I'm glad I began reading manga with Death Note. It encouraged me to seek out other good mangas out there. The beginning was great though I agree with other critics that the second part lost the manga's riveting quality. Artwork in the first volumes was well-drawn, too. I especially liked the cat and mouse chase between L and Raito Yagami. I think the story got too stretched out though and I especially dislike teh ending. It was evident by the second part that the plot development would lead to Raito's downfall. It seemed uncharacteristic of Raito in the first place to depend on so many Kiras. Near and Mello aren't that endearing bastions of justice, neither was L but at least he was an interesting basket case. The whiny Amane Misa was also quiet an irritant at first but somehow I think her character should have been used more than just dumping her out of the scene completely. I mean it just made the ending some kind of big joke with her leading Kira's followers and all.

The ending disappointed me but it's still one of the best mangas I've ever read. Great artwork, good plot development at the start, interesting characters and the psychological thrill gives this manga an overall rating of an outstanding 8 in my list!

Nice psychological/thriller manga. L arc was perfection but after that it sort of went downhill. Art is great with a nice attention for detail and the plot is tight and intense. Its just too bad the same level couldn't be maintained throughout the manga. Good read nonetheless.

... Last updated on September 7th, 2007, 7:44am

This is one classic manga. The storyline is riveting, full of unexpected plot twists and surprises. The artwork is simply amazing, the interplay of light and shadow, the character development in both the story and in the art (compare "innocent" Light art when he has Death Note amnesia and "corrupted" Light when he's seriously scheming). As mentioned in most of the other reviews, the action in this series slumps in the middle at volume 5 and never quite reaches the early peaks. And I found the ending extremely disappointing. While I felt the ending dealt with the resolution of Light's megalomaniacal scheming in a predictable and inevitable manner, I much disliked the way the manga-ka showed how Light responded. In my opinion, he didn't act true to his character, and instead was portrayed in a manner inconsistent with how he had acted throughout the rest of the series. And it was sad that the ending was so predictable when the rest of the series is so notable for producing mind-bending plot turns.

Despite these flaws, this series is one of the best I've read and I recommend it highly. After all, most manga I've read has been rather disappointing in the ending. So, this is just par for the course. I just wish that the ending lived up to the standards set early on in this series and then this would be the most astonishing manga story ever.

I spotted this manga at the store and have heard so many good things about it that i decided to buy the first volume. I read that and then i was just hooked, the next day i bought all the other volumes and this was a great manga, the second part wasn't as good as the first but still great,a dn sometimes dialouge was a bit long at times but this was still great.

i watched the live action movie before i read the manga.. and i didn't really get the movie very much because it seems like it was rushed.. so i read the manga.. and i see that the manga was way better.. but there was also some parts where i see took a long time to get to the point.. yea.. but other than that.. i think the manga and the storyline is amazing..

one of the best manga i've ever read!!! Very intense, until a certain someone dies off in the middle of the story that is. then it started to get boring, but it still good.
too bad about the ending though.

woot.. voter no 300 XD

just like many people say.. if you read this, prepare for the downfall in the middle of the story.. and even towards the end.. it's kind of sad considering it had a huge potential to be my fav manga of all time.. but some people also like the second part of the story though.. so you might wanna give urself a chance and see whether you like it or not..

but i would still recommend people to read.. it's a brilliant manga in a sense..

... Last updated on July 17th, 2007, 5:19pm

Unlike some people, I think the ending of this series is okay. The series started out as one of the best things I had read in a long, long time, but faltered in the middle for a while; I blame it on being an Shounen Jump title, which notoriously makes storylines that could easily go for about 5 volumes expand into 10+ long repetitive messes.

Luckily, this doesn't really happen with Death Note. The middle storyline seems a bit weak compared to the tightly-wound first part, but it picks up towards the end, which is a conclusion that really seemed inevitable from the get-go. Maybe the means to the end weren't the best that could have been conceived, but I found it a fitting ending.

A little too much dialogue. It's intriguing though, anyway the second part really sucks. The author had very good ideas.

It’s very intense, and the schemes that Light, and the people trying to arrest him for mass murder are simply brilliant.