When I began to read Death Note, I was thrilled. The plot and idea pulled me in, it was interesting, and I just loved it. The (occasional) slow pace wasn't that bad then.

At some point, though, the pace of the story started to bug me a little. With both our detectives, L and Near, as well as Light, they kept going over the same things, talking big, planning bigger... I don't know why, but that became the most annoying aspect of the whole story: it began to drag its feet when it could have already moved on.

There was a slight change of pace when the end of L's era came and Near stepped in. I don't know why, but it just seemed different. More elements got involved when Near appeared, as well as Mello, and move moving pieces were added to the mix.

I don't know what to really think of the conclusion of the story. I kept dreading it from half-way through the whole series, because there were really only a couple of options: either Kira would win, or L/Near would. It was a thrilling ride, to the very end, and the characters that in the beginning seemed unimportant (Matsuda, Aizawa, Mogi etc.) stayed with us far longer and much more prominently than could have been expected in the very beginning.

The art of Death Note was fantastic. The details, the beauty, the little things that made it unique... I especially liked the Death Note's "How to use it" parts, because they were written both in English and Japanese (I'm studying Japanese at my leisure, so it was good practice whenever I decided to try and read it). The font was a bit hard to see, too thin against the black surface, but it gave the manga a very special design.

One thing I loved, and which wasn't used nearly enough, was the Shinigami. I totally loved Ryuk, and the others were okay as well. There should have been more of them, definitely. With all the talking and masterminds playing against each other, they were a refreshing break.

It was funny how after 12 volumes, I'm still not sure how close to the characters I really got. Even in the last volume, it didn't feel like I knew them very well.

Altogether, one of my favorite manga series - even though the amount of talking threw me off a little. Looking forward to seeing the anime and the movies.