Manga Mondays #176: Death Note vol. 3 by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata

Manga Mondays Meme

I've been doing Manga Mondays every week since I started my blog almost 4 years ago. It started out as a personal feature, but I decided to turn it into a meme last year. There are quite a few people who do Manga Mondays. I don't claim by any means that I owned or created the idea of Manga Mondays - it's an obvious choice given the alliteration. I think a meme is a great way for everyone to publicize their own Manga Mondays and get a little more publicity.

The linky will be below my review.

Death Note vol. 3 by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata

Summary

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 notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal...or his life?

Hard Run Light is chafing under L's extreme surveillance, but even 64 microphones and cameras hidden in his room aren't enough to stop Light. He steps up the game, but before the battle of wits can really begin, a family emergency distracts him. But even though Light isn't using the Death Note right now, someone else is! Who's the new "Kira" in town? (courtesy of Goodreads)

Review

It's been such a long time since I've read Death Note. Luckily, volume 3 was easy to follow and the plot elements came back to me quickly.


The thing I love most about Death Note is that the lines between good and evil are blurred. Actually, that's not quite true. Light's love for playing god is subtly but also strongly implied to be wrong. Where the lines get blurred is with who you root for. I dislike Light. He's arrogant and he enjoys killing people (even if they are mostly bad people). And yet I'm rooting for him to continue getting away with murder.

L, the genius investigator, is a more prominent character in Volume 3. He's being set up as Light's equal and a hero. He reminds me a lot of the BBC version of Sherlock. Brilliant and socially awkward; someone who may be on the side of the angels but isn't one of them. I'm curious to see what I'll think about him in further volumes.

Volume 3 has cemented my love for this series. It's not just about whether Light can kill people with the Death Notes. It's a chess game between two geniuses. And I can't decide who I want to win.

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