Death Note

From Battle of Wits Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search

Death Note

Death-note.jpg
Series information
Title: Death Note
Medium: manga
Genre: mystery, thriller

Death Note is a manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and drawn by Takeshi Obata. It centers on the titular "Death Note", a supernatural notebook that kills whoever has their name written on it. When it is found by a gifted high-school student with a twisted sense of justice, it kickstarts a cat-and-mouse game that pits a supernatural murderer and a legendary detective against each other.

Series

The Death Note manga series consists of the following parts:

  • Death Note, chapters 1-108 (2003-2006)
  • C-Kira-hen (The C-Kira Story, in English) (2008)
  • a-Kira-hen (The a-Kira Story, in English) (2020)

Originally serialized in the magazine Weekly Shounen Jump, the 108 chapters of the main series were collected into 12 volumes. A guidebook entitled Death Note: How to Read was published as the 13th volume of the manga, containing character bios, author commentary and detailed notes about the story (including a list of Tricks). The two one-shot sequels were first published individually and then collected in the Death Note: Short Stories compilation in 2021.

Due to its popularity, Death Note has received numerous adaptations, including a 37-episode anime adaptation that aired on Nippon Television from 2006 to 2007 and two live-action movies released in 2006.

Characters

See also: List of Death Note characters

  • Light Yagami (Lead Mastermind): A young genius disappointed with the state of the world who finds the Death Note and decides to use it to deliver justice by murdering criminals. He becomes known across the world as "Kira" once it becomes clear that someone is behind the supernatural murders.
  • Ryuuk (Watcher): A shinigami, or death god, who drops a Death Note into the human world just to see what would happen.
  • L (Rival Mastermind): Known as the world's greatest detective, a mysterious figure who is called by Interpol to track down Kira.

Tricks and Matches

Death Note

The a-Kira Story

Related titles

  • Bloody Monday is a later manga also centering around mass killings on an international scale and the resulting investigation by a specialized taskforce. Instead of Death Note's supernatural aspects, the threat is related to a deadly virus, while the protagonist's main weapon are his hacking skills. Some elements of Bloody Monday may have been inspired by Death Note, like the fact that some of the main antagonists use one-letter aliases, similarly to L.
  • G-Senjou no Maou is a visual novel that inserts a similar premise to Death Note into a romance game. The plot likewise revolves around a cat-and-mouse game between an eccentric (female) detective and a ruthless criminal whose identity is a mystery.