[Categories: Manga Reviews]
Death Note Chapters 35-43: Whiteout
Ok, my fansubs are on CD in a room where other people are sleeping (such is the nature of my chaotic home life right now) so screenshots for Haruhi ep 12 will have to wait until tomorrow…instead I’m turning to the latest volume of Death Note. It just so happens to continue the trend of every volume being better than the last - excellent stuff.
With Light desparate to prove his innocence and Misa with her memories of her own Death Note adventures erased, both are imprisoned on L’s orders to find out if either of them are responsible for the ‘Kira’ murders. They are kept under 24 hour surveillance and numerous gruelling tests are carried out to confirm their explanations. It then becomes evident that there is a third person who may be exhibiting Kira’s power…
Firstly, if you haven’t been collecting Death Note you’d need one heck of a good reason: as suspense thrillers go, this is as good as it gets right now. The sharp deduction, tense face-offs and mental grappling between Light and L make for exhilerating reading that goes far beyond supernatural entertainment; you need to keep up with what’s going on to appreciate the intelligence behind it. The artwork’s as sharp and striking as ever so no complaints there either.
What is most surprising about Death Note is that the plot continues to climb to progressively greater heights: the twists of each successive instalment raise the bar above what has gone before which leads me to wonder how the next one can improve on the one I’m reading at the time. This volume introduces a third Kira figure: a possible one of several men who are using the powers of a Death Note to further their aims in climbing the corporate ladder. It stands to reason that not everyone shares Light’s (initial) sense of justice or Misa’s innocence: the power of the Death Note is more fully realised with the dual motivations of human greed and ambition.
All in all this makes for another superb helping of Death Note. We continue to follow Light’s exploits, now as he uses Misa as part of his own deadly game against L, while L begins to suffer from doubts and fears that are quite alien to him. It also introduces new characters and situations, which manage to build on the themes already present without the pace slowing or the story losing focus. If you haven’t read any Death Note already, buy it. Now.
Posted on July 18th, 2008 @ 9:13 pm
Apologies for the false name, but I’m not so apt to post it online, as you hopefully can understand. Yes, I am a paranoid nutshell.
Anyway, I’m currently in the process of editing my website, and I have posted a featured fanfiction on a particular page. However, I can’t place the setting for the story (which is an L x Light fiction) because I forgot which episode and manga this was in. You wouldn’t happen to know the chapters and episodes in which L and Light are handcuffed together, would you?
It’s not really that big a deal, but it’s been a pain trying to find this online, for some reason or another. I’d appreciate your help.
Saiyasha Misamurai
Posted on July 20th, 2008 @ 11:29 am
@Saiyasha Misamurai: I think the handcuffing incident happened in chapter 37 (fifth volume). Hope that helps. ^_^