Deathnote

Reviewed by Chris Canseco
May 15, 2007

Author: Tsugumi Ohba Artist: Takeshi Obata Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating; Teen Website: Click Here Review Rating: 9 out of 10

Light Yagami finds a notebook that belongs to a Death God.  At first he thinks it’s a prank and tests it out.  Later he realizes that the notebook has the ability to kill people. Local criminals in the area start dying and the authorities are trying to find out who’s responsible.  Detective L is hired to find the origins of the mass murders, and a task force is created to find the mysterious murderer who is referred to as “Kira”.

The first murder involves a criminal holding children hostage at a nursery.  Yagami saw this hostage situation on the television and, to test out the mysterious object, wrote the criminal’s name in the notebook.  Forty seconds later, the kids walk out of the building unharmed, their captor mysteriously dead.

Here’s how the notebook works: the human whose name is written in the notebook will die.   This will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in their mind when writing that person’s name, therefore people with the same name will not be affected. If the cause of death is written into the notebook within 40 seconds, that is how the person will die.  If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack. After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next six minutes and forty seconds.

The manga is a very good story because of its plot twists and suspense.  The characters’ personalities are unique and the way they think and interact make the reader want to know more.  The artwork is the same as Hikaru No Go, and the story panels are quite detailed and greatly enhance the dialogue.  The manga is priced at $7.95 and available at most bookstores and anime specialty shops.  If this sounds like your kind of thing, definitely go for it.