Death Note, Vol. 1 (Death Note, #1)

by Tsugumi Ohba

Takeshi Obata (Illustrator)

Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects - and he's bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Noteto rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal…or his life?

Light tests the boundaries of the Death Note's powers as L and the police begin to close in. Luckily Light's father is the head of the Japanese National Police Agency and leaves vital information about the case lying around the house. With access to his father's files, Light can keep one step ahead of the authorities. But who is the strange man following him, and how can Light guard against enemies whose names he doesn't know?

• ISBN10: 1421501686
• ISBN13: 9781421501680
• Publish Date: 1 October 2007
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Viz Media, Subs. of Shogakukan Inc
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 200
• Language: English

Reviews

[moraa]

3.5 stars

[remo]

Una idea fantástica, qué pasaría si un "dios" te diera un cuaderno en el que si escribes el nombre de una persona, esa persona morirá (hay más reglas y se van detallando a lo largo del libro, pero ésa es la regla básica). El protagonista del libro es claramente un antihéroe que empieza haciendo lo que parece más apropiado (¿apropiado?), matar a asesinos, pederastas... Pero por supuesto la historia da un giro rápidamente y se mete por uno de los muchos caminos que podía tomar, y de ahí el protagonista tiene que empezar a improvisar.
Me ha parecido muy entretenida. No tengo experiencia con el manga y lo de leer al revés (de derecha a izquierda y las páginas de atrás hacia delante en el libro) me desconcentraba al principio, pero se habitúa uno. En cuanto a la calidad de los dibujos, que muchos alaban, a mí, desde el desconocimiento, me parecen más que suficientes para meternos en la historia.
Me iré a por el 2, desde luego. No sé cuántos hay pero debo saber cómo continúa la historia...

[inlibrisveritas]

I've already seen the anime so I'm familiar with the story, though I think I've forgotten a lot of it or at least I hope I have. This is a pretty solid opening for the series and it really sets the groundwork to showcase two extremely intelligent people facing off in a battle of wits.

[celinenyx]

In the first Death Note book, Boredom, we're introduced to super smart kid Light, who finds a notebook. The notebook gives its owner the ability to see a Shinigami death God, in this case Ryuk. When a name gets written inside the notebook, that person dies. Light takes it upon himself to rid the world of criminals, writing the names of the people he thinks deserves to die in the Death Note.

What I wasn't expecting was how gripping this book is. At first I was shaking my head at Light's actions, because boy, is he a delusional self-glorifying bastard. But then it turns out we're supposed to think that, and he becomes steadily more evil as the book progresses. His arch enemy, a mysterious entity called "L" is introduced, and the two begin a face-off in which many innocent bystanders bite the dust. It's awesome.