Death Note: Finis by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata (Death Note #12)

9/10

Managing to deceive their bodyguards, Mello captures Kiyomi Takada, ordering her to strip naked as a tracer could be anywhere on her body and he wants no one to be alerted to where she is. Light is furious at her not answering her phone, but thinks it has been turned off, or someone has got to her, but this time he is not sure. Near tells Light it is Mello who has captured and detained Takada, informing him he won’t talk to him as he is too busy using Takada as bait to capture Kira.

Still on their trail, Near hears more of what happens to Mello and Takada, while Teru Mikami has the names of the SPK members and the members of the Japanese Investigation Team written in his notebook, ready to use, sending him to the abandoned warehouse where Light and his three comrades will meet with Near and find out who will be victorious in this 21st century battle.

As this is the final volume of Death Note, fans will be itching to know what is going to happen to either Light or Near now that both have shown a tremendous amount of skill, daring and intelligence in this series of novels. Slowly but surely Light and Mikami have become insane with power, but it will make the reader wonder if the notebooks they have made them that way, as Light in the first novel stated he knew there was something in the book that made him want to use it at least once, and it hints in the last novel that Light could have been possibly possessed against his knowledge by the Ryuk.

This will be thought about a lot once fans read the final volume as it is open for debate as to Light's evil nature. The debate could also be out when Light lost his memories of the Death Note, and if Ryuk had not appeared to him, he might have become one of the greatest police leaders in the world and probably fought against crime alongside the original L. Teru Mikami is one of the Kira appreciators who plays a great part in this volume, and gives Light a sense of helplessness as he relies on him so much near the end.

The art is amazing and shows the tenseness of the circumstances Light, Teru, Near and their respective teams are in. The shadows and insanity of the characters give the series a new dimension not seen before and make this the best ever book in the entire anthology. The end is near, and as shocking as expected and truly satisfying. You'll be dying to reach the last page.