A NOTEBOOK THAT KILLS

“The human whose name is written in this Death Note shall die.”

It is the first rule of the Death Note and whoever founds it and read the first rule may laugh and consequently jump to a conclusion that it was a silly joke created by its original owner scare anyone who picked the notebook… but heavens no! It really kills. Raito (Light), the leading character in the series have the same impression when he picked the dropped notebook and tested it by writing a criminal’s name. The next day, he was totally shocked after learning that the criminal whose name he had written on the Death Note died of heart attack.

Things began to change as the story progress as well as the character of Raito. He finally decided that he will use the Death Note to eliminate anybody he feels that doesn’t necessarily live in this world. In addition, Raito dreamed that with the Death Note, a powerful instrument of death in his hands, he will be able to create his ideal world, a world where crime, violence and other forms of evil don’t exist. He called that world Utopia.

On that world which he dreamed, he stands firm and declared himself as the god who will bestow judgment to evildoers.

The notebook of death which came to Raito was dropped purposely by a bored death god and he’s the true owner of the Death Note. But, not just one, there are many of them.

They are the shinigamis or death gods.

A NOTEBOOK FROM THE DEPTHS OF DEATH

“Inside your heart, is there anyone you wish would die?”
–Death Note,
Volume 0

Death Note… sounds scary? Or sounds funny?

I can’t really recall where and from whom I first learned about those words. Maybe from my anime freak brother (like myself) or from a friend, I can’t say. But it caught my attention when my friend repeated the words to me. The next day, I browsed many internet sites typing the words “death note” in a web search engine and also tried You Tube for any possible video clips from the movie. Well, You Tube is really amazing because the trailer caught my attention. It also aroused my interest.

On the day after yesterday, I hurriedly went to different branches of Comic Alley… in Megamall, Cubao, and Mall of Asia and browsed different stuffs of Death Note. Few days after the death of my mobile phone due to a freak accident (huhuhuhuhu), I went to SM Manila to buy the notebook of Death Note. Thanks to the salesman there, I found it hard to choose between the small notebook and the big one. There were two package boxes; the small one contains a small notebook, a pen and DVD while the big one has the big notebook (the original one like in the movie), a pen and also DVD. The salesman told me that the big one is the original and the best. It may be expensive but I can’t stop myself. I bought it without any second thought then went home to Bulacan to spend at least one day vacation.

As I am carrying the Death Note which was inside the plastic bag, a sense of dread crept over me. I didn’t really know why but maybe I was thinking too much. But it was really weird; I felt that something is going to happen as I am carrying the notebook of death.

And it really happened! Though it was not worse… thanks goodness!

While riding a jeep amidst the long North Express Way going to Sta. Maria, the jeep where I was ran out of gas and parked at the side of the toll way. Luckily, the jeep was just only few meters away from the gasoline station. I waited for thirty minutes for the driver to come back and refill the jeep with little gasoline. Whew! At last the engine roared once again and came back to life… the driver drove us to the nearby gasoline station and refilled again the jeep gas tank and finally we’re off. Two hours after, I finally arrived home safe as well as the notebook.

But while I was in the jeep waiting for the driver to come back from the gasoline station, I couldn’t stop thinking why it happened because it never happened to me before. I asked myself: “Is it the note?”

You may call it just a coincidence or no sense at all but for myself, I could not throw away the theory that the event transpired was not happened by coincidence… there must be some weird things behind it. I am going to point my ruddy finger to the notebook of death which I carried on that day when it happened.

I asked myself, “Is there a shinigami following me?”

Any person who owns the Death Note dropped or passed down by a shinigami will be able to see the god of death who originally owns the notebook, and that person will have a miserable life. But behind those miseries lies an unimaginable power—a power to kill.

But I think that it would be better if I’ll just put aside the thinking of it over and over again… I don’t want to be mad.

In my next posts, I am going to dive deeper in the story created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata.

So keep visiting!