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Call Out for Budding Death Note Voice Actors

26/1/2015

There's an intriguing development over on Behind the Voice Actors site - a call for Death Note voice actors!

The project appears to be a fan-based audio-visual rendering of the entire Death Note manga. It's being organized by ShadowMistress, who has the licensing already in the bag.

Characters up for audition are: Light Yagami, L, Mrs Yagami, Ryuuku, two shinigamis, Shibuimaru Takou (biker), news reporter and extras. If you think you have what it takes to bring any of them to life, then you're invited to read prescribed lines in an audio track and submit it.

Deadline is February 23rd 2015. More details here.

How exciting!

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A December Medley - Brand New MelloxMatt Fan Fiction by MRS Jeevas (aka Matti)

19/1/2015

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There are those who would be forgiven, upon hearing that a new multi-chaptered novella in the It Matters series is planned, for believing it when they see it.

You may read the newly completed update on the Matti!canon universe in these places:

Download A December Medley as an eBook (currently in ePub and PDF formats, shout up if you need another).
He Moves Me Differently library - in the new category 2014.
Matilda at Adult Fan Fiction (it'll appear once I've remembered my password to the site).

A December Medley follows Mello and Matt's lives during December 2014. It takes us from the first of the month until Auld Lang Syne.

Please note that some elements are unsuitable for minors, which means they'll be the first to jump in and read it. We're talking the kind of descriptive adult content that cannot be unread.

As for the rest, this is how I've described it in the author's note:

This began as a short story to mark Mello's birthday in December 2014. I missed my deadline, so extended it to take in Christmas too. I nearly made it as well. But missing by a couple of days meant I really should include New Year's Eve.

The upshot is a pot pourri kind of novella. I wonder if this multi-chaptered collection of tales should really be called a novel. If you count the birthday suite embedded in its centre, then A December Medley has more chapters than It Matters. But there's no over-riding plot nor story arc. Some chapters are tiny, mere drabbles with less than a handful of paragraphs. Some are epic, long length explorations into certain scenes. More a pick and mix medley than a coherent overture.

I missed New Year, so aimed for January 18th instead. Brooke Stardust knows why. So does Orangepunch, who spent many hours today helping me rush this through to its conclusion.

You're seeing a story in a semi-raw state, not subjected to Spoiled-Kitten's quality control, nor Sareyva's proof-reading, consistency and fact checking professionalism. Just me and Orangepunch determined to see this to its conclusion today.

We hope you like it anyway.

yours
Matti~ January 18th 2014

By which I meant that Orangepunch and I have practically broken our necks to get this out for you today. Hence the exhausted tone of this blog announcing it to the world.

Brooke Stardust, all our base r belong to you.

Less than three.

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Christian Ethics and Death Note - Essay

16/1/2015

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Criticalhit009 has been putting their theology where their fandom is - analyzing Death Note from a Christmas perspective for an Ethics in Communication class.

As such essayed musings should never go to waste, it ended up in their blog under the heading Ethics of Death Note.

Criticalhit009 also brings in Gilbert Lugo's take on Light Yagami's actions, as detailed in Manga and Philosophy, and compares that with Christian theology. The conclusions are rather similar.

Do you agree with them?

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Trailer for Death Note the Musical, and Photo Session Footage Too

12/1/2015

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HoriPro have released a couple of new YouTube videos to whip up interest in the stage show adaptation of Death Note.

The first is the Death Note musical trailer; the second is a photo session with some of the cast members filmed and published. Check them out.

Original Cast Trailer for Death Note Musical

Death Note the Musical Cast Photo Session

Incidentally, I have now seen it clarified that the two actors playing Light Yagami will work on alternate days. They aren't BOTH on the stage at the same time.

And just to complete the Death Note theatrical performance gossip to date, here is another couple of posters advertising it:

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Death Note Skins for Minecraft Gamers

10/1/2015

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Here's a lovely one for the Death Note gamers amongst us. Which is pretty much all of the Matt cohort and probably most of the others too.

You can play Minecraft as Death Note characters by downloading bespoke skins.

I've never played Minecraft, though it's top of my list of games to try. I've loved Terraria and the like, so I know I'll enjoy this one.

Nevertheless, I was lured onto Planet Minecraft by the vast number of friends who do play the game. One of them mentioned an L skin, so I went for a shufty. Then made the rash promise - if there's a Matt skin, I'm in. Yep, there's a Matt skin too. Guess what I'm going to be playing in 2015...

Here are the Minecraft Death Note skins and other stuff that I've uncovered for your delight and amusement:

Image: Matt Death Note skin for Minecraft

Mail Jeevas Minecraft skin

L (absolutely 100s of them)
Kira (100s of them too)
Ryuk (skin) Ryuk (statue)
Soichiro Yagami
Touta Masuda
Rem
Gelus
Death Note Texture Pack

Matt (white top) Matt (red top)
Mello (version 1) Mello (version 2)
Misa (black dress)
Near
Beyond Birthday
Death Note banner
L Pixel Art
Shinigami Realm

There are plenty more, but frankly you could explore them for yourself. Off you go! And please report back on any particularly cool things that you think we should know about.

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RKD-EK9 - One Shot Takeshi Obata Art in English Weekly Shonen Jump (Dec 29th 2014)

9/1/2015

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Image: Weekly Shonen Jump 05-05 December 29th 2014

Takeshi Obata's artwork on the
cover of Weekly Shonen Jump
(Dec 29th 2014)

Sorry, sorry, I'm a week late with this news, but what can I say? There were parties to be had and hangovers to survive.

In the meantime, the English language version of Weekly Shonen Jump has been having a field day with Death Note related items. By which we mostly mean 'things drawn by the same bloke who drew Death Note'.

Though there are a couple of items less tenuously linked.

The first big news concerns the one-shot RKD-EK9, which Death Note artist Takeshi Obata created with NisiOisiN. There's a double connection here for our fandom, as this was the author of Another Note.

RKD-EK9 was announced in October 2014 and it's already been published in a December edition of the Japanese Weekly Shonen Jump. For English readers, it constituted a special dual chapter stop-gap publication of the US Weekly Shonen Jump - issue No. 05-05 - which came out on December 29th 2014.

Just around the time that I was opening my first bottle of wine.

Takeshi Obata has also teamed up with writer Nobuaki Enoki to produce a new manga serial of Gakkyū Hōtei for Weekly Shonen Jump.

We gave you the heads up about this in November, when it was due to begin its run in the Japanese edition of the respected manga magazine. But English readers get to discover the delights too. The publishers have promised that all stories will be released in the US on the same day as in Japan.

Obviously give or take RKD-EK9...

Image: Takeshi Obata's artwork in RKD-EK9

Takeshi Obata's artwork in manga one shot RKD-EK9

This means that I'm woefully behind on telling you that the slightly renamed Gakkyu Hotei: School Judgment is running in the US version of Weekly Shonen Jump.

It actually began on December 1st 2014 (issue No. 1). By the manga's very nature as a serial, Gakkyu Hotei continued on through every edition thereon, and will do until the tale is told. Though the special edition on the 29th didn't feature a chapter. All of the serials paused for that one.

Image: Gakkyu Hotei in Weekly Shonen Jump

Takeshi Obata's artwork in Gakkyu Hotei: School Judgment

I did promise some actual Death Note news rather than just what its artist is up to now.

Weekly Shonen Jump has also featured work from a second Death Note artist. Didn't know there was another? You obviously haven't factored in the fan art of a lady named Sara E.

A week later, there was more Obata fan art. This time from Toshiyaka M. recreating Bakuman's The Detective Trap. No, not Kira. Totally different story.

Finally Weekly Shonen Jump also ran with a feature about the release of the new box set - Death Note: The Complete Series.

But you already knew about that, as I actually managed to report it in a timely fashion, a month before Shonen Jump did. And shoved the actual product in our Death Note box set section of the website.

And there you are - all up to date with all things Death Note related from Weekly Shonen Jump. Well, recent things anyway. We'd be here all day if I had to return to the start.

Image: Weekly Shonen Jump cover for December 1st 2014 Issue No 1

Takeshi Obata's cover art
for Weekly Shonen Jump
(December 1st 2014)

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Happy 2015 Death Note Fans!

8/1/2015

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Yes, I know I'm a little late here, but in my defence I was away from home all New Year. Then returned to a virus infested computer. Two freaking days it took to clear that one.

I'm not bitter. Much.

Did you all have a happy holiday season and a wonderful New Year? I did! And Death Note factored in it too. Believe it or not, I've never actually owned a box set of the anime. But Santa Claus rectified that one this year.

The version I received is that displayed right. It's a British Death Note Box Set, though the dub is the American one.

It caused chaos. I took it to my friend's house over New Year. He knew nothing about the story and assumed that I was advocating watching a long series about committing suicide.

It didn't help that I was wearing a Death Note t-shirt at the time, hence it looked like I was seriously bringing the party down.

Moreover, he didn't ask for clarification. Which is a shame, because everyone else there knew precisely what the anime was all about. *sigh* Anyone else ever had any such awkward misunderstandings surrounding this?

Naturally, I'll report back when I've properly watched the box set, as I didn't really have the chance to do so there.

In other news, I have been writing A December Medley - a glimpse into the 2014 festive period, as regards Mello and Matt within my fan fiction universe. It is multi-chaptered, but not precisely a novel by my standards. That should be with you within the next few days.

So, time to get caught up here and elsewhere. Happy New Year all!