Some notes on Death Note

[laceblade]

I finally finished reading the Death Note manga yesterday. I started reading it a few years ago, and loved it. The premise brings up a number of possibilities and intriguing concepts: a brilliant high school boy finds a notebook left by a shinigami (death god) that allows him to kill any person whose name he writes in the notebook, so long as he can picture the person's face. After testing the notebook and succeeding in killing a known criminal, Light Yagami does not recoil in horror, but instead sets about killing those people he finds unworthy of life, while evading the suspicions of the government, the police, and his father, who happens to be a detective.

The series famously loses some momentum in volume 7, and it was shortly after that point that I fell off the wagon. I finished the 12th and final volume yesterday, and found closure in the series.

In general, though, I'd like to state a few thoughts on the differences between shounen and shoujo manga in general.

For the curious, "shounen" manga (ie, Death Note) is Japanese comics marketed toward boys. In general, the male protagonist fights against almost every person he meets, with the goal of growing stronger. Series focus on abilities and reasons for fighting. "Shoujo" manga, on the other hand, is marketed toward girls, and often focuses on relationships and drama.

I personaly have read a lot more shoujo manga than shounen manga. I've tried some shounen stuff, but overall find myself quite bored.


I just....I guess that even before L died, the series got stale after a while. I think things would be much more interesting if Misa had some of her own agency instead of being Light's idiotic puppet. Or Naomi Misora...I was really sorry to see her die so quickly, because I loved her. I had a similar problem in Code Geass, with Shirley Fanette's knowledge about Lelouch being negated so quickly.

Overall, this series is Light playing chess with other male antagonists. L, or the avatars of L after his death. And it's just....boring to me. Nobody ever changes. Nobody ever emotionally matures. Nobody's opinion of Kira changes, I don't think. It's just a bunch of dudes (for the most part) posturing, trying to out-smart each other. And I so do not care about the detailed descriptions of how they intend to ensnare each other in a logic trap. I skimmed a bunch of volumes 10 and 11, just looking at pictures to guide me where action was actually taking place.

I don't know. I just get tired of it, and I feel like I had the same problem with Naruto (although people actually do mature and change in Naruto....I just got through about 30 volumes and still didn't care about any of the characters, and decided that that was enough for now). Will I ever find a shounen series to like? I like Tsubasa Chronicles, but I feel like that's more shoujo than shounen. I guess I'm more inclined to shounen when it's anime. I'll watch fights, but I want music and flashiness and gunshots.

That said, though, I did love that Matsuda was the one to shoot Light.

Comments

[dimensionwitch.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Death Note just takes itself too seriously. Have you seen any Gundam or Full Metal Panic at all? Of course, since they're mecha they've kind of got the same tropes as Geass. I would also suggest Ghost in the Shell (sci-fi) or Claymore (fantasy). Both are pretty action packed even though it's got female protagonists.

[mystickeeper.livejournal.com]

BWAHA, another person to talk about manga with!

I have...
--Seen about 11 or so episodes of Full Metal Panic!, and do intend to watch more at some point before I die....
--Haven't seen any Gundam. Where would I start, if I was going to (some day)?
--Have only see the first GitS movie, and should probably watch it again. Is Stand Alone Complex any good?
--Seen two episodes of Claymore, and read the first volume of the manga. Reviews given by meganbmoore have convinced me to give this series another shot.


I'm okay with series taking themselves seriously in general....for example, I love Naoki Urusawa's "Monster." I just think that I'd be more interested if I were invested in the characters. In that department, I think Urusawa has a lot more game than Ohba. But, yeah. Misa's presence seemed like a weak attempt for humor, but I was so upset by her complete passivity toward Light that the humor didn't have too much hold on me.

[dimensionwitch.livejournal.com]

I really do more anime watching than manga reading, but since a lot of anime is based on manga, this works!

If you continue with the Full Metal Panic series, you've got to watch FMP Fumoffu. It's the cracked-out humorous side stories going on at the school aside from the main drama. I have never laughed so hard in my life.

The original Mobile Suit Gundam is from the 70s, and was pretty good for its time, and is possibly worth watching if you can deal with 70s animation. Gundam Wing is from the 90s and is what made Gundam popular, and there's plenty of slashing to be done, but the plot/development can move kind of slowly. I haven't seen the two seasons of Gundam Seed, so I couldn't tell you about those two. Gundam 00 is the current iteration of Gundam and is kind of the post 9/11 Gundam, politics-wise, and the second season is starting this fall. So, long story short, I'm most familiar with Wing and 00, so I'd suggest those.

I tried watching Monster, but found the plot too slow moving; I only have a medium length attention span for long long series. It has great characters though.

If I could suggest two shoujo series, I'd say Junni Kokki/Twelve Kingdoms, a series of novels that got turned into anime, has excellent character development (schoolgirl gets sucked into fantasy world DONE RIGHT), and Rozen Maiden (reclusive nerd ends up with battle dolls) also has decent character development as well.

[mystickeeper.livejournal.com]

It's okay. Until recently, I did more anime, too. But then I realized that manga's usually faster, and I'm pretty lazy when it comes to downloading, etc.

I've heard of Fumoffu! I look forward to it. And The Second Raid is more drama-rama-angsting, right?

Maybe I would start with Gundam Wing, :O I think it's already in my Netflix queue?

I have seen a bunch of Twelve Kingdoms and most of Rozen Maiden. At the time, I hated both of them. However, everyone and their mom seems to like Twelve Kingdoms, so I've already decided that I should give it another chance. I don't think I wil with Rozen Maiden, though.... :} Thank you for the recommendations! I am always open to them, :D

[dimensionwitch.livejournal.com]

Lol TSR had so much drama-rama-angsting, I found myself wanting to slap the characters sometimes. So do 12K and RM. I don't know how far you got through 12K, but I know that the first thirteen episode arc was really, really wearing with its whininess, but it really hits its stride in the second and third arcs.

I forgot, Stand Alone Complex is great! Some episodes are a lot of talky-talky political stuff, but for the most part it's pretty episodic, with an overall story arc that connects it all together.

[hellocthulhu.livejournal.com]

I didn't read Death Note, but I watched it. First third was great, middle third sucked, last third was pretty good; don't know how that compares to the manga. Personally, I loved the chess game, it was such an intense psychological thriller. Of course, the entire "person struggles to wield power in morally ambiguous way" meme is one of my favorites.

And I've got the entire first season of Full Metal Panic! if you want to borrow it sometime.

[mystickeeper.livejournal.com]

So far as I know (I haven't watched the anime), the anime is an exact adaptation of the manga.

I do like people struggling with morally ambiguous power - it's part of what attracted me to Death Note. I just need more to keep me wrapped up, I think. Part of the problem might be that it was over a year between me reading the first 7 volumes and the last 5.

I'll let you know about FMP!; I've just started about 5 different shows, so I know if I took it now, it would be forever until I got it back to you.

[lavendersleeves.livejournal.com]

You'd like the Death Note movies, I think. They left out all the boring bits and ended it with Light. No Near, no Mello. Also, they've got good...I don't know, style.

I like shounen better than shoujo, but both will bore me if they continue long enough. In the end, I like seinen best. It's for sightly older audiences and has, in my opinion, a better balance of characters. I think it's supposed to be aimed at boys, but probably has more female readers. Some examples: FMA (Hagaren), Bamboo Blade, Higurashi, Seirei no Moribito, Soul Eater.