Death Note (Japanese: デスノート, Hepburn: Desu NŠto) is a
Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by
Takeshi Obata. The story follows Light Yagami, a teen genius who
stumbles across a mysterious otherworldly notebook: the "Death Note",
which belonged to the Shinigami Ryuk and grants the user the
supernatural ability to kill anyone whose name is written in its
pages. The series centers around Light's subsequent attempts to use
the Death Note to carry out a worldwide massacre of individuals whom
he deems morally unworthy of life to change the world into a utopian
society without crime, using the alias of a god-like vigilante named
"Kira" and the subsequent efforts of an elite task-force of law
enforcement officers, consisting of members of the Japanese police
force, led by L, an enigmatic international detective whose past is
shrouded in mystery, to apprehend him and end his reign of
terror.Death Note was first serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine
Weekly ShÅ nen Jump from December 2003 to May 2006. The 108 chapters
were collected and published into 12 tankÅ bon volumes between April
2004 and July 2006. An anime television adaptation aired in Japan from
October 2006 to June 2007. Composed of 37 episodes, the anime was
developed by Madhouse and directed by TetsurÅ Araki. A light novel
based on the series, written by Nisio Isin, was also released in 2006.
Additionally, various video games have been published by Konami for
the Nintendo DS. The series was adapted into three live action films
released in Japan in June 2006, November 2006, and February 2008, and
a television drama in 2015. A miniseries entitled Death Note: New
Generation and a fourth film were released in 2016. An American film
adaptation was released exclusively on Netflix in August 2017 and a
sequel is reportedly in the works.Death Note media is licensed and
released in North America by Viz Media, with the exception of the
video games and soundtracks. The episodes from the anime first
appeared in North America as downloadable from IGN, before Viz Media
licensed it and it aired on YTV's Bionix anime block in Canada and on
Adult Swim in the United States with a DVD release following. The
live-action films briefly played in certain North American theaters in
2008, before receiving home video releases. In 2015, the collected
tankÅ bon volumes of the Death Note manga had sold over 30 million
copies.In Tokyo, an intelligent yet disaffected high-school student
named Light Yagami finds the "Death Note", a mysterious black notebook
which can kill anyone as long as the user knows both the target's name
and face. After verifying that the notebook works and initially being
terrified of its god-like abilities, Light begins to consider the
possibilities of the Death Note's abilities and sets out to create a
utopian world without crime, killing numerous high-profile Japanese
criminals, before eventually targeting international criminals and
felons around the world. Five days after discovering the notebook,
Light is visited by Ryuk, a "Shinigami", beings inspired by the
Japanese god of death and the Death Note's previous owner. Ryuk, who
is invisible to anyone who has not touched the Death Note, reveals
that he dropped the notebook into the human world out of boredom and
is amused by Light's actions.
Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by
Takeshi Obata. The story follows Light Yagami, a teen genius who
stumbles across a mysterious otherworldly notebook: the "Death Note",
which belonged to the Shinigami Ryuk and grants the user the
supernatural ability to kill anyone whose name is written in its
pages. The series centers around Light's subsequent attempts to use
the Death Note to carry out a worldwide massacre of individuals whom
he deems morally unworthy of life to change the world into a utopian
society without crime, using the alias of a god-like vigilante named
"Kira" and the subsequent efforts of an elite task-force of law
enforcement officers, consisting of members of the Japanese police
force, led by L, an enigmatic international detective whose past is
shrouded in mystery, to apprehend him and end his reign of
terror.Death Note was first serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine
Weekly ShÅ nen Jump from December 2003 to May 2006. The 108 chapters
were collected and published into 12 tankÅ bon volumes between April
2004 and July 2006. An anime television adaptation aired in Japan from
October 2006 to June 2007. Composed of 37 episodes, the anime was
developed by Madhouse and directed by TetsurÅ Araki. A light novel
based on the series, written by Nisio Isin, was also released in 2006.
Additionally, various video games have been published by Konami for
the Nintendo DS. The series was adapted into three live action films
released in Japan in June 2006, November 2006, and February 2008, and
a television drama in 2015. A miniseries entitled Death Note: New
Generation and a fourth film were released in 2016. An American film
adaptation was released exclusively on Netflix in August 2017 and a
sequel is reportedly in the works.Death Note media is licensed and
released in North America by Viz Media, with the exception of the
video games and soundtracks. The episodes from the anime first
appeared in North America as downloadable from IGN, before Viz Media
licensed it and it aired on YTV's Bionix anime block in Canada and on
Adult Swim in the United States with a DVD release following. The
live-action films briefly played in certain North American theaters in
2008, before receiving home video releases. In 2015, the collected
tankÅ bon volumes of the Death Note manga had sold over 30 million
copies.In Tokyo, an intelligent yet disaffected high-school student
named Light Yagami finds the "Death Note", a mysterious black notebook
which can kill anyone as long as the user knows both the target's name
and face. After verifying that the notebook works and initially being
terrified of its god-like abilities, Light begins to consider the
possibilities of the Death Note's abilities and sets out to create a
utopian world without crime, killing numerous high-profile Japanese
criminals, before eventually targeting international criminals and
felons around the world. Five days after discovering the notebook,
Light is visited by Ryuk, a "Shinigami", beings inspired by the
Japanese god of death and the Death Note's previous owner. Ryuk, who
is invisible to anyone who has not touched the Death Note, reveals
that he dropped the notebook into the human world out of boredom and
is amused by Light's actions.
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