Death Note, Vol. 13: How to Read

Death Note [デスノート] #13

by Tsugumi Ohba, Takeshi Obata (Illustrator), Akira Shiwawa (Translator)

The Ultimate Death Note Encyclopedia!

Here, in one authoritative volume: everything you need to know about Death Note, the best-selling manga series. Featuring complete character biographies, detailed storyline summaries, production notes and behind-the-scenes commentaries, Death Note 13: How to Read also includes exclusive interviews with creators Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata and a bonus manga chapter of never-before-translated material. Unless you own your very own death note, it doesn't get any better than this!

Genres: Manga, Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Mystery, Fiction, Horror

290 pages, Paperback

First published October 13, 2006

About the author

Tsugumi Ōba (Profile in Japanese: 大場 つぐみ), born in Tokyo, Japan, is a writer best known for the manga Death Note. His/her real identity is a closely guarded secret. As stated by the profile placed at the beginning of each Death Note manga, Ōba collects teacups and develops manga plots while holding his knees on a chair, similar to a habit of L, one of the main characters of the series.

There is speculation that Tsugumi Ōba is a pen name and that he is really Hiroshi Gamō. Pointing out that in Bakuman the main character's uncle was a one-hit wonder manga artist who worked on a gag super hero manga, very similar to Gamō and Tottemo! Luckyman in all aspects. Also that the storyboards drawn by Ōba greatly resemble Tottemo! Luckyman in style.

Reviews

[Amber Hetchler]

Now I feel like I know everything there is to know about Death Note. My life is complete.

[E. G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Special Insert: True Name Card --L--

How To Read: Characters
--Main Character Profiles
--Complete Shinigami File
--Shinigami Observation Diary

How To Think: Tsugumi Ohba
--In-Depth Interview with Tsugumi Ohba
--Death Note Truths
--The Origins Of All 108 Chapter Titles

How To Read: Story
--Story Commentary: 11.28.2003--11.05.2004
--Intermission: 11.06.2004--10.07.2009
--Story Commentary: 10.08.2009--01.28.2010
--Epilogue: 01.29.2010

How To Draw: Takeshi Obata
--In-Depth Interview with Takeshi Obata
--Light's Speech Scene at the Yellow Box Warehouse: A Behind-the-Scenes Look
--Character Design Secrets

How To Read: Rules & Tricks
--Death Note Investigation File 1: Death Note Basic Knowledge
--Death Note Investigation File 2: Change of Ownership
--Death Note Investigation File 3: How to Use It: The Complete Rules & Death Note Case Study
--Death Note Investigation File 4: All Tricks Revealed

How To Create: Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata
--Special Discussion
--The Making of Death Note
--33 Questions
--The 13 Truths About Chapter 108

How To Play: Ryuk's Notebook
--Ryuk's Human Observation Journal

--Death Note Four-Panel Comics
--Death Note Pilot Chapter

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was so unnecessary.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is called volume 13, and an encyclopedia for the series. It isn't really either. It's more like a set of DVD special features. Worth reading? Actually... yes, at least in part. The character profiles that start the book have very little new information to add, but L.'s does include his real name. The creator interviews that take up much of the space are actually really informative. There's a detailed timeline, a complete set of all the Death Note rules, and answers to most of the questions a reader could have at this point that does have an answer. At the end are a series of (only vaguely amusing) four panel comics, and the original pilot chapter of Death Note. It's hugely different in tone, and I have to say that I'm very glad of the changes that were made. I don't know if I'd have read past the first volume if it had stayed like the pilot. My favorite part, though, was Ryuk's sarcastic commentary. For a fan, this is a must-read, but I'd say anybody who read the entire series should at least skim over the creator interviews.

[Sine Nomine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The short story about the new Kira is pretty excellent and moralistic like the previous one. I have one thing to say about the characters: why are all the characters so anorexic?!

[Lashaan Balasingam · Rating 3 out of 5]

In all honesty, this volume was pretty unnecessary. There is no real value in reading it besides finding out what L's real name is. You also find out what all the characters in the story like and dislike. Nothing more useful than that to the story!

I did like the exclusive interview that gave some insight into some of the creative decisions and story direction.

This volume is also necessary if you want to complete your collection. So... why not?

Yours truly,

Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/

[Wee!wawaLAA!!!]

Waaaah
I want to find out L'S REAL NAME!~!!!!! :3
I wuv you, ryuk!! :]

[Sérgio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intitulado Death Note, Vol. 13: How to Read, trata-se, na verdade de uma enciclopédia ao estilo dos perfis da Shonen Jump, isto é, um manancial de fun service e extras exclusivos.

Logo a abrir o volume, uma pequena divisória cartonada contendo uma carta, à semelhança dos baralhos de tarot, com o verdadeiro nome do misterioso detective L.

O primeiro capítulo é dedicado a perfis detalhados da personalidade, gostos, estudo psicológico e principais momentos dos personagens principais; uma lista das forças de investigação envolvidas no caso Kira; um diagrama explicativo das relações entre essas forças; perfis descritivos dos shinigami; e um diário de observação do mundo shinigami. O segundo capítulo, "How to Think", consiste numa entrevista à autora da história de Death Note, Tsugumi Ohba, bem como um conjunto de 24 "Death Note Truths" e a explicação para os nomes dos 108 capítulos da série de manga. O terceiro capítulo organiza cronologicamente todos os eventos de Death Note e fornece explicações para cada um. Segue-se uma entrevista ao criador artístico, Takeshi Obata. O quinto capítulo contém o esclarecimento de todas as regras do Death Note, incluindo todos os truques baseados no seu uso que serviram como veículos de avanço da acção. O sexto capítulo apresenta uma entrevista conjunta com a dupla de criadores de Death Note, Ohba e Obata, o making of da série, as respostas a 33 questões colocadas pela Shonen Jump aos autores, e as 13 verdades sobre o capítulo 108. Contudo, o sétimo, e último, capítulo é, de todos, o mais interessante. Denominado "Ryuk's Notebook", principia com um "Human Observation Journal" do shinigami que estava aborrecido e lançou um Death Note para o mundo humano para se divertir e, assim, deu origem a toda a trama; segue-se um comic relief especial, publicado pela primeira vez na totalidade. Por fim, o volume 13 acaba em grande com o "Death Note Pilot Chapter", a produção inicial que espicaçou o interesse dos fãs da Shonen Jump e decidiu a aprovação da publicação de Death Note, publicado pela primeira vez em inglês.

Devo confessar que foi uma leitura repleta de recordações, tanto da série como do adolescente que fui quando a vi. Não pude concluir a sua leitura sem um sorriso nostálgico dos tempos em que fui um inveterado otaku.

[Mar · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3,5/5)

[ˋ✧*⁀➷ ʙᴇᴛᴛʏ (Levi Ackerman's wife) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished the anime today and is it too bad that I'm already missing it like my life depends on it?

Also why did I almost cry at Light's death? I hated that man. (like i literally flipped him off everytime he appeared on screen and considering he is the main character i'm surprised how my middle finger is yet attached to my metacarpels.)

These characters, good or bad, grew into me overtime. L's my absolute favourite off all time (no debate AT ALL) but what can I say, Light is that evil sexy bastard I can't get enough of 😮‍💨

[Sharon Yulong · Rating 5 out of 5]

"...quando penso, penso. Quando sto inebetita, sto inebetita e basta". (intervista a Ohba e Obata)

[Vikas · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this 13th vol. was called an encyclopedia for the Death Note series but it was unnecessary for me. Not only because I read the entire series in a row so the recounting of the story wasn't for me. I liked the process and interviews of the author and illustrator. But the format of the book in the normal manga size is not suited for the small text that is used and also many times the pages are colored so they are more difficult to read. I liked the 4-panel stories and also Death Note #0 but all the 190 pages of text were either unnecessary or very difficult to read. This would've worked much better in big size book but at the size of normal manga it's just worth it.

I have always loved comics, and I have I can. I love comics to bits, may the comics never leave my side. I loved reading this and love reading more, you should also read what you love and hope always to love them. Even though I grew up reading local Indian comics like Raj Comics, Diamond Comics, or even Manoj Comics, now's the time to catch up on international and classic comics and Graphic novels. I am on my quest to read as many comics as I just want to Keep on Reading.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat dry, but not exactly shocking considering that it's basically an encyclopedic overview of the series. The four panels were fun, and it was interesting to read the pilot version of Death Note. Worth paging through if you're a Death Note fan, but definitely not a sit down and read through type of book. Includes an illustrated card of L.

[Drasevia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started reading this book right after finishing the entire series, which was probably a mistake, because it's very boring when you don't learn anything new here...
In my opinion, such a sequel was definitely not necessary. 4/10.

[Mariana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um livro absolutamente indispensável para qualquer fã de Death Note.

[Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

I actually apologize because it took me almost four years to finish the book. Problem is, I don't usually get into reading a book that goes into such detail about a book I've just read, so I had some troubles to focus at the time and let it slide for a long time.

Now I was back at it, and it had been a while, so it all made more sense, since I was looking for some real Death Note after seeing the thing Netflix recently brought out. This 13th collection contains a lot of information, though not necessarily new information. Character files, an explanation for all the chapter titles in the series, all the rules from the Death Note. And L's real name.

Also, there are interviews with the creators and a pilot chapter, which was actually a lot of fun to read, even though if it had stayed on that path, it had been a completely different kind of series. However, I would only recommend this to the real fans of the series that can't get enough of it. For the rest of us, I think it might be a bit too detailed.

[Ernesto Juárez · Rating 4 out of 5]

No aporta nada, buena para fans, solo se ve el ego y la realidad bien alterada que tienen sobre su obra los autores, un one shot que encaja muy bien con todo y que da reglas nuevas canon que hubieran dado un giro a la historia principal, sin embargo el no haberlo usado tiene un sentido muy bueno y coherente en historia de Light Yagami.

[Different Is Beautiful · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong 4 stars

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite interesting and I love the manga at the end - Taro is the sweetest.

[Julia Sapphire · Rating 4 out of 5]

2015 review:

I really enjoyed this baby!! It wasn't like a continuation or anything but it included bio's of the characters, interview's with the author and illustrator, little comics, and a longer comic at the end. It basically wraps up the series!! I feel like it did a very good job wrapping everything up and helping us understand things better!

There are points were this goes over everything that happened in titles and than a paragraph about it which I thought was cool. There was plenty of Information included in this as well.

I will say I skim read some of this. I only skim read the section were it shows all the rules with like a paragraph on it. So I basically just read the rule and skim read the paragraph.

But other than that it was a fast read.

[Noha Shawqi · Rating 4 out of 5]

ممكن تقرأها قبل ما تبدأ السلسله هي ملخص كامل عن كل الشخصيات وغني ودسم
وممكن تستغنى عنه لانك كدا كدا هتعرف كل الشخصيات مع سياق الاجزاء
اول تجربه ليا مع المانجا كانت ممتعه بس مرهقه ودسمه وبتاخد وقت طوييل وتركيز اكلت من وقتي كتير جدا لدرجه اني استغنيت عن باقي الكتب وانواعها عشان اقدر اركز فيها بس تستاهل ممتعه وتجربه رائعه هبدأ بسلسله جديده

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Death Note - HUGE FAN! So it was great to learn all the behind the scenes and interviews and jump into this world again! =] There were some extra manga strips and such towards the back of the book which with both hilarious and amazing to read! As always Death Note rules!!

[Mateen Mahboubi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ultimately an excessive volume for completionists only. This volume goes into a lot of detail about the full story, some details which you may have missed along the way. There are some interviews to which may be of interest but nothing really feels like must read material here.

[amelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

te extraño light

[Andre · Rating 2 out of 5]

1) Deutsche Rezension
2) English Review

1) Deutsche Rezension
Müsste ich dieses Buch mit einem Satz beschreiben wäre es bestimmt:
"Es ist ein Fanbuch."

Im Grunde läuft was man hier findet darauf hinaus. The Informationen zu den Figuren, der Entwicklungsprozess, die ganzen Fragen, der Persönlichkeitstest und sogar der Mini-Manga und Comics am Ende.
Sicher, ich mag Death Note aber nun auch nicht dermaßen, dass mich das hier interessieren würde. Tatsache ist, dass ich das meiste recht langweilig fand da es mich nicht wirklich interessiert hat.
Es gab auch ein paar merkwürdige Dinge. Zum Beispiel hatten sie recht gute Charakterisierungen von Light, L (trotz seiner Abstammung nennen sie in Lawliet), Near und Mello, aber sie schienen Misa's zwanghafte und mörderische Aktionen und Tendenzen herunterzuspielen und schienen unfähig zuzugeben, dass bestimmte Dinge welche Hauptpunkte waren (oder hätten sein können) fallen gelassen wurden da sie nicht zur Handlung passten. Misa tötet leichtfertig für einen Typen den sie kaum kennt und für den sie eine krankhafte Heldenverehrung hat und das Buch spielt es einfach so runter? Es hatte keine Probleme zu sagen, das Light die Grenze zum Bösen überschritten hatte aber Misa nicht? Und genau wie Manga und Anime scheint dies hier es nicht eigenartig zu finden dass eine FBI Agentin mit Naomis Intelligenz einem Typ den sie kaum kennt so viel erzählt wie sie es tut. Hier heißt es sie musste sterben weil sie zu viel wusste… Ich würde sagen der Grund ist, dass eine Figur geschaffen wurde welche zu schlau war um hier zu funktionieren und so wurde sie heraus geschrieben. Und das merkt man auch, alles was zu ihrem Tod führt wirkt sehr konstruiert und erzwungen und das ist nicht typisch für Death Note. Es hat keinen Sinn gemacht und wird es auch nie. Auch das Kapitel über die Menschen war recht flau, aber das über die Todesgötter besser. Mir fiel aber etwas Interessantes in Bezug auf das Design der Götter auf.
Die männlichen Todesgötter sind alle im Grunde humanoid und von ihren Proportionen her würde man sie als männlich nach menschlichen Maßstäben identifizieren. Die weiblichen haben aber eine größere Bandbreite, richtig amphibisch oder sogar formlos, aber interessanterweise haben sie niemals eine Form welche nach menschlichen Standards als weiblich gelten würde. Bei der Inspiration zu den Entwürfen und Stil fand ich es komisch dass der Künstler sagte Rem's Kopf sei von dem von Medusa inspiriert und Shidoh hätte den Schnabel eines Kanarienvogels. Meiner Meinung nach sieht Rem mehr wie Medusa aus (und auch das kaum) als das Shidoh einem Kanarienvogel ähnelt. Ich kann auch keine Logik bei dem Ränkesystem der Todesgötter erkennen.
Es gab viele Fragen bezüglich Details, was ich verstehen kann aber ich denke sie übertreiben es. So gut die Geschichte auch ist, für gewöhnlich gibt es Elemente welche keine tiefere Bedeutung haben, sie sind nur da um die Handlung voranzutreiben oder sind Ostereier und so, es sind keine Hinweise oder sonst was, einfach nur Zufall. Und scheinbar ist das Mädchen/Frau welche am Ende von Death Note betet nicht Misa und einige (wie ich) dachten sie wäre es; was vielleicht nicht passiert wäre wenn sie nicht so sehr wie Misa aussehen würde, zumindest eine andere Frisur oder Alter hätten genügt. Wenn sie für Misa gehalten wird, dann ist der Künstler selbst schuld.
Man erhält auch Informationen zu all jenen Tricks welche im Manga benutzt wurden, ein Death Note Persönlichkeitstest (sprich welcher Charakter bist du) und wie ich sagte, Ich mag die Geschichte aber nicht so sehr.
Und der Kommentar des Autors ala "Menschen ändern sich nicht" ist recht passend. Bei seiner Geschichte dachte ich immer, dass seine Sicht der Menschheit sehr negativ ist und er nichts von Kriminalität versteht. Es scheint ihm nicht in den Sinn zu kommen, dass Verbrechen aus Druck und Notwendigkeit entstehen kann; er scheint einfach bei "Menschen sind schlecht und daher tun sie es" zu bleiben.
Während das hier recht langweilig war, fand ich einige der Comics recht lustig, und andere schlicht blöd. Der kleine Pilot-Manga war allerdings recht gut. Nichts Besonderes und kinderfreundlicher als das eigentliche Endprodukt aber es war interessant die Ursprungsidee zu sehen. Der Held ist wesentlich jünger, hat einen anderen Namen und kapiert zuerst nicht was auf dem Buch steht da sein Englisch noch nicht so weit ist und erkennt die Wirkung des Buches aufgrund reinen Zufalls. Ryuk sieht recht gleich aus, aber mehr im Schatten und mit weniger Details. Zudem gibt es hier Berichte von früheren Benutzern des Death Note… was etwas war das ich immer eigenartig finde; keine Aufzeichnungen? So etwas wie bei Light ist noch nie vorher passiert? Zudem hat der Manga einen Todesradierer um Leute wiederzuerwecken solange sie nicht eingeäschert wurden und wenn der Manga auch nichts damit macht so frage ich mich doch was passieren würde bei Leuten die eines besonders gewaltsamen Todes gestorben sind. Das könnte grässlich sein.
Es hat mich gewundert in welche Richtung diese Serie gegangen wäre, wäre man bei dieser Version geblieben.


2) English Review
If I had to describe this book in one sentence I would probably say:
"It is a fan book."

Basically what you find in here comes down to this single fact. The info you get on the characters, the creation process, all the questions, the personality test and even the mini manga and comic strips towards the end.
I sure like Death Note but I am not that much of a fan that this book here would interest me that much. In fact for the most part I found it pretty boring because I really did not care for most of it.
Also it did have some weird things in it. For instance, while they had pretty good characterizations of Light, L (despite his ancestry they gave him the name Lawliet), Near and Mello, they seem to romanticize Misa's obsessive and homicidal actions and tendencies and don't seem to be able to just admit that certain things that were major turning points (or could have been) where dropped because of plot convenience. I mean Misa kills easily just for a guy she barely knows and has a sick hero worship on and the book plays it down like that? It had no problem saying Light crossed the line to evil but Misa did not? Also similar to the manga and anime this one here doesn't seem to find it weird that an experienced former FBI agent with intelligence like Naomi's would just tell a guy she barely knows as much as she did. As reason for Naomi's death he has that she found out too much... I would say the reason is that he made a character that was too smart to work with the story so she was written out. And you notice it; most of what was leading to her death once she met Light was incredibly forced in my mind, something very untypical for the Death Note franchise. That makes no sense, never did, never will. Also the chapter on the humans was kind of bland, the one on the death gods was a bit more interesting. However I did notice an interesting thing regarding the designs of the gods.
The male death gods are all basically humanoid and with proportions that would identify them as male to humans, sometimes more sometimes less. The female ones have a much higher range, downright amphibian or even amorphous, but they interestingly never have a form that would be considered female by human standards. When it came to the inspiration for the designs and style I found it weird that the artist stated that the inspiration for Rem's head was Medusa and according to this book Shidoh has a beak based on a canary bird. In my mind Rem looks more like Medusa (and she doesn't in my mind) than this guy looks like a canary bird. Also I see no real logic behind the Death god rating system.
There were a lot of questions here regarding details, which I can kind of understand but I think it's really overdoing it. As good as the story is, there are usually elements who have no deeper meaning for the story, they are just there to drive the plot forward or some Easter eggs and the like, they are not portents or anything, it's pure coincidence. And apparently the girl/woman at the end of Death Note who is praying was not Misa and they state that some think she is (including me), maybe they would not have thought that if the artist would have drawn a girl/woman that doesn't look so much like Misa, at least give her a different hairstyle or anything, or make her older. If people mistake her for Misa than it’s the artists own fault.
You also get information on all those tricks in it that they used in the manga, a Death Note personality test (aka which character are you) and like I said, I like the story but I don't like it that much.
Also the author's comment ala "humans will never change" is pretty fitting. When seeing the story I always thought his vision on humanity is rather negative and he doesn't understand much about criminality. It never seemed to occur to him that crime also can come from pressure and need, but in his case it seems rather "humans are bad and so they do it."
However while this was pretty bland and boring, I found some of the few comic strips very funny, but others plain stupid. The small pilot manga was pretty good though. Nothing special and more kid-friendly than the final product but it was interesting to see their original ideas. The character is much younger, has a different name and in fact does not grasp right away what stands on the book as his English is not yet advanced enough and finds the effect of the book out by pure coincidence. Ryuk still looks pretty similar though, just more in shadows, showing less detail. Plus here there is record of earlier cases of people using the note... that was something I found weird in the published story; no records of prior users? Nothing like what Light did ever occur before? Also, the pilot manga has a death eraser to bring people back to live as long as their corpses have not been cremated yet and while the manga does not go there it does make you wonder what would happen with people who died by severe violence like a car accident or bullets. This could be really grizzly.
It did make me wonder what direction Death Note might have gone had they stayed with this version.

[Hamnah Siddiqui · Rating 5 out of 5]

Death Note is a series by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata about an epic battle of wits between the highschool student Light Yagami and detective extraordinaire L. Light found a notebook called the Death Note and uses it to kill criminals by writing their names in it. This causes him to be known by the public as Kira, or killer. L is determined to stop him and tries to do this by getting closer to Light and by having him work on the case with him. L almost exposed Light, but Light has supernatural beings on his side which ultimately led to L's downfall. After L, his successors Near and Mello take the wheel of the Kira investigation and catch Light, but not before many others die. The 13th volume is not part of the story line, but does tie up any loose ends of the series. It also gives information about the characters that has not been revealed in the previous books and Q and A's with the authors. I rated this book a 5 out of 5 stars because it doesn't fail to live up to the high standards from the previous books and provides a sense of closure to the series. It also isn't boring and monotonous like most other guides or encyclopedias. I would recommend this book to those who have finished the series and have questions about the series, whether if it is about the characters' actions or thoughts, or if it is about the authors.

[Les petits livres · Rating 2 out of 5]

J'aime pas trop ces tomes en plus dans lesquels il n'y a que des infos sur les personnages, l'univers et tout le reste... Je comprends que ça puisse intéresser les gens mais dans ce cas ne l'appelez pas tome 13... Bon j'ai quand même lu de travers et ça reste intéressant parfois mais c'est vraiment pas ce que je recherchais dans un tome 13...

[R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book so long ago, before I had Goodreads. Love Death Note unexplainably

[Zenandroid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty neat book, Given it non-fiction nature though i am of course jumping back and forth through the interviews and such !

[Mim 741 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Formidable recopilación de datos y curiosidades de la obra que definitivamente la convierten en una obra maestra.