Tag: Black Edition

Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata – Death Note Black Edition: Volume V | Review

Title: Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata

Author: Death Note: Black Edition Volume VI

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 426

Rating 4/5

 

 

I’m almost at the end now, and I’m pleased to report that it’s picked back up a little bit and I enjoyed this one more than the last. It’s still not quite as good as it was when it first started out, but it’s still good enough and it’s definitely worth reading, especially if you’ve made it this far.

I think part of the reason that I enjoyed this was that you could tell that we were getting near the end game and so the stakes felt a little higher. The authors have also shown by this point that they don’t mind killing major characters when it serves the story, which leaves you as the reader feeling like pretty much anything could happen.

Other than that, I’m not too sure what else I can say that I haven’t said in previous reviews. As always, the artwork is gorgeous, so big props to Takeshi Obata for that. Tsugumi Ohba does a great job with the story, too. He’s clearly a master storyteller, and it’s impressive how much he manages to convey through just dialogue and the image briefs that he gives to his illustrator.

 

 

If you’re thinking about reading Death Note, I’d definitely recommend picking up the Black Edition books. They’re not super expensive (I think I paid around £30 for all six of them), and they’re beautiful little artefacts in their own right. They’ll look great on your shelves, but they also look great in your hands and the quality of the print is good enough to highlight all of the details from the original comics.

The only thing that I will say is that when I first started reading the series, I didn’t know who I wanted to win because I liked both sides. Now, though, I don’t know who I want to win because I don’t really care for either side, which is probably a bad sign. I’m just not as invested in the series as I was when I first started out, and I can’t tell whether that’s because of the story or just that I’m flagging.

 

 

Click here to buy Death Note Black Edition: Volume V.


Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata – Death Note: Black Edition: Volume III | Review

Title: Death Note: Black Edition Volume III

Author: Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 416

Rating 4.5/5

 

 

After rating two installments in this series in a row a 4.5/5, I was kind of hoping for a 5* read with this one. Unfortunately, it went the other way, but that might just be because I’d read two of these back to back. It could also be because this is towards the middle of the series and so it could have the manga equivalent of middle book syndrome.

Still, it was an excellent read and I’m definitely enjoying the series, and I can’t wait to keep on reading and to finish off the second half. I’ll also be interested to see how the events at the end of this are resolved, as well as a few other story lines that have been ongoing. Death Note does that well – I’ve said before that it reminds me of Prison Break, in that each issue ends with some sort of cliff-hanger that keeps you going and that there are constant call backs to things that happened earlier.

It leaves you, as the reader, with the feeling that everything has been thought of beforehand. In the same way that the A Song of Ice and Fire books only work because stuff that was mentioned in one book is referred back to many books later, Death Note leaves you with that feeling of a master planner at work. It’s beautiful, like a painting or a tapestry.

 

 

What’s interesting about this part of the story is that the nature of it changes slightly. We still have the concept of Kira killing people by writing their names in a notebook, only it’s a different Kira and with a different motive. It almost becomes a tale of corporate crime, and while that might not be for everyone, I thought it worked pretty well and I enjoyed it.

All in all, so far the series has been so good that even if takes a dip in quality from here on out, it almost doesn’t matter. I’ll still recommend it no matter what, and I’d recommend this book no matter what too. Just make sure that you read them in order, because this isn’t the kind of series that you can dip in and out of as standalones. The good news is that you can get a pretty cool box set that brings them together.

 

 

Click here to Death Note: Black Edition Volume III.