See No Evil

Tsugumi Ohba / Takeshi Obata - Death Note

 

I have always been a big fan of Japanese Manga and Anime ever since buying a Hellsing Ultimate DVD on a whim a few years ago. I loved the animation in this and began delving deep in to the world of Manga. After reading a few different titles, I took myself to Waterstones and bought the Death Note Black Edition Volumes 1-6. In brief, the story follows a 17 year old school boy, Light Yagami, who stumbles upon a notebook dropped by a Shinigami, or Death God. He quickly discovers that the notebook has the power to kill when the name of a chosen victim is written in it while picturing their face at the same time. After a few test runs, Light is approached by the Shinigami who dropped the book, Ryuk, a well designed character with a 100% non-bias and carefree attitude to the use of his book. However, to quote Spiderman - 'With great power, comes great responsibility' -Yagami quickly becomes addicted to his new power and while he insists he is making the world a better place by killing off criminals, his mind warps and events spiral out of control. LIght Yagami's father, the cheif of police, creates a special taskforce to deal with the unknown murderer dubbed Kira (killer), conscripting a consulting genius by the name of L. Throughout the series, Yagami's secret becomes harder and harder to hide, and larger sacrifices have to be made in order for him to continue his work. 

With amazing character profiles and outrageously clever plot twists, Death Note is a rollercoaster of emotions with the power to ingest its readers in each volume with a head-to-head battle of wits where only 1 can come out victorious.