This was the first manga I ever read fully and it remains my all-time favourite. It deserves all its popularity and hype, and you will not be dissapointed if you read it! Honestly, I decided to start this one day and it was very hard to stop. Very very hard. I think I read this all in a day the first time I read it.

First things first, the story is incredible. The characters work so well together and the story takes a lot of risks but all of them work really well. The time jumps are great and mean the story doesn't sit around doing nothing at any point. Light is a character you can both love and hate, as you can see both that he is wrong in using the Death Note, but the reasons behind it - to start with - are pretty pure. L as well is my favourite character of all time and the two are perfect as both enemies and friends - which remains one of the complex and best relationships I have ever seen.

The characters are almost all enjoyable, though I can't say I liked Misa much - this might be just my opinion - yet the story does take a few turns that will have some people extremely upset. Death Note though is great in that it kept on creating brilliant new characters throughout, who are even better than some of the original characters!

The art is great, and each character is given their own 'look' as well. I liked how Light always wore something that suited his personality, considering how many different outfits he went through, and how this point applied to everyone else. The artwork for L as well made him stand out from every other character, which showed just how different he was from them. The shinigami also have some great artwork too as some are made to look like humans - only twisted - while others are made to look only like monsters.

This manga is well and truly a classic. It's not easy to create characters and a story that focuses so heavily on moralistic values and good and evil. Each plot twist is cleverly crafted and it always is made to feel fresh, especially when new characters are involved. If you have not already read this manga, do so now. If you have already, read it again. It is one of the best out there.