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Review: Death Note

Death Note Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Death Note is a fantastic 5/5 series, but I want to make some details about this specific edition clear to potential buyers.

THIS IS NOT A BOXSET. It is a single paperback book that has all 2400 pages of the manga, including "a never before printed in English epilogue". It's obviously really thick (and really heavy), but it is also actually quite short (in terms of height; Not page length). It is the shortest book out of my entire manga and graphic novel collection. Even my authentic Japanese imports (which are always tiny for some reason) are taller than it. The front and back covers are somewhat flimsy, so you'll have to be careful while reading it not to bend/rip it or open it too wide if you don't want to get dents in the spine. And unlike the single volume and Black editions, the first few pages are not printed in their glorious full colour. That, to me, is the biggest blow. Also: In case you have your hopes up about the sides of the pages of this edition also being black, they're not. But the pages are not the average rough paper. This edition is printed on a smooth paper that reminds me of the pages of a magazine, which is something that makes it feel kind of special to flip through. Beware of large black areas though, for they will easily become fingerprint-central if you touch them.

All of that is concerning the construction of this edition, but of course the insides (besides the lack of some colour) are the same great Death Note. So if none of those things are huge turn-offs for you then this edition is a great way to be able to read the entire series while saving a lot of money and space on your shelves. I managed to buy this edition for only $25.25 CAD (on sale), which was an enormous steal (compared to buying the whole series individually).

While I'm here let's do a whole price comparison on all the different ways you can buy this series:
Buying all volumes individually: $98.49
Buying the Black editions: $75.30
Buying the box set: $74.24
Buying the omnibus: $32.47
(All prices listed in CAD and Amazon.ca prices, don't include tax/shipping, and will obviously fluctuate with time.)

I chose to list the Amazon prices and not the list prices because the list prices are always way more expensive so you never buy anything at list price anyway. Like the omnibus list price is technically $53.99, so I could say "Wow I got it for more than 50% off!!!", but we all know that ain't nobody going to actually buy it for that price anyway. Literally every single good bookseller is selling it for less than that.

Anyway, if you're okay with spending $75 dollars, I recommend the Black editions as being by far the best way to read this series. They look gorgeous on and off your shelf, and they're nice and big (but not too big) so you can get a real good look at all of the pages.

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