Book Review: Death Note Short Stories by T. Ohba and T. Obata

 Death Note: Short Stories written by Tsugimi Ohba and art by Takeshi Obata

This manga includes a variety of stories that are adjacent to, but not part of, the main narrative in the Death Note series. Here is what's included:

C-Kira--Years after the series, a new person gets the Death Note and decides to kill old people. Hey, it helps out the economy, or so that's the thinking. Near (the new L) is not interested in investigating because the deaths are morally ambiguous, especially when people (including those who aren't old) start asking to get knocked off. The ending is not quite convincing or satisfying (just like Near's thinking).

A-Kira--Also years later, Ryuk offers the Death Note to a kid who has great grades. Ryuk wants apples, of course. The kid thinks up a plan and asks Ryuk to come back in two years. Then, the kid enacts his scheme to sell the Death Note to the highest bidder. This story plays out with more interest and intelligence that the C-Kira story. I liked it.

Four Panel Comics--These are some short, newspaper-style comics that are fun jokes but don't add much if anything to the greater mythology. They are worth reading for fans.

L--One Day and L--Wammy's House--These stories about L give more details about his life and quirks. Again, this doesn't really add anything to the overall story but is interesting and fun.

Taro Kagami-This was the "pilot" story, so it is the first working out of the Death Note system. The book is lost by Ryuk the Shinagami. It's found by Taro Kagami, a school student who is bullied. He uses the book as a journal and writes about his bullies. The next day at school, he finds out they died. He is surprised, especially when another group of bullies give him a hard time. He writes again and they die. By this point Ryuk has found him and given him the scoop about the book. The big change in this pilot is a Death Eraser--if it's used to erase the name of someone who died but hasn't been cremated or otherwise destroyed, they come back to life. The eraser robs the narrative of some drama and was wisely discontinued in the regular story.

The stories are interesting but meant for fans of the main story.

Mildly recommended unless you've read all the rest first.