So, after some time of not really delving into comics or manga, I ended up reading some of Ultimate Spider-Man about two weeks ago. Then, last week, I looked into some manga reading sites after being inspired by a classmate of mine. For some reason, I was thinking of Death Note, and as such put it on my reading list. I found there was an edition of the manga in full color, so I ended up opening up that version of the manga and started reading it. As of the time of writing, I've only reached chapter 17 of the manga, but even then, I'm finding that I enjoyed it more than when I watched the anime. For some reason, I just didn't see the appeal of Death Note when I watched it, especially because of how popular it was and how much I just didn't care for the characters. And yet it stood out in my mind, including when I saw fandom posts and fan art of the show. Eventually, I discovered the musical, which I pretty much instantly developed a fondness for, even if I didn't care for the anime at the time. I suppose now, I want to reexamine my opinions of the story of Death Note, and I'm finding I do see the appeal, now, and I enjoy it quite a lot. Perhaps this is simply due to the fact that I am able to be engaged more with the written word than I am with any piece of visual media? While, yes, manga and comics have visuals, it may be due to the fact that they are, in essence, books, and thus have an element of imagination not found within television or film, I am able to enjoy the manga version of a story than I would be able to enjoy the anime adaptation of any given manga.
I'll be frank, I certainly wasn't expecting it to be the first work of fiction I'd discuss within the "Media Maniac" category, but it is the first within recent memory where I have enough thoughts regarding the work itself that I cannot help but need to articulate those thoughts. It's like how, despite the fact that I dislike recent Marvel films, Neon Genesis Evangelion, or Nineteen Eighty-Four, I still have thoughts about them which may warrant an entry down the line. I think this comes down to how I like to dissect why I dislike a particular piece of media, instead of simply blindly hating it without reason. It's probably this need to dissect and understand why I dislike something that eventually brought me back to reading the Death Note manga, especially after how much I'd heard it was better than the anime (and after all, the original version of the story is often better than any adaptations).
Which brings me back to the subject of this entry. The mind games between L and Light haven't really escalated to the point that later comes to define Death Note just yet, but even at this stage, the story manages to be engaging. This likely comes down to the fact that the characters are very well-written, especially the two leads. Seeing Light's descent into villainy strikes me as being quicker than I initially remembered, but he still manages to maintain the delusion that he's making the world better, and I like that they even outright acknowledge the fact that he could be making the world a better place by eliminating criminals. L in particular I find more engaging than I used to, and I'd outright argue him and Light are now equals in my mind when it comes to how compelling they are.
(I apologize sincerely to any of my readers if I'm not making sense at the moment, I've not felt well the past couple of days and today I've somehow managed to feel worse than before)
I don't like everything about the manga, however. I still have a decent amount of criticisms of the writing and story. For instance, there's quite a lot of sexism, and I can't help but wonder if that contributed to the show's popularity. I've noticed a great degree of sexism, racism, and general annoying stupidity amongst anime fans, so the sexism in Death Note would likely be easily overlooked. At the very least, this sexism applies to Light as a character, but does sometimes seep into other characters at times. My guess is these attitudes are meant to make Light less likable, but the fact that there aren't any real prominent female characters just yet (with one exception, who dies rather quickly) makes me wonder if Light's attitudes rendering him less likable are more of a happy coincidence than an intentional decision on the author's part. It's like the homophobia I noticed in Ultimate Spider-Man, where I haven't seen many discuss it and it generally seems overlooked, likely because of how hateful comic fans are and how the "go woke, go broke" attitude is pervasive within that community. Of course, in both of these cases, I am generalizing based on experience and what I have seen in searching throughout these respective communities, and thus I know they aren't indicative of all fans of manga, anime, and comic books. In fact, I've seen people calling out Death Note's sexism, which is something that made me rather happy. However, I must also acknowledge that it is likely I am only witnessing the mainstream, Western side of these communities, so any other perspectives are likely to have not been seen by me. I am certain there are communities which decry the sexism and homophobia within both of these stories, but they are tragically not the majority.
Returning to discussing the manga itself, the colors are very well done. They seem to have been made by fans, but I honestly thought it was official until I saw a note at the end of Chapter 16 in which the creator of the colorized version talked about the process behind their edit. Honestly, kudos to them, because it shows a great degree of talent and dedication in order to dedicate oneself towards adding color to an entire monochrome manga, especially one which is so popular.
Of final note is the debate of if I'll even finish reading this manga. Like Ultimate Spider-Man, my enjoyment has been so impeded by the problems I find with the biases within the story that it's become difficult to continue reading as I encounter them more and more as the story continues. With Ultimate, I did take a decent break before returning to it recently (and likely will take another), so perhaps that would be best. There's also the matter of the fact that I've got a lot on my plate, and likely won't finish Death Note (or any other work of fiction) anytime soon because of it. That, combined with my general state of unwellness, creates a formula in which I am extremely indecisive about whether I should continue through these stories, but also makes me ask if I even can muster up the energy to do so in the first place. Then there's the final question, which is whether or not I'd find a story to even start that I'd enjoy.
Until I come to a decision, and until whatever I'll discuss next (be it Death Note), this is Cosmos, signing out.