Death Note Review

Death Note. . . The title itself is eye-catching for a person as dark and morbid as I can be, sparking immediate curiosity. One would never expect something as simple as a notebook could cause such widespread panic and disorder. That simply writing a name down would have such power as to kill a person; though i'm sure we all have at one point wished we had that power for one petty reason or another. The idea itself is rather unusual; a Notebook would be the last weapon suspected by any police force, and it would take an unusual thinker to even come up with the idea, much less be able to convince the police that it was indeed worth investigating.

The default method of killing with the Note, the heart attack idea, as well as the lengthy rule/guidebook in the beginning of the Note that Light finds is pure genius. It shows creativity on the sides of the authors as well as showing exactly how bored Ryuk is since he took the time to write instructions. The limitations of the Note are also interesting to watch unfold, though there are always a few people with creative ideas that come up with things the characters' didn't.

The character of Light Yagami, or Kira, is one of the few truely awsome villains i've ever seen. He starts out so innocent; an honor student, popular with women, kind. . . yet the moment he decides to use the Notebook he begins a trip into such darkness that it is impossible to turn back; and you realize he doesn't really want to. The rush of power flows to his head a bit quicker than one would assume, since for a while he seems like a generally good person. Such is the appearance of a fantastic manipulative genius. Being a straight-A student and anal-retentive when it comes to things like protecting the Note make him appear cautious, an act that is easily broken when he's alone with the Shinigami Ryuk. Once Ryuk shows up in his life, Light's trip into darkness begins to speed up and you notice his character begin to degrade into something a bit sub-human.  However on a different note, he is quite amusing (citing the whole "I will take this potato chip. . .AND EAT IT" mistranslation for one,) and never ceases to keep me entertained.

The Shinigami Ryuk was a character I honestly didn't think i'd like as much as I do. His obsession for apples and the fact that he actually goes into a rather hilarious version of withdrawl when he doesn't get any sort of makes him less of an aloof immortal Grim Reaper in my mind and turns him more into a rather rude shadow of comic relief. Getting bored and solving this problem with creating chaos on earth via that Death Note was also a rather funny way of introducing everything; who would have thought that a Grim Reaper would get bored? With the way that Light treats him you'd think he was nothing more than a talking bird, and I do like it that in the end it is indeed Ryuk who actually kills Light.

Moving on to Misa Amane, the Second Kira; my first impression of her is that she's actually semi-intelligent despite her gothic-lolita bubbly dumb-blonde personality.  Her IQ is definetly nothing compared to Light, but she does show some common sense early on in the series while locating Kira and contacting him. That brief moment of shining intellect is almost immediately buried in massive fangirling over Light and a bunch of stereotypical fanservice for the masculine audience of Death Note. Her character degrades not quite as far as Light's but somehow becomes worse than him, turning her into an annoying little puppy dog that does whatever her precious Light tells her to do; making her easy for Light or even L to manipulate her.  She is rather amusing in certain ways though; particularly with her interactions with L.

Rem was a Shinigami of a different sort, and unfortunately one that bored the snot out of me. She was too infatuated with Misa and obsessed with keeping the girl alive that i lost interest in her actions quite early on; though i did think it was a stroke of genius the way Light used her to kill L.

Ah yes L. . the legendary detective L, the one who's true name you never find out unless you know where to look (*cough* Lawliet*cough*). . . . my first initial thought when it came to him was best surmised in the book Another Note (the Los Angeles BB Murder Cases,) when Mello and Naomi Misora described him as an 'armchair detective,' one preferring to do his investigating from afar and let others do all the physical work. However when L decided to make an appearance at Light's school I had to admit it was a nice evolution of character, bringing him out into the open. L provides quite another leg to the mystery of the story since you never find out too much about him except random facts that are really not important to the plot, such as his tennis legacy, his ability to fly a helicopter, or the obsession with sugar and the claims that the way he sits helps his cognative functions. I've heard it opinionized a few times that he eats like a porn star; an opinion that i have to agree with. L provides a certain comic relief to the plot due to his sugary antics, as well as the whole handcuffs thing with Light. His outward appearance of being pale and with the rings under his eyes makes it hard to imagine him with the fanbase he's actually got; sometimes if i see pictures of him i get this uncanny resemblence to a racoon in my head that just makes me snort.

Near. . .the 'innocent' little boy in white, always seen surrounded by toys and sitting on the ground. One of L's successors, He is also my favorite character. I recently discovered that my theory about Near is actually 100% correct, and the boy is disabled. Apparantly he broke his back when he was younger and was too stubborn to go to physical therapy, which is why he's never seen walking; and the brief time he's seen standing he is being supported by something. ANYway, Near (Nate River) Is one of the most amusing characters to watch Light interact with, almost more amusing than L himself, considering Near tends to get the better of Light every time they communicate. Near's attitude is more like L's than even he knows, seeing Kira as nothing more than a mass-muderer. He knows that Kira is Light right off the bat, and focuses more on proving that fact than getting Light to confess by trying to get Light's team to turn on him and waiting for Light to slip up, which is a better stragey than L had IMHO. . . but then again, the only reason Near managed to damn Light in the end was because of Mello.

Mello (Mihael Kheel) was only in the series for a short time, and was portrayed along the terrorist/gun-toting extremist side of the Kira fight. Due to his inferiority complex when it came to Near, he went off half-cocked and generally made more of a mess of things in the beginning, though the 'Guys. . the Death Note just flew. . ' comment caused me to laugh myself sick. In the end he had a revalation and realized that Near needed him and he needed Near, and so set up such a situation where Near would realize a vital bit of intelligence that would in fact, solve the case. Mello's sacrifice made me sad, but at the same time I loved him for it. However his narration of the Los Angeles BB Murder Cases had me laughing so hard i was crying half the time, particularly when he was describing Ryuzaki (B) and calling Near a 'big-headed twit.'

Matt, Gevanni, Matsuda and the others' on the side against Kira may have been minor characters not worth their own section, but without them the story wouldn't have been half as amusing. Matt, with his obsession of video games, Gevanni, who has provided me with a never-ending sense of 'crack pairing' involving my beloved Near, Matsuda, who was always screwing things up for everyone yet was the one in the end who got to rightfully shoot the crap out of Light are often ignored, as well as a few others (Lidner for one, Light's father for another.) The last actual character i will mention is Teru Mikami; the man who worshipped Kira possibly more than Misa did, preferring his own death to cause a distraction for Light in the final scene rather than watch his beloved 'God' get busted.

The story itself is quite possibly the most complex i've ever come across, while at the same time it was delightfully simple. Battles of wits and unusual weapons; the way the story is written/played out so that you never know what will happen next unless you've seen it before, and the depth of the characters make the story one of my favorites of all time. I get angry when people stop watching the show/ reading the manga halfway through because L was killed. Its a well-known fact that L was actually created to pave the way for Near and Mello, so he was going to be defeated anyway.

The symbolism sometimes seen in the story surprised me greatly, considering something that could be considered so blasphemous to one of christian faith (Not nessisarily my own,) could hold such scenes as that one when L is in the rain and the whole thing with the washing/drying of the feet and a few other things I spotted (which i'll let you think on for yourselves.)

Having possession of the Death Note 13 gives me knowledge that would be hard to find elsewhere, like the prices of Nears' toys, lists of what L does and doesn't eat, and authors' notes that you don't normally see, like the fact that originally, the design for Mello was actually Near's design, and vice-versa. I like the fact that the story isn't afraid to kill off main characters. Too many stories nowadays have cutesy 'happily ever after' endings and that gets boring after a while. . so here's to you, Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, for writing a story that has captured such a massive fandom, and doing it well enough that spinoffs can still (and are still) being made.