Them Apples: The Death Note manga series

*FULLY BOOKED'S RECOMMENDED READING AGE: ADULT

No, this Ryuk figure isn't available at Fully Booked. Its part of my personal collection :-)!

For those who don't know who this creepy dude is, his name is Ryuk, a death god (or shinigami) from the popular manga and anime series Death Note. (There was also a live action film, which, in my opinion, wasn't as good as the anime (Japanese cartoon). This is not to say that I didn't find it entertaining.) Ryuk is a totally freaky yet strangely endearing creature whose favorite food is...APPLES.

The basic premise of this manga (or Japanese comic book) series revolves around a notebook dropped by Ryuk (on purpose) and picked up by a bright law student named Light Yagami. Basically, this notebook has the power to kill by simply writing down the name of the person you want to do away with. Light uses it to rid the world of all the criminals, under guise of the seemingly unstoppable, undiscoverable "Kira."

Like most vigilantes, Light is eventually consumed by the power of the Death Note. Though his intentions are pure in the beginning, that nobody has the right to take away life begins to tear at his morality and twist his very being.

The strange and reclusive genius, Detective L, is assigned to discover who Kira really is and end his murderous mission. Its an interesting and exciting chase to say the least, and despite the plot's morbid aspect, there are some humorous bits, which can be attributed to Tsugumi Ohba's great characterization, to say nothing of Takeshi Obata's imagery. Before I go and spoil the entire story for you, I am going to stop right here, and end by saying its one of the best manga series (and anime for that matter) I've ever seen. Of course, it does have a touch of that redundancy so typical of a lot of manga (take Hell Girl by Miyuki Eto, for example) storylines.

What inspired me to blog about this today is once again I was trawling the sea that is Fully Booked for more exceptional reads, when I spotted this swimming in the manga section (I "love" the manga section of Fully Booked):

The Death Note box set, which includes all 12 mangas, Death Note 13: How to Read, plus another surprise. The box is a collector's item in itself--a mini suitcase with a handle. All I can say is "WOW."

And how do you like 'em apples?