Death Note

Plot

In Tokyo, brilliant yet disaffected high school student Light Yagami finds the "Death Note", a mysterious black notebook with rules that can end anyone's life in seconds if their name is written in it, as long as the writer knows both the target's true name and face. Light uses the notebook to kill high-profile criminals and is visited by Ryuk, a shinigami and the Death Note's original owner. Ryuk, invisible to anyone who has not touched the notebook, reveals that he dropped the notebook into the human world out of boredom and is amused by Light's actions.

Global media suggest that a single mastermind is responsible for the mysterious murders and name them "Kira" (キラ; the Japanese…

Production

Development

The Death Note concept derived from a rather general idea involving shinigami and "specific rules". Author Tsugumi Ohba felt that they would not be able to create a conventional fight-style manga for Weekly Shōnen Jump, so they preferred to develop a suspense-type conflict manga instead. After the publication of the pilot chapter, the series was not expected to receive approval for serialization. Eventually, upon learning that Death Note had received approval and that Takeshi Obata would illustrate the artwork, Ohba said they "couldn't even believe it". Due to positive reactions, Death Note became a serialized manga series.

"Thumbnails" incorporating dialogue, p…

Themes

Ohba had no particular themes in mind for Death Note. When pushed, they suggested: "Humans will all eventually die, so let's give it our all while we're alive". In a 2012 paper, author Jolyon Baraka Thomas characterised Death Note as a psychological thriller released in the wake of the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack, saying that it examines the human tendency to express itself through "horrific" cults.

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Manga

Death Note, written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, was serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 1, 2003, to May 15, 2006. The series' 108 chapters were collected into twelve tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, released from April 2, 2004, to July 4, 2006. A one-shot chapter, titled "C-Kira" (Cキラ編, C-Kira-hen) ("Death Note: Special One-Shot"), was published in Weekly Shōnen Jump on February 9, 2008. Set two years after the manga's epilogue, it sees the introduction of a new Kira and the reactions of the main characters in response to the copycat's appearance. Several Death Note yonkoma (four-panel comics) appeared in Akamaru Jump.…

Anime

The Death Note anime, directed by Tetsurō Araki and animated by Madhouse, premiered on Nippon TV on October 4, 2006, and finished its run on June 27, 2007, totaling 37 episodes. The series aired on the network "every Tuesday at 0:56", which is effectively Wednesday. The series was co-produced by Madhouse, Nippon Television, Shueisha, D.N. Dream Partners and VAP. In North America, the series was licensed by Viz for American viewers to use "Download-to-Own" and "Download-to-Rent" services while it was still airing in Japan. This release was seen as "significant because it marked the first time a well known Japanese anime property was made legally available in the United States for …

Light novels

A light novel adaptation of the series has been written by Nisio Isin, called Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases. The novel was released by Shueisha on August 1, 2006. 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. Besides Naomi's character, the novel focuses on how L works and one of the criminals L has to chase down. Insight was given into Watari's orphanage and how the whole system of geniuses such as L, Mello, Beyond Birthday, Matt and Near were put to work. Viz released the novel in English on Febr…

Video games

A Death Note video game developed and published by Konami for the Nintendo DS, titled Death Note: Kira Game (デスノート キラゲーム, Desu Nōto Kira Gēmu), was released on February 15, 2007. 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 three 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 t…

Reception

Manga

By April 2015, the Death Note manga had over 30 million copies in circulation. On ICv2's "Top 10 Shonen Properties Q2 2009", Death Note was the third best-selling manga in North America. The series ranked second on Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! list of best manga of 2006 and 2007 for male readers. It was nominated for the 38th Seiun Awards in the Best Comic category in 2007. The manga received the Grand Prize for Best Manga and Best Screenplay at the Japan Expo Awards 2007. The series won the 2008 Eagle Award for Favourite Manga as voted by UK fans. According to a survey conducted in 2007 by the ministry of culture of Japan, Death Note occupied the tenth place am…