Death Note, Vol. 13: How to Read [Paperback]

Tsugumi Ohba (Author), Andrew McKeon (Compiler), Eric Searleman (Editor), Takeshi Obata (Illustrator), Masumi Washington (Technical Editor), Akira Shiwawa (Translator), Pancha Diaz (Collaborator), Sam Elzway (Designer)

Book Description

An encyclopedic guide to the Death Note manga series, including character bios, storyline summaries, interviews with creators Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, production notes and commentaries, and bonus manga pages.

 

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?

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Author: Tsugumi Ohba
Born in Tokyo, Tsugumi Ohba is the author of the hit series Death Note. His current series Bakuman is serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump.



Artist: Takeshi Obata
Takeshi Obata was born in 1969 in Niigata, Japan, and is the artist of the wildly popular SHONEN JUMP title Hikaru no Go, which won the 2003 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize: Shinsei New Hope award and the 2000 Shogakukan Manga award. Obata is also the artist of Arabian Majin Bokentan Lamp Lamp, Ayatsuri Sakon, Cyborg Jichan G., and the smash hit manga Death Note. His current series Bakuman is serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: VIZ Media, LLC; English Ed edition (February 19, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1421518880
• ISBN-13: 978-1421518886
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #161,430 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Tokyo, Tsugumi Ohba is the author of the hit series Death Note. His current series Bakuman is serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Official Death Note Companion Would Have Been a More Obvious Title, February 14, 2008

By 

Mister Myst (Corona, California) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Death Note, Vol. 13: How to Read (Paperback)

Officially, this is considered the final book in the Death Note series. However, it's really more of a companion book than anything else. Not that that's a bad thing at all. In fact, it's nothing short of awesome.

Within these 200-odd pages, you'll be treated to all kinds of goodies.
For starters, all the unresolved plotlines (especially the fate of Misa) are addressed. You also get every single piece of Death Note trivia that you would possibly want to know. So not only do we finally learn L's real name, we learn everything he ever ate during the course of the seires (Oh boundless joy!). Also, perhaps to give us a break from how serious the series has been, many of the characters pop up occasionally and break the fourth wall by providing some amusing commentary of their own. At least one even comments on their own in-series death.

However, as good as all this is, there are two places where this book really shines.

First, a lot of this book goes behind the scenes as Ohba and Obata give us a satisfying peak at their creative processes. My favorite part was where Ohba talks about where he got the idea for EACH chapter title. Man, this guy gives a whole new meaning to the term "detail-oriented".

Second, this volume wraps up with the series' pilot chapter, aka the FIRST Death Note manga ever written. It has the same basic concept as the series (a deadly notebook), but takes it in a more "Stephen King-ish" direction. Also, other than Ryuuk, it stars a completely different cast of characters. That said, one of these "newbies" bears a striking physical resemblance to a certain, insane prosecutor-turned-Kira-worshipper. If you're a fan of the seires, you probably know who I mean. Like the series, the pilot was a great read. In fact, I think it would make a great movie (much easier to adapt than the series, I'd think).

The only negative thing about this book was that, on 1 or 2 pages toward the end, Misa was even more exposed than usual. I wasn't quite expecting this and it made me feel somewhat uncomfortable. However, this really isn't enough to cost it a star. It's just a few pages; easy to skip over.

This is highly recommended for Death Note fans who know when to stop taking things too seriously.

Also somewhat recommended for Stephen King fans or Horror fans in general (due to the aforementioned pilot chapter).

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing and Informative, February 20, 2008

By 

Heavenly Faye-Faye "HFF" (GaAUSA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death Note, Vol. 13: How to Read (Paperback)

I only recently bought this book and read it in a whole day. It's really informative - it tells me pretty much everything I ever wanted to know about the series and the characters! I particularly enjoyed "Ryuk's Human Observation Journal" - it was so funny that I had one of the most cheerful moods I've ever had all throughout the day! :D

I was surprised to see the original pilot to the series in this book; even though it's very different than the series, it's nonetheless entertaining. There are quite a few differences in the two stories...

If your a huge Death Note fan, I definatly recommend that you get your hands on this book as soon as possible!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A little something more., June 12, 2008

By 

S. Darrow - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Death Note, Vol. 13: How to Read (Paperback)

I was very sad to finish the last installation of the Death Note manga series, and How to Read filled a little bit of the void for me. It was terrific to learn more about my favorite characters, to enter the minds of the author and illustrator, and just spend a little more time in the world which I grew to love through the manga. Highly reccomended to Death Note fans.