Perhaps the best story ever written!
It started at some point in the mid-2000s, when a friend of mine first introduced me to anime. Sure, I’d seen a few shows when I was younger, like Pokémon and Digimon, but I’d never really understood or properly grasped the concept until then. I think the show my friend tried to make me watch was Fullmetal Alchemist (which I ended up watching and loving(!) a little bit later), but after never really getting into it, he came up to me at school one day with this other show I needed to watch:
“Go home and watch Death Note. You’ve never seen anything like it – I promise!”
Sure enough, I did as he said, and I’ve never regretted it since. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen the anime, but it’s a lot. It’s an absolutely amazing show, even if you don’t particularly like anime at all. There are also a few of the live-action adaptions, including a Netflix movie from a few years ago, but none of them quite live up to the anime.
But now I’ve finally read the manga as well! (Manga, if you’re not aware, are Japanese cartoons.)
Let’s take a step back. If you’ve never heard of Death Note before, you’re probably wondering what it’s all about. Well, it’s in the name, really. It’s about a Death Note and the boy who finds it.
In the world Death Note is set in, there exists a supernatural realm where Shinigami reside – Gods of Death. They all own death notes and they use them to end the lives of humans (when it is their time) for the simple reason that they need to do this to no die themselves.
Well, one day, the shinigami Ryuk finds himself particularly bored, and he drops his death note into the world of humans.
A high school student by the name of Light Yagami picks it up, opens it up, and starts reading the rules.
“The human whose name is written in this notebook, shall die.”
The first and most basic rule of the death note. There are many others, which I won’t spoil in this review, but Light Yagami can’t help himself and decides to test the notebook. He writes the name of a criminal he sees on the news, a man who’s holding a bunch of people hostage, and wouldn’t you know… suddenly all the hostages are free and the man is dead.
Light Yagami suddenly finds himself holding an incredible amount of power in his hands – and with it, the ability to rid the world of criminals and evil.
What follows is a most excellent story full of mind games, mysteries and thrills, as the world tries to figure out how all of these people are ending up dead. All the while, Light grows more cunning and sinister.
The anime is fantastic. It’s dark and serious, yet it has enough of that anime charm you come to expect from an anime. It’s a fantastic place to start, even if you don’t particularly like anime, and it’s much better than any of the movie adaptions.
The manga however, is better. The first thing I noticed was that some things happened out of order from the way I remembered them. So you kind of see the consequences of things before you understand how they come to pass. Considering it’s been a while since I last saw the show, that was an excellent way to re-experience it all.
Also, it’s just so much more fleshed out. There’s a lot of internal dialogue and thought processes that’s been cut out of the show – because it just doesn’t make sense to hear what everyone’s thinking all the time (and to be fair, occasionally, it’s a little over the top) – but it gives you so much more insight into the characters.
If you feel like you need more Death Note in your life – which you probably, definitely do – or if you feel like you want to try and read a manga, but don’t know where to start, I highly recommend Death Note. I got the all-in-one edition and it’s only about 2400 pages. No sweat!
As always – I’d love it if you checked out my books! Every little ounce of support is very much appreciated. You have no idea how much it means!
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Trey Stone, Author 
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