James Nicoll Reviews

2004’s Boredom is the first tankōbon of Tsugumi Ohba’s contemporary fantasy manga series, Death Note. Illustrations are by Takeshi Obata. Death Note was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 2004 to 2006.

Existence in the Shinigami realm is exquisitely tedious. The only alternative appears to be to embrace death, something the supernatural beings are loathe to do. Stagnation and decline are terrible, but better than immediate total extinction.

Ryuk has a sudden inspiration. He knows how to entertain himself. Step one: cast his Death Note into the mortal realm.

A Death Note is the notebook in which impending deaths may be recorded. Once a Death Note’s owner writes down a name and pictures the person in their mind, that person will surely die. Ryuk isn’t sure how a human would use a Death Note if one fell into their possession. He is confident that the results will be hilarious.

Seventeen-year-old Light Yagami is brilliant, handsome, charming, and bored. Examining the mysterious notebook he found, Light finds instructions on how to use the Death Note.

1. The human whose name is written in the Death Note shall die.
2. This will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.
3. If the cause of death is written within forty seconds of writing the person’s name, it will happen.
4. If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.
5. After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next six minutes and forty seconds.

By the time Ryuk manifests in Light’s room, Light has recorded dozens, perhaps hundreds, of names in his Death Note. Humans have possessed Death Notes before now, but none have ever been as eager to consign humans to death as is Light. Possession of the Death Note sent Light into messianic megalomania¹.

Light is determined to improve the world by killing as many infamous villains as he can, whether they are in jail or roaming free. Light is energetic, diligent, and (thanks to his detective superintendent father) well informed about the criminal world. Given time, Light will create a New World Order and he will be its god.

Although the causes of death are natural, so many criminals dying in such a short time suggests murder. A delighted public rejoices, nicknaming the unknown person responsible ​“Kira” (or Killer). Despite the despicable nature of the targets, murder is still murder. The police are determined to catch Kira. None are as determined as the enigmatic detective L.

L is just as smart as Light, perhaps smarter. Will this be sufficient to catch Light? However it plays out, Ryuk will not be bored.

~oOo~

Obata’s art is already eye-catching and effective, but glancing ahead gives me the impression that it improves. There’s something to look forward to.

I expect legions of tabletop roleplaying game players are thinking about the notebook rules and their implications. Those readers will be delighted to know that Light energetically experiments with the Death Note, working out the practical limits of the notebook.

This is yet another manga with a very dim take on immortality. Every time they write a name in their Death Note, the remaining lifespan of the doomed human is transferred to the Shinigami and the human drops dead. As long as there are humans, Shinigami need never die. Unfortunately for the Shinigami, they never solved the problem of what to do with their extended lives. Perhaps Japanese manga could reach a huge untapped market: lifestyle advisors for the immortal.

I will give the police community this: they are adamantly anti-murder, regardless of the victims’ occupations. This seems an unusually sunny take on how police would be likely to react to someone carving a swath of death through the criminal underworld. The manga takes a somewhat dimmer view of the public, who embrace Kira like some sort of homicidal idol.

Thus far, the focus is on Light, Ryuk, and L, in that order. As Light is a megalomaniacal killer, it’s not all the comfortable spending time in his head. At least that POV is vivid and memorable.

In this incompetence-driven world in which we’re living, it’s inspirational to read a story about highly motivated, ingenious, competent people working towards concrete goals. How the game of cat and mouse will play out between L and Light is unclear. Boredom makes it clear that whatever the consequences, the process will not be boring.

Boredom is available here (Amazon US), here (Amazon Canada), here (Amazon UK), here (Apple Books), here (Barnes & Noble), here (Chapters-Indigo), and here (Words Worth Books).

1: In Light’s defense, this process wasn’t instant. It took hours and seeing the wrong news item at the wrong time. If not for that, Light might have resisted his god complex for a good day or two.