about the death note. Despite this, I was saddened about Light’s unfortunate, but totally predictable death.
As much as I admire this series, there were some issues I had. After a significant event in the seventh volume, I lost interest and grudgingly moved on to volume eight, which I couldn’t read in one sitting. It was awhile before I picked it up again to finish it. By the ninth or 10th volume, the plot became too complicated for me to keep track of what was going on. And to be completely honest, I really didn’t care that much. I found myself skimming through large blocks of text just so I could finish the series.
Speaking of large blocks of text, there is plenty of it in this manga. In the final volumes I started noticing that there was even more text on each page than in the earlier volumes. There was also not as much variation in text size to emphasize emotion and to give the eyes a break. It was almost like reading a light novel that just happened to have pictures here and there. This may be a good thing because at least readers will get their money’s worth.
Fortunately, Ryuk, the shinigami (god of death) who was responsible for the death note’s appearance in the human world, kicks in occasional moments of humor and insight. Unfortunately, he makes fewer appearances as the series progresses.
The four-panel comics at the end of the first volume were a nice break from the seriousness of the manga. They should have continued in subsequent volumes.
Despite these complaints, I would definitely recommend Death Note to anyone looking for something other than ninja killing everything in sight or schoolgirls trying to get their crush’s attention. There is some action, but it doesn’t overshadow what makes this manga special — the cerebral battle between the main characters.
And the coolest potato chip eating scene ever.
