Title and author of book? Complete Death Note Black Edition written by Tsugumi Ohba, art by Takeshi Obata

Genre? Manga. This is my first manga and I quite enjoyed it.

What led you to pick up this book? It’s about a person who can kill criminals without being caught and decides to make the world a better place in this way and how that person is considered a criminal. And it has a goth look to it.

Summarize the plot, but don’t give away the ending. It’s about a notebook that falls from the world of the gods of death. A human picks it up and learns that when he writes a name in it, the person dies. The notebook is accompanied by the god of death who owns it, a Shinigami, named Ryuk. (pronounced ryooku) who only the person who picked up the death notebook, Light Yagami, can see. Say hello, Ryuk.

Hi.

Light knows that criminals dying left and right will provoke suspicions, including that of his father, a top police detective. Light is extremely intelligent and goes to great measures to avoid being caught, which involves pitting his considerable wits against several other geniuses.

What did you like most about the book? The speculation on the way the world would respond to someone topping all of the criminals read as realistic and was interesting. The quirks of the geniuses was fun.

What did you dislike about the book? We can see the thoughts of all of the characters and they think a lot . All of the thinking about their very complicated plans and what they think the others are thinking and planning can get confusing. Some of the rules of the book also seemed contrived rather than organic.

What did you think of the main character? He was extremely intelligent but completely heartless. He had absolutely no compunction about killing both his sister and father. In a way, it makes sense, as God doesn’t have a problem killing people, either, and Light wants to be Kira/God.

Share a favourite scene from the book.  The end had me at the edge of my seat, wondering who’s side everyone would take. The beginning also had several tense scenes where we’re learning how the book works and getting an idea of Light’s intelligence.

What about the ending? It made sense in terms of the narrative of the story but I was disappointed that the ‘good’ guys won, as I wanted . The very end, where Kira has become a god and has worshippers, as well as how it’s revealed by Ryuk that there is no heaven or hell and that when people die they’re just dead was great.

Overall Rating: 9/10

Other Thoughts?  Thoughts on the philosophies in the series. Kira’s principle’s are quite Satanic, in that he believes that people are allowed to pursue their own happiness as long as they don’t impinge on others’ rights to do so as well. He says, ‘It all boils down to those who interfere with people’s pursuit of happiness and those who do not….The right to be happy, that is something that everybody has equal claim to. But that is not something you get by harming, deceiving or even killing other people. To pursue your happiness without getting in the way of others, while respecting the rights of others; that is the way humans should lead their lives.’

Bonus factoid: A friend of mine who speaks Japanese says the translation of the word ‘Note’ in ‘Death Note’ is actually the word for ‘notebook’, so it should be called ‘Death Notebook’.

This clip is from the live action film. Shinigamis need apples in the way smokers need cigarettes.

Some bonus wallpapers:

Get them right here .

My favourite:

“To make sure that my blasphemy is thoroughly expressed, I hereby state my opinion that the notion of a god is a basic superstition, that there is no evidence for the existence of any god(s), that devils, demons, angels and saints are myths, that there is no life after death, heaven nor hell, that the Pope is a dangerous, bigoted, medieval dinosaur, and that the Holy Ghost is a comic-book character worthy of laughter and derision. I accuse the Christian god of murder by allowing the Holocaust to take place – not to mention the “ethnic cleansing” presently being performed by Christians in our world – and I condemn and vilify this mythical deity for encouraging racial prejudice and commanding the degradation of women.”

Last June [2007] I had my first psychotic episode; during which I tried to kill myself. I know that sounds highly dramatic, but that’s what happened, apparently. I say ‘apparently’ because I have no memory of it. I left work two hours early one day and when my husband came home at 5pm I was nearly unconscious and vomiting profusely from alcohol and pills. I had also been cutting myself. What I remember is going home at 3pm and then being in a hospital bed at 11pm. Then there’s another blank space followed by being at home about twelve hours later. Roughly eighteen hours are missing; though it was a very active eighteen hours. I’m amazed at the thought of being physically present for such a momentous occasion as my near-death while remembering nothing of it. It’s like seeing yourself in pictures in a place where you can’t recall being.

The entire episode is something that puzzles me. It’s been a bit over four months and I’m just starting to get my head round it.

What I’ve been thinking about most (besides how badly I feel at scaring K, my husband, so much) is when people say, regarding death, “At least they didn’t suffer.”

Suffering can only be appreciated from the point of surviving said suffering. If I had died that day I would have had no memory of being crazed or whatever was going on and so it wouldn’t’ve made any difference if my last moments were spent shouting at the universe or quietly meditating. Suffering before death is only important to the people who are still alive. Once you’re dead that’s pretty much it. Whatever pain you are in ceases to be once your heart stops beating. I used to be of the mindset that a person not suffering just prior to death was vastly better than being in horrible pain just before. Now I see that doesn’t matter. This is a good thing and this is why…

I’ve known two people who were murdered. One was killed during a robbery at his workplace and the other was killed in his bed while he slept*. I used to think, “Well, at he least was asleep and had no idea what happened,” and, “Christ, how horrible to know you’re going to die–to spend your last moments fighting and pleading for mercy.” But now I see those thoughts are only tormenting/comforting the living.

In Judaism, the funeral service and shiva are for the living–to support those still alive–not really for the soul of the person no longer of this earth like in Christian ceremonies. The deceased has far better things to be getting on with. I’ve always found wakes and Christian-style funerals to be wrenching to no good purpose, though I can see why some people feel compelled to say goodbye to their loved one. I would not begrudge people wishing to say goodbye to me even though I wouldn’t have been in the room for some time.

Unlike the previous post (a quote from a dear friend) I have no great concept of what happens when one dies other than decomposition to the organic matter from which one came. To me, you get your time on Earth, spend it as you will. When you’re gone some people will remember you kindly and others won’t care one way or another. That’s fine with me. Hopefully no one will be actively glad I’m gone, but if that is the case, I won’t give two shits by that point.

The idea of suffering v. not suffering prior to death not being of any consequence was a real eye-opener for me, as I’ve been socialized to think that one’s last moments are best if they are peaceful. It’s better to go quickly rather than painfully. Now I see that’s more about the living. The people who survive you don’t want to see you suffer–they don’t want their last memories of you to be horrid. Your last memories won’t count for anything because you won’t know about them once you’re on the other side.

You may say: You’d feel different if you’d actually died, but I have. I was clinically dead (drowned) when I was five years old. I remember the drowning, but there was no white light or whathaveyou. That experience was similar. I was swimming, swimming, swimming and then nothing and then I was on the beach, awake and surrounded by people. No breathing or heart-beat for several minutes. Death is a nothingness that happens when it happens. In many ways I find this comforting…

Anyway, just some thoughts I wanted to put out there/down for my future self.

*For those who care–the people who murdered my brother-in-law and my friend have been put in prison.
[This post is from a previous blog. Original post date: 18 October 2007]

Meg Carpenter is trying to write a literary novel, rather than the genre fiction she’s been churning out in order to pay the rent, but she can’t figure out where to start or what it’s about. On her creative journey she has philosophical conversations with her friends and tries to sort out her relationship with her longtime beau. Our Tragic Universe is about everything and nothing and our place in the everything-nothingness and is compelling meta-fiction. Fans of I Heart Huckabees will love this. It nearly melted my brain, but it was worth it!

The tag for this book could be: Taoism Made Easy or Eastern Philosophy for the Cynic. John C. Parkin lays down some ‘Attachments are excess baggage’ for those of us who probably use the F word too much. Parkin covers energy fields and breathing, as well as a healthy dose of Buddhism, and makes it accessible and entertaining. Spend an afternoon with this book and it will change the way you view and react to your world for the better.

It gets a little New Agey for my tastes, but it still offers great advice on how to decompress from our hectic go-go-go lives.