Death Note

[rushthatspeaks]

Those of you who read Death Note: the final two issues are out.

Honestly?

Don't.

The ending was not just aggravating, not merely bad: it was so wretchedly, unmitigatedly, hideously awful in its content, its philosophy and, incidentally, in being absolutely contradictory to over one hundred issues of characterization, that I'm surprised Obata-sensei was willing to draw it. Thrud and I read the issues at the same time, finished up, turned to one another and said in the same voice 'No. Just no. Repress, deny, ignore.' We have vowed never to speak of it again in each other's presences.

I have been reading this comic for something like three years at this point, and the ending has come damn close to retroactively ruining it.

I still say this: the first half of Death Note, the marvelous manga by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, is one of the great works of graphic storytelling, suspenseful, incredibly intelligent, beautifully drawn and causing contemplation of real moral issues. I still recommend it highly, even to people who could care less about manga, even to people who don't read comics. It's raw Story and the characters are spectacular.

But if you're going to read Death Note, stop at the end of Part I. Because Part II? Ends in a manner well beyond not worth reading and into the quality territory of causing me to wonder if I should ever have picked up the comic at all.

Maybe they'll change it in the movie.

Or at least make it less stupid.

We can but hope.

Comments

[luxetumbra.livejournal.com]

Wow, that bad, eh? I stopped reading at what I think is the end of Part I because I was so annoyed at what happened, but now I sort of want to read Part II just to see how bad the ending is. Do you think Ohba just got tired of writing it? Or wrote himself into a corner?

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Wow. Would you mind emailing me details? I stopped reading a little after the, um, the Big Spoiler for what I assume in retrospect is the end of Part I.

[helen-keeble.livejournal.com]

YEOW! And here I am just having gotten hooked on the first three volumes. Just so I know how many volumes I'll be getting in future, when is the end of Part I?

[homasse.livejournal.com]

How bad is it? As it, what happened? Personally, I stopped reading after book 7 because OMG teh stoopid, and eventually even stopped picking up the tankobon because I realized I was not actually going to read them. But, of course, now I am dying of curiousity to know how bad it possibly could have gotten. E-mail me or comment on my lj somewhere and I can lock it? Because now I *have* to know. >XD

[octopedingenue]

Awww, damn. I've been wondering all along how the hell the series' conflicts, as fascinating as they all are, could possibly be resolved in any satisfactory way, so this is really disappointing. (I'm only few chapters past Part I in reading.)

[mixedborder.livejournal.com]

> could possibly be resolved in any satisfactory way

I guess the answer is, they couldn't possibly. ;-)

[sovay]

Wah. Based on the first volume, I had already become quite fond of the shinigami. Anything that dressed like a medieval gargoyle moonlighting as Tim Curry was all right in my book.

SPOILERY

[apintrix.livejournal.com]

I agree about the drop in quality after Part I-- but honestly, at this point, how else could it have ended?

I thought the evolution of Light's character made a certain sense, actually. He became increasingly egomaniacal. He needed to be crushed by rank amateurs. It fits, although the machinations of the plot were a bit forced.

[loligo.livejournal.com]

I've been reading it as it's been released in English, and quite enjoying it, but I am *extremely* prone to retroactive hate (and resentment of time and money spent) when I don't like the ending of something, so this is a major danger signal for me. Where is the end of Part 1, chapter or volume-wise, and is it anything at all like a conclusion, or just a handy stopping point? Because I am very tempted to just cut my losses *now*.