Anime or Manga
Death Note (デスノート, Desu Nōto?) is a Japanese manga series created by writer Tsugumi Ohba and illustrator Takeshi Obata. The series primarily centers around a high school student who decides to rid the world of evil with the help of a supernatural notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it.
Death Note was first serialized by Shueisha in the Japanese manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump from the first issue in December 2003 to May 2006, with 108 chapters in total. The series has been published in its entirety in 12 tankōbon volumes in Japan and in North America. The series has been adapted into a pair of live-action films released in Japan on June 17, 2006 and November 3, 2006, and an anime series which aired in Japan from October 3, 2006 to June 26, 2007. Also, a novelization of the series, written by light novelist Ishin Nishio, was released in Japan on August 1, 2006.
Contents
1 Plot
2 Characters
2.1 Main characters
2.2 Shinigami (The Death Gods)
3 Death Note
3.1 Written rules
3.2 False rules
4 Media
4.1 Manga
4.2 Novel
4.3 Live-action films
4.4 Anime
4.4.1 DVDs
4.4.2 Anime theme songs
4.4.2.1 Opening themes
4.4.2.2 Ending themes
4.4.2.3 Insert songs
4.5 Video games
4.6 Soundtracks
5 Controversy
5.1 People's Republic of China
5.2 Belgian murder
6 References
7 External links
Plot
Light Yagami is an extremely intelligent young man who resents the crime and corruption in the world. His life undergoes a drastic change in the year 2003, when he discovers a mysterious notebook, known as the "Death Note", lying on the ground. The Death Note's instructions claim that if a human's name is written within it, that person shall die. Light is initially skeptical of the Death Note's authenticity, believing it is just a prank. However, after experimenting with it and killing two criminals, Light is forced to admit that the Death Note is real. After meeting with the previous owner of the Death Note, a shinigami named Ryuk, Light seeks to become "the God of the new world" by passing his judgment on criminals.
Soon, the number of inexplicable deaths of reported criminals catches the attention of the International Police Organization and a mysterious detective known only as "L". L quickly learns that the serial killer, dubbed by the public as "Kira" (derived from the Japanese pronunciation of the word "Killer"), is located in Japan. L also concludes that Kira can kill people without laying a finger on them. Light realizes that L will be his greatest nemesis, and a game of psychological cat and mouse between the two begins.
Characters
Main characters
Light Yagami (Kira) (夜神 月, Yagami Raito?)
The protagonist of Death Note, Light is an extremely intelligent but bored 17-year old student. When he finds the Death Note, dropped in the human world by Ryuk (a shinigami), he decides to use it to kill all criminals and earns the title Kira. His ultimate goal is to cleanse the world of evil to create a utopia and then reign over this new world as its god.
L (エル, Eru?, real name: L Lawliet)
L is the world's three top-rated detectives (through two additional aliases), tasked with tracking down and arresting Kira. As such, he is Light's arch-enemy. His disheveled appearance masks his great powers of deduction and insight. L has many quirks, such as sitting in an odd manner, snacking on sweets constantly, and holding his cellphone and other objects in a peculiar manner. He often takes drastic strategies to confuse and force the hand of his opponents. On several occasions he has willingly disclosed several of his weaknesses to Kira at the risk of his own life in the hopes that he would lure him into a trap.
Misa Amane (弥 海砂, Amane Misa?)
A girl with an immense crush on Kira, Misa is a popular idol in Japan, and tends to wear clothing in many different styles, depending on what she is doing. She is immature and tends to refer to herself in the third person in an attempt to be cute. Misa is completely devoted to Light, and she once said that she loved him at first sight. Light, however, only views her as an asset to his plans because of her Death Note and her Shinigami eyes (that she obtained at the cost of half of her remaining life span, twice). The murderer of Misa's parents had been punished by Kira, explaining her later devotion to him.
Mello (メロ, Mero?, real name: Mihael Keehl)
Mello was an orphan who grew up with Near in Watari's shelter for gifted children. Like Near, Mello was one of the candidates to become L's successor. Similar to L's fondness for sweets, he is often seen eating bars of chocolate. Although Mello is quite intelligent, he often lets his emotions get the better of him. Mello wears leather most of the time, unlike Near or L. He also appears to be less secluded in terms of his friends and hobbies, and seems to be fond of biking. When Mello is first released - Light tries to find and kill him, which he manages to escape - but due to an explosion, he is left with a scar over the left side of his face.
Near (ニア, Nia?, real name: Nate River)
Near was a primary candidate to become L's successor and calls himself N during the course of his investigations. He shares a number of similarities with L. Much like how L plays with things such as sugar cubes and forks, Near is frequently shown playing with toys or his hair. Near also sits in an unusual manner similar to L, but with some slight differences. He offered to join forces with Mello to fight Kira, but Mello turned him down. Near then gained the support of the US government and formed the Secret Provision for Kira (SPK).
Teru Mikami (魅上 照, Mikami Teru?)
Mikami is selected as the third Kira by Light, after Light decides that it is too dangerous for the Death Note to be near Misa or himself, since he and Misa are currently under surveillance by Aizawa and Mogi. A prosecuting attorney and adamant supporter of Kira, Mikami shares many of the same ideals, thoughts, and priorities as Kira, and is ecstatic when he discovers that Kira, his God, has chosen him, proving that God is on his side and watching. He is completely devoted and loyal to Kira, believing that divine justice must be brought down upon the people. Little is known about his personal life; he appears to have no hobbies or anything else of the sort. He chants "delete" with each name he writes down in the Death Note due to events in his past when he thought God was "deleting" the evil people in his life. He, like Misa, has made the exchange of half his remaining years for Shinigami eyes.
Shinigami (The Death Gods)
Ryuk (リューク, Ryūku?)
The first shinigami who dropped a Death Note into the human world, which Light would pick up. Acting out of pure boredom, Ryuk begins the story of Death Note on a whim. It is stated that Ryuk obtained the second Death Note in the shinigami world from "tricking the old man" for another one. Ryuk is not Light's ally, and in fact declares in their first meeting that someday he (Ryuk) would write Light's name into his own Death Note. Ryuk often refuses to aid Light and instead enjoys watching him struggle for his goals. He acts for his own interests and entertainment, and often fails to tell Light key details about the Death Note. However, Ryuk will aid Light if it serves his own goals, such as providing amusement or obtaining apples, without which he suffers a form of withdrawal symptoms.
Rem (レム, Remu?)
The female shinigami who first gives Misa her Death Note and trades her for the Shinigami eyes. Similar to Ryuk, Rem possesses two Death Notes; however, she purposely gives one of them to Misa Amane. Rem inherited her second Death Note from Jealous, another shinigami who died when he saved Misa's life, and thought it only right to pass it on to Misa. Oddly enough, Rem inherits Jealous' love for Misa as well and is prompt to defend Misa even at the cost of her life. She shows this when she openly shows her lack of trust for Light, stating that she will kill him if Misa dies before her time.
Death Note
A Death Note is a book held by a shinigami which has the power to kill people if certain conditions are met. All Death Notes follow a long set of specific rules, and the writer revealed a few of these rules with each volume of the manga in Japan.
Written rules
Before releasing his Death Note into the human world, Ryuk wrote some of the more basic rules on the first page in English, because he believed that English was the most popular language in the world. The rules written by Ryuk are the following:
The human whose name is written in this note shall die.
This note will not take effect unless the writer has the subject's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.
If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the subject's name, it will happen.
If the cause of death is not specified, the subject will simply die of a heart attack.
After writing the cause of death, the details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds (400 seconds).
Each volume of the manga has a page containing new rules or possible uses for the Death Note. In the anime series, each eyecatch contains a different rule written in both English and Japanese, similar to how they were revealed in the Japanese manga. Two new rules are revealed in almost every episode.
False rules
In addition to these original rules, Light persuaded Ryuk to add a set of fake rules to mislead L and company. The reason behind this was to remove all suspicion of him and Misa being Kira and the Second Kira and preventing L from destroying the Death Note.
If the owner of the Death Note does not kill with the Death Note within 13 days of the last entry, he or she will die.
If the Death Note is burned, destroyed, or otherwise damaged in any way, all those who have touched that Death Note will die
Media
Death Note began as a manga series which was later adapted to become a set of live-action films, an anime based on the manga, and a light novel. Two games have also been released for the Nintendo DS in Japan.
Manga
The Death Note manga series was first serialized in the Japanese manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump published by Shueisha in December 2003. The series has since ended in Japan with a total of 108 chapters. Later, the individual chapters were collected into twelve separate tankōbon. Later, a thirteenth volume titled Death Note - How to Read was released, helping to elucidate some mysteries left at the end of the manga, like the destiny of some of the characters. Death Note was eventually licensed for North American publication by Viz Media, and the first English-language volume was released on October 4, 2005. The manga has since been published in several different languages including English, German, Chinese and Spanish. Currently, Viz has released all twelve volumes of Death Note in English, and will release the Death Note: How To Read 13 supplement on February 19, 2008.
To date, Death Note has sold around twenty million copies in Japan. Death Note was nominated for Best Manga at the 2006 American Anime Awards.
Novel
A novel adaption of the series has been written by Ishin Nishio, called Death Note: Another Note. It serves as a prequel to the manga series, with Mello narrating the story of L's first encounter with Naomi Misora during the Los Angeles "BB Serial Murder Case" mentioned in volume 2 of the manga. Beside Naomi's character, the novel focuses on how L works. Insight was given into Watari's orphanage and how the whole system of geniuses such as L, Mello and Near were put to work. Viz will be releasing the novel in English in February 2008.
Live-action films
Death Note was also adapted into a two part live-action movie released in 2006. The two motion pictures were directed by Shūsuke Kaneko, produced by Nippon Television and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Japan. A spin-off film focusing on L is currently in production.
Anime
The Death Note anime, directed by Tetsurō Araki and animated by Madhouse, began airing in Japan on October 3, 2006,[8] and finished its run on June 26, 2007, totaling 37 twenty-minute episodes.[9] Contrary to the movies, the anime series closely follows the original storyline of the first seven volumes of the manga (L's arc) then rushes significantly through N's arc by accentuating many action scene and skipping monologues or long discussions between characters described in the final 5 volumes of the manga series. There are also a few changes on the character designs, adapted by Masaru Kitao, and the order of facts, as well as a few additional scenes not featured in the original manga. It is also set in the year 2007, instead of starting at the year 2003. The series aired on the Nippon Television network "every Tuesday at 24:56".[10] The series was co-produced by Madhouse, Nippon Television, Shueisha, D.N. Dream Partners and VAP.[11]
In North America, the series has been licensed by Viz Media for residents in the United States of America to use "Download-to-Own" and "Download-to-Rent" services while it was still airing in Japan. This move is seen as "significant because it marks the first time a well known Japanese anime property will be made legally available to domestic audiences for download to own while the title still airs on Japanese television".[12] The downloadable episodes contain the original Japanese audio track and English subtitles,[13] and is available through IGN's Windows-only Direct2Drive service.[14] DVDs of the series will also be released,[13] containing both an English dubbed audio track, produced by The Ocean Group, and the original Japanese audio track with optional English subtitles.[15] Viz announced at Anime Expo 2007 that the first DVD will be officially released on November 20, 2007 in both regular and special editions[16] and also confirmed at Comic-Con International 2007 that the first 15,000 copies of each DVD will contain collectible figures.[17]
Death Note was slated to make its North American television premiere in Canada on YTV's Bionix programming block on September 7, 2007.[18] However, the show was removed from the schedule at the last minute.[19] The Canadian premiere was pushed back to October 26, 2007 at 10:00 pm, when it finally premiered. Death Note premiered in the U.S. on October 20, 2007 at 12:00 a.m. on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.[20] The show also streams online for free on Adult Swim Video, with a new episode uploaded every Friday afternoon, a day before its broadcast premiere. Death Note has also been aired by the anime television network Animax across its respective networks worldwide, including Hong Kong and Taiwan.
A three-hour animated Death Note:R From Vision of God' (デスノート:リライト 幻視する神, Desu Nōto: Riraito Genjisuru kami?) TV special aired on Nippon Television in Japan on August 31, 2007, at 8:03 PM. It is about Light Yagami and his rival L from the unique vantage point of Ryuk, Light's shinigami. It contains new footage and dialogue that was not in the original TV
Anime theme songs
Opening themes
"the WORLD" by Nightmare (episodes 1 - 19)
"What's up, people?!" by Maximum the Hormone (episodes 20 - 37)
Ending themes
"Alumina" (アルミナ, Arumina?) by Nightmare (episodes 1 - 19, TV Special "Death Note:R From Vision of God")
"Zetsubō Billy" (絶望ビリー, Zetsubō Birī?) by Maximum the Hormone (episodes 20 - 36)
"Coda ~ Death Note" by Yoshihisa Hirano (episode 37)
Insert songs
"Misa no Uta" by Aya Hirano (episode 25)
"Zetsubō Billy" (絶望ビリー, Zetsubō Birī?) by Maximum the Hormone (TV Special "Death Note:R From Vision of God")
Video games
Death Note Kira's GameA Death Note video game developed and published by Konami for the Nintendo DS, entitled Death Note Kira's Game (デスノート キラゲーム, Desu Nōto Kira Gēmu?), was released on February 15, 2007.[22] Kira Game is a strategy game where the player takes on the role of Kira or L. These are just titles, as any character can be Kira or L. The player will attempt to deduce who their enemy is (Kira will try to uncover L's identity and vice versa). This will play out in 3 phases: Investigation, where the player will discuss the case and clues with other characters; Voting, where each member of the investigation team casts a vote on who they suspect is L or Kira based on the player's performance in the previous phase; L/Kira, where the player can either focus their investigation on one member to see if they are Kira (L part) or force a member off of the team (Kira part).[23] The gameplay is very similar to that of the common party game Mafia.
A sequel to the game, Death Note L o Tsugumono (デスノート Lを継ぐ者, Desu Nōto Eru o Tsugumono?, lit. "Death Note: Successor to L"), was released in Japan on July 12, 2007. The storyline is based on the second part of the manga, featuring characters such as Mello and Near.[23]
Several characters from Death Note appear in Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars, a fighting game featuring a plethora of characters from Shonen Jump titles. Light, Ryuk and L appear in Jump Super Stars as support characters. In Jump Ultimate Stars Misa, Near, and Mello are added as support characters as well.
Soundtracks
There have been several soundtracks released for this series, such as the ones for the movie adaptations and also for the anime adaptation.
Controversy
People's Republic of China
Some schools in Shenyang, People's Republic of China have banned the manga after some of their students started to tease friends and teachers by altering a notebook to resemble a Death Note and writing their names in them.
The newspaper Shenyang Night Report called Death Note "poison, creating wicked hearts". Others however, including one major Chinese newspaper, felt that the ban is an overreaction and is inappropriate.
Beijing also has a ban on "horror stories" around schools to protect the "physical and mental health" of students, which includes local adaptations of Death Note. China itself is likewise trying to weed out pirated copies of the books and television series, as well other Japanese horror magazines, where no legal publication house prints it. Wang Song of the National Anti-piracy and Anti-pornography Working Committee has said that the series "misleads innocent children and distorts their mind and spirit".
Belgian murder
On September 28, 2007, two notes stating "Watashi wa Kira dess" (I am Kira, with "desu" being the more literal and correct transliteration of the verb) were found near the unidentified remains of a Caucasian male. Nothing was found on or near the victim besides these two notes. Belgian police are investigating the matter further.
