Death Note: Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases

I’ll start this review off with a warning: the book assumes you’ve read (or watched) most of Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata’s Death Note. I’m going to be writing this review with the same assumption - there are major spoilers for the series from here on out.

Okay, so this book stars L and Naomi Misora. If you don’t remember who Misora is, she was the FBI agent who began investigating Kira after her fiance, FBI agent Raye Penber, was killed by him. The book’s narrator is Mello, who has decided to write down some of L’s cases after his death, starting with this one. You know, in between hunting down Kira or something.

Anyway, Misora is trying to decide whether to resign from the FBI after a particular event that got her show more suspended when she receives an email from her fiance that actually turns out to be from L. L wants her help with a case he’s currently working on: the Los Angeles BB Murder Cases, also known as the Wara Ningyo Murders or the L.A. Serial Locked Room Killings. There have have been three murders so far and, due to the murderer’s pattern, L believes there may yet be a fourth and even a fifth, unless he and Misora can find the killer first. L sends Misora to be his eyes and hands, although it’s not long before she’s joined by Rue Ryuzaki, a suspicious and strange private detective who has a habit of crawling around on all fours and eating disgustingly sweet snacks.

I went into this feeling somewhat hopeful. My one previous experience with NisiOisin’s writing was Kizumonogatari: Wound Tale, which I loathed, but this was a Death Note prequel starring one of my favorite characters from the series, L, so it was possible it would be better. I figured I’d be happy if NisiOisin delivered a competent mystery that stayed true to L as a character and didn’t include multi-page panty descriptions.

Panties showed up once but weren’t described in detail. L was okay, although he occasionally came across as a little pathetic. There was one part where he seemed to be fishing for compliments from Misora, and I found myself wondering how old he was in this story. I spent a good chunk of the book a little annoyed with him, because it seemed like he’d arranged for Misora to “help” him primarily so that he could get a chance to look cool around a pretty woman. Thankfully, the situation wasn’t quite what I thought it was, although that wasn’t revealed until fairly late in the book.

As for Naomi Misora… I don’t recall having any particular opinions about her when I read the original series and watched the anime, but NisiOisin managed to make me dislike her somewhat. Some of that might have been the translator’s fault - for example, Misora’s word choice when she came up with an idea that she realized wasn’t very good: “no, that was retarded” (124). But Misora’s rant when L asked her what she thought about Ryuzaki was definitely all on NisiOisin:

“‘Creepy and pathetic, and so suspicious that if I weren’t on leave, I’d move to arrest him the moment I laid eyes on him. If we divided everyone in the world into those that would be better off dead and those that wouldn’t, there’s no doubt in my mind that he’d be the former. Such a complete freak that it amazes me he hasn’t killed himself.’” (55-56)

I have a feeling that NisiOisin intended readers to find this humorous, Misora accidentally and very pointedly insulting L, but instead it made Misora seem horrible and cruel.

The mystery itself left me feeling torn. The puzzles the killer left behind were incredibly contrived, and I had trouble believing in the solutions Misora and Ryuzaki came up with, several of which relied heavily on what I felt were unfounded assumptions. Three murders didn’t give them much data to work with when trying to figure out the murderer’s patterns, and their justification for the date when the fourth murder would occur was, in my opinion, particularly weak.

According to Wikipedia, one of the things NisiOisin is known for is creating characters with extremely strange names. As amusing as it was, I wish he’d reined that tendency in here, because it made the characters seem like idiots. The police noted that each crime scene had Wara Ningyo dolls (similar to voodoo dolls?) nailed to the walls, that the murderer had painstakingly wiped away all fingerprints, and that they were all “locked room” murders, but they couldn’t find any similarities between the victims. The first victim was a 44-year-old male freelance writer named Believe Bridesmaid. The second was a 13-year-old girl named Quarter Queen. The third was a 26-year-old female bank clerk named Backyard Bottomslash. Although the characters considered the possible implications of the alliteration in the victims’ names, not a single person commented on how strange those names were and whether that strangeness might be part of the killer’s pattern.

The book’s pacing was terrible, and the tone should have been tense, considering there was only a short amount of time before the next murder, but NisiOisin kept peppering the story with awkward little jokes. My attention started to wander but was captured again when it was revealed that this case had a closer connection to L than I originally thought. The final revelations did take me by surprise, but I was also annoyed by them. It boggled my mind that a killer who was supposedly so smart couldn’t come up with a better way to beat L in a battle of wits. Even if he’d succeeded, he’d still have lost.Not only would he have been dead, he’d never have been 100% sure that L couldn’t figure out what he’d done.

It was a quick read the offered a few nice tidbits for fans of Death Note in general and L in particular, but the tone and pacing could have been so much better, and the final revelations somehow managed to be both surprising and disappointing. I have one Death Note novel left, Death Note: L, Change the World, and I hope it turns out to be better than this one.

Extras:

Includes one page of color artwork by Takeshi Obata and a page of black-and-white artwork before each chapter.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

This book blew my mind. Mello's narration drew me more into the book with each chapter. And Beyond Birthday greatly intrigued me. Some parts went a little over my head, but it's Death Note--I expected that. I think the best--or better said, the most rewarding thing about reading the book was the depth it added to original Death Note characters.

There's a serial killer terrorizing the streets of Los Angeles, and the mysterious clues he has been leaving in his murderous wake seem to be taunting authorities. Onto the scene comes the L, the best crime solver in the world, to untangle the case. He recruits Naomi Misora, an FBI agent on a leave of absence from the bureau, to be his eyes on the ground, and soon enough she finds herself working alongside the decidedly creepy Ryuuzaki, who claims to be a private detective hired by the families of the victims. But as the mysteries start to unfold around the two of them, it becomes clear that L and the killer, whose name is Beyond Birthday, have a mutual past—something that has to do with Wammy House…

(animenewsnetwork.com)

So I was show more really excited to read this book and I was not disappointed! I absolutely loved the anime Deathnote so when I heard there was a side story book I thought "I have to read that now!"

One of the beauties of this book is the actual murders themselves. Don't get me wrong, they are creepy and pretty gruesome. But the way they are planned out are quite amazing really. There are clues in each murder that have to be solved. Riddles and big pictures. Beyond Birthday was truly a genius. Lets give some props to Naomi for figuring them out!

Another reason I really wanted to read it was to see L again. If you've seen Deathnote you'll know what I mean when I say he was my favorite character. But honestly, this story is more about Naomi and her investigations. I really liked her as main protagonist. I just kept waiting to see if she would figure out the next clue. She was quite clever. Another character I want to mention is Beyond Birthday himself. And let me just say, that is such a cool name! But anyways, he was a very interesting antagonist. We get to see the psychological side of the story as we see BB slowly digress into madness. Wait what am I saying? He's been crazy this entire time! He was a clever, crazy, genius. Honestly, he was one of my favorite characters just because he was so interesting.

So if you loved Deathnote I highly recommend this novel. It's a short read, only 176 pages. But it's well worth it. If you like good murder mysteries, I think you will still like it as well. This is one of those murder mysteries that make you think a bit more. It maybe boring for a few readers (I was into the entire time), but it really is worth the read. 4.5/5! show less

The Death Note series was definitely an enjoyable one, and while I'm not generally a fan of tie-in novels, when I got this one as a present, I was fairly pleased, although I'll admit it was partly because this is a very pretty book. I have to say, though, that I should have aimed my expectations at the tie-in novel level, rather than getting them raised, because this one wasn't really all that impressive.

The plot deals with L, frequently cited in the book as the century's greatest detective, interacting with one of the minor characters in the series, Misora Naomi, trying to solve a series of murders in Los Angeles. The whole thing sounds like a good idea: why not show L at work on a normal case set before the more supernatural one in show more the manga? A normal mystery story should work well here.

Unfortunately, the plot was sorta blah in the end (puzzles that generally, you can't solve for yourself, because you don't get all the information), and the story was really only barely a fair-play mystery. The characters aren't really all that interesting, either; you don't get much from them that wasn't in the series itself. The style is too knowing, with lots of reference to manga and novels and such, and written in what feels to me to be a very fan-fiction kind of way. It probably was that way in the original Japanese, as well, so I'm not even going to blame the translator for it.

All in all, you do get some fun out of the story if you really liked Death Note and wanted to see someone else play with the setting, but this one's not worth it. You can probably get fan-fiction this length for free... although then the book itself wouldn't be so pretty. show less

If the manga and TV show weren't enough for you, this book is your Death Note fix. Just as well-thought out as the comic is, and the story focuses on catching an unknown serial killer in LA. As the story is constantly giving the reader clues, you can only wander through your very own Death Note knowledge and try to figure it out. Surprisingly, even though I kind of felt the ending coming, it was a legitimate surprise but very well executed. It's a quick read, grab's your attention from the beginning, and doesn't let go. Roar through the LA BB Murder Case in under 200 pages time, great Teen read.

As a fan of the Death Note mythos, and of the great detective L and his brothers from Wammy's house especially, this book proved a very interesting departure from the tone of the series while continuing the high-stakes mind games of the series.

Despite the surprising and detailed events that occur, however, the writing style is a bit awkward at times. The characters are still compelling without the unique artwork of the series, but the lack of visuals makes it easy to get lost in the inner dialogue of Misora, who knows next to nothing initially, while the omniscient narrator flaunts his.. omniscience.

Overall, a very worthwhile read for those who appreciate the original works; otherwise, aside from a few suspenseful pages and not show more entirely cliche twists, it is pretty unremarkable. No regrets here, though:) show less

Another Deathnote dropped in the human world?
No. But dont be disappointed. This book centers around F.B.I. agent Naomi Misora and the world's greast detective L. The only real connection with the manga besides the main characters is the killer is said to have the eyes of the shinigami.
The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases - three deaths and the police have no leads or suspects. It takes ten victims usually before L gets involved but this killer has left clues only L or those working for L could possibly figure out. So, the battle of wits begins!!
I enjoyed this book for the puzzles and twists the author threw into the story. Reading about L before all the events of the Deathnote manga series was great. I really hope the people with the show more rights to the characters allow more books to be written with L as the main character. show less