Death Note 12

I quit manga.

Memorable scenes to add to previous entry: the two page spread where Light owns up, and his final two pages.

My roommate and I were having the discussion of the merits of having a two-page spread as two solid black pages when the technique was used in the most recent volume of Dragon Head. But I don’t want to geek this post up too much. I want to pout and cry in the corner. I wish I had something to read that would push this entry off the top of the page.

Death Note 11

Light Yagami, total pimp. Excuse me, there’s some serious catfights in this volume. Not only is Light a supergenius and a mass murderer who’s worshipped like a God, he’s also a total Don Juan. My hero.

We finally get some action in this volume, though Ryuk disappears for awhile. It’s still mostly dialogue sequences though, which is pretty tedious. Most of the action occurs at the end, courtesy of Mello, who was also conspicuously absent. One thing I don’t understand is… there was a key death. How was that person’s name found out? Because that person would have been dead if their name had been known all along. I’m sure this didn’t fly under the radar of the writer and editor, and maybe I missed something, but it doesn’t seem like I did. I just don’t understand how that works.

Next volume: Light schools Near. Yes.

Death Note 10

Oh my God, Light Yagami, my hero! There was precisely 0 action in this volume. You know what that means. It was a 200-page dialogue sequence. Am I serious? Totally. I forgive it this time though, because all the dialogue was on Light’s side, and I’m all for Light.

Excuse me while I fangirl about Light some more. There are a handful of scenes from Death Note that I will never forget, because they are too terrifying. First and foremost is the “EXACTLY AS PLANNED” panel from when Light gets his memories back. I still have nightmares about that, and it’s been several months. Tied for second are the face he’s making when he’s bent over L, and also the scene where his dad is finally satisfied that he is not Kira, which is one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the entire series. That one was only terrifying because it proved beyond a doubt that Light was a total psychopath more than anything else so far. There were two more scenes in this volume of a disturbing nature, which is why I’m going over all these right now. One was the face Light was making when he said “women are easy,” which was disturbing on many levels. The other was the perfect scene where Kira asks Light if he is God. So yes, there are the best scenes for the first ten volumes of Death Note.

I like the way things are going now. I hope Light can win in the end with this arrangement. I’m going to save these last three as drafts and publish them all at once, for posterity, to see how I like the end of the series. As a head’s up, I quit manga if Light loses.

Death Note 9

I wanted to save the last four volumes to read as a chunk since the series had started to sour for me.  Since I got volume 12 over the weekend, it’s time to get cracking on that.

There was some action at the beginning of the volume, and I was quite pleased that there was a face-off between Light’s dad and Mello.  Actually, I applaud Light’s dad all around for his supremely awesome actions during the earlier parts of the volume.  That made me wonder if I had maybe judged previous volumes in the Near/Mello storyline too harshly.

Then I read the rest of the volume, which is basically just a dialogue sequence between Near and Light.  That’s right.  The two of them talk for about a hundred and fifty pages.  OH MY GOD NO.  The rest of the volume really dragged after all the totally hot Shinigami action from the earlier chapters.  I also hate Near and Mello a lot more now.  I just want Light to win.  Please.  I don’t think it’s that much to ask.  It seems like things are going that way anyway.

We do find out Mello’s real name at the beginning of the volume, which is just as engrishy as previous characters.  The winner in ridiculous-sounding English names, however, will always be Quillish Whammy.

Death Note 8

I’ve been really bummed since the series continued past volume 6. Volume 7 was disappointing, and volume 8 was even more disappointing. My main problem is that I don’t like either Near or Mello, the way this scenario is set up isn’t very appealing or nearly as solid as the initial case, and really, I hate to see Light squirm. I also hate the new character that was introduced this volume, more of a headache for Light.

And really, that’s all I can say since I’d hate to spoil this for anyone. You people weren’t kidding when you said this series went south fast.

Death Note 7

I think I spoiled myself silly on this one when I got 4-7 together. Since this was the end to the first half of the series, I cheated and peeked ahead to see what had happened. I think I may have read the entire damn thing over the course of doing this several times, but I reread it again tonight for good measure just to make sure I haven’t missed anything.

This wraps up the first series nicely by taking a bunch of stuff Light planned in secret and smacking you in the face with it. For sure this series has a lot of good characters, but they’ve got quite a king with Light. Light is not only one of the smartest manga characters among the series I read, but this personality trait is balanced out by a really sadistic side that’s extremely disconcerting whenever it shows itself. You find yourself cheering for Light, the main character, and yet you must keep in mind he’s some sort of soulless killer, good intentions or no. The looks he has on his face throughout the entire volume… !

But yes, we get a wrapup of everything that had happened underneath the watch of L here. Once everything is taken care of, it jumps ahead a number of years to show the characters as adults/older (and I must say, adults who for the most part don’t look too different) and a new type of investigation. The volume stops just before you get a good idea of whether or not Light has a good way of dealing with the two new contenders in the truly heartbreaking way that only Death Note volumes leave off.

I’m not sure how I feel about the two new characters. Well, that’s not true. I don’t like them so far because they’re messing with Light. One of them I KNOW I don’t like because I think he has one of the creepiest faces in manga history. If you have the volume, flip to the page where he’s reacting to the sad bit of news at the orphanage. Are those his eyes literally bugging out of his head?

Anyway, I read this one again, even though I was pretty sure I’d read it before, because I got volume 8 in the mail yesterday. So at least now I can see how Light’s going to treat the new kids on the block.

Death Note 6

Yeah, again I thought this plot was a bit more boring, but I like Rem and Misa and their thing a lot, and I thought the ending was quite epic and kickass. You guys show them! Way to risk your life, Matsu! Hooray for the ingenuity of Light and L!

What else?

…

Uh, yes. The executives were pretty boring as well as sleazy. I did like the way Wendy and Aiber worked, though, they were a good adddition to the cast of clever characters. Next volume is definitely AWESOME.

Death Note 5

This was sorta from the tail end of last volume, but it’s extremely disturbing how Misa is encarcerated, particularly after she forgets what’s going on and keeps calling out to a stalker.

Again, from the end of last volume, it was sad to see Light do what he did. I wanted the entire series to be about him kicking some ass and never going down. But then he does what he does, works with L, L still suspects even though it’s impossible, blah blah blah… L is a real big asshole. There are times when he does cute things and relates to people, but otherwise he’s a real big asshole.

After Light and Misa are released, the story arc here and in the volume afterwards that deals with the executives… while interesting, it just feels like exposition. I hate seeing Light not killing anybody.

This made me like Matsuda a lot more, though. Though everyone called him a bonehead for what he did, I think it was extremely advantageous, and they even figured out a way to save his life! Hooray!

I read 4, 5, 6, and spoiled myself silly on 7 all at the same time, so these may be a little foggy or inaccurate per volume.

Death Note 4

One one hand, I really like Misa. She’s a good person, not as silly as we are lead to believe, and she’s just… sort of a normal person thrown into the middle of all this. I like that. On the other hand, she throws nuts and bolts into Light’s plans, and I hate the fact there are two Death Notes, though I have no problem with two Shinigami.

Misa’s really hard to deal with. She feels almost like comic relief, because she just doesn’t fit. It brings out a really evil side in Light, and it also makes L close in uncomfortably. Hm. But again, I do admire the fact that Misa’s pretty crafty in her own way, so that’s pretty cool too.

I read 4, 5, 6, and spoiled myself silly on 7 all at the same time, so these may be a little foggy or inaccurate per volume.

Death Note 3

I love how Light manipulates the rules of the Death Note. Ryuk also makes a valid point – this could have been a boring manga had Light just been some kid who started killing off the bullies (a la the short story, if I remember right). Light makes it awesome with his hand of God scenario, and I really like how he’s characterized. He’s quite rational and level-headed. He insists that killing off those criminals is the right thing to do, that they deserve to die, and that this will help lead to a utopian society. However, he murders people who get to close to him, and it takes a certain kind of insanity to do what he does. I like him a lot.

L, on the other hand, is a crazy. I love that he’s a crazy, but I like Light much better than L. L seems a little more full of himself for whatever reason, though the author does a good job of portraying both as very similar people. It’s interesting also to see how the situation ages as Light graduates and L still persues him, and I love how the story seems to keep getting narrower and narrower, and just when I think L will close in and SOMETHING will happen…

There’s Misa.