In Which I Review 'Death Note'

Death Note Volume One

  I don't know if anyone even bothers to read this but its a good stress release for me so I'm going to keep with it.
    Don't let the name scare you. No, seriously don't. I remember having my doubts as I stood in the library, reading the back of the book. It seemed a little too morbid for me to enjoy. But after 45 minutes and one volume I had fallen head over heels in love with the series, the characters and the plot.
Here's a summary I snagged from Goodreads.com:
Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects - and he's bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal...or his life?
Light tests the boundaries of the Death Note's powers as L and the police begin to close in. Luckily Light's father is the head of the Japanese National Police Agency and leaves vital information about the case lying around the house. With access to his father's files, Light can keep one step ahead of the authorities. But who is the strange man following him, and how can Light guard against enemies whose names he doesn't know?
Plot: 10/10    This book is not your average Shonen manga (Shonen is manga aimed at boys but many girls also read it). It examines our ideas of right and wrong, fear and even life after death! Light is killing villains but is killing so many people really okay? And what about when you might have to kill innocents to maintain your goals? I enjoyed the fact that this series could make you think and wasn't just fighting ( which can, surprisingly get tiring) but also had a nice amount of action.There were several scenes that were edge of your seat action, mainly with the police force(But Light does get some fight time). It was very wordy but I saw that as part of Death Note's unusual charm. It also gave you a real sense of being in the character's head because the author included all the possible actions the character considered and why they were good/bad.

Characters: 8/10 The characters in Death Note were very original.Ryuk the Shinigami had dropped the Death Note out of boredom because he wanted to see who would pick it up and use it.Doesn't that say enough about his personality? Light could have fallen under the typical 'good boy gone bad' except for he still did very well in school while in possession of the Death Note. Not to mention he was very calm and collected. And the detective L...don't get me started on L! L was probably my favorite character. He was wacky, sugar addicted, (insanely) intelligent and pretty cool looking. L and Light are the two main characters and they were both perfect(ly unique) enemies. There were a few stereotypical characters such as Misa Amane (The cute, peppy ditz) and Matsuda (The goofball) but overall very original development in the way of personalities.
Art: 10/10 The art here was done by someone other that the author (Takeshi Obata did the art, Tsugumi Ohba the plot). I thought they were a great team. The manga art style was very different than anything I had ever experienced at the time I read it and I loved how much more realistic the art felt. Since it took place in a modern day world the realistic art somehow made it more tangible for me.There were also detailed scenes which clearly had a lot of effort put into them (I couldn't tell if Obata or one of his poor assistants did the work) There was never a moment where I couldn't tell which character was which because of the art. It was pretty awesome drawing.
Other Notes: Death Note rocks! I also watched the Anime which I highly recommend (It follows Death Note's manga plot exactly). The voices seem to fit perfectly too not to mention the voice actors actually speak with *gasp* emotion! My experiences with the Death Note fanbase have also been pretty good so I recommend you investigate that if you're a fan!

Overall: 94/100
1-20= NEVER read this
21-40= Meh.
41-60= If you really want to read this
61-80= Enjoyed, but not the best
81-100= Awesome, totally reccomended
Death Note  PASSES!!!

DFTBA,
Sophia