I’ve never read the manga until this last week…I’ve watched the entire series once or twice, and watched episodes 1-25 at least 6 times, and watched specific episodes (2, 6, 7, 15, 25) countless times. From the anime, I did not really care for Part II very much. I did not care for the characters Near and Mello, figuring them to be similar to L if L were broken into two pieces (each holding some of L’s characteristics). I also did not care for the number of characters…

Part I is mostly Kira, L, Misa, Ryuk, Rem, Japanese Task Force.
Part II is mostly Kira, Near, Mello, Misa, Ryuk, Mikami, Takada, Japanese Task Force and the SPK. By the end, it’s too much! There was a lot to follow and watching the anime, I can say I got lost a bit.

Reading the manga is different though, it discusses all the details more (a lot more), and lets you know what the characters think more often as well as constantly (maybe too often) writing a synopsis of the current situation…which is appreciated but also gets tiring to read.

Anyways, after reading the manga, my appreciation for Part II has become much higher. Near isn’t quite the clone of L that I originally thought he was. While L was interesting, I dare say that I believe Near was more intelligent.

I really did not like that a part of why Kira lost was because Mikami screwed up a bit. I always thought it would be much better if Near (and Mello) outsmarted Kira rather than Kira’s underling, Mikami, making a mistake. I found it interesting that in reading volume 13, Tsugumi Ohba discusses that he did not want Kira’s loss to be a total mistake on his part so he intentionally put in an error from someone like Mikami. I can kind of see why…the readers have all built up Kira in his head that he’s this ultimate mind, thinking and out thinking everyone. He defeated L, he’s the protagonist…I guess? But Kira had his weaknesses, they could have simply exploited them.

Kira’s weaknesses
Childish and hates to lose – for example, killing Lind L. Taylor and getting pwned by L because of that (ep 2).
Careless – L determining Misa as Second Kira. She got caught and various pieces of evidence confirmed it (hair on envelope that tapes were sent)…and Kira just assumed she was safe. Stupid. Don’t let the stupid girl be associated with you!
Overconfident in his abilities – This was taken from Death Note manga’s vol. 13 (Interview with Tsugumi Ohba). I would prefer that this would be his downfall. He’s defeated L, he’s reigned as semi-god for 5 years before meeting someone equal in intelligence, Near. I would figure he just got cocky and careless…

I guess I’ll go into the other character’s weaknesses, as I see it:

L’s weakness
He was too focused on specific evidence and proof, unable to work with assumptions as well as Near. He was very specific in doing things “the right way”…something which Mello didn’t do.

Near’s weakness
None? He acted on assumptions much more than L…but without Mello, it’s only a 50% chance he would have beaten Kira. At least, that’s what I gathered from Part II. But with Near and Mello working together, they definitely surpassed L.

L and Near were very similar but Mello was the key to assuring victory…

All in all, I found the Near, Mello, and Kira battle a lot more interesting this time around….

Differences between the Manga and the Anime
Kira is less sure of himself at the beginning but soon turns into the Kira I’m used to. The differences are most notably the end…
1. The way Kira dies is different. He’s a bit more pathetic in the manga. Like a child…
2. The aftermath featuring Matsuda, Near, Aizawa, etc….
3. The large number of people who support Kira. Men, women, children, the elderly….holding a candle Light vigil for Kira.

Conclusion
If you liked Death Note, I would definitely recommend getting the manga. While volumes 1-12 focus on the anime, but with more detail, Volume 13 was a real treat. An interview with Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata as well as all these other insights…such as Mikami and Misa’s deathdate. I’m learning so much about the behind the scenes, it’s actually very entertaining. There’s a “cut to open” card that has L’s real name on it. I thought that was interesting, you never know L’s name…but then in the character profiles in volume 13, they show it. I would never cut that thing open anyways. Actually, I didn’t remember Near’s name getting exposed in the anime either but it’s shown in the manga. Maybe it just happened too fast in the anime.

Also, Takeshi Obata is the man! Besides the awesome work from Hikaru no Go, the art of Death Note really focuses on mood and lighting and is far less child-like (than Hikaru no Go). Volume 13 tells how much influence Obata had with the designs of L, Light, Near, etc. And did you notice Near is always wearing all white? The panels with him look like a paint-by-numbers thing where he’s left out. It’s actually pretty interesting when I noticed. Also, the way L holds a cellphone and papers is his work too but L’s mannerisms is a combination of both I believe. I really enjoyed his interviews, I found them much more interesting than Tsugumi Ohba who either seemed a bit aloof during his interview, being a genius but hiding it….or really didn’t plan Death Note all that well and sort of just…worked itself out in the end O_O. That’s the impression I got from the mastermind behind Death Note. He didn’t really know what he was doing…like, he was intelligent but didn’t really plan things ahead. He just took it week by week and it all worked itself out. I was a bit shocked by that…

/off to read a non graphic novel…with lots of words and no pictures (except y’know, my imagination…)