enthralledI forget what
parron and I were talking about, but the subject came up, and she started talking up various series. When she describe the premise of Death Note, I realized that if it were a book, or a Western-style comic, I'd be all over it. The next thing I know, I'm in a bookstore, perusing the manga section, and walking out with the first three books of that series along with X/1999. And the day after that, I'm itching to get my hands on more. Can I resist further addiction? We will see. This is a potentially dangerous habit! At least both series are finite.I've read the first five X/1999 books and the first two books of Death Note. X/1999 is a fairly straightforward world-in-peril story that I am mostly enjoying for the characters. The hero/anti-hero angle interests me, and many of the side characters are lovable, intriguing, or both. So far it's being painted as a simplistic "good versus evil" situation, but there has to be more to it than that. Any minute now, I'm expecting the scene where the "bad guys" reveal their true motives and they turn out to be not so bad after all. Still, it is a fun ride.
Death Note is something else again. Wow! Fantastically complex. Light fascinates me even though I can have no sympathy whatsoever. As soon as he turned down the trade of more power for less life, and gave his need to rule over the "utopia" he was creating as a reason, I was done with him. But I am still utterly drawn into his story. The battle of wits he's conducting with L. is really well done. So far Light seems to continually be one step ahead but that can't last. At some point L. is going to have to checkmate him. Isn't he? I mean, Light can't win. Can he?
