Death Note

Death Note
First tankōbon volume cover, featuring Light Yagami (front) and Ryuk (back)
Genre	Mystery[1] Psychological thriller[2][3] Supernatural thriller[1][4]
Manga
Written by	Tsugumi Ohba
Illustrated by	Takeshi Obata
Published by	Shueisha
English publisher	AUS: Madman Entertainment NA: Viz Media
Imprint	Jump Comics
Magazine	Weekly Shōnen Jump
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	December 1, 2003 – May 15, 2006
Volumes	12 (List of volumes)
Further information Novel Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases Written by Nisio Isin Published by Shueisha English publisher NA: Viz Media Published August 1, 2006 Anime television series Directed by Tetsurō Araki Produced by Toshio Nakatani Manabu Tamura Masao Maruyama Written by Toshiki Inoue Music by Yoshihisa Hirano Hideki Taniuchi Studio Madhouse Licensed by Crunchyroll[a] NA: Viz Media Original network NNS (Nippon TV) English network CA: YTV NA: Neon Alley US: Adult Swim Original run October 4, 2006 – June 27, 2007 Episodes 37 (List of episodes) Anime television film Death Note Relight 1: Visions of a God Directed by Tetsurō Araki Produced by Toshio Nakatani Manabu Tamura Masao Maruyama Written by Toshiki Inoue Music by Yoshihisa Hirano Hideki Taniuchi Studio Madhouse Licensed by Crunchyroll[a] NA: Viz Media Original network Nippon TV Released August 31, 2007 Runtime 130 minutes Novel Death Note: L – Change the World Written by M Published by Shueisha English publisher NA: Viz Media Published December 25, 2007 Manga Death Note: C-Kira Written by Tsugumi Ohba Illustrated by Takeshi Obata Published by Shueisha English publisher NA: Viz Media Magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump Demographic Shōnen Published February 9, 2008 Anime television film Death Note: Relight 2 – L's Successors Directed by Tetsurō Araki Produced by Toshio Nakatani Manabu Tamura Masao Maruyama Written by Toshiki Inoue Music by Yoshihisa Hirano Hideki Taniuchi Studio Madhouse Licensed by Crunchyroll[a] NA: Viz Media Original network NNS (Nippon TV) Released August 22, 2008 Runtime 100 minutes Manga Death Note: a-Kira Written by Tsugumi Ohba Illustrated by Takeshi Obata Published by Shueisha English publisher NA: Viz Media Magazine Jump Square Demographic Shōnen Published February 4, 2020 Live-action Death Note (2006 film) Death Note 2: The Last Name (2006 film) L: Change the World (2008 film) Death Note (2015 TV drama) Death Note: The Musical (2015 musical) Death Note: New Generation (2016 miniseries) Death Note: Light Up the New World (2016 film) Death Note (2017 film) Video games Death Note: Kira Game (2007) Death Note: Successors to L (2007) L the Prologue to Death Note: Spiraling Trap (2008) Death Note: Killer Within (2024)
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Death Note (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. It was serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 2003 to May 2006, with its chapters collected in 12 tankōbon volumes. The story follows Light Yagami, a genius high school student who discovers a mysterious 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 immoral and to create a crime-free society, using the alias of a god-like vigilante named "Kira", and the subsequent efforts of an elite Japanese police task force, led by enigmatic detective L, to apprehend him.

A 37-episode anime television series adaptation, produced by Madhouse and directed by Tetsurō Araki, was broadcast on Nippon Television from October 2006 to June 2007. 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, November 2006, and February 2008, and a television drama in 2015. A miniseries titled 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 series is reportedly in the works. Two one-shot manga sequels, C-Kira and a-Kira, were published in 2008 and 2020, respectively; they were later collected in a single volume titled Death Note: Short Stories, alongside other standalone stories, in 2021. An online social deduction game, Death Note: Killer Within, was released by Bandai Namco Entertainment for the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Windows via Steam in 2024.

Death Note media, except for video games and soundtracks, is licensed and released in North America by Viz Media. The episodes from the anime first appeared in North America as downloadable from IGN before Viz Media licensed it. The series was aired on YTV's Bionix programming 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. By April 2015, the Death Note manga had over 30 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series.

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