Forum - View topicREVIEW: Death Note GN 12
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britannicamoore
 Posts: 2618 Location: Out. |
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I did not like the way this ended. Well...I was ok with the fact spoiler[light died] but I was upset with how spoiler[patheic he seemed to get at the end. i wish he had of won when I read him begging for his life]
Also spoiler[I thought that it was misa on the last page saying that she missed kira] i guess not though. |
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Bl00dHoUnD
Posts: 95 |
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Yeah, that was definitely spoiler[Misa on the last page]... though I read this manga a really long time ago, and then, I was completely sure it was her.
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Rompope
Posts: 8 |
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No spoiler[the girl of the last page wasnt misa. It was revealed on How to Read 13 that Misa commited suicide 1 year after she found out that Light died.] |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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You do realize the entire point of the comic is that Light is an irredeemable murderer and a vicious narcissistic scumbag, right? I don't get how anyone could read this comic and consider that character a "badass". If anything it speaks to the ridiculous antisocial insane fantasies of many anime fans out there, and that makes me sad. |
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ArielTsuki
Posts: 178 |
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Actually, the whole series is that there's basically no "right" side to the matter. No one can deny that the world that Light was making was safer to live in. Despite Light being too focused on fight off his dissdents in the second arc, even the author said in Volume 13 that spoiler[Light was truly still trying to change the world for the better to the end. Hell, I think Light is too much of an anti-hero to truly stand for what the Shounen Jump's usual themes thus his immient whacking.] I may not agree on some things that Light did but I do understand and admire him doing something that many people wouldn't have the guts or motivation to do. When you read Death Note, you can't look at it in white and black. But I think the reviewer put too much of an importance on how much Misa matter to the story and also underestimated her. Yeah, she was bubbly, but she was smart in her own right. Alot of people are too focused on her bubbly facade and ignore that she was pretty calcuating as well, using what she got to help Light and the such. Also she was a woman obsessed. But when Mikami took over, there wasn't really no reason to keep Misa around, her part was done from then on. And Ryuuk was pretty active in the second arc, remember he's primary role was to be an observer. I think his role didn't change that significantly at all. Truth to be told, the characters who people felt were left in the background really had nothing else left to contribute to the story. And with Mello/Near thing, they were never treated as halves at all. I think the whole part in that when Near said spoiler[he was too rational and Mello irrational and L a prefect mix of both ] isn't supposed to be taken that way, he was only seeing what flaws that he and Mello had compared to L, spoiler[and that together they were BETTER than L]. They weren't treated as halves but as the heirs of L's name. That's why Light was obsessed with beating them because these were the two people chosen for candidacy from L himself (although techincally L might chosen Light if Light wasn't Kira). If you noticed, when Near makes a setback, Light usually would say that he wasn't fit as a heir to L. IMO, I think Near and Mello were great characters of themselves. I loved Mello's loose cannon nature and Near being essentially an a**hole with a cute face despite he was deceivingly similar to L by looks and manners. Also, Light was spoiler[making mistakes in the first arc and only caught up with him eventually. Also, we start to see the strain of maintain his deceptions andmaintaining two lives basically. When he got caught by Near, it was safe to say that he had finally cracked. The second arc was basically about being bulidng up his downfall.] The second arc had it flaws but it was still awesomely good if you get over the fact that spoiler[L died]. In fact , I noticed that people who were fans of L were most likely didn't like the second arc or down right hated it. Sure it was a slow build up in Volume 7-8, but it did get its stride back by Volume 9. I think the rating is too low,. Death Note is definately A- material, IMO. |
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8503 Location: Penguinopolis |
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I'll agree that the second arc lost the focus of Kira punishing criminals. And with Light not exactly giving an alternative to deflect suspicion off of him until he was able to choose Mikami, it's no wonder his own team (mostly Aizawa) was becoming suspicious of him. I mean, since spoiler[the first L died], there wasn't exactly any investigation into the Kira case until Mello acted by kidnapping Sayu. Then suddenly Kira is going to help the team take down Mello? I would have Light pegged as Kira right then if I were a member of that team. The convenience is too startling. However, I don't believe Light was really all that interested in judging criminals at a certain point - he had so much power, it was all about the power, and less about his initial goals.
Also, it's also true that the Death Note itself loses some of its mystique some time even before the second arc. Besides Light's elaborate plan to save Misa (among other things), there isn't much else to do with the Death Note. They even brought in a third Shinigami in Shido and that was very dull. I disagree, however, that Near and Mello are appendages of L. That's largely a fan reaction to spoiler[the death of their beloved L[/spoilers]. Near gets the brunt of this criticism. It's natural that off-beat geniuses would have similar behaviors, but L and Near are different in a very important way: L makes careful conclusions and behaves boldly while Near makes bold conclusions and acts carefully. He never puts himself into danger until the very end. Plus, he's more removed emotionally and is more blunt. Frankly, I think he was always meant to be somewhat unlikable. But his abrasiveness is what made him my favorite character. He's so cold, yet he has this child-like innocence about him (plays with toys, has never been on a plane before, needs constant care, it seems). Mello, on the other hand, does a lot of moving and shaking behind the scenes, manipulating other people and putting them in the kind of danger L wouldn't. Near and Mello are more appendages of L's goals than of him. [spoilers]I think a lot of people who dismissed the second arc entirely were simply heartbroken over L But I feel it was fitting that Light should be taken down not by L, but by phantoms who were L's sucessors that would knock Light off of his tower, a place he had worked so hard to climb to, because he didn't take them seriously enough.] The ending, I felt, was fitting. Light had become more sadistic and insane as time passed. I think spoiler[L's death] is actually what allowed him to become the raving lunatic you see in the end. He'd fallen so far from his tower, that there was no graceful way of landing. He had fallen so far he was even contradicting his own knowledge of what he'd gotten himself into by begging Ryuk for help. I only wish the epilogue had been in the anime series. |
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domino
 Posts: 373 |
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Good review of a good end to a good manga. I agree, Light did seem to be getting dumber and dumber as the series went on, so it got less and less interesting. I guess the more insane he got, the less smart he became?
But what had me scratching my head was how the art got the lowest of the grades -- especially with how great the action near the end looks. |
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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I completely agree with this. If they had brought something original to the table, I might have appreciated them as characters and been interested enough to continue with the series. But they played up any and all connections to L WAY too much, even down to the annoying OCD habits. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15582 |
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Ariel:
I can totally deny it. If you want to constantly be frightened into doing the "right" thing, you should really move to China or Saudi Arabia. Like Bush, Light is wrong, because he kills with impunity without understanding the context behind people's actions. And he kills, because it makes him feel morally superior and boosts his ego, not because he's actually doing anyone a favor. In fact, like Bush, the fact that Light is willing to stab law enforcement in the back-to continue his charade-shows how reprehensible and unhinged he really is, compared to L.
She's smart, but clingy and gullible, which is why I can't stand her.
My gripe with the first arc is that L had to be dumbed down for Light to win. Near and Mello didn't hold back, which is why the second arc came off more exciting to me. |
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Gacktx
 Posts: 10 |
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Ok Light was a badass, And no matter what you say each person has there own set of values and morals that they use to determine what they think is right or wrong. What you think is no more valid then what some else thinks.
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here-and-faraway
 Posts: 1529 Location: Sunny California |
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No offense to your writers, I think they're awesome, but why are you reviewing the same manga title twice and in such a short time? (In Right Turn Only and now this.) I guess I could understand if your two reviewers had vastly different opinions, but it seems like they more or less feel the same way about the series.
Last edited by here-and-faraway on Sun Aug 05, 2007 12:44 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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ArielTsuki
Posts: 178 |
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Hell, if you don't frighten the masses with bad consequences, you will not have a stable government. For examples, in America, we have a justice system that doles out punishments if we broke a certain law. Break the law and you'll pay for it. Hell, in most states, if the crime is serious enough, you can basically lose your life. The tactics that Light used aren't that different from that. Plus, Light was never on the side of the law enforcement in the first place (they were only used to get L, Mello and Near), it was quite clear that he was going to use them to help him in his reign over the world. Note, Light has going after only the people who were trying to catch him. With the best dectectives of the world after you, do you really think it's wise to leave them to their own devices? Besides, what I don't get from some fans is that people treat the police as they were innocent civilans. Remember, for them, catching Light basically killing him as well, in a way since Light is mostly was to be executed once captured. Also to note, what Ide said in the last chapter, which support my theory that there is no clear right or wrong in Death Note.
The key to L's downfall was that he second-guessed himself alot and he needs a sure thing before he makes any move. This is where Near and Mello really differ than L in alot of aspect. People write off Near as a clone of L, but actually how they conduct their investigations is quite different. Near doesn't need a clear cut theory to move like L does. To Near, all he needs is a plausible theory. If it can work, no matter how correct it is or not, it's enough. L was trying to avoid making mistakes like Near had no problem in making them if he can narrow down the probable suspects. This is prolly why L never picked Near as his heir. L would want something in similar thinking, Near is way too different from him although Near is the smartest kid in the Whammy House. Also to note, Light is actually smarter than L (and Near is also) according to the upcoming Vol 13. |
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Super Ska Master
 Posts: 191 |
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Art graded a B? What the hell? Death Note has the best art I've ever seen in a manga series. ESPECIALLY in the last volume. The final scenes of the ending are breathtaking. This review lost all it's credability with that score IMO.
I can agree with the overall score I guess. I still liked the second half a lot though. Mello could've been used more in the plot but there was still a lot of standout moments from it. It was definately more exciting than volumes 5 + 6. |
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Treetastic
 Posts: 164 Location: Canada |
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Didn't the authors specificaly say that the girl at the end was not Misa?
L does his fair share of law-bending, and by volume seven, Light actually believes that L is worse than Kira. However, his logic is flawed, because L does not kill people. One of the things that truly made Death Note great was it's ability to make Light-a serial killer- sound perfectly sane. Even if one would never agree with them in real life (or even don't while reading), the logical nature of Light's reasoning makes one say "Oh, I guess that makes sense." The last volume turns this style on its head, showing just how unhinged Light really is. spoiler[The fact that his moral reasoning is based on the logical fallacy that Light himself cannot be evil made twelve the best volume for me (since one and two, at least). I wonder how many readers were left feeling like Teru Mikami at Light's downfall?] Break the law and you'll pay for it. Hell, in most states, if the crime is serious enough, you can basically lose your life. The tactics that Light used aren't that different from that. . . . People write off Near as a clone of L, but actually how they conduct their investigations is quite different. [/quote] To the first point: I don't think the manga was suggesting that at all. Perhaps I've got the story wrong, but it seemed to me that the point of the last volume was to show that Light was unhinged; and, while his goals were righteous, the means he used were not. Justifying Light's actions by comparing them to the death penalty seems illogical, as the death penalty is so morally quesstionable in itself. To the second: The fact that people can still do that by the end of the story is surprising. Near himself admits that spoiler[he is carrying out L's goals in the way that he is because him and Mello were raised in admiration of him. When it got to Mello helping Near, their characters became much more special. The two working together was an interesting dynamic, especially because their methods (kidnapping, theft, working with the government, etc.) would not have been used by L. And look who won. ] |
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ANBUx3
 Posts: 187 |
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I agree. It has a level of detail that very few works have. |
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