Death Note 13: How to Read - Shinsou
Death Note 13: How to Read

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Original review: July 16th, 2012
Last updated: February 18th, 2023

It has been more than a decade since I had revisited this encyclopedia, even granted that it was for one of my favorite series. The main reason would probably be that I was roughly 16 when I first read through it and needed to do so online, unable to buy retail manga on my own. Over a decade later and having dived into numerous other series in the meantime, I've finally revisited it.

I feel that I was remiss in my previous review to only include my thoughts on the manga section, really only focusing on the ... pilot chapter. The included "Notes from Ryuk" and 4-Koma were pretty funny, and as a series guide, it is filled with what was, at the time, ground-breaking information on the series, including L's true name. Frankly, some of the more fun tidbits I learned were within interviews between the Ohba and Obata, such as the apple present in most Death Note imagery having no meaning whatsoever! And the artist feeling a kinship with Matsuda! It was an interesting read, if you're a fan.

The larger manga section, the pilot, has probably been reprinted the most. I've found that, online sources aside, you can read it in box sets like the Omega Edition of the anime on BluRay that I've had and the Death Note Short Stories collection at least.

It's a cool "look what started it all" kind of story, though not much if you're looking for something really engaging, at least not compared to the actual series. The art was good and the character could be seen as more relatable, but it's just something that falls short when compared to what was done with it later. The concept of the "Death Eraser" is exclusive to the pilot in that it was a plot device to keep it to a single-chapter story, and to be fair it really made to consequences just vanish into thin air. I cannot see the mainline Death Note series moving on and becoming nearly as popular if that concept was kept... it apparently weirded me out a little when I first read it, but I find it a funny thing to think about now.

As far as I'm concerned, this is a great resource for people wanting more information on the series.

There's some juicy information on this one. Most likely if you go reading around on the Death Note wiki or whatnot a lot of it's information comes from here. Good lore, a way to satiate yourself of your death note hunger once the Manga is over, alongside the other assorted tiny manga they released after the original ended. You also get to see a more of a casual perspective from the writer of Death Note, someone we still don't know the identity to of this day (perhaps they're afraid a real death note will get him killed? lol).

I like the fleshing out of the lore ... in particular. The lame quiz in the middle doesn't really do it for me lol but it's kinda funny. If you're a bit of a completionist/collector like me you'll enjoy this. I recommend reading it for anyone who's finished the Manga, or perhaps even the show. I'd give it a 7/10.

The concept of Death Note without anything of what makes the actual DN manga good.
I wasn't expecting great things of this one shot, I didn't even knew this existed but got to read it because I stumbled upon it while wanting to read the actual Death Note manga.
Characters are super bland and generic, the plot is nothing interesting, it does not have any of the interesting detective play of the actual series. The only thing I can salvage from this is the art, drawings are OK.
This one shot only worked as an introduction to the Death Note concept that later lead to the full manga ... that is far better than this short story. Wouldn't recommend to read it, only it's worth if you are a fan of Death Note and want to find out the origins of it.