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Reviewed by David Rasmussen Each company has its own share of Essentials, titles you must own. VIZ is no different, having a few more Essentials than your typical manga company. I would have to go through my books and past reviews just to think up of a dozen titles, but off of the top of my head I have Read or Die, Nana, Naruto (even if I don't read that title I still think it's Essential), Full Moon O Sagashite, Shaman King, BoBoBo-BoBo BoBo-BoBoBoBo... BoBo-BoBo Bo... (That parody title with the guy with the dome hairstyle and all the freaky stuff), Revolutionary Girl Utena, Pokemon Magical Journey (the shojo version of Pokemon)… and the list goes on and on and on. The newest title to come onto my list is Death Note. Poll a handful of manga/anime reviewers out there, any batch, and you'll find that more often than not most of them have Death Note on their Essentials list. Of high praise and noteworthiness, Death Note innovates its genre in ways you have not seen in quite a while, delivering a product that is praised for good reason (for solid writing, plotting, storytelling and visual grandeur). Of course the regular manga has already come out, that I am sure of, but if you are an ultimate fan, then you want something that really shows your fandom... how about a hardcover coffee table (or that place you read your stuff when you're not on the computer or watching TV or whatnot) version of Volume 1? Yes, costwise it's not cheap ($20 a pop) but if you are a major fan (or the manga is new to you and you don't mind dropping a bit to pick up a superior copy for your collection), this should be for you. VIZ is doing well, as it presents the Collector's Edition set. When a VIZ title excels to such heights that it is a major Essential series with its readership, VIZ will commemorate this by releasing a hardcover Volume 1 for you to pick up. This is a great idea (of course there's always room for improvement as I'll note shortly), and if you can afford it, you should consider adding it to your set. You'll probably never be able to build a whole Collector's Edition collection (at $20 a pop I think that's unlikely unless you have a lot of major budget to invest into the endeavor) having the ones that represent your favorite reads would be a great idea. Meet Light Yagami. He's a rather "ideal teenager..." A straight A student, trusted by his parents, loved by his little sister and girls in general, and future disturbed individual with power over life and death itself. I don't know why, but not even the most toxic boredom can explain what happens to him when he discovers a notebook with the words "Death Note" scrawled over its cover. Apparently he's not the only bored being, as in the Realm of the Shinigami there's an entity who seemingly feels the same boredom Light does, as it sits before its fellow Shinigami staring listlessly at their lazy indifference (well not every manga universe can be in the grips of some sort of apocalyptic war against nature or the supernatural or aliens or whatever, giving the Shinigami in said world more work than they can handle). This freaky entity (which strangely enough looks strangely familiar for some reason) is about to find more time passing interesting things to do than it can handle when (after five days of watching a couple of its coworkers play an eternal game of Death's Head) it finally realizes that… hey… it (Ryuk) dropped its Death Note… FIVE DAYS AGO!! (You know even I noticed I dropped something far shorter than a FIVE DAY PERIOD… oh well). By the time it remembers that it has to go back for its Death Note it is already found by a young man named Light Yagami (aged 17). Maybe it was destiny... especially since it was lying in the school yard of Light's school and NOBODY else picked it up. Yeah, that has to be fate because who can drop ANYTHING in a Japanese schoolyard without somebody picking it up. This is a Death God's Notebook (Death Note if you're naughty!) How To Use It (for dummies... i.e. me). I - The human whose name is written in this note shall die. II - This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore people sharing the same name will not be affected. III - If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person's name it will happen. IV - If the cause of death is not specified the person will simply die of a heart attack. There's also an addendum where if you write a cause of death that can't be realistically brought to pass then it's just a heart attack. V - After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes & 40 seconds (aka 400 seconds). A few days later Ryuk shows up for the book, only it ends up getting a rather nasty surprise as it seems idle hands really are the devil's playground as, in only a few days, he has written -- written -- wow! That's a lot. Apparently Light here is ready to turn himself over for judgment by the Shinigami... only nothing of the sort happens as Ryuk is still bored, and suddenly he's found something (or someone) to entertain him (and occasionally freak him out as no human has apparently done before). Once a Death Note gets abandoned in the human world, it remains in the human world (ooh, it has human cooties now) and becomes the property of the new owner, mainly Light. He can't pass it on because then Ryuk will wipe all memory of the Death Note from his mind. He is the only one who can see Ryuk. Oh, and whoever bears the burden of using the Death Note will be turned away by both Heaven and Hell upon passing… gee, wonder what THAT means, eh? Now that Light and Ryuk are the newest Odd Couple, what now! First off, the revelation that his "dropping" the book was on purpose... out of boredom. Sheer boredom. Apparently idle hands doing the devil's work can belong to both the Shinigami as well as humans, odd huh? (Oh, and the Shinigami have become apparently bored with doing the whole writing of human names into their Death Notes for some reason). After a flashback (how Light began to realize the power of the Death Note -- and thus his own power over life and death itself) and the fact the two are more alike than different (including their suffering from the incurable disease of boredom) the real madness begins, as Light embarks on his war on evil… by methodically murdering the evil of the world one name at a time… even if all the law enforcement of the world seems to be against Light and his new not-bored Shinigami. Thus is born the "legend" of Lord Kira, the Savior who will hunt down the evil of the world, and his police rival "L." Light carries out his plan to purge the world of "darkness..." which might not be so easy as eventually the Realm of Shinigami take note of the absent Ryuk and then there's the fact there are TWO Death Notes out there and only one in hand... but that is not yet known, even as Light works to fully understand everything he can about the Death Note, while "L" works to break down and understand "Kira" in turn. This is the start of a long interesting friendship/battle of wits/disturbing wonderous innovative story of good intent drenched in blood and the one out to stop said good intent (even as the one in question may lose himself in his quest to rid the world of darkness). Drawn by the artist of Hikaru no Go, Death Note takes what could have been a substandard concept idea and cranks into an innovative intellectual drama that takes two "bored" entities and sets them on a road that is anything but boring. It's riddled with death, madness, and a dark game of intellectual chess between two equally-matched minds in the form of Light (Kira the Savior) and his rival "L". It's a rarity to run into a deep intense read/view like this... hmm... maybe Cartoon Network wouldn't need Star Wars: The Clone Wars & The Secret Saturdays to save their viewership numbers if they let Death Note show more than a -- wait -- one time a week? Did they stop showing it? I can't remember the last time I saw Death Note on Adult Swim. Wow. Guess I have to get the DVDs. One of the most intense Anime/Mangas you can be into right now, Death Note is at the top of quite a few of our essentials lists for a good reason. If you haven't gotten into the series yet? Now is as good a time as any. Check it, view it, enjoy it. Death Note Volume 1 Collector's Edition gets an A for being one of the best mangas you should be reading right now. Yes, it was a little short of A+ since this is abit pricy and, well, if I'm going to pay $20 for a hardcover I'd except more bonus content in this book that makes it unique from the original more affordable release... my one regret about this Collector's Edition, mainly that there was nothing truly special about it that made it stand out from the original past the hardcover and better pages used -- more bonus content would have been appreciated. My one and only complaint, hopefully fixed in future Collector's Edition releases. Comment on this review of Death Note Collector's Edition Hardcover v1 on the Manga Life Forums. |
9 September 2008
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