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 Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 2:00 pm
Deathnote 
Item: Deathnote Manga
Date: modern (2000 onwards I think)
Genre: fantasy/detective/thriller
Volumes reviewed: 1-12
Rating: 10/10
Deathnote has hit the manga world, and the alternative teen consciousness like a sledgehammer to the face. It’s everywhere. You can no longer go to a cosplay without seeing a bazillion white-t-shirted, messy haired stooping teens contrasted with smartly dressed teens, the two most possibly chained together. This manga has, frankly, taken over the popular psyche to the point that it is fast becoming a cliché, which is sad, because something of this quality should never fall into being taken for granted, or to stubbornlu being avoided so one can ‘stick out from the posers’ or whatever. It is different because it creates a unique genre. It is manga that truly has a brain. It is easily as intelligent a read as any bestselling novel.
This manga, I’m convinced, finally got my sister into making the transition from manga to novels. And it is quite frankly, the best manga i have ever read.
Bold claim? Well get comfortable, and let me take you into the world of Deathnote....
The Story:
Bright Straight A+ student Light(aka ‘Raito’) Yagami is frustrated with the world and arrogant as hell. A passing shinigami (Death God) drops his ‘notebook’ which light finds. This notebook has the power to kill potentially anyone you know the name and face of, by just writing their name in the notebook. Light proptly begins ot use his new power to kill off criminals and sculpt a ‘perfect world’, with himself -under the pseudonym ‘Kira’ - as the God of his ‘new world’.
The 12 volume manga concerns itself with the cat and mouse chase between Light and the Japanese police, soon to be the world police. The story evolves over times, with more twists than a curly wurly, and more drama than a high-speed car chase. It engages your brain, and the combined skill of the writer and artist together prove stunning, with more surpises, plot twists and cliffhangers than you could possibly predict. You are always on your toes, right to the very end. A thrilling ride.
I would love to tell you more, but that would spoil it ^_~
The Characters:
Part of Deathnote’s appeal, aside from it’s brilliant plot, are it’s unqiue and absorbing characters. we’re talking about some (foolish) fanboys and girls who actually refused to read half the manga because one favourite character dies. Seriously- they’re that good.
The two main characters, representing both sides of the cat-and-mouse are Light and L. Light, as Kira, always keeps you guessing, especially with regards to his morals. Is he God or the devil- using his power to cleanse the world, or just as any other serial killer? (many an active debate between me and my sister has resulted from this). L - the kooky, genius private investigator (who my sister insists is very like me in the odd way he sits, his addiction to sweets and his bare feet XD).
You also have more minor but still very engaging characters such as Ryuck the apple-addicted shinigami, Matsuda the sweet,naive police detective, Mello the (possibly crossdressing) morally awkward chocolate addict, or Near the childlike intelligent teen with a fixation on transformer toys, or Misa the ditsy fangirlish model.
From the start you care deeply about the characters, which makes the ‘take-no-prisoners’ twists even more dramatic and exciting.
In conclusion....
There is so much I could say about this manga. But i’ll keep it brief. If short I belive it is one of the best mangas to come out in a long while, certainly in the 2000’s. You ABSOLUTELY must read it. Frankly, you cannot cal yourself any sort of manga reader (or graphic novel reader) until you have sampled at least one volume.
And, I am told, that the anime ending is different form the manga ending. Personally, the manga is far better than the (still good) anime.
It even has 2 live actions films to it’s name.
But, like I said, please please please read the manga first. You’ll be doing yourself a great favour.
I adore it. I’m sure you will to.
10/10
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Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 2:50 pm
Moon is proud to be a DeathNote fan! ((As well as one of the many L fan girls....)) ^_^
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Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 2:57 pm
I'm a hyuge L fangirl too :3
I also love Matsuda, Mello and Rem 3nodding
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Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 7:29 am
 death note is great rofl and im sorry to say to all those l fans that im a light/kira fan. however matsuda comes in as my second favourite.
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Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 8:22 am
Angel Mechanholy death note is great rofl and im sorry to say to all those l fans that im a light/kira fan. however matsuda comes in as my second favourite. tee hee don't worry, my sister's a Light fan. though she still loves L :3 ooh! and it's worth finding the dvds of the anime that have free little figures in them 3nodding my sister's got Light and L at home now. we're wiating for Ryuk ^_^
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Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 6:19 pm
AMAZING REVIEW!!!
^_^ It's been added.
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Moonlight_HuangHou Captain
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Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 5:55 am
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Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 12:27 am
I think everyone loves Matsuda.
Seriously, how can you not love Matsuda? He's like a puppy. xd
I was a great review and I really think what makes this manga amazing is that it's equally appealing to both genders. Manga is typically catered to one gender, eg. shojo and shounen, but I know just as many girl like Death Note as guys do.
I really liked it because of the two brilliant main characters, though I am a Light fan I still greatly enjoyed the cat and mouse chase between him and L and frankly was sad when Near took over. I like L much more than Near. Near kind of annoyed me.
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Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 8:48 am
yep,L's definately a betetr character than Near - Near's got less humor. But I enjoyed Mello, aminly ebcause of giggling at his 'crazy eyes' on every other panel XD
The near-mello team were pretty cool.
I know what you mean about the male-female divide. while I've read a few things on how the female characters are fairly weak, it doesn't matter that much. In fact, I'd say the strongest female character's actually Rem -lol
It's just a brilliant story 3nodding
(I always refer shonen anyway-haha)
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Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 3:49 pm
Actually, I thought REM was a guy. :/
I'd say the strongest female character, though she wasn't in the series for long, was the FBI agent's wife, Misora I believe her name was though I could be wrong. She eventually lost in the end because she dies but one of my favorite scenes is the scene between her and Light where she gives him the wrong name as he tries to kill her then he has to figure out a way to get her name in the 5 minutes it'll take to get back to the police station
I didn't want to give away and spoilers as small as they may be so there's some stuff in white up there.
Misa was just an airhead though. I think she's a big reason why people say Death Note had weak female characters. Wedy, or Wendy, I can't remember, the professional theif that L calls in about half way through was a pretty good female character for the small role she had.
I did enjoy Mello though. He amused me. Him and his chocolate.
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Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 7:45 pm
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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 8:52 am
@zizzy
true, but if you wnated ot get picky and go all feminism on it, you could take argument with the assumption Ray Pember has of her that as soon as she's married she can't have a career, or even exercise her natural intelligence for deduction. he actually chastices her for it.
Wedy's pretty cool though --> even if she was essentially seduced by Mello - or rather there was teh expectation that she would be.
Rem's the only girl who throughout causes Light a buttload of issues and is stubborn enough to be assertive :3
but in teh end, it's all looking to far into it -haha
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Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2008 11:32 pm
Ray telling her that she had to be a housewife after they got married wasn't exactly a weak female character though, it was a somewhat sexist male character. Thought you could come back with "she was too weak because she was allowing a man to do that to her" and such but I think she was strong in the way that she went so far to avenge her finacee's death and wasn't going to just give in to Light as he was thinking she originally would.
But really, I think it's a good series and the people complaining of the female characters so much are looking too much into it as you said, DT.
And @moon:
My friend showed me that clip a while ago, it cracked me up then and it still does. rofl
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Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2008 1:26 pm
very true smile and it was cool how she kept Light on his toes ^^
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