“OK, I’ll give that Light is a reference to god, but Near and Mello?”

I believe, seeing as Near and Mello are both only pseudonymes they both operate under as Wammy’s Children, it’s not much of an issue what feeling they give off. As is written in the How To Read 13, Near is derivated from the boy’s real name, Nate River (Nate as in that his talent is natural, given by the gods and River as in ‘flowing from L’). As for Mello, it’s a wordplay on the word ‘mellow’. The names are probably supposed to mean the opposites of their natural personalities – Mello being explosive and Near being very distant due to his sensitivity to other people’s reactions.

If I remember correctly, Ohba and Obata were going for names that don’t exist. Eraldo Coil, Deneuve, Aiber, Wedy, Mihael Keehl, Mail Jeevas… those are a few of the foreigner’s names and it’s clear right away that they aren’t real. I guess Nisionisin was going for the same feel.

Personally, I liked the book a lot! Considering the fact that this came out in Japan as a ‘light-novel’ book, the simple report style didn’t disturb me at all. I’m also glad that the translator decided to keep Mello’s narrating voice throughout the whole book, which gave it an even better feel.

I think the story fulfilled its purpose of being a prequel, showing many things about the characters and background settings – I found it interesting to read about the inner turmoil at Wammy’s House’s earlier years.

At the end, when it mentions the topics of the stories L told Mello, one was about a Bio-terrorism act between Denuve and Elraldo Coil, well the Death note spin-off movie is about a Bio- terroist act, which L has to solve, by himself in 23 days and called; L: Change the WorLd. The thing about this is that I don’t recall the movie ever mentioning Denuve or Coil (not the reals ones).

It is very different in tone to the original story, which I agree won’t sit right with a lot of fans. The names issue isn’t a critical one but Isin’s approach really grated on me for some reason. I can see it being a sticking point if I get to read any of his other stuff in future, no matter how well plotted it is.

As for the cashing in, yeah. It’s a spin-off so I can’t deny that. But then, I thought the manga ‘jumped the shark’ after the end of the L arc, so I’ve seen the franchise as a cash-in for a while now. It would have been an almost flawless story if it left out the whole Near/Mello thing entirely, I think.

The biggest problem I have with the book is not the 6th grade level writing, the weak plot, or the flat characters. It’s that in the introduction we are told that the story is a testament to the greatness of L’s genius, but in the end I felt as if L had done next to nothing, if not nothing at all, to help solve the case. I was promised L level intrigue, and it was not delivered. I was so mad when I finished it I could have written a rant longer than the book itself, but it’s been a while now and I can’t remember everything that pissed me off.

This was a quick cash-in on the Death Note name, and I fell for it, hot off the end of the anime and hungry for more. Don’t be like me, save your money for drugs or hookers or something worth your time.