DeathNote by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata is a 12 volume, 108 chapter manga series that was published in the Shonen Jump magazine in Japan. It became an extremely popular and successful series despite its short length and unorthodox storyline. Shonen Jump is the most well known manga publishing magazine in Japan consisting of an array of the most successful manga series of all time. It also focused on action orientated manga that target mostly people in their early to mid teens, so DeathNote that contains a mature, dark and complex storyline was very unusual for a Shonen Jump manga. For this reason DeathNote is in history as one of the most successful dark manga in history. Another unique feature of DeathNote is the fact that it is written and illustrated by two different people compared to most manga that is only created by one person.
DeathNote is a manga that revolves around books known as the DeathNotes that allow you to kill someone by writing their name in the book. These books are used by Shinigami (Gods of Death) to kill humans and to extend their own lives by taking the humans remaining lifespan. The main character of the series is Light Yagami who is a high school student genius at the start of the manga. The story takes place as he finds a DeathNote that has been dropped by a Shinigami into the human Realm. Light discovers the powers of the book and decides that he wants to rid the world of evil by killing criminals he deems as unworthy of living. L who is the greatest detective in history and has solved every case that he had been given decides to make it is mission to find Light, who has inhabited the nickname of Kira (killer in Japanese) to the public.
DeathNote has a strong anti-hero theme as the main character is a clear anti-hero because he believes that he is doing something good for the world but in reality he is still killing people and as the series progresses he ends up killing anyone who gets in his way. I think that this feature really enhances the story as it adds to the complexity of the story by encouraging you to consider your moral opinion on ehat Light is doing.
Light unlike most main characters in manga is designed to be unlikeable to the readers although he is very entertaining to watch. Light is a very manipulative character who is able to put on a charismatic innocent facade to take advantage of anyone he needs to. This means the readers have a completely different opinion and perception of Light compared to other characters in the story. Despite the fact he is developed to be disliked by the reader he is very entertaining and his extreme intellect and manipulation make his story very gripping.
However character is not the only way the anti-hero theme is developed. Takeshi Obata is a very skilled artist who is able to perfectly depict the story that Tsugumi Ohba cleverly crafted. His art style is detailed and realistic compared to most action story lines which is fitting as DeathNote is more realistic than the average Shonen manga. The art also has a very dark tone that really enhances the events which involve evil and corruption. He is also able to show the character switch in Lights characters and he is able to show Light as almost two different personalities. He also has great character design being able to craft interesting characters. His design of Light is seemingly ordinary but it is actually very clever as he appears to be a regular over achieving, popular student when in reality his thought processes are much more complex and he has a dark side that no one is aware of.
It is visible that DeathNote involves a lot of corruption as eventually in the story the image of Kira becomes popular and accepted, by some it is even worshipped and Light is seen as a God. I thing this is typical of an anti-hero text because it includes the oppression that is usually present in these sort of story lines and in DeathNote you can see the corruption slowly build up to a state where you struggle to relate to the everyday people who are just submitting to and going along with the injustice present.
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