Death Note

 

Light Yagami is an intelligent young adult who resents all things evil. He also wishes to end crime in the world and create a utopia in which he reigns supreme. His life undergoes a drastic change when he discovers the Death Note, a notebook that contains five written instructions:

• The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die.
• This notebook 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 person's name, it will happen.
• If the cause of death is not specified, the person 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.

There are many other rules that are revealed as the story develops, usually in the form of sequence breaks in between scenes. After several experiments with the Death Note, Light realises the notebook's authenticity and encounters the previous owner, a shinigami called Ryuk. Light explains to Ryuk his plan of exterminating all the criminals in the world, until there are only people who he has judged to be honest and kind. Once he finishes this, he will begin his reign as the god of this new world.
Soon, the number of inexplicable deaths of criminals catches the attention of the International Police Organization and the world-famous detective, "L". L quickly learns that the serial killer, publicly known as "Kira" (キラ^?, derived from the Japanese pronunciation of the word "killer"), is located in Japan and can kill people without laying a finger on them. Light realises that L will be his greatest nemesis, and begins a cat and mouse game with L.
Light attempts to create an alibi by helping L and his investigate team track down Kira. His plan is impeded by a second Kira, famous model Misa Amane, and her shinigami Rem. Misa and Light meet and work together; they are increasingly suspected by L. To save themselves from execution, Misa and Light temporarily relinquish control of their Death Notes—erasing their memories of the shinigami and the notebooks—and are placed under constant surveillance by L.
During their detention, a third Kira under the employ of the Yotsuba Group appears. Light and Misa are freed when it becomes apparent that they are not responsible for the murders of Yotsuba's rivals. The investigative team infiltrate Yotsuba and discover the third Kira is Yotsuba member Kyosuke Higuchi and attempt to capture him. Upon Higuchi's capture, Light regains the Death Note "just as [he] planned" and kills Higuchi. He completes his complex plan by manipulating Rem into killing both L and herself. Light becomes the "new L" upon L's death, and continues a charade of searching for Kira.
The narrative continues four years later, with Kira attracting a large network of contacts and a swell of public support. Two children, Near and Mello, raised by L's former guardian Watari to follow L's legacy, serve as antagonists to Light: Near as an independent detective; and Mello as a member of the Mafia. Mello's first action to oppose Kira is to kidnap the director of the NPA, and after his murder, Light's sister Sayu, to use as a bargaining chip to obtain the Death Note. Light's Task Force recapture Sayu and learn Mello's real name after Light's father Soichiro trades half of his remaining life for the ability to discover anyone's names, but Soichiro later dies of gunshot wounds.
Concurrently, Near and several members of the Task Force begin to suspect Light of being Kira. In response, Light persuades Misa to give up her Death Note and raises another Kira, Teru Mikami, a prosecutor and fervent supporter of Kira. Mikami kills Kira's former spokesman for being greedy and recruits Kiyomi Takada, a newscaster and Light's former girlfriend, to replace him. Mello returns and kidnaps Kiyomi, who manages to kill Mello with a hidden Death Note piece. Light then makes Kiyomi commit suicide to prevent her from implicating him, but Mikami, unaware of Light's actions, attempts to kill her with his own Death Note. Near reveals that Mikami's notebook is a fake, and is therefore able to prove Light is Kira. In desperation, Light tries to use the last Death Note piece in his watch to kill the rest of the Task Force, but Matsuda shoots him repeatedly. Realizing Light has lost, Ryuk uses his Death Note to kill Light with a heart attack, which is a part of the agreement of the Shinigami with the first person who uses the death note. As for Light's partner Misa, she had been accidentally informed of Light's death and committed suicide.

Production

The Death Note concept derived from a rather general concept involving Shinigami and "specific rules."\Tsugumi Ohba wanted to create a suspense series because he did not feel that he could have created a fight-style series and that the genre had few suspense series. After publication of the pilot chapter the series was not expected to be approved as a serialized comic by the author who did not consider it to "fit with Jump." Ohba said that when he learned that Death Note received approval and that Takeshi Obata would create the artwork he "couldn't even believe it." Due to positive reactions, Death Note became a serialized manga series
"Thumbnails" were created incorporating dialog, panel layout, and basic drawings, and were sent to the illustrator. The editor reviewed the thumbnails and sent them to the illustrator (Obata) with the script set in stone and the panel layout "mostly done." Obata then determined the expressions and "camera angles" and created the final artwork. Ohba concentrated on the tempo and the amount of dialogue, making sure that the text was as concise as possible. Ohba commented that he believed "reading too much exposition" would be tiring and would negatively affect the atmosphere and "air of suspense." Significant artistic license was given to the illustrator who worked on basic descriptions, such as "abandoned building", and this extended to the design of the Death Notes with Obata possessing free rein. Obata originally thought of the books as "'Bible-like'...something you would automatically think was a Death Note." He also felt this design would seem "difficult to use" and instead opted for an easy-to-use college notebook. At a later point the concept of Death Notes looking different from one another, depending on the human era (such as Death Notes in ancient Japan looking like scrolls and Death Notes in medieval Europe looking like The Old Testament) was conceived.
When Ohba decided on the plot he internally visualized the panels while being on his bed, drinking tea, or walking around his house, needing to feel relaxed while visualizing the panels. On many occasions the original draft was too long and needed to be refined various times before the desired "tempo" and "flow" for the chapter was finalised. The writer remarked on his preference for reading the previous "two or four" chapters carefully to ensure consistency in the story.
The typical weekly production schedule consisted of five days for creating and thinking and one day using pencil to insert dialogue into rough drafts; after this point the writer faxed any initial drafts to the editor. The illustrator's weekly production schedule involved one day with the thumbnails, layout, and pencils and one day with additional penciling and inking. Obata's assistants usually worked for four days and Obata spent one day to finish it. Obata said that sometimes he took a few extra days to color pages and that this "messed with the schedule." In contrast, the writer took three or four days to create a chapter on some occasions, while on others he took a month. Obata said that his schedule remained consistent except when he had to create color pages.
Ohba and Obata rarely met in person during the creation of the serialized manga; instead the two met with the editor. The first time they met in person was at an editorial party in January 2004. Obata said that, despite the intrigue, he did not ask his editor about Ohba's plot developments as he anticipated the new thumbnails every week.The two did not discuss the final chapters with one another and they continued to talk with the editor. Ohba said that when he asked the editor if Obata had "said anything" about the story and plot the editor responded '"No, nothing" [laughs].'
Ohba claims that the series ended more or less in the manner that he intended for it to end; he considered the idea of L defeating Light Yagami with Light dying but instead chose to use the "Yellow Box warehouse" ending. According to Ohba the details had been set "from the beginning."The writer wanted an ongoing plot line instead of an episodic series because Death Note was serialized and its focus was intended to be on a cast with a series of events triggered by the Death Note. 13: How to Read states that the humorous aspects of Death Note originated from Ohba's "enjoyment of humorous stories."
Ohba said that a theme that he wished to express throughout the series was that, "no human has the right to pass judgement on another's actions. No one should play god." He said that he intended Death Note to push an ideology about good and evil, and that Near's statement in Volume 12 about deciding right and wrong came about from his own personal belief.
When the writer was asked, during an interview, whether the series was meant to be about enjoying the plot twists and psychological warfare, Ohba responded by saying that this concept was the reason why he was "very happy" to place the story in Weekly Shōnen Jump.
Ohba was also asked what he considered the most important thing in Death Note, and he responded by saying, "the human whose name is written in this note shall die"; in contrast, Obata responded to the same question by answering "impossible to say.

Pilot chapter

The Death Note process began when Ohba brought thumbnails for two concept ideas to Shueisha; Ohba said that the Death Note pilot, one of the concepts, was "received well" by editors and attained positive reactions by readers. Ohba described keeping the story of the pilot to one chapter as "very difficult" and he said that he remembered it took over a month to begin writing the chapter. He added that the story had to revive the killed characters with the Death Eraser and that he "didn't really care" for that plot device
Obata said that he wanted to draw the story after he heard of a "horror story featuring Shinigami."According to Obata, when he first received the rough draft created by Ohba, he "didn't really get it" at first and he wanted to work on the project due to the presence of Shinigami and because the work "was dark."He also said he wondered about the progression of the plot as he read the thumbnails, and if Jump readers would enjoy reading the comic. Obata said that while there is little action and the main character "doesn't really drive the plot" he enjoyed the atmosphere of the story. He stated that he drew the pilot chapter so that it would appeal to himself.
Ohba brought the rough draft of the pilot chapter to the editorial department. Obata came into the picture at a later point to create the artwork. They did not meet in person while creating the pilot chapter. Ohba said that the editor told him he did not need to meet with Obata to discuss the pilot; Ohba said "I think it worked out all right."