Sounds like marketing gold.

I couldn't root for Light, because when you get down to it, he's a serial killer. Any chance at being morally justified was lost when he killed the people trying to catch him, when all he had to do was not use the Deathnote for an extended period of time.

I love how the characters will justify their worldview - even when everyone else can *clearly* see that view as "evil", but what person truly considers themselves "a bad person"? These moral knots can make even the question of what "good" and "evil" are - after all, if you're making the world a place where there is no crime, are you not good?

@Thaeus: I would niggle with you on that point. The point there was that if he suddenly *stopped* killing people, that would be just as suspicious "Hm - as soon as we started checking out these 5 people, the killings stopped - let's leave them alone for a few weeks, and if the killings start again then they must be it". Therefore, the solution *had* to be "keep the killings going *while* under surveillance to avoid suspicion". It's OK if you didn't like it overall - there are a couple of spots that, like the writer of the article, I thought were there for the sake of making the story longer.

But the raw intelligence of the characters, and nary a "Oh, come *on*, who would be dumb enough to do that!" moment has kept me reading. I'm actually hopeful of a US done movie with a good cast and director. Odds are it will suck, but I'm an optimist that they'll bring in people who will do it *right*, and highly the moral and philosophical dilemmas instead of just "kill, kill, kill".

Think, for a moment, about a grown-up, slightly sociopathic Encyclopedia Brown, suddenly given the power of life and death.

And that's why I started reading Death Note. There are other excellent reasons-- the cat-and-mouse games, the utterly amazing art-- but that was the hook that drew me in.

It's nice to see a relatively mainstream site like Salon discussing manga. Can you review Saiyuki next?

it happens so early on. He did stop killing people for a while. It didn't put L off the scent. Both of those boys are too intelligent for something that simple to work.

I'm a little surprised that Obata's beautiful artwork wasn't mentioned. The story is amazing, but so is the finely drawn detail of the shinigami, the cute little touches of each outfit Misa Misa wears, and Matt and Mello's sort-of punk sensibility. He continues to draw incredible art. I think this series is even better than Hikaru no Go.

I recently read this entire series and the ending did pay off. I really enjoyed the story and the suspense, particularly when it dwelled on the moral implications of action and inaction.

The art is beautiful, dark and admirably detailed, some of the most realistically drawn manga I've ever seen. The character designs are also lovely (I particularly appreciated the intentionally androgynous Mello).

I recommend "Death Note" to those new to manga who are interested in checking out the genre; this series is rooted more in the "real world" than the more popular action manga (like "Naruto" or "Fullmetal Alchemist") which those unfamiliar with manga may find off-putting. (but they are great too!)

Give Death Note a try. It's addictive!

But boy am I glad it was!

I got hooked on the anime when my sister sat me down and forced me to watch it; I'm planning to get the manga at some point soon, now it's all in English. The plot was tricky and fun, but it was the characters that really drew me in, particularly once Light and L began the cat-and-mouse in earnest. There was a careful, ambiguous dualism there, a resolution to ask morally tricky questions and not give firm answers, and to let the characters mirror the better and worse parts of each other, that I loved; and everybody, including the grating-at-first Amane Misa, has their own motivations for what they're doing, which may or may not be immediately apparent. (She did grow on me, for exactly the kind of cleverness that the reviewer notes.)

I had to stop watching the anime after episode 25 (not sure what issue in the manga, but if you've read it, I'm sure you know). I continued on a little while, but just couldn't get behind some of the changes; it felt like a whole carefully orchestrated theme had been scrapped for the sake of extending the run a little longer (which, I guess, is what happened. Sigh.). I'm hoping to go back to it at some point; maybe by treating it like a sequel, and not the original work, I can get past the changes.

In the meantime, I'm just glad to see Death Note getting some attention. It's a thoughtful, intense work with a lot of flash-bang to it -- not something that I find often. And whatever my personal feelings about when it should have ended, it's still phenomenal. (After all, I couldn't feel so grumpy if I hadn't been so awed and invested in the first place.)

I have seen the Death Note series in book stores and considered reading it. Your article sways my decision. And since, as you pointed out, the 12th and last volume has been published, I won't have to suffer the long wait as each volume is published, which should keep the story moving along at the promised breakneck speed.

Of course, I have to finish this Deathly Hallows thing first...

A thirteenth volume of the Death Note manga has been published in Japan, and is due out in the USA (in English) mid-February, 2008. It does not continue the story (which ended in volume 12), but, according to its subtitle, offers "How to Read" the Death Note series. Various sections of Volume 13 have been included in many issues of the English version of Shonen Jump magazine.

One of my favorite aspects of Death Note is that the author and artist take no specific position on either Light's or L's morality. Both are presented as moral, immoral, and amoral, allowing the readers not only to take whatever stance we choose, but also that we might change our attitudes as the story unfolds. Light and L are egocentric and yet take a worldview on their actions and ruminations.

The corporate Kira section became painfully slow for me to wade through. It truly seems a ploy to lengthen the series with very little of the driving movement that the series otherwise contains. And the author/artist's attitude of it being a completely evil corporation seems obvious. Unlikeable characters running an unlikeable company, killing for the sake of profit only...