Anime, Manga, Etc: "Death Note"

I had bought the first two volumes of this manga series for my 15 year old stepson for Christmas called "Death Note." After reading the back of the books (and seeing that it was rated for older teens) I thought it sounded like an interesting story, and was something that my stepson could handle (mangas and animes I kind of keep an eye out for because there's a lot that are really aimed at adults).

Since I bought him those two books, he now owns the entire 12 volume series. And my 12 year old stepdaughter has started getting into them. And he's started watching the anime series online (which I didn't know until this weekend, but I'll get to that in a minute).

My curiousity about these books got piqued online because of a show that I watch over at the website That Guy With The Glasses called "Anime News Editorial." This week it was on how animes coming into the US right now all seem to feature high school or middle school students, which the host, MarzGurl, has no interest in. Someone in the comments mentioned "Death Note," so I decided to check it out online.

A little history on this one: it started as a series in the manga magazine Shonen Jump from 2003 to 2006. The story is about a high school student named Light Yagami who finds a special notebook called a Death Note that allows the user to kill people by writing their names into the notebook. He decides to use the notebook to get rid of criminals and create a perfect society with him as its God. He's followed around by a Shimigami named Ryuk (who dropped the notebook into the Human World because he was "bored"), and is soon involved in a cat and mouse game with a detective who only goes by the name "L."

The manga has been praised, but it's also garnered some controversy, as well. It's banned in many places in China because of kids making their notebooks look like Death Notes. There have been a few stories here in the United States, too, about students who had read the manga or saw the anime making their own "Death Note" and bringing it to school. In the US, there have been four cases of kids doing this. A case in Belgium has the body of a Caucasian male found in a park with the words "Watashi wa Kira dess" (misspelling of "desu") -- "I am Kira (killer)" in Japanese, the name that the lead ends up adopting as an alias.

I didn't realize how popular this particular manga was until I asked my stepson how he liked the books. When I looked it up on Wikipedia, I discovered that the manga was so popular that there was an anime made from it, three live action films based on the story (two directly on the manga, one a separate story about "L"), and a live action American remake is slated to be released in 2011. Plus there was a separate manga written based on an early case that "L" worked on a year before the "Kira" case.

So, naturally, I had to check out at least the anime. Luckily Hulu.com has the show in subtitles, while a site that my stepson pointed to, Justdubs.net, has a dubbed version.

Verdict: It's a good story with great characters.

The main theme I would describe as "idealism." Yagami wants to create a perfect world with no crime, but his methods are suspect. Ryku tells him on a couple of occassions that nothing ever good comes of those humans who possess the Death Note, but Yagami thinks he can out think the police and "L" forever. He thinks he's created his perfect society, but in reality he's created a society based on fear. He's become a God to those who thought his methods were right, but to others he's become as bad as the criminals he's killed, not knowing if he's going to strike them down next because they didn't agree with him.

"L" is an interesting character. He starts out as this mysterious figure, but quickly reveals himself to the police once he feels he's safe. He's not what they expect a detective to look like -- always clad in a white shirt with jeans, "L" is a very smart guy who hates to lose and is a worthy adversary to Yagami. He has a quirk where he has a very strong sweet tooth, and is always seen with candy or cake or some kind of sweet in front of him. He also sits in his chair in a way that makes him look like an owl on its perch, constantly watching.

The story itself is told in three parts. The first part is when Yagami is in high school and discovers the Death Note on the ground, and starts the planning for his perfect world. In the second part, Yagami is at university the next year, and a second Kira has emerged -- a pop star (think Britney Spears) by the name of Misa Agame has possession of a Death Note. In the third part, Yagami is now on the task force to find Kira. But he now has a worthy adversary in the head of an American task force headed by a potential "L" successor named Near. The way the story is told is a perfect trilogy, with logical start and end points to each part.

If there is a plan for the American remake, I really hope that they do this as three movies -- it's the most logical way to do it. Either way, I can't wait to see what they do with it.