Death Note Volume 9: Contact by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata

Rating - 3: worth reading once (borrow it from a library)

Mello is shaping up nicely. Near is not.

Light takes the fight to Mello as Kira advances on the world stage. Near's deductions advance as his sphere of influence is increasingly circumscribed.

I keep expecting more from Near and not getting it. His toys are like L's candy, only far more visible, distracting, and childish. His deductions are on par with L's, maybe better, but he lacks any other skills to make something happen as a result. He does not seem to understand people well enough to engage in Light's manipulations, so much so that his own staff is a jump ahead of him. A character is in a bad way when you note that he lacks L's social skills. He fares poorly as a major player; he would work well as a tool in the service of a major player.

Which he may be becoming due to Mello's effectiveness. Near presents the threat of exposure to L, Kira, and Light; Mello might just kill everyone to prove he can. And maybe he can, once he gets his feet under him, but it remains to be seen how much he can do in the long run.

Near and Mello do interact well. They show an inverse of L and Light's relationship: venomously polite but the only underlying hostility is competitiveness.

For the other contrast, this volume reverses the flow of the previous one, with Light counter-attacking both Mello and Near. Only one completes within the volume, and it is still nice to see someone with contingencies so that not everything goes exactly as planned. They are both annoying twerps of different shades, but they each present some sort of threat to Light.

Mello, despite what you have seen in movies, you should not hold a gun sideways. You may think it makes you look "gangsta," but you should have spent enough time with real criminals not to be doing that. This series shows the very different Japanese attitude towards guns, which are more unusual over there. There is also the police hesitance against overwhelming force combined with a calm assurance of the death penalty.

We have a new, named female character! She then immediately goes to the shower scene as she discusses her comfort with being a tool of the major characters. Oh, well then. Maybe she and Misa could be friends.

collected edition
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