About This Anime

Death Note (デスノート, Desu Nōto^?) is a manga series created by the 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.

aBOUT the main CharACTER

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.

aNIME

The Death Note anime, directed by Tetsurō Araki and animated by Madhouse, began airing in Japan on October 3, 2006 and finished its run on June 26, 2007, totaling 37 twenty-minute episodes. 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". The series was co-produced by Madhouse, Nippon Television, Shueisha, D.N. Dream Partners and VAP.

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". The downloadable episodes contain the original Japanese audio track and English subtitles, and is available through IGN's Windows-only Direct2Drive service. 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. Viz announced at Anime Expo 2007 that the first DVD will be officially released on November 20, 2007 in both regular and special editions and also confirmed at Comic-Con International 2007 that the first 15,000 copies of each DVD will contain collectible figures.

Death Note was slated to make its North American television premiere in Canada on YTV's Bionix 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 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. 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 show.

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 in February 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

Copyrights and Credits

Chanlu Design.

The artwork (Death Note characters) belongs to its creator, Obata Takeshi. The brushes used in the layout came from Angryblue and the images came from DeathGod.