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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The god of death must not stay in the human world without a particular reason. Conditions to stay in the human world are as follows:
• When the god of death's Death Note is handed to a human.
• Essentially, finding a human to pass on the Death Note should be done from the world of the gods of death, but if it is within 82 hours this may also be done in the human world.
• When a god of death stalks an individual with an intention to kill them, as long as it is within 82 hours of haunting them, the god of death may stay in the human world.
I have long adored the Death Note films, well the originals and not the American remake, but I have never got around to reading the books they were based on.
That all changed when I found a set of the Black Edition books in a local charity shop for an unbelievable bargain price. They have now taken pride of place in my manga collection and I will be working my way through the books over the next few weeks.
The premise is iconic, a Death God (Shinigami) recklessly, or perhaps just for laughs, drops his sacred Note Book in the human realm. There it is found by Light Yagami who, once convinced by its legitimacy, decides to rid the world of violent criminals as part of a quest to make a better society.
Following the culmination of the battle between Light and L, with the later being defeated and losing their life, we have jumped forward in time. Kira is now being accepted as the dealer of justice in the world and crime and war has virtually been removed.
Light has taken over from his father and now leads the taskforce chasing Kira, allowing him to play both sides in order to keep his true identity concealed. Unfortunately for Light, there are others still intent on capturing Kira and avenging L's demise. M and N couldn't be more different, one favouring the straight and narrow, the other preferring crime and chaos, but both share the same goal to bring down Kira.
It is everything I had hoped for and so much more. 5 stars.
• When the god of death's Death Note is handed to a human.
• Essentially, finding a human to pass on the Death Note should be done from the world of the gods of death, but if it is within 82 hours this may also be done in the human world.
• When a god of death stalks an individual with an intention to kill them, as long as it is within 82 hours of haunting them, the god of death may stay in the human world.
I have long adored the Death Note films, well the originals and not the American remake, but I have never got around to reading the books they were based on.
That all changed when I found a set of the Black Edition books in a local charity shop for an unbelievable bargain price. They have now taken pride of place in my manga collection and I will be working my way through the books over the next few weeks.
The premise is iconic, a Death God (Shinigami) recklessly, or perhaps just for laughs, drops his sacred Note Book in the human realm. There it is found by Light Yagami who, once convinced by its legitimacy, decides to rid the world of violent criminals as part of a quest to make a better society.
Following the culmination of the battle between Light and L, with the later being defeated and losing their life, we have jumped forward in time. Kira is now being accepted as the dealer of justice in the world and crime and war has virtually been removed.
Light has taken over from his father and now leads the taskforce chasing Kira, allowing him to play both sides in order to keep his true identity concealed. Unfortunately for Light, there are others still intent on capturing Kira and avenging L's demise. M and N couldn't be more different, one favouring the straight and narrow, the other preferring crime and chaos, but both share the same goal to bring down Kira.
It is everything I had hoped for and so much more. 5 stars.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Things aren't half getting complicated!
Not going to lie but I feel that the series could have ended by now.
There are still interesting aspects but I feel like it is dragging on. What made the first few volumes great is missing now and it just keeps getting more and more confusing.
Not going to lie but I feel that the series could have ended by now.
There are still interesting aspects but I feel like it is dragging on. What made the first few volumes great is missing now and it just keeps getting more and more confusing.
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
for a supernatural mystery series, this sure is getting boring
fast-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I still really enjoy this series, but I just feel like this volume really slowed down for me. I found myself not really interested in picking it up and it didn't really keep my attention while I was reading. I hope that the next volume is a bit better, but this just didn't work the best for me. And this is coming from someone who has watched the anime and knows what is happening and going to happen. I don't think that is what's taking away from it, but I just hope that next volume is better for me.
Tsugumi Ohba’s Death Note’s might be the worlds most popular manga series. Even if you don’t read manga, chances are you’ve heard of or watched Death Note. Totalling of twelve books (not including extra editions featuring more information about Ohba’s world) we follow Light Yagami try to change the world to a better place through the murders of criminals and deviants. We quickly see his character change and the immense power the death notes hold change his character for the worse, suggesting that even with the best intentions, this type of power can quickly corrupt someone. At times you don’t know who the good guys are, you want Light to succeed as we’ve followed his story from the beginning, but L, M and N are trying to prevent him from killing more people as Light quickly becomes who he hates, in the name of trying to make the world a better place.
The best characters are Misa and Rem, they’re both funny and creative. The scenes featuring them are the most memorable and I’m glad they both feature throughout the series. Unfortunately, the incredibly limited female characters featured are all shallow and none of them drive the plot forward, they’re simply romance obsessed background characters. The male characters are sexist and misogynistic, sometimes shockingly so. These books were published in 2003, which would explain an undertone (thankfully a lot has changed in the last 20 years), but a lot of the scenes involving female characters are really uncomfortable to read. This is disappointing, and the lack of diversity seems very prominent reading them now. Sadly, this series is now outdated and can be disappointing to read because of it.
Although the Death Note series is one I’m happy to reread, at times I found it really confusing keeping up with the detectives investigations, trying to remember who knew what, who was on who’s side, and I could never figure out how police and detectives characters discovered each other’s plans. There was plenty of moments throughout the series that I found myself flipping back through pages trying to figure these things out, but ultimately I’d just read on knowing in a few chapters there would be another event which would confuse me!
Takeshi Obata’s illustrations are brilliant, the Shinigami’s are so creatively designed, and their drawings and their world are some of the best images include. Even though they’re the true antagonists, everyone loves their characters, showing how well Obata and Ohba have done to create these villains. Overall I’d give the entire series 3 stars, but 4 for the first book.
The best characters are Misa and Rem, they’re both funny and creative. The scenes featuring them are the most memorable and I’m glad they both feature throughout the series. Unfortunately, the incredibly limited female characters featured are all shallow and none of them drive the plot forward, they’re simply romance obsessed background characters. The male characters are sexist and misogynistic, sometimes shockingly so. These books were published in 2003, which would explain an undertone (thankfully a lot has changed in the last 20 years), but a lot of the scenes involving female characters are really uncomfortable to read. This is disappointing, and the lack of diversity seems very prominent reading them now. Sadly, this series is now outdated and can be disappointing to read because of it.
Although the Death Note series is one I’m happy to reread, at times I found it really confusing keeping up with the detectives investigations, trying to remember who knew what, who was on who’s side, and I could never figure out how police and detectives characters discovered each other’s plans. There was plenty of moments throughout the series that I found myself flipping back through pages trying to figure these things out, but ultimately I’d just read on knowing in a few chapters there would be another event which would confuse me!
Takeshi Obata’s illustrations are brilliant, the Shinigami’s are so creatively designed, and their drawings and their world are some of the best images include. Even though they’re the true antagonists, everyone loves their characters, showing how well Obata and Ohba have done to create these villains. Overall I’d give the entire series 3 stars, but 4 for the first book.