Death Note: Story Of Killer Diary Is Grim, Intriguing, Excellent Entry Into Manga
Cover art from Death Note Volume 1. Death Note © 2003 by Tsugumi Ohba, Takeshi Obata/SHUEISHA Inc.
We've long been a fan of Japanese comics, or manga, as they're commonly called. Local publisher Viz, who is responsible for much of the product that American audiences see, sent us a review copy of Death Note Volume 1--and we're blown away. The book, story by Tsugumi Ohba and art by Takeshi Obata, is by far the best manga we've read, and, in our opinion, is readily accessible to those who aren't the average comic book or fantasy reader. The only thing a fresh reader might find offputting at first is the fact that it's printed "backwards" and must be read, right to left (pages and panels, not words). Even so, this book gets our highest recommendation and we cannot wait for the next one.
Even many non-comic book fans have heard the old lesson from the Spider-Man mythos: "With great power comes great responsibility." Light Yagami, a brilliant-but-bored high school student, finds himself in possession of an artifact that literally has the power of life and death: a notebook dropped by a Shinigami (a.k.a. "Death God," perhaps best understood as a type of Grim Reaper). All Light has to do is write the name of a person in this notebook while picturing that person's face, and that person will die--and Light can determine the particulars of that final fate. If Light doesn't specify, the victim drops dead within six minutes and 40 seconds of a heart attack. If he does specify, Light can make the death occur however he pleases.
Once this fantastic element is established, the intrigue, and real appeal of the story begins. What would a responsible person do with this type of power?
Light decides to kill criminals to such a large extent that those with criminal intentions will eventually be too scared to commit crimes at all. When the police and associated agencies start noticing hundreds of criminals dropping dead, they must try figure out who this vigilante murderer is. Light's chief antagonist is the man (or woman?) in charge of the investigation who is known only as L. L's face is unknown--and thus Light can't kill him. And Light, in the face of his greater quest, undoubtedly would.
What follows is a race between L and Light to solve the mystery of the other's identity--and whoever figures it out first more or less wins. Light is accompanied by Ryuk, the Shinigami who originally owned the Death Note and is invisible to others. Ryuk's motivations for losing his Death Note are interesting and help drive the story as well. There are several other characters and plot twists, none of which are throwaways--the story is tight, and moves along at a reasonable pace.
The art is less over-the-top than most manga we've read--while we like that cartoony, hyperkinetic style as well, this more subdued art very much fits the grim, tense tone of the story. It also highlights the unearthly nature of those fantastic creatures and places we see as readers: Ryuk and the other Shinigami, who we see in other dimensions from time to time, are visually both very cool and grotesque.
This gets our highest recommendation--for keen art, for intriguing story, and for value. At only 8 bucks, this 200-page digest is quite affordable, and, again, can serve as an excellent entry point for those who are not yet into graphic, sequential storytelling.