Print Review: Death Note volumes 1-4

Review Death Note volumes 1-4Written by WarpshadowRating very good/ excellent

I have noticed that there aren't that many crime dramas in anime and manga. Even if there was most of them wouldn't be as awesome as Death Note.

Light Yagami was just another intelligent and bored student until he found a special note book. it was a Death note which gave light the ability to kill someone who's name is written in it's pages. Light decides to use the Death Note to create a new utopia by killing criminals. Eventually the police catch on to Ligth's activities , but how can they catch a killer with a weapon that makes the killer as Elusive as a user of a Death Note?

There is a term occasionally thrown about called idiot plot where the story only exists because the it's character's behave like idiots. Death Note is the antithesis of idiot plot. Instead this manga is strongest in having having characters that think out their actions and devise ingenious plans. The very obvious possibility that the Death Note would make Light Invincible does not happen either and he is constantly forced to rely on his considerable wits to avoid incarceration. The characters are a bit different than most manga mostly since Death Note focuses on what most would consider to be the villain of the story. There is some good quirkiness and dark humor thrown in but for the most part this is a very plot driven manga. While that would seem like a slam but the the plot to Death Note is one that is exceptional.