nav2006 Death Note | Anime | Manga | Characters | Instructions

Death Note

Media: Anime TV Series
Creator: Tsugumi Ohba, Takeshi Obata
Animation: Madhouse Studios
Vintage: 2004
Air Date: October 2006
Episodes: 37
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Horror, Supernatural, Police, Psychological
Background: Death Note originated as a manga written by Tsugumi Ohba, with illustrations by Takeshi Obata, and published in Weekly Shonen Jump. The genre is a mix of horror, mystery and psychology. Death Note has gained tremendous popularity as a 'thinking man's manga' by making the reader think about the story even after finishing reading. In 2006, it was adapted in a motion picture in Japan and also as an anime later that year.

Death Note anime opening #1:
"The World" by Nightmare

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Death Note summary:

Death Note anime screen cap

Raito (Light) Yagami is a top honor student in his last year of high school. He is popular with the girls and has the respects of his peers. His father is the city's police chief, and Raito has in numerous occasions helped his father solve crime mysteries that have baffled even the experts. Some call Raito a genius, and everyone expects great Death Note anime screen cap

things from young Raito in the future.

But in truth, Raito is bored out of his mind. Although he acts kind and sympathetic on the outside, he really views those around him as inferior beings since they can't possibly match his intellect. Raito is also quite an egomaniac, he believes that since he is a genius he can't be wrong. He has developed a warped sense of justice and has little regard for other people's lives, even those of his own family.

One fateful day, Raito Yagami discovers a black notebook with the words Death Note written on the cover. In it, written in English, were the following instructions:

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 heart attack.
After writing the cause of death, the details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

The Death Note belonged to a Shinigami (death god, aka grim reaper) named Ryuk. The black notebook is carried by all Shinigami to be used to take the lives of humans whose lives have reached their limit. Ryuk left the Death Note in the human world because he was as bored as Raito was. Ryuk wanted to see what Death Note anime screen cap

will happen if a human had the power of a reaper.

From Ryuk's perspective, Raito Yagami was proabably the ideal candidate. Raito was curious enough to actually use the notebook, and after realizing the Death Note's power, he had no prohibitions to continue using it to kill people.

At first Raito uses the Death Note as a tool to create his view of a perfect utopia. By killing all criminals in the world, Raito believes the world will be free of evil. Raito wrote down criminals' names indescrimiantely in the Death Note, no matter what the severity of their crime was. Raito uses the alias 'Kira' to communicate with the media and spread his influence throughout the globe. Soon, anyone who publically disagreed with Kira would be killed. Kira had the world as his hostage.

For all his intelligence, Raito failed to realize that his actions have made him the most evil being of all. But the Death Note anime screen cap

world wasn't going to standby and allow a vigilante control the world through fear. A special task force is set up to find the identity of Kira. Leading this team is a young man named L. L is the same age as Raito, and although he has some odd habits, L's intelligence rivals Raito's own. L immediately suspects Raito when they first meet, but has no evidence to prove how Raito was killing people. Raito has seen L's face but cannot murder him because L is not his true name. And so begins an intense battle of wits and intellect where one wrong move will spell certain defeat.