What would you do if you found a book entitled Death Note, which purportedly kills anyone whose name you write in it? Would you use it? Light Yagami finds such an object and, overcome with curiosity, writes the name of a criminal in it. The criminal promptly dies. When Light tries it out on some street thugs they die too. But the book does not belong to him. It was dropped by Ryuk, a rogue Shinigami god of death, who comes back to claim what is his...

Death Note (2006) is the highly successful manga by writer Tsugumi Ohba and illustrator Takeshi Obata.

If, like me, you have come late to this story it’s not going to make a lot of sense. Light has gone completely bananas and decided that using the Death Note to cleanse the world of all the bad guys is a good idea. However this is quickly turned into his quest for personal godhood - never a good idea.

We’re onto the last book, where everything is revealed. The good, bad and indifferent meet their fates and if you think I’m going to spoil the end by giving it away your more nuts than me. The art work and story telling remains top notch - this remains a class act as far as manga is concerned.

So the die has been cast, the pieces put in place, the cat has been put out and hot chocolate is on the menu as we settle into the last book. Mello, who has been asking for it for some time, gets his as does Takada, the agreeable mouthpiece for Kira, Lights alter ego, who started by killing only bad guys and now appears to be happy to kill indiscriminately. The whole place is going to hell in a bucket as Near and Light finally face off, but who will win?

Well you’ll just have to go and purchase the book. One thing I can say is that you are not likely to be disappointed. I remain impressed by both the manga and its offshoot anime.

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Charles Packer