is a manga created by writer
Tsugumi Ohbais a writer best known for the manga Death Note. His real identity is a closely guarded secret. As stated by the profile placed at the beginning of each Death Note manga, Ohba collects teacups and develops manga plots while holding his knees on a chair, similar to a habit of L, one of the main...
and manga artist
Takeshi Obatais a Japanese manga artist. He works as the artist in collaboration with a writer. He has also mentored several manga artists, including Kentaro Yabuki of Black Cat fame, Nobuhiro Watsuki of Rurouni Kenshin and Busou Renkin, and Yusuke Murata of Eyeshield 21.He originally became noticed in 1985...
. The main character is
Light Yagami, also known as is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the manga and anime series Death Note. He is an extremely intelligent, athletic, popular, but bored young man who finds the Death Note dropped by the Shinigami Ryuk by sheer chance...
, a high school student who discovers a
supernaturalThe supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
notebookA notebook is a book or binder composed of pages of notes, often ruled, made out of paper, used for purposes including recording notes or memoranda, writing, drawing, and scrapbooking....
, the "Death Note", dropped on Earth by a god of death, or a shinigami, named Ryuk. The Death Note grants its user the ability to kill anyone whose name and face they know, by writing the name in the notebook while picturing their face. The series centers around Light's attempt to create and rule a world "cleansed of evil" as
"God"A god complex is an unshakable belief characterized by consistently inflated feelings of personal ability, privilege, or infallibility. A person with a god complex may refuse to admit the possibility of error or failure, even in the face of complex or intractable problems or difficult or impossible...
using the notebook, and the efforts of a detective known as
L, widely known by the letter , is a fictional character in the manga series Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. Considered the world's greatest detective, he lives in secrecy...
to stop him.
Death Note was first serialized in 108 chapters by
Shueishais a major publisher in Japan. The company was founded in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The following year, Shueisha became a separate, independent company. Magazines published by Shueisha include Weekly Shōnen Jump, Weekly Young Jump,...
in the Japanese manga magazine
Weekly Shōnen Jumpis a weekly shōnen manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines. The first issue was released with a cover date of July 2, 1968, and it is still circulating. One of the longest-running manga magazines in Japan, it has a circulation of 2.8 million copies...
from December 2003 to May 2006. The series was also published in
tankōbon, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...
format in Japan starting in May 2004 and ending in October 2006 with a total of twelve volumes. The series was adapted into live-action films released in Japan on June 17, 2006, November 3, 2006, and February 2, 2008. The
animeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series aired in Japan from October 3, 2006, to June 26, 2007. Composed of 37 episodes, the anime was developed by
Madhouseis a Japanese animation studio, founded in 1972 by ex–Mushi Pro animators including Masao Maruyama, Osamu Dezaki, Rintaro, and Yoshiaki Kawajiri. It has created and helped to produce many well known shows, starting with TV anime series Ace o Nerae! in 1973, and including western favourites Ninja...
and directed by
Tetsuro Arakiis a Japanese anime director. He was born in Sayama City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan.Araki is a graduate at Senshu University and works with Madhouse. His directorial debut was 2005's Otogi-Jūshi Akazukin. He is best known as the director of the Death Note anime adaptation...
. A
light novelA is a style of Japanese novel primarily targeting junior high and high school students . The term "light novel" is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language. Light novels are often called or for short...
based on the series, written by
Nisio Isin, frequently written as NisiOisiN to emphasize that his pen name is a palindrome, is a Japanese novelist and manga writer. He attended and left Ritsumeikan University without graduating. In 2002, he debuted with the novel , which earned him the 23rd Mephisto Award at twenty years of age...
, was released in Japan. Additionally, various video games have been published by
Konamiis a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
for
Nintendo DSThe is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
.
Viz MediaVIZ Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, is an anime, manga, and Japanese entertainment company. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ Media LLC, which is jointly owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, and...
licensed the
Death Note manga in North America and has published all the twelve volumes from the series, a 13th volume which serves as a "reader's guide", as well as the light novels. The episodes from the anime first appeared in North America as downloadable by
IGNIGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
. Viz later licensed the anime series and it aired on
BionixBionix was a late night anime program block on the Canadian television channel YTV. From September 2009-February 7, 2010, it aired on Friday nights around 4:00pm to 2:00am and Saturday mornings/afternoons from 6:00 am to 9:00 am and 12:00am to 3:00pm , beginning on September 13,...
. The live-action films briefly played in certain North American theaters since 2008. However, none of the video games titles have thus far been published in North America.
Several publications for manga, anime and other media have added praise and criticism on the
Death Note series. The series was banned in a few Chinese cities due to piracy.
On April 30, 2009,
Variety magazine announced that
Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
acquired the rights for the
Death Note manga to be adapted into a live-action movie in the United States. Warner Bros. has hired screenwriters Charley and Vlas Parlapanides to adapt the manga into a screenplay. Unlike the Japanese
Death Note live-action movie trilogy, the US-version will be directly adapted from the material in the manga and will not follow the storyline of the Japanese movie adaptations. On January 13, 2011, it was announced that
Shane BlackShane Black is an American actor, screenwriter and film director. He contributed to some of the biggest blockbuster action films of the late 1980s and early 1990s, including work on Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout...
has been hired to direct the film, with the script being written by Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry.
Synopsis
Yagami Light is an intelligent young adult who resents crime and corruption in the world. His life undergoes a drastic change when he discovers the Death Note, a notebook that contains five written instructions:
There are many other rules that are revealed as the story develops, usually in the form of sequence breaks in between scenes.
After several experiments with the Death Note, Light realises the notebook's authenticity and encounters the previous owner, a
shinigamiIn the manga and anime series Death Note, are a race of extra-dimensional beings who survive by killing humans to extend their own lives. Shinigami in this series are not responsible for every death that occurs; people will eventually die regardless of whether or not the Shinigami pay attention to...
called Ryuk. Light explains to Ryuk his plan of exterminating all the criminals in the world. Soon, the number of inexplicable deaths of criminals catches the attention of the
International Police OrganizationInterpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...
and the a world famous detective, "
L, widely known by the letter , is a fictional character in the manga series Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. Considered the world's greatest detective, he lives in secrecy...
". L quickly learns that the serial killer, publicly known as , is located in Japan and can kill people without laying a finger on them. Light realizes that L will be his greatest nemesis, and begins a cat and mouse game with L.
Light attempts to create an alibi by helping L and his investigate team track down Kira. His plan is impeded by a second Kira, famous model Amane Misa, and her
shinigami Rem. Misa and Light meet and work together; they are increasingly suspected by L. To save themselves from execution, Misa and Light temporarily relinquish control of their Death Notes—erasing their memories of the
shinigami and the notebooks—and are placed under constant surveillance by L.
During their detention, a third Kira under the employ of the Yotsuba Group appears. Light and Misa are freed when it becomes apparent that they are not responsible for the murders of Yotsuba's rivals. The investigative team infiltrate Yotsuba and discover the third Kira is Yotsuba member Kyosuke Higuchi and attempt to capture him. Upon Higuchi's capture, Light regains the Death Note "just as [he] planned" and kills Higuchi. He completes his complex plan by tricking Rem into killing L. Light becomes the "new L" upon L's death, and continues a charade of searching for Kira.
The narrative continues four years later, with Kira attracting a large network of contacts and a swell of public support. Two children,
Near, universally referred to by the mononym , is a fictional character who is one of the main antagonists in the manga series Death Note, and is a supporting protagonist in the film L: Change the World...
and
Mello, universally referred to by the mononym , is one of the main antagonists in the manga and anime series Death Note.-Character:Mello is the older of L's two potential successors raised in Wammy's House, Watari's orphanage for gifted children, in Winchester, England, United Kingdom...
, raised by L's former guardian Watari to follow L's legacy, serve as antagonists to Light: Near as an independent detective; and Mello as a member of the Mafia. Mello's first action to oppose Kira is to kidnap the director of the NPA, and after his murder, Light's sister Sayu, to use as a bargaining chip to obtain the Death Note. Light's Task Force recapture Sayu and learn Mello's real name after Light's father Soichiro trades half of his remaining life for the ability to discover anyone's names, but Soichiro later dies of gunshot wounds.
Concurrently, Near and several members of the Task Force begin to suspect Light of being Kira. In response, Light persuades Misa to give up her Death Note and raises another Kira, Teru Mikami, a prosecutor and fervent supporter of Kira. Mikami kills Kira's former spokesman for being greedy and recruits Kiyomi Takada, a newscaster and Light's former girlfriend, to replace him. Mello returns and kidnaps Kiyomi, who manages to kill Mello with a hidden Death Note piece. Light then makes Takada commit suicide to prevent her from implicating him, but Mikami, unaware of Light's actions, attempts to kill her with his own Death Note. Near reveals that Mikami's notebook is a fake, and is therefore able to prove Light is Kira. Realising Light has lost, Ryuk uses his own Death Note to kill Light with a heart attack.
Production
The
Death Note concept derived from a rather general concept involving Shinigami and "specific rules." Tsugumi Ohba wanted to create a suspense series because he did not feel that he could have created a fight-style series and that the genre had few suspense series. After publication of the pilot chapter the series was not expected to be approved as a serialized comic by the author who did not consider it to "fit with
Jump." Ohba said that when he learned that
Death Note received approval and that Takeshi Obata would create the artwork he "couldn't even believe it." Due to positive reactions,
Death Note became a serialized manga series.
"Thumbnails" were created incorporating dialog, panel layout, and basic drawings, and were sent to the illustrator. The editor reviewed the thumbnails and sent them to the illustrator (Obata) with the script set in stone and the panel layout "mostly done." Obata then determined the expressions and "camera angles" and created the final artwork. Ohba concentrated on the tempo and the amount of dialogue, making sure that the text was as concise as possible. Ohba commented that he believed "reading too much exposition" would be tiring and would negatively affect the atmosphere and "air of suspense." Significant artistic license was given to the illustrator who worked on basic descriptions, such as "abandoned building", and this extended to the design of the Death Notes with Obata possessing free rein. Obata originally thought of the books as "'
BibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
-like'...something you would automatically think was a Death Note." He also felt this design would seem "difficult to use" and instead opted for an easy-to-use college notebook. At a later point the concept of Death Notes looking different from one another, depending on the human era (such as Death Notes in ancient Japan looking like scrolls and Death Notes in medieval Europe looking like The Old Testament) was conceived.
When Ohba decided on the plot he internally visualized the panels while being on his bed, drinking tea, or walking around his house, needing to feel relaxed while visualizing the panels. On many occasions the original draft was too long and needed to be refined various times before the desired "tempo" and "flow" for the chapter was finalised. The writer remarked on his preference for reading the previous "two or four" chapters carefully to ensure consistency in the story.
The typical weekly production schedule consisted of five days for creating and thinking and one day using pencil to insert dialogue into rough drafts; after this point the writer faxed any initial drafts to the editor. The illustrator's weekly production schedule involved one day with the thumbnails, layout, and pencils and one day with additional penciling and inking. Obata's assistants usually worked for four days and Obata spent one day to finish it. Obata said that sometimes he took a few extra days to color pages and that this "messed with the schedule." In contrast, the writer took three or four days to create a chapter on some occasions, while on others he took a month. Obata said that his schedule remained consistent except when he had to create color pages.
Ohba and Obata rarely met in person during the creation of the serialized manga; instead the two met with the editor. The first time they met in person was at an editorial party in January 2004. Obata said that, despite the intrigue, he did not ask his editor about Ohba's plot developments as he anticipated the new thumbnails every week. The two did not discuss the final chapters with one another and they continued to talk with the editor. Ohba said that when he asked the editor if Obata had "said anything" about the story and plot the editor responded '"No, nothing" [
laughs].'
Ohba claims that the series ended more or less in the manner that he intended for it to end; he considered the idea of
L, widely known by the letter , is a fictional character in the manga series Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. Considered the world's greatest detective, he lives in secrecy...
defeating Light Yagami with Light dying but instead chose to use the "Yellow Box warehouse" ending. According to Ohba the details had been set "from the beginning." The writer wanted an ongoing plot line instead of an episodic series because
Death Note was serialized and its focus was intended to be on a cast with a series of events triggered by the Death Note.
13: How to Read states that the humorous aspects of
Death Note originated from Ohba's "enjoyment of humorous stories."
Ohba said that a theme that he wished to express throughout the series was that, "no human has the right to pass judgement on another's actions. No one should play god." He said that he intended
Death Note to push an ideology about good and evil, and that Near's statement in Volume 12 about deciding right and wrong came about from his own personal belief.
When the writer was asked, during an interview, whether the series was meant to be about enjoying the plot twists and psychological warfare, Ohba responded by saying that this concept was the reason why he was "very happy" to place the story in
Weekly Shōnen Jump.
Ohba was also asked what he considered the most important thing in
Death Note, and he responded by saying, "the human whose name is written in this note shall die"; in contrast, Obata responded to the same question by answering "impossible to say."
Pilot chapter
The
Death Note process began when Ohba brought thumbnails for two concept ideas to
Shueishais a major publisher in Japan. The company was founded in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The following year, Shueisha became a separate, independent company. Magazines published by Shueisha include Weekly Shōnen Jump, Weekly Young Jump,...
; Ohba said that the
Death Note pilot, one of the concepts, was "received well" by editors and attained positive reactions by readers. Ohba described keeping the story of the pilot to one chapter as "very difficult" and he said that he remembered it took over a month to begin writing the chapter. He added that the story had to revive the killed characters with the Death Eraser and that he "didn't really care" for that plot device.
Obata said that he wanted to draw the story after he heard of a "horror story featuring Shinigami." According to Obata, when he first received the rough draft created by Ohba, he "didn't really get it" at first and he wanted to work on the project due to the presence of Shinigami and because the work "was dark." He also said he wondered about the progression of the plot as he read the thumbnails, and if
Jump readers would enjoy reading the comic. Obata said that while there is little action and the main character "doesn't really drive the plot" he enjoyed the atmosphere of the story. He stated that he drew the pilot chapter so that it would appeal to himself.
Ohba brought the rough draft of the pilot chapter to the editorial department. Obata came into the picture at a later point to create the artwork. They did not meet in person while creating the pilot chapter. Ohba said that the editor told him he did not need to meet with Obata to discuss the pilot; Ohba said "I think it worked out all right."
Adaptation
Tetsuro Araki, the director, said that he wished to convey aspects that "made the series interesting" instead of simply "focusing on morals or the concept of justice." Toshiki Inoue, the series organizer, agreed with Araki and added that, in anime adaptations, there is a lot of importance in highlighting the aspects that are "interesting in the original." He concluded that Light's presence was "the most compelling" aspect; therefore the adaptation chronicles Light's "thoughts and actions as much as possible." Inoue noted that, to best incorporate the manga's plot into the anime, he "tweak[ed] the chronology a bit" and incorporated flashbacks that appear after the openings of the episodes; he said this revealed the desired tensions. Araki said that, because in an anime the viewer cannot "turn back pages" in the manner that a comic reader can, the anime staff ensured that the show clarified details. Inoue added that the staff did not want to get involved with every single detail, so the staff selected elements to emphasize. Due to the complexity of the original manga, he described the process as "definitely delicate and a great challenge." Inoue admitted that he placed more instructions and notes in the script than usual. Araki added that because of the importance of otherwise trivial details, the notes became crucial to the development of the series.
Araki said that when he discovered the
Death Note anime project he "literally begged" to join the production team; when he joined he insisted that Inoue should write the scripts. Inoue added that, because he enjoyed reading the original comic, he wished to use his effort.
Manga
The
Death Note manga series was first serialized in the Japanese manga magazine
Weekly Shōnen Jumpis a weekly shōnen manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines. The first issue was released with a cover date of July 2, 1968, and it is still circulating. One of the longest-running manga magazines in Japan, it has a circulation of 2.8 million copies...
published by
Shueishais a major publisher in Japan. The company was founded in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The following year, Shueisha became a separate, independent company. Magazines published by Shueisha include Weekly Shōnen Jump, Weekly Young Jump,...
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. In April from 2005
Death Note was licensed for publication in North America by
Viz MediaVIZ Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, is an anime, manga, and Japanese entertainment company. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ Media LLC, which is jointly owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, and...
, and the first
English-languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
volume was released on October 10, 2005. In February 2008, a one-shot special was released. 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 yonkomathumb|right|150px|Traditional Yonkoma layout, a comic-strip format, generally consists of gag comic strips within four panels of equal size ordered from top to bottom...
(four-panel comics) appeared in
Akamaru Jump. The yonkoma were written to be humorous. The
Akamaru Jump issues that printed the comics include 2004 Spring, 2004 Summer, 2005 Winter, and 2005 Spring. In addition
Weekly Shōnen Jumpis a weekly shōnen manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines. The first issue was released with a cover date of July 2, 1968, and it is still circulating. One of the longest-running manga magazines in Japan, it has a circulation of 2.8 million copies...
Gag Special 2005 included some
Death Note yonkoma in a
Jump Heroes Super 4-Panel Competition.
In addition, a guidebook for the manga was also released on October 13, 2006. It was named
Death Note 13: How to Read and contained data relating to the series, including character profiles of almost every character that is named, creator interviews, behind the scenes info for the series and the pilot chapter that preceded
Death Note. It also reprinted all of the yonkoma serialized in
Akamaru Jump and the
Weekly Shōnen Jump Gag Special 2005. Its first edition could be purchased with a Death Note themed diorama which includes five finger puppets inspired by Near's toys. The five finger puppets are Kira, L,
Misa, also known as the second Kira is a fictional character in the Death Note anime, manga, and film series.-Conception and development:Tsugumi Ohba, writer of Death Note, decided to create Misa to be the second Kira before the serialization began...
,
Mello, universally referred to by the mononym , is one of the main antagonists in the manga and anime series Death Note.-Character:Mello is the older of L's two potential successors raised in Wammy's House, Watari's orphanage for gifted children, in Winchester, England, United Kingdom...
, and
Near, universally referred to by the mononym , is a fictional character who is one of the main antagonists in the manga series Death Note, and is a supporting protagonist in the film L: Change the World...
. In North America,
13: How to Read was released on February 19, 2008. As of February 2011, the manga is being re-released in omnibus format, dubbed "Black Edition".
Live-action films
Death Note was adapted into a series of live-action films in 2006. The first 2 films were directed by
Shūsuke Kanekois a Japanese filmmaker and screenwriter.-Career:Shūsuke Kaneko began his career in film with Nikkatsu's Roman Porno film series, in which he served as assistant director to Kōyū Ohara. The series also gave Kaneko his directorial debut with writer Kōichirō Uno's, Kōichirō Uno's Wet and Swinging ,...
and the third was by
Hideo NakataHideo Nakata is a Japanese filmmaker.-Life and career:Nakata was born in Okayama, Japan. He is most familiar to Western audiences for his work on Japanese horror films such as Ring , Ring 2 and Dark Water...
and produced by
Nippon Televisionis a television network based in the Shiodome area of Minato, Tokyo, Japan and is controlled by the Yomiuri Shimbun publishing company. Broadcasting terrestrially across Japan, the network is commonly known as , contracted to , and abbreviated as "NTV" or "AX".-Offices:*The Headquarters : 6-1,...
, CG production of all three films were done by
Digital FrontierDigital Frontier （デジタルフロンティア）is a motion picture production company in Japan with a distinguished large scale CG production department. The company is equipped with motion capture studio called "OPAKIS" in Odaiba, Tokyo....
and distributed by
Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
Pictures Japan. The first film, simply titled
Death Noteis a series of two live-action Japanese films released in 2006 and based on the Death Note manga and anime series by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. The films primarily center on a university student who decides to rid the world of evil with the help of a supernatural notebook that kills anyone...
, premiered in Japan on June 17, 2006 and topped the Japanese
box officeA box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
for two weeks, pushing
The Da Vinci CodeThe Da Vinci Code is a 2006 American mystery thriller film directed by Ron Howard. The screenplay was written by Akiva Goldsman and based on Dan Brown's worldwide bestselling 2003 novel, The Da Vinci Code...
into second place. The first movie briefly played in certain North American theaters on May 20–21, 2008 The film was broadcast in Canadian theaters for one night only on September 15, 2008. The DVD was released on September 16, 2008, one day after the Canadian showing. The sequel,
Death Note: The Last Name, premiered in Japan on November 3, 2006. It was featured in U.S. theaters in October 2008. A spinoff from the films named
L: Change the Worldis a 2008 Japanese film that is a spin-off to the Death Note film series. Although the film is inspired by the manga Death Note that was written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, it follows an original storyline...
was released in Japan on February 9, 2008. It is focused on the final 23 days of L's life, as he solves one final case involving a bio-terrorist group. Two dubbed versions of the film were shown in the United States on April 29 and 30, 2009.
Death Note has been optioned for a live-action Hollywood remake. A 2007 article in
The StarThe Star is an English-language, tabloid-format newspaper in Malaysia. It is the largest in terms of circulation in Malaysia, according to the . It has a daily circulation of between 290,000 to 300,000...
(
Malaysia) states that more than ten film companies in the United States expressed interest in creating a remake.
On April 30, 2009,
Variety magazine announced that
Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
acquired the rights for the
Death Note manga to be adapted into a live-action movie in the United States. Warner Bros. has hired screenwriters Charley and Vlas Parlapanides to adapt the manga into a screenplay. Unlike the Japanese
Death Note live-action movie trilogy, the US-version will be directly adapted from the material in the manga and will not follow the storyline of the Japanese movie adaptations. On January 13, 2011, it was announced that
Shane BlackShane Black is an American actor, screenwriter and film director. He contributed to some of the biggest blockbuster action films of the late 1980s and early 1990s, including work on Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout...
the director of
Kiss Kiss Bang BangKiss Kiss Bang Bang is a 2005 crime/dark comedy film, which engages many conventions of the classic film noir genre in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. It is based, in part, on the novel Bodies Are Where You Find Them by Brett Halliday. The cast includes Robert Downey, Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan...
, has been hired to direct the film, with the script being written by Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry. Warner's studios planned to change the background story of Yagami, into one vengeance instead of justice, and also the removal of Shinigami. But Black opposed this change and has not been under the green-light.
Soundtracks
There have been several soundtracks released for this series, such as the ones for the film adaptations and also for the anime adaptation.
Sound of Death Note is a soundtrack featuring music from the first
Death Note film composed and arranged by
Kenji Kawai, born April 23, 1957 in Shinagawa, Tokyo, is a Japanese music composer, for motion pictures, anime movies, video games and televised programs. He has contributed to the musical scores for numerous films from Japan and other countries in Asia, working in film genres as diverse as anime, horror,...
. It was released on June 17, 2006 by VAP.
Sound of Death Note the Last name is the soundtrack from the second
Death Note film,
Death Note the Last name. It was released on November 2, 2006.
Death Note Tribute is a tribute album dedicated to the
live actionIn filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
movie for the
Death Note film. Published by BMG Japan on June 21, 2006 Japan, it contains 15 tracks performed by various artists, such as
Shikao Sugais a Japanese musician and singer-songwriter from Tokyo. Though he uses katakana for his recording name, the kanji for his name are 菅 止戈男, but the romanization is the same. Suga is his family name and Shikao is his given name....
,
M-Flois a Japanese hip hop group consisting of producer and DJ Taku Takahashi and emcee Verbal.Former member Lisa left the group in 2002 to pursue a solo career, and the remaining members then started the M-Flo Loves... project working different vocalists for each song over three albums, including the...
,
Buck-TickBuck-Tick is a rock band formed in 1983 in Fujioka, Japan. The band has consisted of Atsushi Sakurai , Hisashi Imai , Hidehiko Hoshino , Yutaka Higuchi and Toll Yagami for the majority of its existence...
and
Aya Matsuurais a Japanese pop singer from Himeji, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan.-2000–2009: Hello! Project:Aya auditioned in 2000 for the fourth Morning Musume & Heike Michiyo Protegee Audition and was selected along with Sheki-Dol to become a part of what was later known as Hello! Project. It is a common...
. The soundtrack came with a
cosplay, short for "costume play", is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters are often drawn from popular fiction in Japan, but recent trends have included American cartoons and science fiction...
Death Note notebook. Another tribute album is
The Songs for Death Note the movie〜the Last name Tribute dedicated to the second film. Published by
Sony Music Entertainment Japanis Sony's music arm in Japan. SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Corporation and independent from the United States-based Sony Music Entertainment due to its strength in the Japanese music industry....
on December 20, 2006, it contains 14 tracks performed by various artist, such as
Orange Rangeis a 5-member Okinawan alternative rock band, based in Okinawa, Japan. Formed in 2001, the band began with Spice Music and later signed with Sony Music Japan's gr8! records division in 2003. The group left gr8! records in 2010 to start their own label, Super Echo....
,
abingdon boys schoolAbingdon Boys School, stylized as abingdon boys school and abbreviated as a.b.s, is a Japanese rock band fronted by Takanori Nishikawa....
,
High and Mighty ColorHigh and Mighty Color was a Japanese metal band active from 2003 to 2010. They notably had two vocalists; a male and a female.- Formation and Anti-Nobunaga :...
,
Doping PandaDoping Panda is a Japanese rock group. They are part of Sony Music Japan's gr8 records! division, which includes bands such as Orange Range, Uverworld and Boom Boom Satellites. They released their first album "Performation" in 2001, and a second "WE IN MUSIC" in 2004. In 2005, Doping Panda released...
and
GalneryusGalneryus is a power/neo-classical metal band from Osaka, Japan that formed in 2001.- 2001–2002: Formation and indie days :Galneryus was formed in 2001 by guitarist Syu along with vocalist Masahiro "Yama-B" Yamaguchi...
.
The music from the anime was composed by
Yoshihisa Hiranois a Japanese composer.- Biography :Yoshihisa Hirano studied composing at Juilliard School in 1992, and later at Eastman School of Music. Some of the awards he has received include first prize in the Axia Tape Competition in Japan during his high school years and New York's New Music for Young...
and
Hideki Taniuchiis a Japanese composer. He was co-composer of some of the Death Note original soundtracks and Real Drive and composer of the music for Gyakkyō Burai Kaiji: Hakairoku-hen. He also composed music used in episodes 1-8 of the anime Aoi Bungaku and the "Heian Chapter" of the anime Otogi Zoshi.-External...
, while the CDs were also published by VAP. The first one was
Death Note Original Soundtrack, which was released in Japan on December 21, 2006. It contains music from the series with the first opening and ending themes sung by the Japanese band Nightmare in the TV size format.
Death Note Original Soundtrack II was first released in Japan on March 21, 2007. It features the new opening and closing themes by
Maximum the Hormoneis a Japanese nu metal band from Hachiōji, Tokyo.-1998–2001: Creation, early days and line-up change:Maximum the Hormone was created in 1998 by Daisuke Tsuda and Nao Kawakita. After a couple of regional shows, the band signed a contract with the Japanese rock label Sky Records. A.S.A...
in the TV size format. The third CD,
Death Note Original Soundtrack III was released on June 27, 2007. The tracks 1-21 were composed and arranged by Taniuchi, while the tracks 22-28 were composed and arranged by Hirano. The album features one track sung by
Aya Hiranofrom Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, is a Japanese voice actress and J-pop singer who has had roles in several anime, visual novels, and TV commercials in Japan. She was contracted to Space Craft Produce, a branch of the Space Craft Group, for her voice acting career, and for her singing career,...
, who was also the Japanese voice actress of
Misa Amane, also known as the second Kira is a fictional character in the Death Note anime, manga, and film series.-Conception and development:Tsugumi Ohba, writer of Death Note, decided to create Misa to be the second Kira before the serialization began...
in the anime series. Also appearing on this soundtrack is the ending theme
Coda〜Death Note, which can be heard at the end of the final episode of the anime as the credits are shown.
Light novels
A
light novelA is a style of Japanese novel primarily targeting junior high and high school students . The term "light novel" is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language. Light novels are often called or for short...
adaptation of the series has been written by
Nisio Isin, frequently written as NisiOisiN to emphasize that his pen name is a palindrome, is a Japanese novelist and manga writer. He attended and left Ritsumeikan University without graduating. In 2002, he debuted with the novel , which earned him the 23rd Mephisto Award at twenty years of age...
, called
Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder CasesDeath Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases is a light novel written by Nisio Isin and released on August 1, 2006. The story is a prequel to Death Note and recounts the Los Angeles "BB Murder Cases", which was mentioned briefly in Chapter 14/Episode 7 of the manga/anime...
. 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. Beside 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 February 19, 2008. The film
L: Change the Worldis a 2008 Japanese film that is a spin-off to the Death Note film series. Although the film is inspired by the manga Death Note that was written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, it follows an original storyline...
was also adapted into a light novel with the same name on December 25, 2007 by "M", While the novel is similar to the movie, there are many significant changes to the plot (for example, Near is not a Thai boy, but the same Near that appears in the manga). It also reveals more information about L and his past. Viz released it on October 20, 2009.
Anime
The
Death Note anime, directed by
Tetsurō Arakiis a Japanese anime director. He was born in Sayama City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan.Araki is a graduate at Senshu University and works with Madhouse. His directorial debut was 2005's Otogi-Jūshi Akazukin. He is best known as the director of the Death Note anime adaptation...
and animated by
Madhouseis a Japanese animation studio, founded in 1972 by ex–Mushi Pro animators including Masao Maruyama, Osamu Dezaki, Rintaro, and Yoshiaki Kawajiri. It has created and helped to produce many well known shows, starting with TV anime series Ace o Nerae! in 1973, and including western favourites Ninja...
, began airing in Japan on October 3, 2006, and finished its run on June 26, 2007, totaling 37 twenty-minute episodes. It begins in the year 2006, instead of 2003. The series aired on the
Nippon Televisionis a television network based in the Shiodome area of Minato, Tokyo, Japan and is controlled by the Yomiuri Shimbun publishing company. Broadcasting terrestrially across Japan, the network is commonly known as , contracted to , and abbreviated as "NTV" or "AX".-Offices:*The Headquarters : 6-1,...
network "every Tuesday at 23:34". The series was co-produced by Madhouse, Nippon Television,
Shueishais a major publisher in Japan. The company was founded in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The following year, Shueisha became a separate, independent company. Magazines published by Shueisha include Weekly Shōnen Jump, Weekly Young Jump,...
, D.N. Dream Partners and VAP.
In North America, the series has been licensed by Viz for residents in the United States 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." The downloadable episodes contain the original Japanese audio track and English subtitles, and is available through
IGNIGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's
WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
-only Direct2Drive service. DVDs of the series are also being released, containing both an English dubbed audio track, produced by Ocean Productions, and the original Japanese audio track with optional English subtitles. Viz announced at
Anime Expo 2007Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation . With rare exceptions, the convention is traditionally held on the July 4th weekend and lasts for four days...
that the first DVD was officially released on November 20, 2007, in both regular and special editions, and also confirmed at
Comic-Con InternationalSan Diego Comic-Con International, also known as Comic-Con International: San Diego , and commonly known as Comic-Con or the San Diego Comic-Con, was founded as the Golden State Comic Book Convention and later the San Diego Comic Book Convention in 1970 by Shel Dorf and a group of San Diegans...
2007 that the first 15,000 copies of each DVD contains collectible figures.
Death Note was slated to make its North American television premiere in Canada on YTV's
BionixBionix was a late night anime program block on the Canadian television channel YTV. From September 2009-February 7, 2010, it aired on Friday nights around 4:00pm to 2:00am and Saturday mornings/afternoons from 6:00 am to 9:00 am and 12:00am to 3:00pm , beginning on September 13,...
programming block on September 7, 2007; however, the show was removed from the schedule at the last minute. The Canadian premiere was pushed back to October 26, 2007, at 10:00 p.m., when it finally premiered.
Death Note premiered in the U.S. on October 20, 2007, at 11:30 p.m. on Cartoon Network's
Adult SwimAdult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
, until January 10, 2010, when the contract expired. The last episode aired on Canada's YTV channel on July 4, 2008, and on
Adult SwimAdult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
two days later. YTV took away the show on July 5, 2008, with the last airing being the last episode rerun at 1:30 a.m.
ETThe Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
, as part of YTV moving the Bionix block to a 2-hour only block on Saturdays. The show also streamed online for free on Adult Swim Video, with a new episode available every Saturday afternoon, on the day of its broadcast premiere.
A two-hour animated TV special aired on Nippon Television in Japan on August 31, 2007, at 8:00 p.m. It is a recap which takes place after the series end, where a Shinigami approaches Ryuk in the Shinigami realm in order to learn more about the human world. Instead, Ryuk tells him of all the events leading up to the last story arc, about Light Yagami and his rival L. Originally, this special was advertised as a retelling told from Ryuk's point of view, but it does not give a different point of view from what was originally told. However, it contains updated dialog, as well as a few new scenes.
The Japanese broadcaster NTV aired the special on August 22, 2008. Like the first special, this new compilation summarized a part of the 2006–2007 television anime series. Specifically, it recounted the final half of the suspenseful supernatural story, including the investigators Near and Mello's confrontations with the vigilante Kira. This version features more updates than the previous one, most notably omission of the mafia plot.
Video games
A Death Note
video game developed and published by Konamiis a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
for the Nintendo DSThe is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
, titled , was released on February 15, 2007. Kira Game is a
strategy gameStrategy video games is a video game genre that emphasizes skillful thinking and planning to achieve victory. They emphasize strategic, tactical, and sometimes logistical challenges. Many games also offer economic challenges and exploration...
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).
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.
A third game, , was released for the Nintendo DS in Japan on February 7, 2008. The player assumes the role of a rookie FBI agent who awakens in a strange hotel and attempts to escape with the help of L, who provides assistance via an in-game PDA. The story is set before the Kira investigation in the original series.
Several characters from Death Note
appear in Jump Super Starsis a 2D fighting game for the Nintendo DS. It was developed by Ganbarion and published by Nintendo. The game was released on August 8, 2005 in Japan and accompanied the release of a red Nintendo DS...
and Jump Ultimate Starsis a fighting video game developed by Ganbarion and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. It is the sequel to Jump Super Stars, also released for the DS. The game was released in Japan on November 23, 2006...
, a fighting gameFighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...
featuring a plethora of characters from Shōnen Jump
is a weekly shōnen manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines. The first issue was released with a cover date of July 2, 1968, and it is still circulating. One of the longest-running manga magazines in Japan, it has a circulation of 2.8 million copies...
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.
Reception
, Death Note
had sold around twenty million copies in Japan. On December 31, 2008, Comipress reported that the twelve volumes from the series had sold 26,500,000 copies. It was also nominated for Best Manga at the 2006 American Anime AwardsThe American Anime Awards are a series of awards designed to recognize excellence in the release of anime and manga in North America.The first annual American Anime Awards balloting was supervised by Milton Griepp of industry website ICv2. The first gala awards presentation was hosted in New York...
but lost. In 2007, the first three volumes of Death Note
were on the American Library AssociationThe American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
's 2007 Great Graphic Novels for Teens Top Ten list. On ICv2's "Top 10 Shonen Properties Q2 2009", Death Note was the third best manga property from North America. During January from 2007,
Oricon, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...
made a poll in which they asked Japanese fans from manga and anime which characters from any series they would most like to see in spinoff series. The overall winner from the poll was L, who also ranked first in the women's poll and second in the men's poll.
Various publications for several types of media have commented on the Death Note
manga, adding praise and criticism. Anime News NetworkAnime News Network is an anime industry news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, Japanese popular music and other otaku-related culture within North America, Australia and Japan. Additionally, it sometimes features similar happenings throughout the Anglosphere and elsewhere in the...
(ANN) writer Zac Bertschy noted that the difference between Death Note
and other manga from the same genre was very big due to the murders the main character (Light Yagami, also known as is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the manga and anime series Death Note. He is an extremely intelligent, athletic, popular, but bored young man who finds the Death Note dropped by the Shinigami Ryuk by sheer chance...
) commits as well as how he hides his identity of Kira. Although Bertchy mentioned some readers from other shōnen
would be surprised with the dark themes of Death Note, he praised the series for its "great art, great story, compelling characters." Julie Rosato from Mania Entertainment found the story to be very entertaining, having liked Light's development in the story and L's introduction as well as how the latter starts suspecting of the former's identity. Additionally, he praised the story as it is "building a climax" with each detail introduced in the first chapter, making the reader to look forward to upcoming chapters. Briana Lawrence from ANN liked the series' ending as most of the characters from the story were "given a chance to shine" and due to the fact the notebook and other aspects from the series had little importance in the focus of Death Note and now they play a more important part. However, she did not like how the epilogue made no mention of what happens with
Misa Amane, also known as the second Kira is a fictional character in the Death Note anime, manga, and film series.-Conception and development:Tsugumi Ohba, writer of Death Note, decided to create Misa to be the second Kira before the serialization began...
and how Near and Mello were still treated like parts of L.
Shūsuke Kanekois a Japanese filmmaker and screenwriter.-Career:Shūsuke Kaneko began his career in film with Nikkatsu's Roman Porno film series, in which he served as assistant director to Kōyū Ohara. The series also gave Kaneko his directorial debut with writer Kōichirō Uno's, Kōichirō Uno's Wet and Swinging ,...
, director of the first 2 film versions of the series, said that the manga series "barely touches" pain felt by the Death Note's victims, so he decided to use a different focus with the film series.
Douglas Wolk of Salon
said that a rumor circulated stating that the creators intended to create Death Note
to last half as long as its actual run & Ohba and Obata had been persuaded to lengthen the storyline when Death Notes popularity increased, noting that the rumor "makes sense, since about halfway through the series, there's a point that seems like a natural ending". In addition he said that fans wrote "thousands" of
Death Note fan fictionFan fiction is a broadly-defined term for fan labor regarding stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator...
stories and posted them on the internet. Carl Kimlinger, in
Protoculture AddictsProtoculture Addicts was a Canadian-based North American anime and manga magazine published by Protoculture Inc., an Anime News Network company...
, called
Death Note "morally repellent" and said it "presents a worldview that is both shallow and repulsively misanthropic."
The anime was also commented with Tom S. Pepirium of IGN saying that
Death Notes "heavy serialized nature" is what "makes the show so engaging and discussion worthy." Pepirium, saying that translating
Death Note is "no small task," said that Stephen Hedley created a dub with "nothing clunky." Pepirium added that Karl Willems, director of the dub, assembled a "stunning voice cast of professionals" with a "solid tone minus some of the cheesy yelling and screaming of other dubs." John Powers of the
NPRNPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
show
Fresh AirFresh Air is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States. The show is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its longtime host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to 450 stations and claimed 4.5 million listeners. The show...
finds the show "addicting" and equates its similarity to the American TV series
LostLost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
. It was also listed as the 51st best animated show in IGN's Top 100 Animated Series.
"Running over thirty-seven 20 minutes episodes, the anime sticks much closer to the manga so takes a far more languid approach to storytelling, better fleshing out the fantastic characters of Light and his nemesis, L. Light in particular is one of the most layered characters to appear in anime in a long time. -HyperHyper is a multi-platform Australian video game magazine. Australia's longest running gaming magazine, it has been in publication since 1993, and was released the same month as the better known UK magazine Edge...
The novelization
L: Change the World became the second top selling light novel in Japan during 2008. A.E. Sparrow of IGN reviewed the novel
Another Note and gave it a 9.5 out of 10. Sparrow said that the author understood "what made these characters click so well" and "captures everything that made the manga the compelling read that it is." Sparrow said that fans of
Death Note who read
Another Note will "find a welcome home" in the Nisio Isin's work that "adds a few more fun layers" to the
Death Note franchise.
Banning by People's Republic of China
Early in 2005, school officials in
ShenyangShenyang , or Mukden , is the capital and largest city of Liaoning Province in Northeast China. Currently holding sub-provincial administrative status, the city was once known as Shengjing or Fengtianfu...
, the capital of Liaoning Province (People's Republic of China), banned
Death Note. The immediate cause was that students had been altering notebooks to resemble Death Notes and then writing the names of acquaintances, enemies, and teachers in the books. The ban was designed to protect the "physical and mental health" of students from horror material that "misleads innocent children and distorts their mind and spirit."
Jonathan ClementsJonathan Clements is a British author and scriptwriter. His non-fiction works include biographies of Confucius, Koxinga and Qin Shihuangdi , as well as monthly opinion columns for Neo magazine...
has suggested that the Chinese authorities acted partly against "superstition" but also against illegal, pirate publishers of
Death Note. The ban has been extended to other Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai and
LanzhouLanzhou is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China. A prefecture-level city, it is a key regional transportation hub, allowing areas further west to maintain railroad connections to the eastern half of the country....
in
Gansu' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...
Province. Legally published Chinese language versions of
Death Note are published in Hong Kong and in Taiwan.
Copycat crimes and imitations
There have been various copycat crimes around the world which were based on
Death Note. On September 28, 2007, two notes written with
Latin charactersThe Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
stating were found near the unidentified remains of a
CaucasianThe term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...
male in Belgium. The case has been called the "
MangamoordThe Manga Murder is a solved, Belgian murder case possibly involving a serial killer, referred to as the Manga Killer.The name of the case was coined by the Belgian media and has to do with the notes that were found near the victim...
" (Dutch for
Manga Murder) in Belgian media. Nothing was found on or near the victim besides these two notes.
A senior at the Franklin Military Academy in
Richmond, VirginiaRichmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, United States was suspended after being caught possessing a replica "Death Note" notebook with the names of fellow students.
In
South CarolinaSouth Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, U.S. in 2008, school officials seized a "Death Note" notebook from a Hartsville Middle School student. District officials linked the notebook to the anime/manga. The notebook listed seven students' names. The school planned a disciplinary hearing and contacted the seven students' parents.
In
Gadsden, AlabamaThe city of Gadsden is the county seat of Etowah County in the U.S. state of Alabama, and it is located about 65 miles northeast of Birmingham, Alabama. It is the primary city of the Gadsden Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 103,459. Gadsden is closely associated with the...
, U.S. two sixth grade boys were arrested for possessions of "Death Notes" that listed names of several staff members and fellow students. According to Etowah County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Lanny Handy, the notebook was found the previous afternoon by a staffer. The students were suspended from the county's schools. The students, their parents, and school officials had met with Handy and a junior probation officer.
In
Gig Harbor, WashingtonGig Harbor is the name of both a bay on Puget Sound and a city on its shore in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 7,126 at the 2010 census....
, U.S. one middle school student was expelled and three were suspended on May 14, 2008 for having their own "Death Note" books.
External links