A review by jaredolin
Death Note: Another Note - The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases by NISIOISIN

dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

With her investigative abilities, Naomi should have been able to eventually figure out that L was L based on him referring to himself as Ryuzaki in the end. It seems like she has no clue who L is in the manga, so this may have led her to surviving Kira. She would’ve been able to get in touch with L quicker with the clues she’d gathered. Because that would’ve changed the the story of Death Note dramatically, I think L introducing himself as Ryuzaki to her at the end should’ve been left out.

However, this was such a great addition to the world of Death Note. I don’t remember seeing any mention of this case in the manga when I read it in 2015, but I noticed it when watching the anime just a month ago. This makes me wish Naomi stayed around longer in the show. She went down so unceremoniously by Kira that I didn’t want to believe it. I was waiting for her to come back from her walk to suicide for the remainder of the show and join L’s investigation team. It wouldn’t have worked because she’d figured out who Kira was, but let me dream!

Anyways, because I wanted more of Naomi’s character, I loved that she was the protagonist of this book. She was already vetted as a badass for discovering Kira in the manga, but this cements her badassery even more.

I also was thrown by the grotesque descriptions of the murders, but I thought it added a lot to this world and definitely fit the dark themes. It would’ve made the anime that much more gritty to include the gore described in this book.

And how it wrapped up was so beautiful! B was foolishly obsessed, but the breakdown of how everything went down with more context was so good. I only could guess that Rue R was Beyond Birthday as Naomi’s revelation started coming to her. I almost thought L was trying to get rid of her while she sat in room 1313. Shows you how far off I was.


The writing for the manga is some of the best I’ve ever experienced, and I’m happy to say that NISIO ISIN met my expectations of intricacy in his writing too.
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