Product Description

Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects - and bored out of his mind! But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, and notebook dropped by a rougue 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 Note to 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?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4507 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-10
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 200 pages

From the Publisher
- Over 2.8 Million copies sold to date in Japan. - Characters from Death Note also seen in Japense Video Game Jump Superstars!

Customer Reviews

Absolute must-read manga
When I first received a copy of volume 1 from the library (after reading reviews on [...]), I was hesitant to read it, because I thought Ryuku (on cover) looked so disturbing. I flipped through and thought, 'no way will I enjoy this -- he's too creepy and the art is not he typical "anime style" that I am used to.' So I decided to give it 3 chapters -- could not put it down. Was so engrossed I just kept going. Bypassed the library entirely and ordered the first four volumes on amazon.com.

I have been trying for years to get my husband as into anime as I am. I'm an old-school anime/manga fan, and am now absolutely thrilled to pass my love for it onto my kids. Anyway, I told him, "Honey, you HAVE to read this." He looked at it, thought it looked bizarre and started to hand it back to me. "No, you HAVE to read it. Just give it 3 chapters, and I guarantee you'll be hooked." He was. We're now toting the tankoban all over with us...while we're waiting during kids' dance or martial arts lessons. I am a firm believer in: if you love something as a kid (manga, video games, whatever), there's absolutely no reason you should give it up as an adult.

I am amazed at the unique quality of both the story and the illustrations. It is such a thrilling book of cat and mouse and one-upmanship. I have rarely been so engrossed. The Shinigami are a tad disturbing-looking, but they have a friendly sort of quality about them that makes them almost sweet.

I am actually going to pass these books onto my parents and let them read. I've let my father-in-law read "Maus" and he really enjoyed it...so now I think the family is ready for manga. Back in the early 90s, there was so little translated manga/anime out there. Today, there is just a plethora of titles available, and I'm thrilled.

If you have any doubts, or you're curious, give this title a read. It's really stellar.

Absolutly Genius
In one word, Death Note is "beautiful." It keeps you thinking and waiting in anticipation for the next volume, not to mention obsess over at least one of the characters, if not the Death Note series itself...

Light Yagami is bored out of his mind with everyday high-school life. Luckily (or should that be unluckily?)for him, he finds the Death Note, a supernatural notebook that kills the human whose name is written down in it. After a few tests, Light discovers that the deaths caused by the notebook are real, and he decides to help his fellow humans by killing off criminals of every kind, leaving hard-working, kind people to populate the world with him as their God of Justice.

A mere five days after he starts his mission, Ryuk, the Death God ("shinigami") who dropped the notebook onto Earth out of sheer boredom, visits Light and explains that he has to follow Light around until either Light or the Death Note is destroyed. Soon after Ryuk's appearance (Ryuk DID say that Death Gods bring bad luck and sorrow to the owner of a Death Note), the world's police forces send a mysterious detective by the name of "L" to begin tracking down the serial killer responsible for the many recent deaths of criminals. Light, now nicknamed "Kira" on the internet by the public, is now, in turn, tracking down L to accomplish his goal of becoming the God of the new world.

I highly, HIGHLY recommend this series for ANY anime/manga fan out there. I watched the whole series, both movies, and read the entire manga series, and every one of them is amazing. There is no other series that compares to it! It's simply...

Beautiful...

The Best thing that I have ever read.
This series is the best manga I have ever read and maybe the best book that I have read. So far I have read the first four volums and yes it is dark but thers no nudity so if your 13 or so you should really enjoy this book because it not just your usual action manga its a deep story line with lots of twists.And instid of being able to finish it in a half hour like your usual action manga it accually takes a while to read and you will find yourself reading it a seacond time just to see if you can get more out of it. Botom line is if your over 13 and like manga your should definitely read it.