Death Note...

I first saw Death Note on Cartoon Network and the series intrigued me, so, when the opportunity arose to pick up the series, I did...

Volume 1
Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects - and he's bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal... or his life?

Volume 2
The net begins to tighten around Light when the enigmatic detective L brings in FBI agents to assist on the case. Light becomes rattled when he meets a woman who may have information that could lead to his arrest. But Light holds the ultimate trump card: the Death Note itself. Light needs to uncover her true identity and eliminate her before she goes to the task force. Then L raises the stakes by putting the Yagami household under surveillance.

Volume 3
For genius detective L, Light's behavior is too perfect to be true, and to get closer to him, he enrolls at the same university and even invites Light into the investigation. The murders continue, but with a new twist - there appears to be a second Kira at work! L has Light post as the original Kira in order to lure out the copycat, and Light agrees, hoping to divert suspicion from himself. But he's surprised to discover that this new Kira has an ability even Light himself lacks...

Volume 4
Light becomes the hunter when he's forced to track down Misa, the second Kira. When she finds him first, Light realizes he has a valuable asset on his hands and asks Misa to dispose of L. But Misa's focused on other matters - in addition to her Shinigami Eyes, she's got eyes for Light! Any chance at love is dashed, however, when Misa's cover is blown and she's ordered to relinquish the Death Note. With Misa and Light detained, the killings come to a halt, but then mysteriously resume...

Volume 5
After fifty days of confinement, the killings continue, and Light and Misa are released, only to face the ride of their lives with a seemingly crazed Soichiro. Then Light rejoins L in the investigation and notices a strange connection between the recent Kira murders and a business outfit called the Yotsuba Group.

Misa agrees to pose as the Yotsuba Group's spokesperson, with the eager Matsuda playing her manager. But Matsuda may be getting himself in too deep when he decides to do a little snooping at the Yotsuba Group's Tokyo headquarters!

Volume 6
The Yotsuba Group enlists an investigator to uncover L's identity, while Misa, who's been hired as their spokesperson, does some investigating of her own. When she discovers the identity of the owner of the Death Note, it's a race between the killer and the task force - who will catch up to the other first? Time is of the essence, especially when the new Kira makes the trade for the Shinigami Eyes!

Volume 7
With his memory recovered and Higuchi of the Yotsuba Group out of the way, Light can put his master plan into motion and march humanity closer to his perfect world. Then a new investigative force steps forward to challenge Kira: the SPK, headed by boy genius Near. Near's first plan of action: get his hands on a Death Note. And when Light's sister Sayu is kidnapped, it just might get him closer to his goal!

Volume 8
When Mello realizes that he may be Kira's next target, he bursts into the SPK headquarters to retrieve a picture of himself - and gives Near a piece of information that may prove to be an invaluable advantage: some of the Death Note rules are fake. With this information in hand, Near's suspicions of the task force, and Light in particular, become certainties. Now that he's in the spotlight once more, Light decides it's time to recruit some new disciples...

Volume 9
Near gains another ally when Aizawa of the task force discovers Light's treachery. Light's own disciples are hard at work doing his bidding, though the ideal world Light is striving to create looks more and more like one ruled by fear alone... All the players converge in a single warehouse, where Near and Light play their final hands. The end is nigh... but whose?

I had been waiting for Death Note to arrive on DVD for a while, but, I have to admit, though, that when I actually saw the cover art for the first time, for some reason that defies description, I failed to recognize that it was Death Note and it didn't come home with me until the second volume had been released. Even though I had been looking forward to Death Note for a while, the series dragged on for quite a bit longer than I would have liked. There are certainly some very good moments in Death Note, but, I found the pace a bit slow. I did eventually finish the series and ultimately, I gave Death Note a 2 out of 5.