Death note

Death Note (デスノート , Desu Nōto^?) is a manga series written by Tsugumi Ōba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, and whose adaptation into an anime series was directed by Tetsurō Araki. It also has several movies and video games. The story focuses on Light Yagami, a high school student. One day, he finds a notebook with supernatural powers called "Death Note", with which he is able to kill people if their names are written in it, while at the same time if the bearer mentally visualizes the face of the person he wants to kill. Light, realizing the notebook's potential, attempts to eliminate all criminals and create a world where evil does not exist; However, a mysterious private detective who calls himself L, world famous for solving big cases in the past, will try to thwart his plans.

The series is based on a spread that was released by Shūeisha for the magazine Shōnen Jump, and became widespread again as an inclusion in volume thirteen, « How to Read", which is a guide that contains data related to the franchise, including the profile of all the main characters. The manga began to be published in December 2003 by the publisher Shūeisha, in the Japanese weekly magazine Shōnen Jump, until its end in May 2006 with the twelfth volume, collecting one hundred and eight chapters. The manga's story was later adapted into an anime produced by Madhouse, until it came to an end with a total of thirty-seven episodes. The anime aired in Japan from October 3, 2006 to June 26. in 2007 on the Nippon Television network. Likewise, the work has been adapted into three live-action films, two light novels and multiple video games created by Konami for the Nintendo DS. In 2006, Tsugumi Ōba created an artbook called «Blanc et Noir», which contains illustrations about the series, being officially published by Shūeisha; several supplemental books on the franchise. Later, a new one-shot was created that narrates the events that occur two years after the end of the original manga, as well as two special episodes called "Death Note Rewritten: The Visualizing God." » and «Death Note Rewrite 2: L's Successors», which are some kind of summaries of the first part narrated by Ryuk and the second part narrated by L. The Spanish versions of the manga were published by the publisher Editores de Tebeos—formerly Ediciones Glénat—and later Norma Editorial in Spain, by Grupo Editorial Vid and Panini Manga in Mexico, by Larp Editores, by Ivrea in Argentina, and later by Panini Cómics in Colombia.

Several manga, anime and other media publications have praised and, in turn, criticized the series. Death Note has been recognized internationally, being classified as one of the most famous anime in history. In addition to having gained millions of fans and followers around the world, captivating viewers with its story, plot and characters.

Even though it has been noted that its plot is entertaining for audiences, Death Note was banned in China because children modified their notebooks to resemble the Death Note.

Aspects of the work

In the story, the "Death Note" is a notebook with a black cover with his name inscribed on it. This notebook has the power to kill any person by simply writing their first and last name in it, as long as the bearer mentally visualizes the face of the person they want to kill. People whose names are written in the notebook die of a heart attack after forty seconds, unless the cause of their death is specified; The Death Note bearer has six minutes and forty seconds to specify the cause of death.

Despite its easy use, the Death Note is not an infallible instrument, since it has certain limitations and rules that even the shinigami are unaware of. The notebook cannot warp reality, so the victims killed by the Death Note can only die from possible deaths around them and any failure to comply with these conditions would annul the specifications in the notebook but not the death of the people. Likewise, a person can only be manipulated to a certain extent before dying from the effects of the Death Note, with the number of days limit being twenty-three; However, it is possible to cause the death of a person due to chronic diseases depending on the time they take to develop.

The shinigami are the original bearers of the Death Note. Thanks to their eyes, they can kill people with ease, as they allow them to see their real name and how much time they have left to live. Shinigami cannot be seen by normal people unless they have touched their Death Note. When Ryuk threw his Death Note to Earth, he wrote the instructions for its use in English, as it is a universal language; This is why Light Yagami learns to use it shortly after finding it. As Ryuk explains to Light, it is possible for a human being to obtain the shinigami's ability to discover a person's true name by seeing their face., although it can only be obtained by sacrificing half of the remaining life time and it is impossible to recover this ability without performing the exchange again.

The moment a human bearer of a Death Note relinquishes it or the notebook is destroyed, that person loses all memories related to the notebook automatically, but if the person touches it they will regain all their memories.

In the manga, each chapter contains a special page with the rules of the Death Note, while in the anime, in each break—usually two per episode—a rule about the use of the Death Note is narrated.

Argument

The story stars Light Yagami, an outstanding student from Japan who has a "boring" perspective on life and who, almost at the end of the first chapter, begins to consider the world as a "rotten" place. His life undergoes a radical change when he finds a strange supernatural notebook called the "Death Note" lying on the floor. Behind the cover of said notebook were instructions on its use, where it said that if a person's name was written and displayed mentally looking at its face, he would die of a heart attack. At first, Light distrusted the authenticity of the notebook, but since he considers himself "stubborn", after trying it on two occasions, he became convinced. realizes that its power was real. After five days, he receives a visit from the previous owner of the Death Note (since the true owner was the King of the Shinigami), a shinigami named Ryuk, who tells him that he had dropped the Death Note to Earth because he was bored, and in turn Light tells him that his goal was to kill all the criminals, in order to cleanse the world of evil; Ryuk tells him that if he succeeds he will become the last evil person, to which Light responds that he is just a model human who is going to become the "god of the new world." Later, the inexplicable number of criminal deaths calls the attention of the FBI and that of a famous private detective known as "L". L quickly deduces that the serial killer—nicknamed by the public as "Kira" (キラ, «Kira»^? derived from the typical Japanese pronunciation of the English word «killer», lit. «murderer»)— was in Japan. Likewise, he realizes that Kira could kill people without laying a finger on them, however he also discovers that he needs to know the face and full name of his victims. Light discovers that L will be one of his biggest rivals, and a psychological game will take place between the two.

Misa Amane, a famous idol from Japan who carries a Death Note, which was given to her by Rem at the request of Jealous, a shinigami who had fallen in love with Misa; meets Light. Misa had become obsessed with Kira after he had killed her parents' murderer, so she dedicated herself to helping Light by becoming the "second Kira", in order to focus the investigation on her to give Light time to create a new plan, until she was captured and locked up by L, as he was suspicious of her. Light devises a plan to renounce ownership of the Death Notes—both his and Misa's—and thus forget their memories in order to rescue her. After losing his memories, Light is freed due to the reappearance of a new Kira, however L never stops suspecting that Light is the real Kira, free but chained to L, together they begin to focus the investigation on a group of criminals from a company called "Yotsuba", who possessed Misa's Death Note. By stopping them, Light regains all his memories the moment he touches the Death Note. Rem, being manipulated by Light into acting in her favor, murders L and her assistant, Watari. Because he breaks one of the Death Note rules, Rem dies shortly after due to one of the shinigami laws that prohibits increasing the lifespan of humans, increasing Misa's lifespan. After L's death, Light takes over as "new L" in the investigation group. Five years later, Near and Mello, L's official successors, split up to see who can catch Kira first. Near, with the help of the government, creates the SPK, an organization founded with the explicit goal of capturing Kira. While Mello makes a deal with the mafia to achieve the same goal. Mello begins to execute his plan and investigate Death Note powers and Near - posing as L - contacts Light, who was also posing as L. Light He did not expect L to have successors, so he will have to evade their deductions again and thus be able to fulfill his ambitions.

Subsequently, Light decides to look for a person to replace him for a time in his job as Kira, since Near was beginning to suspect him and Misa was no longer useful to him. Therefore, he chooses Teru Mikami, a man who admired Kira like a god. Mello, with the help of his friend Matt (who is also a successor to L, but of lesser importance than Near and Mello), kidnaps Kiyomi Takada, who was Kira's girlfriend. Light at university, but later uses her to complete his plans. Matt is machine-gunned to death after being chased by Takada's bodyguards, giving Mello the opportunity to flee. However, he dies at the hands of Takada, who possessed a piece of the Death Note, although Takada is later killed by Light. On the other hand, Near makes contact with Light and his team to hold a meeting. Light takes the opportunity to tell Mikami to investigate the real names of the SPK members. When the day of the meeting arrives, Mikami writes the names of the SPK members in his Death Note, but Near explains that nothing would happen., since with the help of Stephen Gevanni he had changed that notebook for a fake one. Light, feeling cornered by Near's deductions, reveals that everything was true and tries to kill him with a piece of the Death Note that he had in his watch. However, Tōta Matsuda - one of the agents of the Kira case and who admired Light - shoots him, leaving him badly injured. Then Mikami commits suicide because Light had been defeated and taking advantage of the moment, he escapes while he remembers everything he experienced. In the end, Ryuk writes Light's name in his Death Note and he dies while having a vision of L. Finally, they show us a scene where they give the reference that Misa Amane commits suicide, after Light's death. However, the original version of the manga has a different ending in which a badly injured Light begs Ryuk to help him by writing the names of everyone present in his Death Note except his own. The shinigami pretends to agree and writes Light's name in his place, who spends his last moments begging not to die before suffering cardiac arrest. A year later, Matsuda and Light's other companions continue working with Near, who is has become the new L. Matsuda suspects that Near may have used the Death Note as a resource to defeat Light and leave no evidence behind. However, he has no way to prove it, so he concludes that he could be wrong, noting that the world was the same again after Light's death. While another part of the population believes that "Kira" He has taken a break and religious groups are formed that await his return, ironically fulfilling Light's wish to be worshiped as a deity.

Main characters

The main characters will be briefly described below, dubbing actors (seiyū in Japanese) from the original Japanese version, Latin America and Spain will be named:

• Light Yagami (, Yagami Raito^?also known as "Kira".

The antagonistic protagonist of the series. He is one of the best students in all of Japan. Once he finds the Death Note, he sets out to kill all the criminals in the world and create a world where he is the god. When he uses the Death Note, the number of unexplained deaths draws the attention of all the media, becoming the center of attention in Japan and even the world. Later, he will have to evade L's deductions in order to achieve his goals. In the Japanese adaptation his seiyū is Mamoru Miyano, while in the Spanish-American dubbing it is Manuel Campuzano, and in the Spanish it is Sergio Zamora.

• L (▪, Eru^?), whose real name is L Lawliet (▪ techniques for the detection, Eru Rōraito^?),

He is a famous private detective whose true identity no one knew except for his assistant, Watari. He is known worldwide for deciphering complicated cases, since he is an extremely intelligent person. In the Japanese adaptation his seiyū is Kappei Yamaguchi, while in the Spanish-American dubbing it is Hugo Núñez, and in the Spanish is Roger Pera.

• Ryuk (.., Ryūku^?)

He is the main shinigami who dropped the "Death Note" in the human world out of sheer boredom, she would later find Light Yagami; He meets Light, and as the rules dictate, he must accompany the bearer of the book until the owner dies. In the Japanese adaptation his seiyū is Nakamura Shidō, while in the Spanish-American dubbing it is Rolando de Castro, and in the Spanish it is Jorge Varela.

• Misa Amane (أ م أ م م م م م م م م م م م م م م م م م م م م م م م م , Amane Misa^?)

She is a famous idol from Japan who also carries a Death Note. Misa becomes obsessed with Kira after he killed her parents' murderer, so she dedicates herself to helping Light, posing as the "second Kira". Misa falls deeply in love with Light, allowing herself to be easily manipulated by him. but he only uses her to achieve his goals. In the Japanese adaptation her seiyū is Aya Hirano, while in the Spanish-American dubbing it is Rebeca Gómez, and in Spanish it is Núria Trifol.

• Near (『, Nia^?), whose real name is Nate River ( counseling to protect, Neito Ribā^?)

He is one of the gifted boys at the Wammy's House orphanage and the first in L's line of succession. Upon being informed of L's death, the director of the orphanage proposes that Mello work together with Near., but rejects it. Later, with the help of the government, he creates the SPK, an organization founded with the sole objective of capturing Kira, managing to discover Light. According to Near, neither he nor Mello were at L's level, but together they equaled or even surpassed him. surpassed. In the Japanese adaptation her seiyū is Noriko Hidaka, while in the Spanish-American dubbing it is Bruno Coronel, and in Spanish it is Masumi Mutsuda.

• Mello (☰, Mero^?)whose real name is Mihael Keehl (▪, Mihaeru Kēru^?)

He is one of the gifted kids at Wammy's House orphanage like Near, and second in line to L. When L died, Mello makes a deal with the mafia to catch Kira. before Near, but was killed by Kiyomi Takada, who had written his name in the Death Note under Light's orders. In the Japanese adaptation his seiyū is Sasaki Nozomu, while in the dub Hispanic American is Javier Olguín, and in Spanish it is Manuel Gimeno.

Production

The series is not based on any type of main concept, since it is a work that includes shinigami and "specific rules." Tsugumi Ōba wanted to create a suspense series, since he did not feel capable of creating a series about fights and he considered that there were not many series with that theme.

One-shot

The process of creating the series began when Ōba took some vignettes about two ideas to Shūeisha. Ōba said that the one-shot of Death Note was well received by the publisher and garnered positive reactions from readers, although he said that maintaining a single-chapter story was “ very difficult" and that it took him more than a month to write. Obata said that he wanted to draw the manga after hearing about a "horror story with shinigami." According to Obata, when he received the draft created by Ōba, he did not He understood very well but wanted to participate in the project because of the presence of the shinigami and because it was a "dark" work. He also commented that he was interested in the progress of the plot while reading the vignettes and wondered if the readers of Shōnen Jump they were going to enjoy the series. He further indicated that although there was little action of the main character, he liked the atmosphere of the story. Ōba took the draft of the one-shot to the publisher and Obata later took charge of continuing the illustrations. The editor told Ōba that it was not necessary to meet with Obata to discuss the pilot chapter, something that "went well" for Ōba.

Weekly publication

When the one-shot was published, the author commented that he did not expect the series to be published weekly, since he considered that it would not be broadcast by Shōnen Jump. Ōba said that when he realized that the manga would be published by Shōnen Jump and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, he couldn't believe it. Ōba was in charge of creating vignettes with dialogue and basic drawings, which were then sent to the editor and, once reviewed, he sent them to the illustrator with a finished script and an almost finalized distribution of panels; then Obata determined the expressions and angles and created the final illustrations. The scriptwriter was in charge of the narrative time and the amount of dialogue, making the text as brief as possible. Ōba commented that he believed that reading too much plot would be tiring and would have a negative effect on the atmosphere of suspense. The illustrator had significant artistic license and worked with basic descriptions, such as an "abandoned building". Obata originally planned to draw Death Notes similar to Bibles, although he later thought that such a design would be difficult to use and instead opted for a notebook.

The weekly production schedule included five days to come up with the plot and one day to create a draft with dialogue. At this point the writer sent the initial draft to the editor. Ōba commented that it sometimes took him three or four days to come up with a chapter, although sometimes it took up to a month. The illustrator, on the other hand, dedicated one day to designing vignettes and the second day he continued with the drawings. Obata stated that it sometimes took him a few extra days to do color pages, which "disordered his schedule." Ōba stated that the series ended more or less how he intended to end it: he initially considered the idea of L defeating Light, but then decided on an ending in a winery. According to the writer, the details of the ending were decided from the beginning. The writer also indicated that he did not have a theme he wanted to express through the series, but if he had to choose one, it would be that "all humans will die in the end." and they will not be able to revive, so let us do our best while we are alive. When the author was asked if the series was about enjoying plot twists and psychological warfare, Ōba responded that this concept was the reason why he was very happy to publish his manga in Shōnen Jump, adding that by targeting Death Note at a young audience, the reader could focus on pure entertainment rather than ideology.

Anime adaptation

The director of the anime adaptation, Tetsurō Araki, commented that he wanted to highlight the aspects that made the series interesting instead of simply focusing on morality or the concept of justice. The organizer of the series, Toshiki Inoue, agreed with Araki and added that in the anime adaptation the important thing was to highlight the aspects that make the original version interesting. He considered Light's presence to be the most absorbing aspect, so the adaptation chronicles Light's thoughts and actions as much as possible; He also added that to better incorporate the manga's plot, he changed the order of events and introduced flashbacks after the opening theme.

Araki said that because the viewer cannot return to the pages as they would in a comic, the anime staff made sure to clarify the details. Inoue commented that they did not want to get complicated with every detail, so the staff selected the elements to emphasize; Due to the complexity of the manga, he described the process as "definitely delicate and very challenging." Inoue claimed that he put more instructions and notes than normal into the script and Araki said it was because of the importance of the details. The notes became crucial to the development of the series. Araki stated that when he discovered the Death Note animation project, he "literally begged" to join the production team and, once he did, he insisted that Inoue write the script.. Inoue added that because he enjoyed reading the original manga he wanted to put effort into the project.

Average

Manga

The Death Note manga began to be published in December 2003 by the publisher Shūeisha in the Japanese weekly magazine Shōnen Jump until concluding in May 2006. The manga It ended with a total of one hundred and eight chapters compiled in twelve volumes, although after finishing the manga a special volume called How to Read was created, which was published on October 13, 2006. This additional volume is a guide that contains relative data about the series, anecdotes about its production, the profile of all the main characters, as well as a copy of the pilot chapter that preceded the manga; The material also contains exclusive interviews with the creators of the series, Tsugumi Ōba and Takeshi Obata. The publication in Spanish of this special volume was carried out by the same publishers that were in charge of publishing the manga.

The first tankōbon of Death Note was published on April 2, 2004, and the twelfth and final tankōbon was published on April 4 July 2006. The series is based on a one-shot that was released by Shūeisha, for the magazine Shōnen Jump. The special chapter tells the story of a thirteen-year-old teenager named Tarō Kagami (鏡太郎, Kagami Tarō^?) who finds a Death Note, but doesn't know how to use it. Later, in February 2008, Ōba and Obata created a new one-shot. i> also distributed by Shūeisha, for the Shōnen Jump magazine. The one-shot tells the events that occur two years after the end of the original manga. By June 2008, the manga had managed to sell more than twenty-six million copies in Japan counting all volumes. In the United States, Death Note was nominated for the American Anime Awards in 2007, in the best manga category. However, the series failed to win the award. The Spanish versions of the manga were published by the publishing house Editores de Tebeos - formerly Ediciones Glénat - in Spain, by Grupo Editorial Vid in Mexico for distribution in the rest of Latin America. and by Larp Editores and later by Ivrea in Argentina.

Currently, the manga is being reprinted in six volumes, under the name Death Note: Black Edition. In Spain, Norma Editorial acquired the publishing rights for this edition, instead of Editores de Tebeos (Glénat).

Anime

The Death Note anime, directed by Tetsurō Araki, animated by Madhouse and produced by the Japanese companies Nippon Television, Shūeisha, D.N. Dream Partners and VAP, began airing in Japan on October 3, 2006 until its end on June 26, 2007 with a total of thirty-seven episodes of about twenty-three minutes each. DVDs of the series have also been released. on sale; Viz Media announced at the 2007 Anime Expo about the first DVD, which was released on November 20, 2007. The Spanish version of these DVDs was distributed by Selecta Visión in Spain. This anime is comprised of a single season of 37 episodes

Two special episodes have also been created based on the series, which are narrated by Ryuk. The first, called Death Note Rewrite: The Visualizing God, was broadcast on August 31, 2007 in Japan by Nippon Television. The special is a summary of the first part of the series, in which Light learns to use his Death Note and begins to have difficulties with L. The second, this time called "Death Note Rewrite 2: L's Successors", was broadcast on December 22. August 2008 in Japan on the same television network. It focuses on the second part of the series, when L is murdered and his successors begin to emerge.

The Spanish dubbing of the anime was made in two different versions, one in Mexico for Latin America and another in Spain. The dubbing in Spain was done at the Dubbing Films studios, while the dubbing in Mexico was done by AF & Associates The Dubbing House. In Spain, Death Note was broadcast by Animax España, and in Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina (in Spanish), and Brazil (in Portuguese) by Animax Latin America. Other networks that have broadcast the series are: Adult Swim (United States), Pánico (Mexico), MCM and Virgin 17 (France), 2x2 (Russia), Animax (Hungary, Hong Kong, Portugal), AXN Sci Fi (Poland, Hungary), MTV Italia (Italy) and in Chile by Etc...TV.

Movies

The series has been adapted into three live-action films, all of them directed by Shūsuke Kaneko, produced by Warner Bros., and distributed by Encore Films. Each film is an adaptation of the manga story, except from L change the world, which is centered on the character L.

The first film, titled simply «Death Note», was released in Japan on June 17, 2006 and topped the Japanese box office for two weeks, placing The Da Vinci Code in second place. The DVD of the film was released on September 16, 2008 by Viz Media. The second, «Death Note: The Last Name», was broadcast in Japan on November 3, 2006. The DVD was released on February 10, 2009 also by Viz Media. The third film, called «L change the world», was released in Japan on February 9, 2008; This focuses on L, where important traits of his personality are shown. In the film, L also has to solve a new murder case within 23 days, since his name was written in the Death Note. In addition, this last film was adapted into a novel with the same title and the same argument.

In April 2009 it was announced that Warner Bros. Pictures had acquired the rights to make a live-action version of the manga, and had hired Charley and Vlas Parlapanides to adapt the script. The new film will be based on the original manga series rather than the current live-action films.

It was announced in early 2016 that Netflix would launch an American live action anime under the direction of Adam Wingard with a possible release date for 2017.

On August 25, 2017, the American adaptation of the anime was released on Netflix, however, the film was not very well received by fans due to its differences with the original work, but on August 22, 2018, the Netflix executives announced that the film will have a sequel and that screenwriter Greg Russo will be writing the script.

Drama

Since July 2015, a program from the franchise aired on Nippon Television. This new adaptation has a new story and a new cast.

Soundtrack

Several soundtracks for the series have been released, both for the anime and film adaptations. «Sound of Death Note» is the soundtrack of the first Death Note film, composed by Kenji Kawai and released on June 17, 2006 by VAP. «Death Note Tribute» is an album dedicated to the first live-action Death Note film. It was released by Bertelsmann Music Group on June 21, 2006 and contains 15 tracks performed by various artists, such as Shikao Suga, M-flo, Buck-Tick and Aya Matsuura. The soundtrack comes with a Death Note notebook. «Sound of Death Note the Last name» is the soundtrack of the second Death Note movie and was released on November 2, 2006. Another album, called «The Songs for Death Note the movie～the Last name Tribute», is dedicated to the second film; The album was released by Sony Music Entertainment on December 20, 2006, and contains 14 tracks performed by various artists, such as Orange Range, Abingdon Boys School, High and Mighty Color, Doping Panda and Galneryus.

The anime's music was composed by Yoshihisa Hirano and Hideki Taniuchi, while the compact discs were published by NAR. The first compact disc, Death Note: Original Soundtrack, was released in Japan on December 21, 2006. It contains the first opening and ending > from the series sung by the Japanese band Nightmare. This was followed by the second compact disc, called Death Note: Original Soundtrack II, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2007. It features the second opening and ending by Maximum The Hormone. The third compact disc, "Death Note Original Soundtrack III", was released on June 27, 2007. Tracks 1-21 were composed by Taniuchi, while tracks 22-28 were composed by Hirano. The album includes a song by Aya Hirano, who was also the voice of Misa Amane from the anime series.

Video games

Like several other series, numerous video games have been created. These are developed and published by the Japanese company Konami for the Nintendo DS. The first video game, called «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 video game where the player can assume the role of Kira or L. In this game, Kira will try to discover L's true identity and vice versa.

Later, a sequel to the game was created, called «Death Note: L o Tsugurumono» (デスノート- Lを継ぐ者, Desu Nōto - Eru or Tsugumono^?). It went on sale in Japan on July 12, 2007 and is based on the second part of the manga, where you can play with characters such as Mello and Near. A third video game, called L the Prologue to Death Note — Rasen no Trap—» (L the proLogue to DEATH NOTE —螺旋の罠— , L the proLogue to DEATH NOTE -Rasen no Torappu- ^?), was released on February 7, 2008. The player takes on the role of a rookie FBI agent who wakes up in an unknown hotel and tries to escape with the help of L. The story takes place before Kira's investigation in the original series.

Several characters from Death Note appear in the video games Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars, a fighting game with a large number of characters from other Shōnen Jump manga.

Artbooks and novels

There are several supplementary books for Death Note, including an artbook called «Blanc et Noir», which was officially published by Shūeisha on August 31, 2006 and which contains illustrations about the series. An official analytical guide to the animation of the series was also created, which was also published on September 4, 2007 by Shūeisha.

Nishio Ishin adapted the series into a light novel called «Death Note: Another Note - The Case of the Los Angeles BB Serial Killer» ( アナザー ノート - ロサンゼルス bb 連続 殺人 事件 , '«Death Note: Another Note - The Case of the Los Angeles BB Serial Killer»'^?). This work is a prequel to the manga, with Mello narrating the story. The novel focuses on how L works with former FBI agent Naomi Misora on the case of Los Angeles serial killer B.B. The material was illustrated by Obata and published on August 1, 2006 by Shūeisha. The third film in the series, L change the world, was adapted into a light novel with the same title and the same plot and was published on December 25, 2007 by Shūeisha.

Reception

As of April 2015, Death Note had sold around thirty million copies in Japan. The series was also nominated for the American Anime Awards in 2007 in the best manga category. However, the series failed to win the award. In January 2007, Oricon conducted a poll for the best manga and anime character. The overall winner of the survey was L, who placed first in the survey conducted for women and second place in the survey for men.

Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network noted that the difference between the Death Note manga and other series of the same genre was very large, due to the murders committed by the main character, Light Yagami, hiding her true identity, posing as Kira, although Bertchy praised the series for being a "great story". Briana Lawrence, another reviewer for Anime News Network, commented that she liked the series, since most of the characters in history "they were given the opportunity to shine." However, she said that she did not like how the epilogue made no mention of what happened to Misa Amane at the end of the series.

Julie Rosato of Mania Entertainment commented that the story was very entertaining and that she liked how Light developed in the story. Shūsuke Kaneko, director of the films in the series, said that the manga "almost doesn't feel" the pain of the Death Note victims, so he decided to use a different approach for the films. John Powers of National Public Radio finds some similarity in Death Note with the American television series Lost i>. Carl Kimlinger of Protoculture Addicts called the series "repulsive" and said that it "presents a view of the world that is both superficial and unpleasant."

The novel L change the world became the second best-selling light novel in Japan in 2008. A.E. IGN's Sparrow rated the novel Death Note: Another Note - The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases 9.5 out of 10 and commented that the author understands "what made these characters shine so well" and " captures all the facts of the manga.

Prizes

Death Note has been recognized internationally, has won and been nominated for several awards, among them are: -British Eagle Award (Eagle Award) for best manga of the year. -Award for the best Manga Edition, in Spain. -Award for best anime at the Tokyo Anime Awards. -American Anime Awards Award in 2007 in the best manga category (nominated). -In addition, the seiyu of Light Yagami and Misa Amane were nominated at the Seiyu Awards for their roles in Death Note.

Crimes and imitations

There have been several crimes and imitations around the world based on the series. In early 2005, school authorities in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, banned Death Note because students had altered their notebooks to resemble the Death Note and then wrote the names from acquaintances, enemies, and teachers in the books. The ban was designed to protect the "physical and mental health" of students, since "horror material" induces "innocent children to make mistakes, distorting their minds and spirit." Jonathan Clements has suggested that the Chinese authorities act against "superstitions" and pirated editions of Death Note. The ban on the series was extended to other cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai and Lanzhou. Legally, Death Note publications in Chinese versions are distributed only in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

On September 28, 2007, two notes that said "Watashi wa Kira dess" [sic] (私はキラです, Watashi wa Kira desu^?, lit. «I am Kira») were found near the remains of a man in Belgium. A student at the Franklin Military Academy in Richmond, United States, was suspended after being caught with a replica of the Death Note notebook with the names of his classmates written on it.

In 2008 in South Carolina, United States, school officials seized a student's Death Note that had the names of seven of his classmates written on it. In Alabama, United States, two sixth-grade boys grade were arrested for possessing a Death Note with the names of several students written in the notebook. In Washington, United States, a middle school student was expelled and three others were suspended on May 14, 2008 for having their own Death Notes..