Writing The Death Note novel: Another Note (manga spoilers ahoy)

[Dagger]

Picked this up and read it over the weekend. NisiOisin, a popular Japanese author, was commissioned to write it. It's a prequel featuring L and Naomi Misora, and he does a bang-up job with their characterization. Absolutely a must-read for Death Note fans, and the only anime/manga spin-off (as opposed to source) novel I've encountered that's worthy in its own right.

Although it takes place before the Kira case, you definitely need to be familiar with the manga--all of it--to enjoy Another Note. In fact, the central twist cleverly uses assumed knowledge of the manga to fool the reader. The humor is delightful, the tone is spot-on, and the murder mystery tricks are satisfyingly byzantine. Although it's a story about L as he's perceived by Naomi, the narrative voice belongs to Mello... who openly states at the beginning that he hopes his notes on and knowledge of the BB case will double as a thorn in Near's side.

Not to repeat myself too much, but the highlight is really the characterization. In many respects, NisiOisin outdoes the manga--which wasn't too focused on character development to begin with--while staying true to it. Using Mello as the storyteller was an unexpected but intelligent choice. It's neat how the novel fills in parts of the Death Note backstory, in areas ranging from Wammy's House to the reason L began studying capoeira.

On a side note (kukuku), Another Note is gorgeously produced (thanks, Viz), with a half-jacket, color frontispiece, silver embossing and all kinds of other fun stuff.

~Dagger~

[Sabrina]

[FONT="Tahoma"][quote name='Dagger']you definitely need to be familiar with the manga--all of it--to enjoy Another Note. [/QUOTE]Well that just bites. Just one more thing to add to my list I see. I sure am running into a lot of things here that I've never even heard of before. Hehe. I can see that I'll never run out of new things to check out so long as I'm a member here. :catgirl:[/FONT]