Light is a young bright student who has a twisted view of justice and starts killing anyone he deems a criminal. Pretty soon the world is aware of this “God” among humans, some agree with him and worship him, others are against him.

L is the best detective in the world, but nobody knows his face or real name. He’s a very quirky character, but he’s obviously a genius. He’s in charge of finding “Kira” (Light) and bring him to justice.

There are many more rules that govern the book and the Shinigami (Deathgod) Ryuk, which make this a very precise story about a game of chess between Light and L. Each opponent is very good at deduction, and they are pretty evenly matched. I must admit I really like this type of story, there are many dialogs in which the characters are thinking about their next move, explaining in detail their thought process and logic.

But there are also plenty of twists in this story. I really like the way Light takes advantage of the book’s rules. Often we see things play out from the victims pespective, or L. Then we get a flashback showing us how Light did that. Those are just brilliant ingenious ways to use the book.

I would suggest you try this manga, I really liked it. Following I will discuss some plot points in more details, so stay away if you haven’t read Death Note.

SPOILERS FOLLOW!!

After Light is imprisoned and he gives up ownership of the book, I must admit I lost a little bit of interest in it. I thought Light simply became a good guy and tried to capture Kira. But when he gets his memories back and we get a flashback I was excited again, even more so than before. I thought that plan to get rid of the book and later come back in possession was brilliant. I loved everything up til L died.

I wished they ended the series at that point, because after that high point I really didn’t care much about Mello and Near. I felt like everything in this second part of the series was a retreat of the first one, with the usual flashback to Light’s plan at the end. Only this time Near was lucky to have caught Light, he wasn’t smarter than Light. Light simply miscalculated Mikami’s skills.

I really could have done without this second part, and I am guessing the series continued only because it was successful.