Skip to main content

Click "Archive" or "Labels" in the sidebar to browse reviews, or use the search bar to look for a specific title.


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.

View all my reviews
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Review: 寄宿学校のジュリエット（３）

寄宿学校のジュリエット（３） by 金田陽介 My rating: 5 of 5 stars Brb, crying. Not actually, though. Like, I didn’t shed any actual tears or even get close to it, it’s just that this series… is so good . The romance between Romeo and Juliet is still weirdly innocent, but the actual story is so engrossing and entertaining. It also seems like almost literally every single character is complex and interesting and multi-layered. (Only the background characters like Maru’s lackeys are undeveloped, but honestly they really don’t need any development anyway.) The relationships between characters keep getting more and more complex, and the situations that the characters have to deal with are also super juicy. This is such an addicting series. My initial problem with Romeo and Juliet’s relationship was that it seemed pretty unhealthy and one-sided to me. Later, I found it very weird how sexually immature they both are, and how un-intimate their relationship is. What is interest...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Lulu Is a Rhinoceros

Lulu Is a Rhinoceros by Jason Flom My rating: 3 of 5 stars The second I saw the cover of this book and read the synopsis I immediately thought that this was going to be a book that uses animals to create an allegory about transsexuality, as another installment in the growing genre of kid’s LGBTQA+ books. The whole "that's what she sees when she looks in the mirror" business felt really on the nose, and I feel like the authors purposefully used this wording in order to generate buzz around this book. In actuality, this felt like any other normal kids book. You have a character who feels misunderstood by their peers, and so they go on a "journey" to find and/or prove themselves and eventually end up finding peace with who they are and/or a group who accepts them. To me, the story was told in a way that presented Lulu like any other silly character in a children's book that had a silly problem stemming from their silly misco...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Bossypants

Bossypants by Tina Fey My rating: 3 of 5 stars Let me set the scene: Last week I was in Phys Ed class playing the ol' badminton. Our school only has one gym, and my class 60 kids. So you can imagine how cramped it was. Each team had 3 people on the court at a time, and yes, it was a mess. And then one of my partners slammed me in the right eyeball with their racquet. My glasses broke into three pieces as they tumbled to the hardwood gym floor. This was the second time my face had been assaulted resulting in broken frames, so you could say I was a broken-glasses veteran. With my experience I didn't freak out, just was slightly annoyed. Nothin' some good old super glue can't fix, right? So I tried to continue playing but I quickly realized that I could no longer keep my eye open. It felt extremely irritated and even if I shut just the one and kept the other open, it still hurt. When I closed both of them, then it was a little better. Re...
Post a Comment
Read more