80. Death Note: Black Edition, Vol 2 by Tsugumi Ohba

Death Note: Black Edition, Vol II by Tsugumi Ohba. Art by Takeshi Obata (Canada) - (US)
Death Note, Vol. 3 & 4

Pages: 396
Ages: 16+
Finished: Mar. 27, 2011
First Published: 2003, Japan (Mar. 1, 2011, this edition)
Publisher: viz media
Genre: YA, manga, paranormal, crime, thriller
Rating: 5/5


First sentence:

Ready, Ryuk!!

Acquired: Received a review copy from Simon & Schuster Canada.

Reason for Reading: Next in the series.

The Black Edition of Death Note are omnibus reprints which collect two volumes together. Black Edition, Vol. 2 here contains Volumes 3 and 4 of the original series. From the outside the books are completely black including the fore edges.

What a ride this manga is! What I love about it so much is the detection part of the plot. The way that "L", the mastermind detective is matching wits with the serial killer Kira, who of course only wants to make the world a better place by ridding it of the criminal element. Light Yagami is under suspicion of being Kira and has been asked to join the task force both because he is the chief's son, is so intelligent and because he is under suspicion. This is just what Light wants as he feels he can manipulate the case better from the inside. These two minds going up against each other is so much fun. One will think he's outwitted the other, only to turn around and be one-upped.

The main plot of these volumes includes the introduction of a second human receiving a Death Note as a higher up Shinigami wants to see why the other is playing this game with the human. The new human is a follower/fan of Kira and enters into the case by broadcasting videos stating that he is Kira, in order to meet the real Kira. This really throws a wrench in the investigation and nearly gets Light caught. We learn a lot more information about how the Death Notes work. In fact, also about the Shinigami themselves. Ryuk's character wasn't explored much in these volumes, so far we pretty much know where he stands. Light and "L"'s characters were focused on the most (outside the new characters) and while we know Light is the bad guy (that isn't a spoiler) and his character is losing more and more human traits, feelings, becoming more evil; we now question whether "L" can really be trusted to solve this case. Has he finally met his match in Kira?

I so cannot wait for the next volume to come out and the great thing about this series is that it is a reprint. It has already been published! So no waiting! The publishers have a regularly scheduled release date for each volume in the series. Volume 3 (containing Vol.'s 5&6 will be out in May '11)