Reviews Manga / Death Note

The Second Half Is Where It Got Boring

Now, I am specifically talking about the manga.

I enjoyed Death Note, Light was a wonderful Villain Protagonist and I overall understand exactly where he's coming from and, to an extent, I would even label myself as a Kira Supporter for the manga's universe. While his methods are extreme, it did have an impact on the world in making it safer.

And I enjoyed L just as much. And that's where the big crux and amusement out of the manga came for me. The relationship between the two and the tension that was going on between them, trying to outwit each other on an almost constant basis. It was a joy to see those two battle each other, be it physically or mentally.

Unfortunately that is where the second half of the manga ultimately fails for me. After a Time Skip, the tension is gone, the new opponents to Light come off as very bland, we don't know much about them and the pacing seems to be a mixture of Too Fast but also Too Slow.

Things seem to happen, yet it also feels like nothing is happening. There is no tension anymore, even Light seems like he lost interest in his God-position that he sees himself in, so no matter what happened, there was no incentive to care since our protagonist didn't seem to do so, either.

The large amount of walls of text didn't help, either. And while the first half had that, too, it wasn't so bad because the walls weren't that large and, again, the character dynamics and relationships were more interesting.

When the story does begin its final stretch in closing things off, it once again feels like entire chapters make it seem like something is happening, but in actuality, the characters are standing around, waiting for time to pass. And, unfortunately, the ending of the story was terrible in my eyes, like it was ending with mocking the main character. This is a story where you want the bad guy to win, regardless if one would see it as right or wrong.

Ultimately the story does show shades of asking the question what exactly is Right and Wrong just before the end and yet doesn't take a concise stand with it. Neither side is depicted as absolutely right, but also not absolutely wrong.

Still an enjoyable story to read, though if I feel like re-reading it, I will most likely just stop and pretend the story ended after the first half.