Death Note (デスノート, Desu Nōto?) is a manga 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, or a shinigami, 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.
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