Plot Summary

Boredom can be deadly, at least that’s how it turns out when a shinigami (death god) decides he needs a little excitement in his life. The shinigami in question, Ryuk, casually drops his death note into the human world, with instructions on its use.

Death Note Theatrical Poster

The human who picks up Ryuk’s death note, Light Yagami, a gifted law student whose faith in the justice system is shaken, sees the death note as his opportunity to rid the world of crime once and for all- and to rule it.

But just as Light is hitting his stride in reshaping the world by offing thousands of criminals, his efforts are confounded by the mysterious world renown detective, L.

L, who always solves his case, has taken on the challenge of uncovering the identity of the quasi-benevolent murder dubbed Kira (Killer) by the public. As the two go head to head, a dangerous game unfolds in which one misstep is a sentence of death.

Who will win this cat and mouse, or more appropriately, shinigami and human, game?

Review

As adaptations of the manga, and even as stand alone films, the live action Death Note movies are almost total failures. To start with, Light was never an idealistic, naive teenager. Never. But in the first movie, he’s startlingly naive and damn near stupid in his views on law and justice.

Light’s new persona is only the beginning of the reworking of the stellar pacing, story and development of the manga series into an unwatchable, plodding, tedious, five hour crapfest. Fans who have dedicated themselves to the manga series, i.e. read every volume and read them carefully, will silently scream as they watch their favorite detective and his rival bore diehard fans to death.

The live action movies have none of the fast pacing, plot twists, tension or suspense the manga has. This is a stripped down reinterpretation of the manga in which only the names (and not all of those) and a few scenes remain intact. It takes forever to plod from the beginning to the point where Misa enters the picture, two and half hours to be exact and the entire first movie. Movies don’t have the same luxury as a series to meander from Point A to Point B, there’s not enough time, but that’s exactly what these two films do.

They add scenes which make no sense, hesitate at points which drag on and on, delete important points all together, tack on insignificant characters and rewrite key characters’ personalities. The biggest omission is the Yotsuba story arc- crucial in the manga in establishing L and Light’s relationship and dynamic, missing all together from the movies. The arc is re-imagined in the most tedious manner imaginable, further destroying the manga storyline and tone.

Granted, there’s always story rewrites in adaptations, and granted omissions are a given, yet the movies still lack the tone and feel of the manga. Mood is something that can still be achieved, regardless of rewrites and adaptations. The manga has mood, drama, tension and pacing. Even barring the existence of the manga, the movies lack any of these necessary tidbits. Another absolutely crucial criteria missing is character development.

Character Development

Death Note The Last Name Poster

Live Action Light is a pale, empty thing compared to Manga Light. Even without a basis to compare with, LA Light’s a shallow, stupid creature merely going through the motions. He’s initially portrayed as a naive and idealistic justice-hugger jaded by the current system, who then turns to remote murder to realize his goals. But no connection is made with this character to the audience. His actions are meaningless and without passion, worse, they’re petulant.

We don’t jeer or cheer Light’s deeds as in the manga. This Light is incredibly dumb and wooden and the most disconnected character of the lot. Gone are the arrogance, extreme emotions and self-confidence of Manga Light. This version of Light takes daily doses of stupid and mediocrity to assure the most surefire road to Fail.

Light’s not the only character hopped up on dumb juice, the entire cast of LA Death Note is flirting with an overdose of stupidity. Naomi Misora, so clever and sure in the manga, is absolutely brain dead in the movie: “Hahaha, I didn’t give yous my real name cuz I like know yuz is Kira and junk. Neeya!” Even without the manga to outshine this important scene with the intrepid former FBI agent, it still makes no sense. Neither does it make sense to change Naomi’s finace’s name, Raye Penber, to Raye Iwamatsu.

L is another dismal letdown in the movies. Instead of getting the clever, dynamic and off-handedly humorous genius detective who’s on par with Light, audiences are treated to L chowing down on sweets and making the occasional contribution to the case. He just sits there, shoveling sugar down his gullet, and has no presence.

L’s range of emotions are stunted and he’s almost as empty as Light. There’s no spark between the two, no tension or hint of hidden dangers and certain death. There’s no feeling of risk either, something both characters dined on daily in the manga. The absence of contrast between L and Light is stark. Light isn’t evil enough to play off L and L isn’t passionate enough about good to cast Light in shadows.

That’s the biggest crime of the movies, that there’s no quasi-friendship cum ying and yang dynamic between these two memorable characters. L and Light have about as much tension between them as an overstretched rubber band.

Character Design

The character designs for the movie are much like the manga and stick to realism and the mundane. The clothes are comparable to what modern Japanese wear, with the exception of Misa who wears gothic lolita inspired gear. Shinigami are designed with a more fantastic bend, which is appropriate for Reapers.

Oddly, the actual death notes themselves are massive. Not only are they huge, they look like something out of a souvenir catalog rather than a book from the realm of death.

Cinematography

Both films are shot with about as much attention to lighting and perspective as a soap opera. Where are the dark, brooding shadows to cast an aura of suspense? Where’s the cleverly placed lighting to highlight an object or expression? What happened to the chiaroscuro, in mood and lighting?

Perspective in the movies is as flat and dull as a noontime series and absent are any shots which have any cinematic appeal. The unmoving pages of the manga hold more visual interest in the first chapter than both movies have in their entirety. Nothing stands out from the story in terms of cinematic language. The visuals are delivered in a straight monotone, without life and interest.

The CG for the shinigami could have been better. The death gods look hokey, rubbery and all around fake when they move. When they don’t move, they tend to look believable, but those instances are rare.

Music

Music adds mood and tension to any visual medium, and is crucial in film, either in its absence or its presence. The music for the movies had zero presence and it lays down on the job. It doesn’t build to a scene, it doesn’t create atmosphere, it does zilch.

Death Note Live Action Soundtrack

The opening for the first movie, Dani California by the Red Hot Chili Peppers is a good song in its own right, but makes no sense as the intro to the live action Death Note movie. It’s a rock number with a southern twang. The subject matter, a woman who leads a rough life and moves to California, is an incongruous theme for a movie about a psycho, egomanical teen in Japan who kills criminals with a magic notebook.

Snow, also by the Chili Peppers, accompanies the credits for the second movie. Snow is a great song, and is actually more apropos to the film than Dani California.

Manatsu no yoru no yume, by Shikao Suga is a theme from The Last Name. It’s another good song, a soft ballad, but is wasted on the film.

Acting

Anime Light Versus Live Action Light

Tatsuya Fujiwara gets my vote for worst-cast actor, ever. Fujiwara doesn’t look anything like the handsome, charismatic Light, he looks like a sack of potatoes attached to a stick figure and acts about the same. Tatsuya either didn’t bother to do character research, or he wasn’t up to the part. Anyway it’s looked at, his performance as Light is about as passionate and animated as a dried up piece of jerky.

He doesn’t deliver the main character’s dual, diabolical nature; his charm; his arrogance; his confidence; his persuasiveness; his all around belief in himself. Fujiwara has no concept of Light and it comes through in his performance.

Kenichi Matsuyama does marginally better as L, but not by much. Matsuyama looks closer to L than Fujiwara does to Light, and has L’s mannerisms down, yet he still doesn’t capture the detective’s eccentric essence. He’s fun to watch, superficially, but Matsuyama doesn’t deliver the impact and presence of the character.

Matsuyama and Fujiwara have zero chemistry on screen. It’s like watching oil and water interact, one slides over the other, not quite meshing, not quite mixing-Fujiwara is water, Matsuyama is oil. The two need more chemistry than a superficial melding like that to be believable and it just isn’t there.

Misa, as played by Erika Toda, is another character going through the motions. She doesn’t act, or even look, like Misa Amane. She plays the part far too seriously to ever get Misa’s dim-witted, cheery personality down. Misa needs to be breathy and light, but Toda’s performance is too straight and heavy, it’s too forced. A gothic lolita hanging around Shinjuku on a Sunday would have been a better choice than Toda.

The other actors in the movies, with their campy acting and overacting, give the films a distinctive B-movie quality. Most of the blame for the shoddy performances can be attributed to poor direction on the part of the man behind the cameras.

Rachel's Death Note Entry for Death Note Live Action

Conclusion

The Death Note live action movies are a patchwork of badness and poor choices. Some scenes are done verbatim from the manga, but without the feeling, intensity and context.

Other scenes are horrible, campy re-imaginings of the series and detract from the story. All are held together with consistently bad acting, lack of cinematography and dearth of emotion.

Death Note deserved far better treatment than it received at the hands of these two films. The manga is a brilliant work of fiction and has garnered millions of hardcore fans.

True fans of the manga will howl bloody murder after sitting through all five hours of the movies, while other folk may be happy as a clam with this slipshod work of film. I for one am writing this one down in my own personal, anime death note.

Rating

Death Note, Live Action get 1 outta 5 Hammies!

But for manga which really get my attention, I put aside my fear of winding up in an endless loop of rereading. One of those series which not only caught my attention but tamed and domesticated it, is the ever popular Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. One volume was all it took to lure me into reading all twelve volumes as quickly as time and money would allow. And then rereading it. Again. And again.

Plot Summary

Boredom can be deadly, at least that’s how it turns out when a shinigami (death god) decides he needs a little excitement in his life. The shinigami in question, Ryuk, casually drops his death note into the human world, with instructions on its use scrawled in English on the inside cover:

* The human whose name is written in this note shall die.

* This note will not take effect unless the writer has the subject’s face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.

* If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the subject’s name, it will happen.

* If the cause of death is not specified, the subject will simply die of a heart attack.

* After writing the cause of death, the details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

The human who picks up Ryuk’s death note, Light Yagami, also happens to be bored. Light, a gifted student, sees the death note as his opportunity to change the world and make it a better place – and to rule it.

But just as Light is hitting his stride in reshaping the world by offing thousands of criminals, his efforts are confounded by the mysterious world renown detective, L.

L, who always solves his case, has taken on the challenge of uncovering the identity of the quasi-benevolent murder dubbed Kira (Killer) by the public. As the two go head to head, a dangerous game unfolds in which one misstep is a sentence of death.

Who will win this cat and mouse, or more appropriately, shinigami and human, game?

Review

The series is a fantastic essay on the meaning of good and evil, right and wrong, and how might may, or may not, make right. It’s scary too. Scary that a teen could do such things, scary that some people actually agree with his methods.

Death Note is one of the most compelling and riveting reads to ever hit manga. The convoluted reasonings, suspenseful moments, and heart pounding action provide enough mental exertion to wear a person out after just two volumes. And yet, the manga is so incredibly hard to put down, it’s easy to dive back into the series after the mind has taken a short breather.

Each chapter compels the reader to to uncover the answers to questions that snowball throughout the manga – Who was that guy? Will Light get caught this time? Has L finally got his man? What’s she got to do with anything? Are you serious?! Really?!! When and how will Light, if ever, get his comeuppance?!!!

The charm and allure of the series is the way it draws a person in – Death Note is a black hole which sucks the reader into its universe and keeps them there. The characters are what drives this phenomena. They’re so interesting and so well developed, people can’t help but feel something towards or with them. It’s impossible to be a bystander in this series. Readers almost immediately “choose sides”: L or Light. For a manga to elicit such definite reactions is nothing short of amazing, and that, in part, can account for its incredible, demographic-spanning popularity.

Character Development

Death Note has fantastic character development, enough so you cheer or boo the characters. Light is portrayed as a smart, handsome, hard-working and honest teen who wants to better the world. The flipside to that are his egomaniacal posturing and highly questionable methods.

L comes across as a brilliant, frumpy, asocial genius who takes on tough, unsolvable cases. His personality is unpredictable and almost undecipherable, and it’s difficult to decide if what he says and does is natural or all part of his master plan. He’s adept at playing on people’s desires and emotions to get what he wants to solve a case, which in its way, is also highly questionable.

L and Light really aren’t so different underneath their veneers, but they’re more like mirror images then exact copies. While their intelligence, true personalties and goals (world peace and justice) are almost a match, it’s hard to imagine two people who are further apart in terms of good and evil. They seem to define the other, and give Death Note that “can’t put it down” appeal.

Character Design

Character designs and style for the series are a good mix of realism and traditional manga. Some scenes have a touch of over-exaggeration, but most are done in an unique style.

The world of Death Note reflects that style and mostly takes place in Japan, with a foray into the world of the Reapers thrown in. The shinigami are the most interesting looking characters in the series, albeit the most undeveloped and boring.

Everyone else that’s a major character is in league with the Beautiful People. Even the bleary-eyed and ruffled L manages to look good in this series. The bad guys and the good guys alike, who share the spotlight, are attractively inked for the reader’s viewing pleasure.

Art

Lines are crisp and details aplenty, making the art on par with the story. The shading is also a win in that it isn’t over done, but is placed effectively to impart the feel of inner darkness and evil thoughts.

Takeshi Obata, the artist responsible for the incredible style of Death Note, did a sublime job conveying all the twisted emotions running through the manga. Light is significantly creepy in his expressions, even though he’s drawn well enough to make fans swoon.

Panel layout is also a plus as the full pages are used only for impact in a dramatic scene. Layout is a language, just like the art, and the usage in Death Note needed no translation.

Amazingly, Obata kept the art strong throughout all twelve volumes of the manga. Some scenes in some chapters may have been a little below the quality line, but overall the art stayed as robust as the story.

Production

The paper quality for the manga is better than most series, and is offset by beautiful covers.

Conclusion

Death Note is a series so good, so dramatic and so fun, it’s the one series I recommend to people who don’t read manga. They too can’t resist reading as Light tries in his crazy, yet well-inked, way to “make the world a better place”. However, I advise all who consider reading Death Note to buy as many volumes at once as possible and to take time off to read them all. Trust me, you won’t want to come up for air.

Rating

Death Note, Full Series gets 5 outta 5 Hammies!

Retail Info

• Publisher:Viz
• Release Date:October 10, 2005 to July 3, 2007
• Retail Price:$7.99
• Episodes: 1-5
• Language: English

Light ups the creepy factor and L gets directly involved in Volume Two of the Death Note manga!

plot summary

Light has hit his stride in offing his opponents, and he’s become more coldblooded in the ways he deals with his enemies. He strikes a huge blow to L’s investigation and has positioned himself so he’s more fearsome than ever.

As Light grows increasingly more confident in his abilities to dodge the police and turn them against L, L must try to regain the confidence of the NPA. He puts himself at grave risk to to gather their trust back and to keep the NPA moving forward in capturing Kira.

But Light has much more than L to worry about now. Light’s maneuvering has put into motion the involvement of an unlikely but highly talented detective; that of a bereaved fiancée of one of Light’s victims!

review

Death Note is an intelligent read, showcasing the fuzzy nature of good and evil, yet still has an exciting edge. Light’s sinister use of logic in getting what he needs, is frightening to watch. Instead of figuring out ways to curb world hunger or stop poverty, the kid’s using his brilliance to kill good people who are in his way of world domination. Some people may side with Light and his methods of achieving world peace, but peace brought by the sword will usually end the same way.

The pacing for Volume Two was slower than the first volume of the manga. The time Light spent dealing with one of the characters who opposed him felt too drawn out. Yes, it’s a dangerous situation, yes this person can unravel all of Light’s designs, but please, can we get this manga moving?

Aside from the lingering nature of one of Light’s dealings, the manga still entertained and elicited emotions. Right now, I despise Light. Not many manga can claim they draw such strong feelings from me. Light’s gotta go down, and I’m waiting for L to take that scary kid out.

Character Development

Light is growing ever more creepy. His viscous joy in killing those who oppose him is beyond the satisfaction of one trying to make the world a better place. It’s quickly escalated into a sick game he plays for his own sense of empowerment. Any sympathy I felt for Light’s cause went out the window after page 30.

L also is playing a game, but at least he doesn’t delude himself the way Light does. That honesty, as opposed to the sociopathic lies Light tells himself and Ryuuk, makes L an approachable character.

Ryuuk, the ultimate bystander in all of this, is the only one who seems to have any neutrality, but Light’s manipulations will undoubtedly draw the shinagami into the mix sooner or later, and my bet is sooner.

Conclusion

Light is a frightening character, the kind too subtle to be suspect, but the kind we hear about after they’re caught and the bodies accounted for. Just because he kills with a pen and a desire to do good, doesn’t make him a tainted hero, but a cowardly sicko. Any manga which engages people on a level like this and makes us rethink the boundaries of what’s right and wrong isn’t bad at all.

Rating

Death Note, Volume Two gets 3 outta 4 Hammies!

Retail Info

• Publisher: Viz Media
• Release Date:November 1, 2005
• Retail Price:$7.99
• Paperback: 200 pages
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1421501694
• ISBN-13:978-1421501697

plot summary

Boredom can be deadly, at least that’s how it turns out when a shinigami decides he needs a little excitement in his life. The shinigami in question, Ryuk, casually drops his death note into the human world, with instructions on its use scrawled in English on the inside cover:

• The human whose name is written in this note shall die.
• This note will not take effect unless the writer has the subject’s face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.
• If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the subject’s name, it will happen.
• If the cause of death is not specified, the subject will simply die of a heart attack.
• After writing the cause of death, the details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

The human who picks up Ryuk’s death note, Light, also happens to be bored. Light, a gifted student, is bored with the way the world is and bored with the never changing rottenness he’s surrounded by. He sees the death note as his opportunity to change the world and make it a better place – and to rule it.

Light first puts the death note to the test, and then begins to cut down the world’s most violent criminals. These mass executions don’t go unnoticed and are making the police concerned. Who’s killing so many criminals and how?

The police call on “L“, a mysterious detective who always solves his case, to catch the mass murderer responsible for the recent deaths. L and Light face off in a battle of wits and both vow to find and dispose of the other if it’s the last thing they do!

review

If this plot summary sounds familiar, it’s because it’s a word for word summary taken from my review of the Death Note manga, Volume One. No need to reinvent the wheel here, especially as the Death Note anime, Volume One is a faithful rendition of the manga, almost word for word. There’s some reshuffling of sequences, however, and some omissions and additions of minor scenes. The overall feel of the anime still captures the essence of the manga.

The first volume of the Death Note manga was fantastic, but volume one of the anime is in a word, superb. Madhouse Studios took panels from the manga and brought them to creepy life. Light is even more disturbing animated as he is drawn….

Character Development

An amazing amount of information is freely given in the volume, about Light’s motives, his connection with the police, and his twisted sense of righteousness. L is still a mystery, but there’s enough given to keep up his interest as a character. Light’s interactions with his family are a nice touch and add an even more sinister feel to his doings. It’s made clear Light will do whatever it takes to make the world a place he deems worthy, no matter the cost. So what does Light really want? A world free of crime and wrong doing or a world where he can rule supreme? Where are his priorities in regards to human interaction and how did this kid get this overblown god-complex?

This is once again taken from my review of the manga. The character development flowed a little differently when it was animated, however. It seemed to take a little longer to ripen, but was still very much evident. With so many images and colors assaulting the senses, the development blends into the visual nature of the anime and becomes more subtle. In the manga, I could grasp the development almost immediately. The pacing and development in the anime have a different flavor than the manga, just by it being anime. The shift is interesting and gives the anime more depth.

Character Design

Character designs adhered well to the original manga designs. There were tiny changes in the character designs by the studios, and they were actually for the worse. But the differences are so small, so minuscule, as to only be noted for someone really looking for them.

The color pallet was a good choice. I’m glad Madhouse didn’t use the colors on the cover of the manga for the anime. The desaturated colors used in the anime are much more expressive of the twisted story unfolding than the deeper ones used on the manga.

Animation

Madhouse did a jaw-droppingly good job with the animation. Motions were smooth, with no hiccups. To add a feel of “manga” to the series, some screens were split and paneled. The perspectives were intense. Emotions lit up the characters faces and were fluid. In one scene, Light’s eyes gleam fervently, burning with his sense of self-righteousness, as he smiles lazily, reflecting back on killing hundreds of criminals. The whole effect is über-unsettling, and that’s not easy to do with anime and be believable. Usually it’s just passable or laughable. I wanted to edge towards the doorway every time that kid went off on his “doing the world a favor” spiel. Good job Madhouse, you’ve creeped me out on a deeper level.

Music

I’m not a fan of the opening theme, “the World“, by Nightmare. It’s too pop rock for my taste. I was hoping for something more dark and sinister in an opening for an anime about mass murder. Something with subtlety. What accompanies the opening is too cheerful and pop-ish.

Same goes for the ending theme, “Alumina“, also by Nightmare. It’s too bright to be rock, plus it sounds just like the OP except with different riffs.

Voice Acting

The English voice cast has my vote as being pretty damn good. A few minor characters weren’t all that stellar, but Light and Ryuuk were pleasant and evocative. The Japanese voice cast is good as well so we kept the subs on while we watched. Honestly, either/or, the voice casts are both well done.

Conclusion

Sometimes a manga-to-anime translation is so bad, it’s impossible to recognize the manga underneath the ruins of the anime. So far, the Death Note anime has stuck faithfully to the manga, and made it even better than its source material. I’m actually torn as to whether or not I want to continue reading the manga if the anime is so close to it. The manga and anime are so good, however, I’ll make a note to set aside some time for both.

Rating

Death Note, Volume One gets 4 outta 4 Hammies!

Buy Death Note, Volume One DVD!

Retail Info

• Publisher: Viz Media
• Release Date:November 20, 2007
• Retail Price: $24.98
• Number of discs:1
• Episodes:1-5
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Rating: T+ for Older Teens
• Language: English, Japanese
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Format: Animated, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen

But what about the violent people who also actively do me no harm? What about the criminals who shoot an innocent for their wallet and leave them to die? What about the child abusers and the mass murderers, some of which are still walking the streets and living their lives? If given the opportunity to cleanse the world of such distasteful people, would I be willing to kill them? What if I didn’t need to get my hands dirty to rid the planet of them, but only had to put pen to paper, could I do so then? What would the cost to me be? Would I be able to stop my hand there, or would I start knocking off the “little” people, like the guy at the gym who never wipes down the equipment?

Thankfully, I don’t need to answer these questions, but Light, the anti-hero of Death Note does, and he has answers in spades:

plot summary

Boredom can be deadly, at least that’s how it turns out when a shinigami decides he needs a little excitement in his life. The shinigami in question, Ryuk, casually drops his death note into the human world, with instructions on its use scrawled in English on the inside cover:

• The human whose name is written in this note shall die.
• This note will not take effect unless the writer has the subject’s face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.
• If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the subject’s name, it will happen.
• If the cause of death is not specified, the subject will simply die of a heart attack.
• After writing the cause of death, the details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

The human who picks up Ryuk’s death note, Light, also happens to be bored. Light, a gifted student, is bored with the way the world is and bored with the never changing rottenness he’s surrounded by. He sees the death note as his opportunity to change the world and make it a better place- and to rule it.

Light first puts the death note to the test, and then begins to cut down the world’s most violent criminals. These mass executions don’t go unnoticed and are making the police concerned. Who’s killing so many criminals and how?

The police call on “L“, a mysterious detective who always solves his case, to catch the mass murderer responsible for the recent deaths. L and Light face off in a battle of wits and both vow to find and dispose of the other if it’s the last thing they do!

review

Story
The story for Death Note progressed pretty quickly in this first volume. From the time Ryuk “lost” his death note, to the time Light decides upon and implements his program of “cleansing”, was only about forty pages. Volume One plows ahead from there, relentlessly developing an ever more convoluted plot and introducing L to readers in short order.

The pace is fast, but not overly so. Development in Volume One is speedy, yet is not too much to soak in at once. There are thoughtful breaks in the action, which makes for good flow, and let’s the reader soak in info before ramping the story back up to high gear.

The overall feel of Death Note has a heavy touch of realism. As in the realistic way Light scoffs at the scribbled words on the Death Note and believes it’s a joke. Realistic in the way the Japanese police are suspicious of L and realistic in how Light interacts with Ryuk. Given Light’s personality thus far, all his reactions to situations feel real to the world of Death Note.

The concept for Death Note is heavy with themes of right and wrong, good and evil; bored death god gives his power to twisted mortal and watches as twisted mortal commits mass murder to make the world a happy place. But there isn’t a tone of preachiness thus far. The mangaka, Tsugumi Ohba, doesn’t even let on what he thinks of Light’s rampage, he just tells the story.

It’s actually pretty creepy to have this squeaky clean teenager commit remote mass murder with a righteous smile on his face. But who can really be that squeaky clean when all it takes for them to go on a killing spree is a notebook and a pen?

Character Development

An amazing amount of information is freely given in the volume, about Light’s motives, his connection with the police, and his twisted sense of righteousness. L is still a mystery, but there’s enough given to keep up his interest as a character. Light’s interactions with his family are a nice touch and add an even more sinister feel to his doings. It’s made clear Light will do whatever it takes to make the world a place he deems worthy, no matter the cost. So what does Light really want? A world free of crime and wrong doing or a world where he can rule supreme? Where are his priorities in regards to human interaction and how did this kid get this overblown god-complex?

Those questions aren’t addressed this volume, but the promise of more background and further insight into Light’s personality has been readily made in how much this manga has given so far. If every volume follows in Volume One’s path, I can only wonder what will be left to explore in the next eleven manga.

Character Design

Ryuk is a really interesting critter. He looks like a rock star/biker demon with a perpetual clown grin inked on his bug-eyed face. Light is scary in his own right. Anyone who can grin as he talks to a death god, casually comment on killing people he’s never met, but still look like the man you’d take home to momma, is downright terrifying. The contrast of his true personality with his appearance is stark. Light’s facial expressions as he devises ways to stump L and execute criminals is disturbing to say the least. He’s dead inside the part which makes him human, and it shows in his design.

Everything else in the world of Death Note is designed with an eye to realism. The setting is in Japan and reflects that culture well, down to the policemen in business suits and the Japanese high schoolers’ uniforms.

Art

The art, by Takeshi Obata, is superb and clean. It’s an absolute perfect match for the feel of the story, which is realistic with a touch of fantasy. There aren’t many heavy lines in the manga, and the shading was done with a light touch as well; except for Ryuk. That guy walks around like an incarnated black hole.

Aside from the shinigami, the manga is airy and clean, and easy to read. There are some highly detailed panels, and there are plenty of moderately detailed pages as well. The panel layout is fairly standard for manga, and not many pages are devoted to a single scene.

Production

I’m a fan of well designed manga covers (they are the first page you see of a manga after all) and Death Note has a well designed cover. It’s all about the contrast of matte and glossy, dark and light and good use of color. Death Note, Volume One has a great balance of all three.

I was immediately drawn into the world of Death Note. The story is compelling and the characters elicit strong reactions, both positive and negative. I’m able to connect with a few already, and although I don’t agree with Light, I’m eager to see how far this kid gets in remaking the world.

Rating

Death Note, Volume One gets 4 outta 4 Hammies!

Retail Info

• Publisher: Viz Media LLC
• Release Date: October 10, 2005
• Retail Price: $7.99
• Paperback: 200 pages
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1421501686
• ISBN-13: 978-1421501680