Death Note (デスノート) is a Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. It has been serialized by Shueisha in Weekly Shonen Jump since the first 2004 issue. It is increasing in popularity in Japan. As of October 2005, 84 chapters have been released. The manga took a 7 week break before the second story arc started. Eight graphic novels have been released. The Death Note manga has been licensed by VIZ Media and will be published in graphic novel form starting in October 2005.
| Death Note | |
| File:Deathnote01.jpg The cover for Death Note Vol.1 | |
| Genre | Shōnen |
|---|---|
| Manga | |
| Written by | Tsugumi Ohba (story), Takeshi Obata (art) |
| Published by | Shueisha |
Plot outline
Template:Spoiler Light Yagami is a young but bright high school student who has until recently led a boring and uneventful life. That changed very quickly when he found a strange notebook with the title "Death Note" lying on the ground one day. It wasn't until later that he realized that this "Death Note" was the tool of a shinigami (god of death in Japanese) from another world named Ryuk, and that it had the power to kill whoever's name was written on its pages, so long as the writer knew the victim's face as well. Light realises his ability to kill whomever he wishes, and he uses it to begin a "cleansing" of the world from evil. It does not take the police long to realise that somebody is responsible for the mysterious deaths of criminals, and he is then soon hunted by the Japanese police force and a mysterious detective known as "L". So as Light works towards his "perfect" world, devoid of crime and injustice (and with him as leader), L works to catch the mysterious murderer, dubbed "Kira" by the press and end the increasingly senseless deaths of criminals and anyone who gets too close to the truth. L and Light soon begin a cat and mouse chase to see who will be the first to have their personalities exposed.
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- First Arc
With the help of the FBI, L tracks down Light as a suspect and monitors him closely through 64 video cameras installed in Light's bedroom. However Light quickly realizes that he's being spied on and plans several smart moves such as hiding a miniature TV, pencil and a piece of the Death Note inside a bag of potato chips to continue killing criminals without appearing to do so. Although no evidence is found againt Light and the video cameras are eventually uninstalled, L still suspects Light and enters the same university as him under the alias of Hideki Ryuga. After revealing his true identity to Light, L invites Light to join the investigation team in order to continue keeping an eye on him.
Later Light and L realizes that there exists a Second Kira who, unlike the original Kira (aka Light), is able to kill a person without knowing his name. After a series of investigation on the Second Kira, a girl called Misa Amane (aka Second Kira) approaches Light and demands to be his girlfriend in exchange of helping him against L. L eventually deduces the identity of Second Kira and imprisons Misa, who decides to give up her ownership of the Death Note and pass it to Light. Under heavy suspection and various evidence against him, Light voluntarily lets L imprisons him while passes one of the Death Notes to another person to ensure the continuation of 'Kira's action' and bury the other Note in a forest. By giving up the ownership, both Light and Misa lose all their memories related to the Death Note.
After a month or so L is forced to release Light and Misa by other members of the investigation team. However due to his suspection, L chains himself and Light together with handcuffs to keep an eye on him. With the help of Misa and other members of the investigation team, Light and L are able to track down the new Kira, Kyosuke Higuchi, and arrest him successfully. When Light touches Higuchi's Death Note again, all the lost memories come back to him once more. He then kills Higuchi secretly and regains the ownership of the Death Note. Light then cunningly steers the investigation towards Misa again, forcing Rem the Shinigami to kill both L and Watari. Upon L's death, Light is nominated to act as L by the members of the investigation team. - Second Arc
The second arc takes place in the year 2009, four years after the events in the first arc. Possessing the identities of both L and Kira, Light seems invincible now. With many people, even governments around the world declare their support to Kira, Light is about to reach his ultimate goal of changing the world.
However, one day someone who calls himself Near and who claims to be the true successor of L contacts Light and demands his cooperation in capturing Kira. Near and his rival Mello are two bright young orphans who are trained to succeed L in an orphanage founded by Watari. Although they split ways after L's death, Near and Mello both attempt to track down Kira through their own means. Mello joins some criminal gang in the US and obtains the Death Note by kidnapping Sayu Yagami. Although the Death Note is eventually regained by the Japanese investigation team, Mello is able to find out about some of the rules of the Death Note. Near on the other hand, gains the support of the US government and forms the SPK (Secret Provision for Kira). With certain information gained from Mello, Near suspects that the present L is actually Kira. Later, Near is able to deduce L's real identity (i.e. Light Yagami) from information he gained from Aizawa. Detecting the suspection, Light orders Misa to destroy all possible evidence against them and pass the ownership of the Death Note to Teru Mikami, the new Kira chosen by him.
Characters
Main characters
- Light Yagami
(夜神 月 Yagami Raito)
The main character of Death Note. An extremely bright young man who possesses the Death Note which was given to him by the Shinigami Ryuk. Light is constantly trying to evade suspicion by the detective L while maintaining his identity as Kira (Japanese pronunciation of the word "Killer"), with the goal of clensing the world (of criminals). Light thought of a plan where he would temporarily give up his Death Note to another person (Kyosuke Higuchi), and joined L's team to hunt down the Kyosuke. When he regained the Death Note of Kyosuke, he too, regained his memory of when he was the original "Kira", and proceeded with his plan, whereby Rem was forced to kill Watari and L. Light Yagami was later nominated by L's investigation team (not knowing that he is the Kira) to act as "L", as they can't expose the death of the real "L". He also took over the role of L's assistant, Watari. However, his undercover as L wasn't quite a secret to the United States' president, the SPK and Mello's gang at all. Light joined the Intelligence Department of the Japanese Police Force in April, 2009. He is currently married to Misa, even though he does not appear to care much for her at all, and has no personal shinigami, since he's using the Death Note owned by Rem, who died after killing L and Watari. Light is now battling with Near and Mello, L's successors. - L
The genius detective tracking down "Kira", L was rated the world's best detective. He suspects Light initially, and decides to join Light's university under the identity of Ryūzaki for investigation purpose. His dissheveled appearance masks his great powers of deduction and insight. He has many quirks, such as sitting in an odd manner and snacking on sweets. L stayed in England for 5 years before he moved to Japan, and during the 5 years there, he was the champion in tennis for the England Jr. Cup. L also secretly assumed the identities of the world 2nd and 3rd best detectives, something only him and the current Investigation Team members know. However towards the end of the first arc, L is killed by Rem as he realizes that Light is Kira. - Misa Amane
(弥 海砂 Amane Misa)
A girl who has an immense crush on Kira, AKA Light. She is a famous model, and tends to wear clothing in the Gothic Lolita style. She usually refers to herself in the third person, and tends to be hyperactive. She posed as the "second Kira" to attract the attention of Kira. She decided to devote her life to Kira because he punished the criminal that killed her parents when she was younger. The Death God who follows her around is Rem. She has also performed two "eye trades", cutting her lifespan in half twice, first with Rem, and later, Ryuk (See Special ability of Shinigami eyes). She is currently dating Light, who is only using her for her eyes, and her personal Shinigami is Ryuk. She is also a part of the investigation team, providing assistance to Light with her shinigami's eyes. After Near's suspection becomes apparent, Misa gives up her ownership of the Death Note on Light's order and passes it on to Teru Mikami, the new Kira chosen by Light.
Shinigami
- Ryuk
(リューク)
Ryuk is the Shinigami who dropped a Death Note in the human realm, which was then discovered by Light. It was revealed that Ryuk did it out of boredom, as there was little to do in the Shinigami realm. Ryuk was also found to have tricked the Shinigami King into receiving a second Death Note that would be used by Light, as well as access to the human realm. Ryuk has a great fondness for apples, and will behave unusually if he goes for too long without eating one. He says apples are to Shinigami as what cigarrettes are to humans. He is currently Mikami's personal shinigami. He confirms that he is male in chapter 56. - Rem
(レム)
Rem was Misa's initial shinigami. She is female, despite her appearance. Rem cared deeply for Misa, and was willing to do anything to protect her from harm. Rem died after she was trapped by Light into killing L and W to protect Misa. - Zyerasu
(ジェラス)
Zyerasu was a Shinigami who developed a sense of attachment with Misa earlier in the story. Zyerasu saved Misa’s life from the hands of a would-be murderer through the use of his Death Note, killing himself in the process. After his death, Rem handed over Zyerasu's Death Note to Misa. - Shidou
Shidou is a shinigami whose Death Note was stolen by Ryuk. In fact, Ryuk took Shidou's Note and give it to Light Yagami, and that Note became Higuchi's note and was finally passed on to Mello's gang (or to be specific, Mello's subordinate, Jack Neylon). Since Shidou has neglected to kill people and extend his own lifetime, he probably did not notice that his Note was stolen. As the end of his lifetime approaches, Shidou has found Ryuk and has learned that Mello is in possession of his Note. Currently in the manga, Shidou has found the owner of his Note, Jack Neylon,in the human world. In order to regain his Note, Shidou has agreed to help Mello's gang against the SPK and L(aka Light). After Light regained the Death Note from Mello, he returned the note to Shidou in order for him to stop interfering and return to the Shinigami world.
Investigation Team
- Soichiro Yagami
(夜神 総一郎 Yagami Sōichirō)
Light's father, who led the remains of his investigation team under L's command. Soichiro was responsible for successfully retriveing tape recordings of the Second Kira during the first Sakura TV incident, despite his ill health at the time. He is dedicated and determined to arrest Kira at any cost, and he cares for his family very much. Soichiro embarked on a trip to the US to rescue his daughter, who was kidnapped by Mello's organization. He succeeded, but the price for his daughter's life was handing over the (Shidou's) Death Note they have retrieved from Kyosuke. Some time after that, he and the other members of the police investigation make a raid on Mello's hideout to retrieve the Death Note. Misa, posing as Kira, sends Soichiro her Death Note and instructs him and his team how to make the raid. Soichiro then makes the eye trade with Ryuk, enabling him to see the names and life spans of humans. Thus, when he finds Mello during the raid, he tells Light that Mello's real name is Mihael Keehl. However, before Soichiro gets the opportunity to write the name on the Death Note, one of Mello's presumed dead gang members shoots Soichiro. He then dies later at a hospital, before he writes down Mello's real name in the Death Note. - Tota Matsuda
(松田 桃太 Matsuda Tōta)
Matsuda is known as the most outspoken member in the investigation team. He played a crucial role in the investigation of the Yotsuba Group after sneaking into the company's building without the knowledge of the investigation team. By following L's instructions, Matsuda gained the trust of the company's board members, fabricated his death, and served as a temporary decoy to lure the suspect into the Sakura television studio (during the second Sakura TV incident). - Watari aka Quillsh Wammy
(ワタリ)
L's assistant who provided logistics to the investigation team. His real name, as well as his original profession as an inventor and founder of an orphanage of gifted children in the United Kingdom, was not revealed to readers until after his death. Watari was also a trained marksman, as demonstrated just before Kyosuke Higuchi's arrest. - Kanzo Mogi
(模木 完造 Mogi Kanzō)
A mostly silent character, Mogi is one of the most dedicated members of the investigation team. Little else is known of him. In the second arc, Mello demands meeting Mogi in order to investigate about Kira, and tricked Mogi into meeting Near at the SPK headquarter. Mogi is then held hostage by Near until Aizawa arrives to rescue him. - Aizawa
(相沢)
Aizawa left the team and remained in the police force after L gave the team members the choice to quit, but continues to assist the investigation team when necessary as a member of the police. Upon L's death, Aizawa returned to the investigation team to work under Light. However upon hearing that the 13 days rule (refer to written rules of the Death Note) is fake, he begins to suspect that Light is actually Kira, and contact Near. Aizawa passes certain information to Near that leads him to deduce Kira's real identity (i.e. Light). However Near agrees to release Aizawa and Mogi afterwards. - Ukita
(宇生田)
Ukita was the first member of the team to depart from the investigation after the team's first direct contact with L. He was killed by Misa, the Second Kira, after rushing to the doorstep of the Sakura television studio during the broadcast of alleged Kira tape recordings (in the first Sakura TV incident).
Other characters
- Sachiko Yagami
(夜神 幸子 Yagami Sachiko)
Light's mother and Soichiro's wife. She plays a minor role in the storyline, oblivious to Light's ownership and use of the Death Note. - Sayu Yagami
(夜神 粧裕 Yagami Sayu)
Light's younger sister. She also plays a minor role in the main storyline, remaining unaware of Light's possession of the Death Note. She was kidnapped by Mello's people to the United States, but was later returned to her father when Mello's gang got the Death Note from him. - Ray Penber
(レイ・ペンバー)
Penber is a member of an FBI team sent to Japan to investigate the Kira killings. Light would later devise an ingenious plan, forcing Penber to unsuspectingly kill the rest of his team before killing Penber himself on 27 December, 2003. - Naomi Misora
(南空 ナオミ Misora Naomi)
A former FBI agent who was engaged with Ray Penber. After her fiancé's death, she went on to search for his killer. Light would later fool Misora into revealing her name from her driver's license, and arrange to have her commit suicide on the first day of 2004. - Aiber (A) aka Tierri Morello
A professional con-man, Aiber is hired by L for his skills. He was proven helpful in playing the role of Erald Coil in the Yotsuba Arc. He died from liver cancer on 7 April, 2005, presumably killed by Kira after L's death. Aiber is also known by his initial "A", just like "L" and other people who have great influence in the organisation that hunts down Kira. - Wedy (W) aka Mary Kenwood
Wedy is a professional burglar who was called in by L for her skills, installing bugs in the Yotsuba Group's meeting room to secretly observe the group's weekly meeting. She also provided surveillance on the Yotsuba Kira who was on his way to kill Matsuda during the second Sakura TV incident. She was presumably killed by Kira, dying in a road accident on 10 January, 2005. Wedy is also known by her initial "W", just like "L" and other people who have great influence in the organisation who hunts down Kira. - David Hoope
President of the United States. Mello's organisation, with the Death Note threatened the president to aid him in various way, such as funding, weapons, and even provide information of the SPK. He resorted to L (Light) for the information of the Death Note, only to let L discover that he's under the threat of Mello. Light manipulated him to provide the same assistance as the SPK so that Light is on the same competitive level as (or even on a slight advantage to) Near's SPK. Hoope committed suicide, presumably due to Kira in order to clear his tracks. - Jack Neylon
Jack is one of the gang members of Mello, and he is the current holder of the Death Note (which belongs to Shidow), when Mello's men got the note from Soichiro Yagami. He was involved in drug trafficking and illegal sales of weapons, and arrested 4 times, but was released due to lack of evidences.When Shidow descended to the human world to retrieve his Note, Jack performed the 'eye trade' with him. Light was unaware of Shidow's existence and the eye trade, thus resulting the failure of an attack on Mello's gang under his planning. - Teru Mikami
(魅上 照; Mikami Teru)
Mikami is chosen as the new Kira by Light. When Light feels it is dangerous for Misa to keep the Death Note any longer, he instructs her to pass the ownership of the Note to Mikami. Little is known about Mikami yet except that he appears to be a supporter of Kira, and that he studies Law. He has preformed an "eye trade" with the shinigami Ryuk. When Mikami's decisions reveal that he can follow the thoughts and ideals of the first Kira, as L could, Light wonders if Mikami will become much-needed help, or a new threat. As the story progresses it is revealed that Mikami has been bullied at school for his sense of righteousness and therefore wishes to punish those he considers to be evil. Because of this he chose to become a judge and worships Kira as God. He is also extremely bright just like Light. But he seems content to remain a loyal follower in Kira's kingdom, taking the initiative to ask Kira for direction when he does not receive direction, but also making decisions with Kira's ideals on his own. Compared to Light, Mikami also seems more psychologically unbalanced, muttering to himself, "elimination, elimination, elimination...", with fantatical glee, and a gleam in his eyes as he writes down names in the Death Note. At other times, he seemes merely intense and calm. However, Light realizes how loyal he is to Kira when Mikami risks exposure by speaking on Sakura TV, publically announcing that he will do anything Kira commands. - Kiyomi Takaha
First appearing in Note 31 as Light's classmate and 'girlfriend', Takaha is a popular beauty known as "Miss Todai" (Toudou University) or "Seiso Tadaha" (something similar to "plays hard to get"). Light notes that she is not as shallow as her reputation advertises. She makes a brief appearance by Light's side in Note 32, not to reappear in the story until Note 85 as an announcer of NKN (parody of Japanese state-run broadcast station NHK) chosen to be Kira's spokesperson to the world. This was not a decision made by Light, but by Mikami Teru, who threatened her as Kira, and knows her as someone "educated, intellectual and civilized, and who can send out Kira's words accurately in a calm and straightforward manner." Light has yet to figure out how an ex-girlfriend can become an ally, especially since he disappeared from everyone he knew in university, and at one point left his mother thinking he ran off to live with the famous model Misa.
The Yotsuba group
The Yotsuba Group was a secret 8-members group in the Yotsuba Corporation, conducting weekly meetings to discuss key individuals from competing companies to kill, in an effort to maintain business dominance. It was found that a third Kira was amongst the group, in possession of a Death Note that was given to him from Rem.
Members of the Yotsuba Group include:
- Kyosuke Higuchi (火口 卿介 Higuchi Kyōsuke)
- Shingo Midou (三堂 芯吾 Midō Shingo)
- Reiji Namikawa (奈南川 零司 Namikawa Reiji)
- Eiichi Takahashi (鷹橋 鋭一 Takahashi Ei'ichi)
- Suguru Shimura (紙村 英 Shimura Suguru)
- Masahiko Kida (樹多 正彦 Kida Masahiko)
- Takeshi Oi (尾々井 剛 Ōi Takeshi)
- Arayoshi Hatori (葉鳥 新義 Hatori Arayoshi)
During L's probe on the Yotsuba Group, Arayoshi Hatori was killed by Kira after voicing intentions to leave the group. It was also during this period that Rem would reveal the identity of the Yotsuba Kira, Kyosuke Higuchi, to Misa, which eventually led to Higuchi's arrest, and his death in the hands of Light, on 5 November, 2004.
The remaining six members died of heart attacks on 10 April, 2005. Rumors of Kira's responsibility in the deaths sent share prices of the Yotsuba Corporation dropping sharply.
Successors to L
Following L's death, two gifted children were assigned to carry on investigation of Kira. Both characters had previously resided in The Wammy's House, an orphanage founded by Watari in the United Kingdom.
- Near
Near is the more withdrawn character of the duo, sharing a few behavioral similarities with L. He shows no emotions towards L's death, saying L is a loser in the game of tracking down Kira. It seems that the only thing Near is interested in is solving puzzles of all sorts, and he is usually seen doing so. Starting with no lead or clue, Near would successfully identify the events unfolding during the arrest of Kyosuke Higuchi, and points out the existence of the Death Note to the President of the United States on 5 March, 2005. With authority from the US President, the SPK (Secret Provision for Kira) is established on 12 March, 2005 to investigate Kira. The SPK consists of selected agents from the FBI and the CIA, as well as Near. Just like L, Aiber (A) and Wedy (W), Near sometime addresses himself by his initial, "N". Near comes into contacts with Mello after he escapes from the attack conducted by Light and suspects that Light is Kira. From various information on he gained from Mello and Aizawa, Near deduces that the new L (aka Light), is Kira and finds out Kira's real identity (i.e. Light).
- Mello
Near's rival. He and Near split ways after L's death due to his problems with being second to Near. He decides to find Kira his own way by joining a gang (assumed to be located in Los Angeles, California) and using less conventional methods, including the kidnapping the Director of the Japanese Police, to find Kira before Near. Mello also relies on information leaked from an informant in the SPK. Mello likes chocolate bars, and usually can be seen eating one. His real name is "Mihael Keehl". After Mello escapes from the attack conducted by Light, he meets Near and gives him information on the rules of the deathnote in exchange of his only photo left in the world, which was in Near's hand. Mello tricked Mogi into meeting Near in New York.
The rules of the Death Note
Written rules
Before the series begins, Ryuk writes instructions in English inside his Death Note (though he erroneously claims this is because English is the most-used language in the world):
- 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.
As the plot progresses, he adds more instructions to the Death Note:
- If the person using the Death Note fails to write the names of people within 13 days of one another, the user will die.
- If the Death Note is rendered unusable by cutting, burning or other means, all the humans who have come into contact with the "Death Note" will die.
But these instructions are only for misleading L's investigation in order to help Light Yagami, and they are not true.
Unwritten rules
As the plot proceeds, unwritten rules for the Death Note are revealed:
- If the cause of death or the details of the death are impossible in the context of the subject, the subject will simply die of a heart attack. For example, writing down words not known by the subject is impossible.
- Only those who have touched the Death Note or one of its pages can see or hear the shinigami it belonged to.
- Touching one Death Note would only allow a human to see the shinigami who owns that Death Note. In other words, touching one Death Note doesn't give a human the ability to see every shinigami.
Ownership of Death Note
- A shinigami must own at least one Death Note. That Death Note may also be used and owned by a human, but only if the Death Note falls to earth and is found by said human.
- Exchanging and writing on the Death Note between shinigamis is no problem.
- If a shinigami decides to use the Death Note in order to to extend the life of an individual he/she favors, the individual's life will be extended, but the shinigami will die.
- The dead shinigami will disappear, but the Death Note will remain unchanged. The ownership of the Death Note is usually carried over to the next shinigami who touches it, but it is common sense that it is returned to the Great shinigami.
- The ownership can and can only be transferred under approval of current owner.
- The individuals who give up the ownership of the Death Note will also lose their memory of the usage of the Death Note. This does not mean that he/she will lose all the memory during the owership, but means only to lose the memory involving the Death Note.
- Such lost memory would be recovered if the human reclaim the previously given up ownership.
- Such lost memory would also be temporarily recovered if the human touch a Death Note not owned by the human, but only as the human is touching the Death Note.
- Whenever an individual with ownership of more than two Death Notes loses possession to one of the Death Notes, he/she will not be able to recognize the appearance or voice of that Death Note's shinigami anymore. The shinigami himself will leave, but all the memory involving that Death Note will remain as long as he/she maintains ownership of at least one other Death Note.
Special ability of Shinigami eyes
Shinigami eyes have the ability to learn the subject's natural life span and name by simply looking at the subject's face.
- Such special ability can be traded to a human with the price of having the human's remaining natural life span cut in half.
- An individual with the special ability of a shinigami can tell the name and natural life span of humans other than him or herself, but if the subject also owns a Death Note, the life span cannot be seen. Furthermore, if the subject is already dead, the eye user sees no name nor lifespan.
- The shinigami must not tell humans the names or life spans of individuals he/she sees. This is to avoid confusion in the human world.
- In order to see the names and life spans of humans by using the special ability of the shinigami, the owner must see "more than a half" of that person's face.
- When looking from top to bottom, a look of least from the head to the nose is needed. The person's name and life span will not be seen by looking at only the eyes and under,
- Even though some parts of the face, for example the eyes, nose or mouth are hidden, if whole face can basically be seen, the person's name and life span will not be seen.
- It is still not clear how much exposure is needed to tell the name and life span, and this needs to be verified.
- (If above conditions about facial exposure are met,) names and life spans can be seen through photos and pictures, no matter how old they are. But this is sometimes influenced by the vividness and size. Also, names and life spans cannot be seen by drawings of face, however realistic they are.
- Those with the special ability of the shinigami will have the eyesight of over 3.6 in the human measurement, regardless of their original eyesight.