Death Note, Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria Recommendations
For those of you who wander aimlessly seeking for something similar to the thrilling story of the Death Note series, well, you're in luck because Hakomari not only fills that void, it expands it.
While there are countless dissimilarities between the two, I'll focus on the similarities which I'm sure would cause Death Note fans to try this series.
Hakomari captures Death Note's thriller and mystery aspect not through the battle of impeccable prodigies, but through an extremely intricate plot built layer after layer in each volume. Actually, we get a battle of wits in all of the volumes, but this is not what makes Hakomari stand
out of the rest of novels/manga, it is the plot (or the premise) through which the characters move, in other words, it is the premises (the universe/world) of the novel.
While I have completely no idea how Eiji Mikage composes his plot, reading through the volumes with give you an idea to how the architecture of this novel is constructed. The author lays the framework and a rough conclusion of a volume before filling out the details of the story, that is to give him some sort of guide (a premise if you will) for his plot.
He rarely contradicts the premises he set unless you are hairsplitting/nitpicking enthusiast. Every turn or event in a volume is connected to a premise set forth or declared in a previous volume (in other words, everything that would happen, happened for a reason, and isn't of plot convenience) and the conclusions at each volume surprise you as it unravels Mikage's masterful play of plot lines.
While the main difference between Death Note and Hakomari is the romance aspect, I'd say that If you liked DN, there's a very high chance of liking Hakomari since every twist leaves you surprised and impressed.
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Geniuses, psychopaths, mental and psychological warfare, strategic thinking, powers granted through a supernatural entity that potentially shape the world according to the user's wishes/desires/ideologies, both these series have these elements in common.
They both maintain a heavy grim mood throughout the story with little comedy. They both have a lot of mystery and twists. Both main characters are willing to go to certain extreme extents to live in what they see as the ideal world, even though their views are fundamentally opposite. They present accounts of people who acquire supernatural abilities that can change the world - either more directly (Utsuro) or indirectly (DN) - but
end up being psychologically consumed by the power or their lack own lack of control. In a way they both touch upon the "be careful with what you wish for" trope (DN in a much more subtle way since Utsuro deals directly with those wishes and their corruption).
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First of all be careful that while Death Note is a manga, Hakomari (the short name) is a light novel. If you can't sit down and read a light novel, then please ignore this recommendation.
In both stories, prodigies with incredible skills of deduction play a deadly game of cat and mouse with each other, in a mysteriously supernatural setting. These are stories with complex story line and go in deep to explore each main character's motives.
After reading Death Note, I thought to myself that a series that matches up to its fantastic thrilling murder-mystery does not exist (that is not to say that Death Note is free of plot-holes because it is full of partial ones, but it manages to achieve its premise), that is, until I discovered Hakomari. The unpopular Light Novel surpasses Death Note in its best aspect -- complexity.
While the two are fundamentally different -- 'a story of a genius who accidentally comes upon a murder notebook', against 'the story of a rather normal folk who is dragged into a bizarre reality by mere circumstance', there are
a lot of similarities between the two that are simply too eminent.
The most obvious similarity is of course the mystery aspect. Both series to progress the plot through events that can be described as carefully plotted. In Hakomari, this is achieved through a scattering of accurate and truthful red herrings throughout the plot that gets even more impressive as the author reveals the reasoning behind each one. The difference in this is, in Death Note, the viewer/reader is a spectator to the plot who only follows the direction of the plot, while in Hakomari, the reader is dragged to the pace of the story as you try to figure out the happenings of the story.
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Do take caution when reading Volume 1 though as the beginning is intentionally confusing due to its atypical progression. But it'd be a shame if you'd drop it because of that because Volume 1 has to be the single best story I've every read. The immense entertainment value it brings will only be available to those who are patient enough go through it. In the end your efforts will be rewarded.
Generally, if you liked Death Note's thrilling mystery aspect, you'll definitely like Hakomari, especially volume 3 & 4 since it probably bears the most semblance among all of the arcs since it features a direct battle of wits with rules accurately written down.
The only downside that might cause some to misevaluate Hakomari's greatness is that it is too complex that some readers have trouble understanding the entire plot. Again, that is not to say that Hakomari is perfect. Like any show, I could make a list of endless plot-holes and unrealistic instances, but given that Hakomari is too complex but very well delivered, it is indeed a masterpiece and Death Note fans would probably enjoy this a lot
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For those who are seeking complex and supernatural stories then the story of Empty Box and Zeroth Maria is for you.
