![]() ![]() When this act causes her to die and turn to dust, her notebook is left behind, making it the property of the Human World. She uses it to protect Misa by killing Watari and L. Rem's Death Note remains in her possession until her death. In case you didn’t get it, I highly recommend this series to just about anyone.Like most other Death Notes, Rem's is a plain black devoid of text. Death Note is, in its way, a narrative distillation of an ethics bomb, an exploration of right and wrong and whys and wherefores. It helps that Light, despite having an ego that won’t quit, is almost entirely unselfish in his motivation. In a way, it’s kind of a cheat, withholding essential information from the audience in order to up the tension ante, but the solutions are generally smart enough that most readers probably won’t mind being led on in this manner.Īs well, the moral question explored by the book’s author and artist really goes to lengths to get the reader thinking about Means and Ends - and it’s not at all clear who one should root for. There are moments when you think the jig is up for one or more of the characters and then a flashback will reveal the would-be victim’s plan from the start and you get to see tables turn and over turn as these characters fight for their lives. There were moments of revelation and counter-revelation that simply blew my mind. The fact that you’re reading about these very intelligent characters who think things through to incredible lengths only adds to the excitement. If things remained simple I could see the book resolving in four or five volumes, but everything is constantly moving, constantly changing. The story and its elements are continually in flux. The key to Death Note‘s happy success is the absence of anything really resembling a status quo. Kira.Īs exciting as the first couple volumes were, I had a hard time seeing how the story could sustain itself across twelve volumes. So the authorities enlist the assistance of the world’s greatest detective (an anonymous man known only as L) and he quickly narrows the range of suspects dramatically, instigating a pulse-pounding game of cat-and-mouse - L vs. ![]() And it doesn’t help that Light has gained a popular following amongst the masses who dub him Kira (which sounds remarkably similar to the Japanese pronunciation of the English word killer). Suspecting foul play, they want to find the perpetrator because law-and-order and vigilantism have never been the most lusty of bed-fellows. Rather quickly, the police around the world begin taking notice of the staggering number of criminals who have suddenly died of heart attacks. ![]() Ryuk’s dropped notebook happens to fall into the path of Light Yagami, Japan’s top high school student, son of a police chief, and Mary-Sue-style genius.Īfter a couple tests of the book’s authenticity and the boundaries of some of its rules (e.g., one must visualize the face of the person whose name he is writing for that person to die), Light decides that he will forge a new world, a utopia in which all who would take advantage of the weakness of others simply die. A death note is a special notebook, a tool possessed by shinigami that allows them to take the lives of humans whose names they write into the notebook. The story begins when Ryuk, a death god (known in the story’s mythology as shinigami), drops a death note into the human world in order to alleviate the tides of boredom that oppress his everlasting existence. If what I’m about to say sounds good but you don’t feel like spending the eight dollars per volume, head to your local library - they almost certainly carry the books in the Young Adults section. Death Note is a Japanese comic that tells its story over the course of twelve volumes (on display now at your local Borders ). Heck, I was exhausted by the halfway mark. Death Note is a seat-edged battle of wits that left me exhausted by the end. ![]() Over the past three weeks I’ve been burning through one of the most exciting reads I’ve come across in a while. This review was originally published in November 2007. ![]()
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