Death Note, Vol. 13: How to Read

Death Note is an amazing comic. Not only that, but unique, fresh. Before I recommend this "volume 13" to anybody, I recommend the actual comic, 12 volumes of Death Note. Now, if you are a fan, if you've read all 12 volumes, if you care about the authors: this book is for you. If you haven even heard about this series, are a creative mind, an artist or writer: you will highly value this book. This book is two things in one. When v13 was first released I saw it in bookstores and immediately pulled it off and scanned through it. What is this?! To my ignorance, I put it back thinking it was just a bunch of random "death note" facts and fanservice tossed into a book to rake in the money off of the fanboys and girls. And this is true, this is one of the two things this book is: a product to make money off of the fans. This book includes all sorts of "facts" and character bios, in depth ideas and surface analyzing of the twists. All of which are not written by either of the authors. If this is what you want, go ahead, waste your money on this book. Now, for the rest of you, for the comic-artist, the writer, the creative, or the curious, buy this book. The second thing this book is, is a... bible almost, a box of knowledge and intrigue. This book is literally divided in two. If you look at the book from the side you can see that there are alternating patches of black and white pages. Everything black is part of the first thing, fanservice, pointless analizations. Everything from the white part is the gold. It's the raw stuff, straight from the authors. The toro of tuna guys. I can not tell you how much this book is valued to me as a comic artist. There are interviews with both of the authors, and each. There are "questionnaires" which I believe the questions may have come from fans, but are still greatly interesting. The last section includes the "pilot" chapter of Death Note. One part has Ohba explaining each character, why he choose them and the issues regarding their creation and/or death. This book, the second part of it pays for the first part, maybe a few times over. You will learn about how each author thinks, insight into the Japanese style of publication and serialization, how the authors interacted throughout, what surprised the authors, what they cared about, and more. Rarely do we have such raw data right from such amazing artists and writers all in one spot. This is the case with Death Note Volume 13 "how to read". Check it out.

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 1 or 2 pages toward the end. I've never cared for any of the fan service revolving around Misa, but on those 2 pages, she was even more exposed than usual (similar to how Obata showed too much of Halle during her shower scene a few volumes prior). 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).

Can understand it better

i’ve only seen through a few pages, but i can already tell i’ll like this book a bunch. i definitely recommend this to death note fans, though a page did end up falling out.. i personally don't mind, ill just purchase another one but do keep this in mind in case it may happen to you!!

I'd finally completed my collection of the Death Note manga when I stumbled across this - the "Volume 13" that was essentially a fanbook. I told myself I needed to get it, as any other obsessed fan would, and here we are! Warning: the content in here gets dense, like really dense at times. It's a bit hard to read at points due to that but fun nonetheless. There is such an excess of content in here, interviews of the authors, four-koma comics, the very first, original pilot for the manga, even complete timelines on the series, basically everything you could possibly want. It was quite fun to read through and get to hear the authors' thoughts on various parts of the manga and its story. When I opened the book up, I was very pleasantly surprised to see a very pretty collectible card featuring L, and his real name. The gold foil is such a nice touch and I think it was a super nice addition. In conclusion, if you fancy yourself a Death Note fan, I recommend you to get this and complete your collection. Take note that if you think you might be bored by the content and don't see yourself needing it for collection sakes, I don't recommend you purchase this!

A little bit dented but all good!! Came with the special card 🥰

Comes with the L true name card and a lot of fun facts, trivia, and even a character quiz. Super fun to read through and great for any Dearh Note fan !!

I really enjoyed learning about all the small things I might have missed in the series. It also came with a card with L's real name. This is a very shiny card and is pretty cool