Poison, creating wicked hearts–and I love it!
Aug 4th, 2008 by Ashok
The anime series Death Note is about a notebook in which you can write any person’s name, and that person will die. When the notebook falls into the hands of a Japanese schoolboy, he turns into a god of death, using the power of the book to try to bring justice to the world. It’s a dark, fun, entertaining supernatural thriller manga created and written by Tsugumi Ohba, and illustrated by Takeshi Obata.
It’s also been adapted into an anime. And to two live-action films. And been novelized as well. I’ve only read the manga, and liked it very much. I might try the adaptations at some point, but for me, manga is an end in itself.
If you like these kind of stories, supernatural intruding into the real world, and the mayhem that ensues as a result, then you should check it out.
You should also know that the manga was banned by some schools in Shenyang district of PRC (People’s Republic of China) for being what a newspaper referred to as “poison, creating wicked hearts”.
To be honest, it was that accusation that got me interested in the manga in the first place, when I read about it in a news aggregator feed.
How could a story be poison? Or create wicked hearts?
Well, I guess that does make some sense, if you really believe that stories can poison minds and wickedify hearts, but personally I think Death Note is just a fun manga to read.
And, like all engrossing stories, you don’t take it literally, you don’t start writing the names of friends or people you hate in a notebook. And you don’t actually go around killing those people, as some nutsos started doing.
Just enjoy the manga.
Oh, and there’s a website where you can read most of the first issue of Death Note online, several pages of all the other manga in the series, as well as several other excellent mangas. It has an annoying ad banner which stays at the top of each page, but if you’re willing to endure that, you get to read the first issue free and decide if you like it enough to buy the whole set. Or you can click on the download link at the top right of the page and download it to read ad-free on your comp, which is what I do a lot of the time.
Click here to read sample pages from the Death Note manga online for free.
