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The trouble with comic compendiums published as the comic comes out is that sometimes, they don't really have the opportunity to end at a decent ending spot (i.e., a cliffhanger, a gut punch, or a conclusive sort of spot.) Sometimes, they just kind of end at a random place. And so I decided to do a list about it, why not. Everyone's mama is doing lists.
#1: Volume 12 - "A year after all that s**t went down, here's how the survivors are doing."
You'd hope this is the best, seeing as it's the actual finale and all. And you'd be right. One of my few regrets about the anime (man, nearly all of those regrets concern the second arc) is that they never got a chance to put that last chapter to celluloid.
#2: Volume 9 - "They're assaulting the tower! They're blocking the gates! None shall be left alive!"
Classic, epic cliffhanger. All it's missing is the poetic lightning from the anime. It doesn't even bother me that one of the most important deaths of the series is in the middle of the book, because the cliffhanger is a direct result of the events that led to that death.
#3: Volume 11 - "Mello's back, and he's got your proxy-ish person!"
This would be higher if the reader knew exactly how momentous it was at the time that it happened, but obviously, it's better that the reader didn't.
#4: Volume 4 - "Seriously, WTF is Light hoping to accomplish here?"
Personally, I freaking love Light-as-he-might-have-been, and Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die" makes me a little teary-eyed because of it, but I'm pretty sure that question is the only thing that kept a lot of readers' attention over the next two volumes.
#5: Volume 3 - "Ah, but it turns out that these crimes were perpetrated by a completely new character! Let's see how her gambits crash into the others!"
Oh, for those halcyon days when we actually considered Misa a third party, rather than a living extension of Light's will. Still, at the time, this wasn't shabby at all.
#6: Volume 6 - "Well, the pawn's murdering days are over. Let's tempt fate!"
It's both conclusive and a cliffhanger. But I think the story would be better-served if they'd contrived to end it at chapter forty-nine instead. That would also be a conclusive cliffhanger, and it might prevent the endings of the surrounding volumes from looking so stupid. More on that later.
#7: Volume 10 - "Light is a two-timing ho. This will further his evil schemes."
And here, below the 50% mark, we start dipping into "not really an ending" territory. It's kind of a conclusion, I guess, but not as good as three of the four chapters immediately surrounding it.
#8: Volume 8 - "I guess the vice president really was one heartbeat away. *ba-dum tish*"
If it were clearer that Light killed the guy, if it were previously established what a screaming craven his vice president was, and if the anime had considered this plot development important enough to leave in, then this would rank considerably higher. I am one of those boorish flag-waving Americans, after all.
#9: Volume 5 - "Oh no, the villains killed the ridiculously minor character they said they were going to kill!"
But hey, at least you want to hear what they say while under surveillance, right?
If they'd ended it with Matsuda in mortal peril, somehow I don't think this volume would be the second-biggest quitting point in the series.
#10: Volume 1 - "Light is halfway through planning to murder his tail!"
Yeah. Sorry. That is not remotely an ending. They shouldn't even have ended an episode there.
#11: Volume 2 - "Light is halfway through dealing with this thorny surveillance issue!"
As above, except they didn't end an episode there.
#12: Volume 7 - "Oh no, a minor character has been kidnapped!"
You might argue that this should be a few ranks higher on the list. After all, she was kidnapped because Light killed the previous kidnap victim. This implies that Light may have to kill his little sister - the person who matters most to him. However:
A) You don't actually know that he cares about her until he doesn't kill her.
B) She's still a very minor character.
C) IT'S ******** VOLUME SEVEN.
I can understand not ending it at chapter fifty-eight. I mean, did anybody else think that there were only three volumes of Magic Knight Rayearth? Yeah, that'd cut into viewership... which Madhouse should have kept in mind, given that Japanese seasons often end on the twenty-fifth episode. At least the official DVD shows some sense in that regard.
But seriously, chapter fifty-nine would have been the best cliffhanger of all time. And then they'd be able to start off volume eight with the "DIIIIES IIIIRAE, DIEEEEES ILLAAAAAA". There are absolutely no downsides here. So, y'know, Shonen Jump? Lay off the weed.
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