By: Tsugumi Ohba Publisher: VIZ Media LLC Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 200 Publication Date: October 10, 2005 Studio: VIZ Media LLC
Product Description: Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects - and bored out of his mind! But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, and notebook dropped by a rougue shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal... or his life?
I hate to be just another fan but.... ^ Its rare I give 5 stars and I really enjoyed this. Out of all the manga I've read just far (Im just getting into it) this was the most interesting and easist to understand. Already ordered the second one! =]
Lacks Some Desireable Qualities ^ When I first read the blurb of The Death Note, I thought it sounded cool; a notebook in which the owner writes the names of the people he wants dead and the details of their death. I had left it on my bookshelf until this morning, when I decided that I wanted to see what everyone was raving about. I blew through it in about 20 minutes, and at the end, I was disappointed. This book's plot is interesting, as it examines the idea of what is right and what is wrong, and who is good and who is evil. It is the classic vigilante, "Light," vs. police officer story, with an added twist of another vigilante type character, "L," who helps the police officers solve cases, but never shows his face or gives them his real name. This story's interesting because Light is the main character, and his plan is to basically wipe out all of the criminals in the world, to create a utopia that he can rule over for the rest of his life. It was difficult for me to chose a side, probably as the writer intended, but also because the characters lacked development. The story could have been much better if it was longer. Yes, I understand that it is a series, but that does not excuse the lack of character background. The art was beautiful, but in the end, the story fell flat.
Chad Kroeger should use a Death Note and kill all the people who made this. ^ I read this manga and I got infuriated. Not only is the plot tripe, bland, unoriginal, and above all TL;DR, but the whole Shinigami Eyes premise is a total ripoff of the music video of Nickelback's masterpiece, "Savin' Me." Nickelback should sue. And how come this reads from right to left? This is America! We read the right way!
AMAZING! ^ Death Note is the BEST manga series I've ever read! I've almost completed the series and i'm absulutly hooked on it. I also bought some of the anime and it's also amazing(thogh Misa's voice get's on my nerves). Personaly I prefer the manga beacuse you can think what L's thinking and predict what will happan. Death Note is wounderfuly written and i think anyone will like, infact i've never met a person who dosen't like it. Yay L!!!!! XD
Whose name would you write? ^ I have been a fan of the Death Note films for awhile now, and figured it was about time I checked out the original comic. I know most people come at it the other way around, but I am more of a movie fan than a comic fan, and the whole Death Note universe was enough to lure me in.
So far, I have only read this first volume, but I am impressed. There aren't too many differences between the comic and the first film, and I am impressed at how well the character's personality and appearance were adapted for film. Probably the only difference I have noted is that the comic Ryuk doesn't seem to have a craving for apples.
The art is equally impressive. I have seen Obata Takeshi's work before in Hikaru No Go, and his work is even better here. The guy has a way with drawing cool hair, that's for sure. And he handles the human and non-human characters with equal skill.
If I had a single problem with the English version of "Death Note", it is in the translation of Light's alias "Kira". I don't know who made that choice, but the word used in the Japanese version is "Killer", which is not only more accurate but makes more logical sense. So boo to whoever made that translation choice. Otherwise this is a great comic.
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