Death Note 13: How to Read

How to Read 13 is an encyclopedic guide to the Death Note manga series, including character bios, storyline summaries, interviews with creators Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, production notes and commentaries, and bonus manga pages.

Reviews
Leroy Douresseaux from ComicBookBin wrote: Death Note How to Read 13 [is] billed as the "ultimate Death Note encyclopedia," and it may well be, for the time being. It's basically everything a fan of the series would need to know. There are illustrated character biographies, which are really so detailed that they could be called dossiers. Artist Takeshi Obata appears in an interview section which includes sketchbook material. Obata later joins writer Tsugumi Ohba for a discussion about the final mysteries of Death Note's "Chapter 108." Thorough storyline summaries and production notes: what more could someone who has read Death Note need?

But how would I know since I’ve never read Death Note? Well, Death Note How to Read 13 offers something that is essential to attracting new readers to a manga—actually comics! Inside this encyclopedia is the Death Note "Pilot Manga," the original, 2003 55-page story that introduced the concept in a rather chilling, but utterly engaging and entertaining tale.

There you go: something for both the fan and the newbie.

Product Details
Paperback: 192 pages Publisher: VIZ Media, LLC; English Ed edition (February 19, 2008) Language: English, Japanese ISBN-10: 1421518880 ISBN-13: 978-1421518886 Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches