The main character of Death Note is Light Yagami, the most intellectual high school student of his age, but he's bored. Being unchallenged his life is boring to him but one day at school he picks up a small black notebook; the Death Note. It belonged to a god of death, Ryuk. Ryuk writes instructions inside it saying that the owner of the Death Note (now Light) can write any human's name inside it and they will die. Light dreams of creating a better world, and decides to try and rid the world of evil and carries the largest murder of criminals ever seen. As criminals everywhere die, the police are determined to catch the killer, who they call 'Kira'. For Light, the police are easy to fool, but one man stands in his way from becoming God; L. L is the world's best detective and can solve any case, and tries to catch Kira before his word becomes law.
When talking to others about Death Note, they don't like the fact that the two main characters are utterly flawless. Well, it is true, Light and L get 100% score on an high school entry test (something I could never get even for my spelling tests). They are also both extremely good tennis players and Light is even a national champion. But, despite what most people say, I think this adds to the plot and makes it even better. It is quite fun to see how such 'geniuses' react to different situations and it also quicker to read, without the characters in a panic mode for several hundred chapters and nothing happens... Ahhh! I hate it when this happens in a manga/anime, but it can't be helped. By the way, don't get me wrong, Death Note has its fair share of unnecessary moments and long winded explanations that you eventually don't understand (don't worry it only happens once or twice though it does make you seem really stupid, but just blame it on their weird logic or something...). Saying this, Death Note has some epic moments where everything is so fast paced and there's loads of action and you're eventually so hooked on it you don't realise you haven't done any homework, you should have been in bed an hour ago, and you have a crush on L which doesn't really help.Other than that, its perfect! (By the way, there aren't many volume's, only 12, so not many late nights!!!).
I really enjoyed this manga, and have actually seen some similarities between it and some classics, such as Rebecca. In Rebecca, the protagonist's husband kills a woman but is thought of as innocent (read my book review and you'll probably understand it a bit better...), but Mrs Danvers is looked at as wicked as she bullies and humiliates the protagonist bit has suffered her whole life and looses her closest friend. Now, back to Death Note. In Death Note, Light seems like a good guy; he wants a perfect world, no criminals, no bad guys, peace. Last time I checked that's good. But as the manga develops his true colours show, and wants to become God of his new world and stuff... Yep, I bet he sound like a bad guy now right? This is one of the main things I loved about Death Note (not that he's a bad guy, actually, kind of, ah just go away...), Light seems like such a good person and with such heroic intentions, but the gradual decline in sanity is so small, you just don't know where things went wrong for him (Volume 9, Chp 13, pg 21, jokes, I don't think that chapter even exists...).
Another thing I love about Death Note, is its dramatic and nail biting irony. Light, works along with the police and even lives in the same house with them, looking for the killer, looking for him. L and his team (a.k.a. the police) suspect Light but without evidence they cannot do anything, and Lights not the kind of person to confess.
At first, Death Note may seem all about some crazy maniac (a.k.a. Light)who wants to kill people, but as soon as he meets L (his enemy) things really spice up. I think L is one of the key reasons why Death Note is so awesome. Everybody loves weird detectives (Cue Sherlock fans...) and with his messy hair, panda eyes (he doesn't sleep often), bare feet and his habit of eating cake and drinking tea, L is the only person to suspect Light from the beginning of the Death Note chapters, and he is someone just as interesting as Light.
All in all, I highly recommend this manga to you, as it is something original, brainy and really makes you think (something I have not done for ages).
Wanna read? Don't have the book? Read online! (but try and support the writers by buying the books too!) http://read.mangashare.com/Death-Note Manga Queen :)
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