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Reviewed by Craig Johnson 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 notebnook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But will Light's noble goal succeed, or will the Death Note turn him into the very thing he fights against? Last time in this king amongst manga, Light managed what the casual reader might think impossible: he killed L, the world-famous detective who has been getting closer and closer throughout. You'd think that that might end the series, but the creators have something special under their hats. It's now five years later, and Light is playing both sides of the game, as Kira (the possessor of the Death Note and killer of criminals) and as L2 (attempting to track Kira down). Curiously, that he hasn't had any success as L in five years hasn't affected his reputation in Japan, and it's this implausibility which brings the rating down a little (his seeming incompetence is at least acknowledged by other authorities, but the books ends up painting a disturbing, westernised, view of the Japanese police, one into which you could almost read contempt for the local police on the part of the book's creators). L's death trigger a secondary plan into operation: whereby there were two replacements being trained, waiting in the wings for this to happen. One of them, Mello, has kidnapped Light's sister in a bid to obtain one of the Death Notes. The other, the new L, is Near (he calls himself N), and he's working with the FBI and the CIA in the US (getting those two agencies to co-operate must've been some feat) to track down Kira and also wants a Death Note. As Mello is operating out of the US, the stage is set for a massive showdown, with Light finally losing control of the situation as he's unaware of the existence, let alone the actions, of any of these antagonists. Over the course of this volume, he gradually becomes aware of what is going on, but for the first time he's reacting instead of acting, and everything he tries seems to have been predicted and countered by one set of opposition or another....at what point does he give it all up? How can he rescue his sister, and save his father's life? How can he save his own life? And when he stop acting like a jerk around the gorgeous Misa and make an honest woman of her? Every time you think this series is about to run out of steam, it steps up a gear. Still the best manga of the last five years. Comment on this review of Death Note v8 on the Manga Life Forums. |
6 October 2009
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