By: Tsugumi Ohba Publisher: VIZ Media LLC Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: VIZ Media LLC Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 208 Publication Date: May 02, 2006
De-L-licious While perhaps not the most dramamtic or serious arch of Death Note, Vol. 5 is perhaps the most enertaining and one of the more important. As Light loses his memories of being Kira after a deal with Ryuk and Rem he becomes an entirely different person. So much in fact befuddled L asks himself "Can people really disensemble this well?"
Still suspicious of Yagami Light L goes to yet another extreme on the investigation and chains the young man to his wrist. The ensuing stituation is one of tense harmony and frustration that sometimes breaks out into knock-down, drag-out fights between the two. However it is certain the two peers have never been closer both mentally and physically.
However there is now a new Kira even with Light and Misa devoid of their Death Note related memories. As Light comes closer to catching this new killer, will he ever regain his memories of being Kira?
Also, there's a delightful subplot where Matsuda jumps off a high balcony and lives. You should really read it just for that.
Graphic SF Reader The quality of this series continues.
L still suspects both Light and Misa of being Kiras, and as such is watching them. When other people starts to die he lets them out of captivity.
Light's father is rather stressed about the whole thing, and decides he can't be in the police to deal with it. L has him put his son and girlfriend to a serious test, as the corporate machinations of the current Kira continue.
The Most Interesting Book in the Series As the subtitle (vaguely) suggests, Death Note 5: Whiteout is about Light/Kira losing his memories of using the Death Note and joining the investigation team to find the killer who has taken his place.
What's weird is that Light is almost a completely different person once his memories of the Death Note are erased. The once cold, calculating Light is now as honorable and friendly as he merely pretended to be in the previous volumes.
At one point, he is asked to manipulate someone for useful information in uncovering the identity of the new Kira. Although he'd manipulated that same person in the previous book, Light refuses by saying it would go against his personal code. That pretty much implies that the Death Note has almost allegorical powers of corruption (kind of like the One Ring from "The Lord of the Rings"). Of course, I don't know if Ohba intentionally put this symbolism in, but it works.
By finally allowing the reader to see the contrast between Light with the Death Note and Light without it, Ohba enables us to see him as a much more tragic character. The contrast lets us see just how much finding the Death Note has ruined his character and his life, and that it will likely continue to do so as the series progresses.
Aside from that, this volume also introduces a few new elments into the series:
A new Kira emerges with a different MO and set of ideals.
The Investigation team gets better resources and a new base of operations.
L recruits two new characters into the Investigation Team...shortly after one of its alrealy few members leaves.
This book is definitely reccommended, but only if you've read the first four in the series.
I can take no more of these plot holes! The Death Note manga is insanely compelling. I'll finish a volume in a sitting, if given the opportunity. However, I have decided to stop reading as of the second chapter of volume five. The plot holes are enormous.
---SPOILERS---
First off: the police chief's ramming into the Sakura TV building was absolutely ridiculous. In real life he would have been thrown off the force for such an action. He could have brought the entire building toppling down. And why did he ram a building with a police tank? To stop a television station from broadcasting a video sent in by a murderer. The chief pulled a gun on a reporter and threatened his life. THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN REPERCUSSIONS.
Secondly: The horrible cruelty dealt upon Amane and Light. To keep someone chained to a wall, allowed to move only to use the bathroom, would cause all sorts of health problems, and probably lead to insanity, considering amount of time for which she was kept in that condition. For about two months, we're supposed to believe that Amana existed in this way, believing all along that she was abducted by a "stalker." Same goes for Light; his arms were fastened behind his back and he was kept in a cell. This would cause muscular atrophy, etc. It just wouldn't work.
I love the moral ambiguity of the series, even if it does make it painful to read. But these types of plot holes make the series impossible for me to continue reading.
Back on track and cruising along. Tsugumi Ohba, Death Note: Whiteout (ViZ, 2006)
I may have been a bit hasty when I accused Death note of jumping the shark in my Love review last month. While I'm still not entirely convinced that Ohba's thinking more than an episode ahead at least part of the time, Whiteout begins a new story arc that should definitely keep things interesting (and on point) for a while.
Light gives up the death note, and so Ryuk, and all memories of him, vanish. Light is now certain he's innocent. When a third Kira appears, L has to weigh the benefits of having Light and Misa on his investigative team against the benefits of keeping them both locked up. The team traces Kira to a corporate boardroom-- but which of the board members, if any, is actually Kira?
Ohba's got focus back again, and so the series picks up its pace and gets interesting again. The good stuff returns! *** ½
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