Now a high school student, Minoru accepts the notebook from Ryuk, but he has no plans to use it himself. With the Shinigami's help, and his own ingenuity, he auctions it off anonymously as his actions are followed and predicted by Near. The United States of America buys it for a sum that leaves every Japanese citizen under the age of 60 set for life, but the King of Death creates a new rule of the Death Note that thwarts Minoru and the U.S. President's plans. All in all, this was an okay volume for fans of the original series, but not essential reading unless, for some reason, you want to see more of Near in action (although "Near inaction" is probably more accurate). If I remember right, there was some Death Note rule-changing in the original series, so the rule change in this story didn't bother me much. It made sense that, one way or another, the Shinigami would always win. I'm going to combine my thought on these two short stories here. These are vignettes of L's life. Bizarre, wholesome, and somehow even shorter than the previous section I just mentioned. Although quite good, these two short stories probably won't leave you with a lasting impression due to their, at max, 5 minutes long reading time.

I finished reading this one already when I reread Death Note through Death Note: All-in-One edition a few years ago. It was a good short story that shows the long-lasting effect of the Death Note being used in the main series. I also enjoyed reading about the respect people have for Kira, even when they disagree with his actions and methods. Then we get two stories, “One Day” and “Wammy’s House,” featuring the sweets-loving detective, L. These stories give us a glimpse of L’s life before his cat-and-mouse game with Light. It’s a mind-altering take on L’s personality and how he became the person he was. I personally felt sorry for this popular character and the life he’s led, but grateful that he had Wammy in his life. The third short stories was comic panels, completely random, not a story and throughout different times of the original story, but some quite funny moments. Overall, I think it goes without saying that Death Note Short Stories is strictly recommended to fans of Death Note. I don't think anyone who hasn't read or watched Death Note should start their journey into this series from here. But if you are a fan of Death Note, and you're reading this review, yes, you should read this. Don't expect something as mind-blowing as the main series, but this collection of short stories should suffice as an extra parting gift to fans of Death Note like I am. At the very least, you can enjoy seeing Takeshi Obata's spectacular artworks again, which is a blessing to this world.

This was reasonably clever. I winced a bit at the inclusion of a certain US president (no name, but he was definitely recognizable), although Ohba presenting him as a man who wouldn't sacrifice himself for his country but would absolutely lie to get praise from others was amusing. The setup was there to just kill him off, but I doubt Jump Square wanted that kind of attention.

I didn't realize this until I started working on this review, but this was actually the Death Note manga pilot. A brief explanation of this prior to the story would have been very helpful. I was so confused, trying to figure out where and how this fit into the series timeline. Plus, it introduced a mechanic that never came up in the series, a Death Note eraser.

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The chapter did not have a title until its publication in Death Note: Short Stories. Prior to its re-release, it was referred to as the 2020 one-shot chapter or the "Never Complete One-Shot" due to its partial manuscript release at the Never Complete Exhibition in 2019. I hated Near when I first read Death Note (I was sad that L was gone) but found myself invested in what he was doing and why he didn’t take on the initial case at the beginning of the story. Also Near is killing it with long hair 10/10.

This is, I think, our first real glimpse of the Death Note world after everything went down. From the sounds of things, although Light isn't around anymore, his influence has persisted and the world is magically more peaceful. (Because killing people definitely stops war and crime.) The fourth and fifth actually went deeper into the character of L which was very interesting to see. I love anything that develops and deepens a character. So yeah, these were good, super short but good. This manga includes a variety of stories that are adjacent to, but not part of, the main narrative in the Death Note series. Here is what's included: In this complete collection of Death Note short stories penned by the series' creators, discover tales of lives irrevocably changed by the sinister influence of the Death Note, with surprising and thrilling answers to the question of what it truly takes to use the Death Note…or fight it. The Chapter then time-skips to 2019, and shows a high schooler named Minoru Tanaka sitting on his bed and leaning on the wall. Ryuk emerges from the floor and taps the notebook on his head, which shows him Ryuk and receives all the memories he had on the Death Note. Minoru then says how its been 2 years to which Ryuk responds by saying he came out of the floor like promised and says he's a shinigami that keeps his word. Minoru says that he knows that.

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While there isn't much action in this installment, there is quite a bit of lore added to the universe of the Death Note. There are also plenty of cameos from fan-favorite characters such as Near, and depictions of how Light Yagami changed the world. After these dark stories, we get treated to some four-panel funnies to lighten the mood “a-Kira” left us with, featuring the original cast. Some of these are just beyond ridiculous, and just perfect after reading the previous story.

It has been a very long time since I last read or even watched any of the Death Note series. For the most part, this wasn't a problem, but I'd advise anyone who hasn't read the original series at all to steer clear of this volume because it includes major spoilers. A short comedy section. This section shows small parts of the lives of the main characters in Death Note told through a four-panel humorous comic style. It was mostly for fun, even if some of the jokes were meh, and it came with a downside, they were incredibly short bonuses. It won't take you ten minutes to read through them all, and overall, I think this is the most unnecessary section in the collection. One of the two biggest short stories in the collection, up there with a-kira. Taro Kagami was Death Note pilot chapter, and I could totally see why this pilot chapter sparked the interest that earned its serialization. It is far from being as good as the official first chapter of Death Note. But the one-shot shows the concept of Death Note nicely, which, to be honest, was a simple concept executed extraordinarily well. I enjoyed reading it, but also glad the duo decided to remove Death Eraser from the story. I don't think having that would make the story in Death Note as thrilling and phenomenal as it did. Being as L was and is my favorite character, I enjoyed the little snippets of him in this collection. I am desperately fascinated with L’s character and do intend to find papers that others have written about him because I think there are connections to be made. One paper could surely just be written about how we now know for sure, L was an iPad kid. This takes all the L jokes so far that it's tough to believe he ever managed to play a serious game of tennis against Light.

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And lastly, the short story of Taro Kagami. This is the highlight of the book; a brand new story of the Death Note and Ryuk with a fresh concept, an extra rule, the eraser was a bit weird for me if I’m honest. But I do like another story of another new user of the Death Note.