is a
Japanese
manga series originally written by
Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by
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'' first began as a manga series. It was first serialized by
Shueisha in the ''
Weekly Shonen Jump'' magazine 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
tankÅbon 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 respectively), 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.
Plot
Light Yagami is an extremely intelligent young man who resents the crime and corruption in the world. His life undergoes a drastic change when he discovers a mysterious notebook, known as the "Death Note", lying on the ground in the year
2003. 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 English 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 between the two begins.
Characters
Main articles: List of characters in Death Note
Main characters
;
: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, 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. He calls himself Justice.
;
: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 (he squats on the edge of his seat, with his knees up by his chin), snacking on sweets in the middle of meetings, and holding his cellphone and other objects in a peculiar manner. He often takes drastic strategies to confuse and force his opponents, and 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.
;
: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 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 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).
;
:Mikami is selected as the fourth 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)
;
:The original Shinigami who dropped the Death Note in 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 found the second Death Note in the Shinigami world. Ryuk is not Light's ally, and in fact declares in their first meeting that some day he (Ryuk) would write Light's name into his own Death Note, killing him. Ryuk often refuses to aid Light and instead enjoys watching him struggle for his goal. 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.
;
:The female Shinigami who first gives Misa her Death Note and
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.
Rules of the Death Note
Main articles: Rules of the Death Note
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.
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 within 13 days of the last entry, he or she will die.
★ If the Death Note is burnt, 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
tankÅbon. 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 characters. ''Death Note'' was eventually licensed for
North American publication by
VIZ Media,
[1] and the first
English language volume was released on
October 4 2005.
[2] The manga has since been published in several different languages including English, German and Chinese. Currently, VIZ has released all twelve volumes of Death Note in English, and will release the ''Death Note: How To Read 13'' supplement in February 2008.
[3]
To date, ''Death Note'' has sold around twenty million copies in Japan.
[4] 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''.
[5][6] 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.
[7]
Movies
Main articles: Death Note (film)
Death Note was also adapted into a two part live-action movie released in 2006. The two films were directed by Shūsuke Kaneko, produced by Nippon Television and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Japan. A spin-off film is currently in pre-production.
Anime
The ''Death Note'' anime, directed by
TetsurÅ 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 follows the manga's original storyline with only 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, 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,
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. As of
September 4 2007, it is unknown when YTV will premiere the series.
[19] 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 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 original TV show.
[20]
Episodes
Main articles: List of Death Note episodes
DVDs
Main articles: List of Death Note DVDs
'The following volumes have been released in Japan.'
''The figures are only included in the first edition of each DVD.''
★ Death Note 1 - Episodes 1-3 - Includes Ryuk Figure
★ Death Note 2 - Episodes 4-6 - Includes Light Yagami Figure
★ Death Note 3 - Episodes 7-9 - Includes L Figure
★ Death Note 4 - Episodes 10-12 - Includes Jealous Figure
★ Death Note 5 - Episodes 13-15 - Includes Misa Amane Figure
★ Death Note 6 - Episodes 16-18 - Includes Rem Figure
★ Death Note 7 - Episodes 19-21 - Includes Soichiro Yagami Figure
★ Death Note 8 - Episodes 22-24 - Includes Shidoh Figure
★ Death Note 9 - Episodes 25-27 - Includes Near Figure
Volumes scheduled to be released:
★ Death Note 10 - Episodes 28-30
★ Death Note 11 - Episodes 31-33
★ Death Note 12 - Episodes 34-35
★ Death Note 13 - Episodes 36-37
|
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
★ by Nightmare (episodes 1 - 19, TV Special "Death Note:R From Vision of God")
★ by Maximum the Hormone (episodes 20 - 36)
★ "Coda ~ Death Note" by Yoshihisa Hirano (episode 37)
Insert song
★ "Misa no Uta" by Aya Hirano (episode 25)
★ by Maximum the Hormone (TV Special "Death Note:R From Vision of God")
|
Video games
Death Note Kira Game
A ''Death Note'' video game developed and published by
Konami for the
Nintendo DS, entitled , was released on
February 15 2007.
[21]
''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).
[22] The gameplay is very similar to that of the common party game
Mafia.
A sequel to the game, , 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.
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
Main articles: Death Note original 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.
[23]
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.
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''.
[24] China itself is likewise trying to weed out pirated copies of the books and TV series (and 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".
[25]
References
1. Death Note Licensed by Viz
2. Releases: Death Note G.novel 1
3. Death Note How to Read 13
4. Death Note Author Arrested on Weapons Offence
5. Death Note, XXXHOLiC Novels in the Works
6. 西尾ç¶æ–° × DEATH NOTE
7. Death Note: Another Note
8. Shueisha TV Guide
9. Nippon Television Network Program Catalogue: Animation
10. Official Death Note Anime Website
11. Official Death Note staff listing
12. Viz Media Secures Landmark Agreement To Make Death Note Anime Series Available For Download
13. Death Note Release Won't be Limited to Downloads
14. Viz to Offer Death Note Downloads via Direct2Drive
15. New York ComicCon 2007 - Viz Media - Anime
16. Viz Media Announces Fall DVD release of Death Note anime series
17. Viz Media - Comic-Con International 2007
18. Death Note and Futurama to air on YTV this fall
19. Death Note Removed from Canada's YTV Schedule
20. Death Note TV Special to be Three-Hour Director's Cut
21. Death Note Ads Starting To Make Their Way Into Magazine Pages
22. Official Konami Website for Death Note
23. Death Note Stirs Controversy in China
24. Beijing bans scary stories to protect young
25. 'Death Note' days numbered
External links
★
Shueisha's ''Death Note'' manga official website
★
Official anime website
★
VIZ Media's ''Death Note'' website
★
★
''Death Note'' at
AnimeNfo.com
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