Death Note

Death Note (デスノート, Desu Nōto?) is a manga series created by writer Tsugumi Ohba and manga artist Takeshi Obata. The main character is Light Yagami, a high school student who discovers a supernatural notebook, the "Death Note", dropped on Earth by a god of death 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" using the notebook, and the efforts of a detective known as L to stop him.

Death Note was first serialized in 108 chapters by Shueisha in the Japanese manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 2003 to May 2006. The series was also published in tankōbon 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 anime series aired in Japan from October 3, 2006, to June 26, 2007. Composed of 37 episodes, the anime was developed by Madhouse and directed by Tetsuro Araki. A light novel based on the series, written by Nisio Isin, was released in Japan. Additionally, various video games have been published by Konami for Nintendo DS.

Viz Media 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 IGN. Viz later licensed the anime series and it aired on Bionix. 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. 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.[1] On January 13, 2011, it was announced that Shane Black has been hired to direct the film, with the script being written by Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry.

Synopsis
Light Yagami 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:

* 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.

After several experiments with the Death Note, Light realises the notebook's authenticity and encounters the previous owner, a shinigami called Ryuk. Light explains his plans of becoming a god with Ryuk. Soon, the number of inexplicable deaths of criminals catches the attention of the International Police Organization and the a world famous detective, "L". L quickly learns that the serial killer, publicly known as "Kira" (キラ?, derived from the Japanese pronunciation of the word "killer"), 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 Misa Amane, 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 and Mello, 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 a natural heart attack.

Concurrently, Near and several members of the Task Force begin to suspect Light of being Kira. In response, Light persuades Misa to relinquish her Death Note and raises another Kira, Teru Mikami, a prosecutor and fervent supporter of Kira. Mikami kills Kira's former spokesman for greed and recruits Kiyomi Takada, a newscaster and Light's former girlfriend, to replace him. Mello returns and kidnaps Kiyomi, who kills Mello with a hidden Death Note piece in response. Light then makes Takada commit suicide to prevent her from implicate him, but Mikami, unaware of Light's actions, attempts to kill her with his notebook. 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.

Manga
The Death Note manga series was first serialized in the Japanese manga magazine Weekly Shōnen 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. In April from 2005 Death Note was licensed for publication in North America by Viz Media,[13] and the first English-language volume was released on October 10, 2005.[14] 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.[15] Several Death Note yonkoma (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 Jump Gag Special 2005 included some Death Note yonkoma in a Jump Heroes Super 4-Panel Competition.[11]

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.[16][17] 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, Mello, and Near. In North America, 13: How to Read was released on February 19, 2008.

Live-action films
Death Note was adapted into a series of live-action films in 2006. The first 2 films were directed by Shūsuke Kaneko and the third was by Hideo Nakata and produced by Nippon Television, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Japan. The first film, simply titled Death Note, premiered in Japan on June 17, 2006 and topped the Japanese box office for two weeks, pushing The Da Vinci Code into second place.[19] The first movie briefly played in certain North American theaters on May 20–21, 2008[20] 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.[21] The sequel, Death Note: The Last Name, premiered in Japan on November 3, 2006.[22] It was featured in U.S. theaters in October 2008.[23] A spinoff from the films named L: Change the World 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.[24] Two dubbed versions of the film were shown in the United States on April 29 and 30, 2009.[25]

Death Note has been optioned for a live-action Hollywood remake. A 2007 article in The Star (Malaysia) states that more than ten film companies in the United States expressed interest in creating a remake. The live-action Hollywood remake will be directed by Shane Black, the director of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, for Warner Brothers.

soundtrack
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. It was released on June 17, 2006 by VAP.[27] 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.[28] Death Note Tribute is a tribute album dedicated to the live action 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 Suga, M-Flo, Buck-Tick and Aya Matsuura. The soundtrack came with a cosplay Death Note notebook.[29] 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 Japan on December 20, 2006, it contains 14 tracks performed by various artist, such as Orange Range, abingdon boys school, High and Mighty Color, Doping Panda and Galneryus.[30]

The music from the anime was composed by Yoshihisa Hirano and Hideki Taniuchi, 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.[31] 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 Hormone in the TV size format.[32] 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 Hirano, who was also the Japanese voice actress of Misa Amane 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.