First of all, Light doesn’t get much opportunity to be as ruthless and cunning as usual. He’s hindered by suspicion left and right and only gets a few precious moments of freedom toward the end of the volume. Misa and Ryuk are all but invisible, and the rest of the task force are all dupes – but not Light’s dupes anymore. Near has everyone wrapped around his finger as he makes enormous leaps in logic that suspend my disbelief a little too far. The logic of Death Note always had its share of negligible holes, but ever since volume seven, the holes have really widened.

Since Near can’t stop Light yet and Light can’t stop Mellow and Mellow can’t get the upper hand on anyone (talk about useless), the cast gets two additions, one old and one new. The new face is the aforementioned Kira follower who has no prior significance to the events of the series and as such has an entire chapter devoted to his backstory – a radical shift from the forward momentum of the narrative and a subtle cue that perhaps the writer’s scrambling to maintain the story’s cohesion. The returning character is one readers probably won’t remember well, and their reintroduction is wholly contrived, but they do in fact make for a welcome inclusion.

The mood and narrative voice is still strong, as is the striking art, but the plot of Death Note has worn out its welcome. The intensity of the first seven volumes has all but evaporated with the removal of several key cast members. This era of Death Note would serve better as a Foot Note.

This review was originally published online at www.mangalife.com. It can be viewed here: http://www.mangalife.com/reviews/DeathNotev10.htm

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