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Title: Death Note
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| CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parents, please note that this is a very violent and disturbing series. It's about death, and there's no way to get around some violence in that case. Recommended for ages 16 and up. |
"Shonen Jump" titles are popular for two reasons: They are of good quality, and they follow a formula. Even though I am a big fan of "Shonen Jump" titles, most of them are action series about boys yearning to become stronger then they are and taking down strong, powerful enemies. Of course, there is nothing wrong with this. "Dragon Ball," "Shaman King," and "Rurouni Kenshin" all fit this bill to some extent, yet those are all great series and are highly recomended by quite a few people (including yours truly). When Viz Media anounced the "Shonen Jump Advanced" lineup, we were promised that we would get series with the same great action "Shonen Jump" is known for, except with more bite to the stories (AKA: More violence). Looking at series like "I''s" and "Ultimate Muscle" though, I'm beginning to think that the "Shonen Jump Advance" label is REALLY supposed to be a label where Viz can experiment more with what the various genre's they want the "Shonen Jump" brand to represent, to truly become one of the most unique brands in manga ("Hunter x Hunter" not withstanding). "I''s" was the first full blown romance to be printed under the "Shonen Jump" banner, and "Ultimate Muscle" was a glorious spoof of wrestling (though still featured characters who would fight to be stronger then they currently are).
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"Death Note" is unique because it is not an action series, it has no good guy, and there's no one you really like in the series. The back of the book claims that "Death Note" is "From The Artist of Hikaru no Go," but I would take that recommendation with a grain of salt, as "Death Note" is NOTHING like "Hikaru no Go" (another excellent series now that I think about it)! "Death Note" is not only the most anti-kid friendly title in the "Shonen Jump" cannon all together, but the book is actually quite scary to boot. No really, the idea's presented in this story may not be humanly possible, but the very idea's presented in this book, and what some of the characters do for fun, is enough to make the hairs on the back of your neck stick out. The book revolves around a teenage boy named Light Yagami, an ace student who is on his way to become a cop. Only problem is, he's so smart he finds his life to be a bit of a bore. Then one day, while walking home from school, Light finds a notebook with the words Death Note written on the cover. Light soon finds out (through an accident) that when you write someone's name in the Death Note, the person will die in real life. You'd think this sort of thing would bother a guy like Light, but it has the opposite effect: Light gets addicted to killing. Everyday he starts writing down names, one after the other, killing every criminal he can think of. The first step to his goal in creating a utopia, or so he says.
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Light is visited by the Death Notes owner, but the owner (who is a death god himself) isn't insteresting in reclaiming the Death Note. Far from it, he encourages Light to continue to write in it, and gets pleasure from seeing all the new ways Light finds to kill people with it. You may notice a few things that makes "Death Note" different from all the other "Shonen Jump" series out there. For starters this is (to my knowledge) the only "Shonen Jump" series that features main characters who are downright evil. And I'm not talking about side characters either, I mean a vast majority of the main cast are downright evil. Future books will shed some light on why they are doing what they are doing, but the first impression the readers are left with is that they aren't going to like these characters one bit. The acts commited are evil, some of the ideas presented are too scary to be believed, and the characters have no redeemable traits (so far). Yet the book succeeds in being captivating from begining to end. While the story in this book is good, and the characters are interesting, the main draw to this series is the giant chess game they play with each other. Each person wants to know the whole story to what's going on, yet the characters end up sidestepping each other quite a bit because each character has some advantage the other person doesn't have. It's so much fun to read, that you can't help but get sucked into the game too.
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Even though he only has one facial expression, you are looking at one of the most expressive characters in the whole book.
What makes this more then just a standerd chess game is the fact that peoples lives are at stake. Yes, people die in this book...a LOT! The fact that one person winning could mean a thousand or more deaths make this game just as scary as it is interesting. This story is not for the weak of heart. The intensity of the storyline is intensified greatly by the excellent artwork by Takeshi Obata, who did the artwork for the excellent "Hikaru no Go" (just for the record, the writer of "Hikaru no Go" had nothing to do with this series). The artwork is very gothic, usually showing much more black in many scenes then white, and some of the artwork for hell and the death gods particularly will bring chills down your spine. This is one of the few series where each chapter card makes it look like doom is just around the corner. The fact that Takeshi Obata went from making the cheerful "Hikaru no Go" to making "Death Note" is nothing short of amazing. I want you to take particular note of the death god who always hangs around Light to "enjoy" the show. His facial expression NEVER changes! Yet through carefully placed body poses, interesting angle's and overhead shots, the death god becomes the most expressive character in the book, even standing next to characters who have eyebrows that move and eyes that can be covered up with eyelids. This character, above all else, is an accomplishment in itself.
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In fact, taking all this into account, I believe that Takeshi Obata may be the best and most versitile manga artist of our time if she continues to exspand her horizens like this. Out of all the "Shonen Jump" titles out there, I've noticed that Viz has been, more or less, hiding this one under a rock. I can understand why Viz would want to keep advertising of this book out of the hands of kids who read "One Piece" and "Yu-Gi-Oh," but Viz also seems to have trouble advertising this in some of their books geared for older readers. Maybe they simply don't know how to advertise it? I can understand that. It is truly a grim series, one that isn't completely a horror series, but not nearly brainless enough to be considered an action series either. Instead, I think "Death Note" is in a catigory all it's own. It's not a series for everyone, but those who like rollar coasters are sure to want to get on and enjoy the ride. And what a ride it is too.
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