Informatii:

Death Note (デスノート, Desu Nōto?) is a Japanese manga series created by writer Tsugumi Ohba and illustrator Takeshi Obata. The series primarily centers around a high school student who decides to rid the world of evil with the help of a supernatural notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it.

Death Note was first serialized by Shueisha in the Japanese manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump from the first issue in December 2003 to May 2006, with 108 chapters in total. The series has been published in its entirety in 12 tankōbon volumes in Japan and in North America. The series has been adapted into a pair of live-action films released in Japan on June 17, 2006 and November 3, 2006, and an anime series which aired in Japan from October 3, 2006 to June 26, 2007. Also, a novelization of the series, written by light novelist Ishin Nishio, was released in Japan on August 1,

Plot
Light Yagami is an extremely intelligent young man who resents the crime and corruption in the world. His life undergoes a drastic change in the year 2003, when he discovers a mysterious notebook, known as the "Death Note", lying on the ground. The Death Note's instructions claim that if a human's name is written within it, that person shall die. Light is initially skeptical of the Death Note's authenticity, believing it is just a prank. However, after experimenting with it and killing two criminals, Light is forced to admit that the Death Note is real. After meeting with the previous owner of the Death Note, a shinigami named Ryuk, Light seeks to become "the God of the new world" by passing his judgment on criminals.

Soon, the number of inexplicable deaths of reported criminals catches the attention of the International Police Organization and a mysterious detective known only as "L". L quickly learns that the serial killer, dubbed by the public as "Kira" (derived from the Japanese pronunciation of the word "Killer"), is located in Japan. L also concludes that Kira can kill people without laying a finger on them. Light realizes that L will be his greatest nemesis, and a game of psychological cat and mouse between the two begins.

Written rules
Before releasing his Death Note into the human world, Ryuk wrote some of the more basic rules on the first page in English, because he believed that English was the most popular language in the world. The rules written by Ryuk are the following:

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 (400 seconds).
Each volume of the manga has a page containing new rules or possible uses for the Death Note. In the anime series, each eyecatch contains a different rule written in both English and Japanese, similar to how they were revealed in the Japanese manga. Two new rules are revealed in almost every episode.

Media
Death Note began as a manga series which was later adapted to become a set of live-action films, an anime based on the manga, and a light novel. Two games have also been released at present for the Nintendo DS in Japan. The first being a 'Mafia' inspired social game and the second being a board game with traps. The third game is to be released on February 7, 2008.

Manga
See also: List of Death Note chapters
The Death Note manga series was first serialized in the Japanese manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump published by Shueisha in December 2003. The series has since ended in Japan with a total of 108 chapters. Later, the individual chapters were collected into twelve separate tankōbon. Later, a thirteenth volume titled Death Note - How to Read was released, helping to elucidate some mysteries left at the end of the manga, like the destiny of some of the characters. Death Note was eventually licensed for North American publication by Viz Media,[1] and the first English-language volume was released on October 4, 2005.[2] The manga has since been published in several different languages including English, German, Chinese, Portuguese and Spanish. Currently, Viz has released all twelve volumes of Death Note in English, and will release the Death Note: How To Read 13 supplement on February 19, 2008.[3]

To date, Death Note has sold around twenty million copies in Japan.[4] Death Note was nominated for Best Manga at the 2006 American Anime Awards.

Novel
A novel adaption of the series has been written by Ishin Nishio, called Death Note: Another Note.[5][6] It serves as a prequel to the manga series, with Mello narrating the story of L's first encounter with Naomi Misora during the Los Angeles "BB Serial Murder Case" mentioned in volume 2 of the manga. Beside Naomi's character, the novel focuses on how L works. Insight was given into Watari's orphanage and how the whole system of geniuses such as L, Mello and Near were put to work. Viz will be releasing the novel in English in February 2008.[7]

Live-action films
Main article: Death Note (film)
Death Note was also adapted into a two part live-action movie released in 2006. The two motion pictures were directed by Shūsuke Kaneko, produced by Nippon Television and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Japan.

L Change the World, a spin-off film focusing on L, is currently in production.

Anime
See also: List of Death Note episodes
The Death Note anime, directed by Tetsurō Araki and animated by Madhouse, began airing in Japan on October 3, 2006,[8] and finished its run on June 26, 2007, totaling 37 twenty-minute episodes.[9] Contrary to the movies, the anime series closely follows the original storyline of the first seven volumes of the manga (L's arc) then rushes significantly through N's arc by accentuating many action scene and skipping monologues or long discussions between characters described in the final 5 volumes of the manga series. There are also a few changes on the character designs, adapted by Masaru Kitao, and the order of facts, as well as a few additional scenes not featured in the original manga. It is also set in the year 2007, instead of starting at the year 2003. The series aired on the Nippon Television network "every Tuesday at 24:56".[10] The series was co-produced by Madhouse, Nippon Television, Shueisha, D.N. Dream Partners and VAP.[11]

In North America, the series has been licensed by Viz Media for residents in the United States of America to use "Download-to-Own" and "Download-to-Rent" services while it was still airing in Japan. This move is seen as "significant because it marks the first time a well known Japanese anime property will be made legally available to domestic audiences for download to own while the title still airs on Japanese television".[12] The downloadable episodes contain the autentic Japanese audio track and English subtitles,[13] and is available through IGN's Windows-only Direct2Drive service.[14] DVDs of the series will also be released,[13] containing both an English dubbed audio track, produced by The Ocean Group, and the original Japanese audio track with optional English subtitles.[15] Viz announced at Anime Expo 2007 that the first DVD will be officially released on November 20, 2007 in both regular and excepțional editions[16] and also confirmed at Comic-Con International 2007 that the first 15,000 copies of each DVD will contain collectible figures.[17]

Death Note was slated to make its North American television premiere in Canada on YTV's Bionix programming block on September 7, 2007.[18] However, the show was removed from the schedule at the last minute.[19] The Canadian premiere was pushed back to October 26, 2007 at 10:00 pm, when it finally premiered. Death Note premiered in the U.S. on October 20, 2007 at 12:00 a.m. on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.[20] The show also streams online for free on Adult Swim Video, with a new episode uploaded every Friday afternoon, a day before its broadcast premiere. Death Note has also been aired by the anime television network Animax across its respective networks worldwide, including Hong Kong and Taiwan.

A three-hour animated Death Note:R From Vision of God' (デスノート:リライト幻視する神, Desu Nōto: Riraito Genjisuru kami?) TV rarisim aired on Nippon Television in Japan on August 31, 2007, at 8:03 PM. It is about Light Yagami and his rival L from the unique vantage point of Ryuk, Light's shinigami. It contains new footage and dialogue that was not in the original TV show.[21]

DVDs
The following volumes have been released in Japan.
The figures are only included in the first edition of each DVD.

Death Note Volume 1 - Episodes 1-3 - Includes Ryuk Figure
Death Note Volume 2 - Episodes 4-6 - Includes Light Yagami Figure
Death Note Volume 3 - Episodes 7-9 - Includes L Figure
Death Note Volume 4 - Episodes 10-12 - Includes Jealous Figure
Death Note Volume 5 - Episodes 13-15 - Includes Misa Amane Figure
Death Note Volume 6 - Episodes 16-18 - Includes Rem Figure
Death Note Volume 7 - Episodes 19-21 - Includes Soichiro Yagami Figure
Death Note Volume 8 - Episodes 22-24 - Includes Shidoh Figure
Death Note Volume 9 - Episodes 25-27 - Includes Near Figure
Death Note Volume 10 - Episodes 28-30 - Includes Mello Figure
Death Note Volume 11 - Episodes 31-33 - Includes Teru Mikami Figure
Death Note Volume 12 - Episodes 34-35 - Includes Matsuda Figure
Volumes scheduled to be released:

Dec 21, 2007 - Death Note Volume 13 - Episodes 36-37 - Includes King of Shinigami Figure
The following volumes have been released in North America.

Death Note Volume 1 - Episodes 1-4 - Includes Ryuk Figure (other versions include a calendar or Volume 1 of the Manga.)
Volumes scheduled to be released:

Dec 18, 2007 - Death Note Volume 2 - Episodes 5-8 - Includes Light Yagami Figure
Jan 29, 2008 - Death Note Volume 3 - Episodes 9-12 - Includes L Figure
Anime theme songs
Opening themes
"the WORLD" by Nightmare (episodes 1 - 19)
"What's up, people?!" by Maximum the Hormone (episodes 20 - 37)
Ending themes
"Alumina" (アルミナ, Arumina?) by Nightmare (episodes 1 - 19, TV Particular "Death Note:R From Vision of God")
"Zetsubō Billy" (絶望ビリー, Zetsubō Birī?) by Maximum the Hormone (episodes 20 - 36)
"Coda ~ Death Note" by Yoshihisa Hirano (episode 37)
Insert songs
"Misa no Uta" by Aya Hirano (episode 25)
"Zetsubō Billy" (絶望ビリー, Zetsubō Birī?) by Maximum the Hormone (TV Special "Death Note:R From Vision of God")

A Death Note video game developed and published by Konami for the Nintendo DS, entitled Death Note Kira's Game (デスノートキラゲーム, Desu Nōto Kira Gēmu?), was released on February 15, 2007.[22] Kira Game is a strategy game where the player takes on the role of Kira or L. These are just titles, as any character can be Kira or L. The player will attempt to deduce who their enemy is (Kira will try to uncover L's identity and vice versa). This will play out in 3 phases: Investigation, where the player will discuss the case and clues with other characters; Voting, where each member of the investigation team casts a vote on who they suspect is L or Kira based on the player's performance in the previous phase; L/Kira, where the player can either focus their investigation on one member to see if they are Kira (L part) or force a member off of the team (Kira part).[23] The gameplay is very similar to that of the common party game Mafia.

A sequel to the game, Death Note L o Tsugumono (デスノート Lを継ぐ者, Desu Nōto Eru o Tsugumono?, literally "Death Note: Successor to L"), was released in Japan on July 12, 2007. The storyline is based on the second part of the manga, featuring characters such as Mello and Near.[23]

A third game, L the Prologue to Death Note -Rasen no Trap- (L the ProLogue to DEATH NOTE -螺旋の罠-, Eru za Purorōgu tu Desu Nōto -Rasen no Torappu-?, literally "L the Prologue to Death Note: Spiraling Trap"), is set to be released for the Nintendo DS in Japan on February 7, 2008.[24][25] The player will assume the role of a rookie FBI agent who awakens in a strange hotel and attempts to escape with the help of L, who provides assistance via an in-game PDA.[24] The story is set before the Kira investigation in the autentic series.[24]

Several characters from Death Note appear in Jump Mega Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars, a fighting game featuring a plethora of characters from Shonen Jump titles. Light, Ryuk and L appear in Jump Extra Stars as support characters. In Jump Ultimate Stars Misa, Near, and Mello are added as support characters as well.

Soundtracks
Main article: Death Note original soundtracks
There have been several soundtracks released for this series, such as the ones for the movie adaptations and also for the anime adaptation.

Controversy

People's Republic of China
Some schools in Shenyang, People's Republic of China have banned the manga after some of their students started to tease friends and teachers by altering a notebook to resemble a Death Note and writing their names in them.[26]

The newspaper Shenyang Night Report called Death Note "poison, creating wicked hearts".[26] Others however, including one major Chinese newspaper, felt that the ban is an overreaction and is inappropriate.[26]

Beijing also has a ban on "horror stories" around schools to protect the "physical and mental health" of students, which includes local adaptations of Death Note.[27] China itself is likewise trying to weed out pirated copies of the books and television series, as well other Japanese horror magazines, where no legal publication house prints it. Wang Song of the National Anti-piracy and Anti-pornography Working Committee has said that the series "misleads innocent children and distorts their mind and spirit".[28]

Belgium
Main article: Manga Murder
On September 28, 2007, two notes stating "Watashi wa Kira dess" (I am Kira, with "desu" being the more literal and correct transliteration of the verb) were found near the unidentified remains of a Caucasian male. Nothing was found on or near the victim besides these two notes. Belgian police are investigating the matter further.[29][30]

United States
A senior at the Franklin Military Academy in Richmond, Virginia was suspended after being caught possessing a replica Death Note notebook with the names of fellow students.[31][32]