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Kira Actor Brad Swaile's First AMV - and it's Death Note Related!

26/12/2014

Did you all catch this? I know the Redditors did, as it recently topped r/deathnote, thus alerting me to its existence.

Brad Swaile is the Canadian voice actor who gave us the English dubbed tones of Light Yagami. It's his fault that we all keep harking on about eating potato chips and laughing manically. Though his counterparts around the world also did a fabulous job on the latter.

It seems that Kira's English language voice actor has tried his hand at fan producing an AMV on YouTube, and he chose a Death Note theme as his inaugural tune. That's Zetsubou Billy for the win, as illustrated with clips chosen by Brad Swaile. Nice one!

Oh! And incidentally, today is Brad's birthday. Happy returns of the day from all of us here at Death Note News!

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The Wammy House: Christmas 2002 eBook - Free Death Note Fan-Fiction Download

25/12/2014

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MRSJeevas The Wammy House Christmas 2002 ebook

Happy holidays from Death Note News!

Those of you who opened the 24th window in the advent calendar will have seen this yesterday. For the rest of you, here's my Christmas present to you all - an ebook version of my Wammy House Xmas 2002 multi-chapter story.

Download it here (ePuB and/or PDF), or you could read it where it's always been, in the He Moves Me Differently library (Christmas Eve 2002 and Christmas Day 2002).

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Death Note Cocktails for the Holidays Anyone?

19/12/2014

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Well, how fabulous is this?!

The lovely people over at The Speakeasy - a blog and podcast site run by Alain and Kate - have created a cocktail for Death Note fans.

This alcoholic Death Note drink takes as its inspiration Ryuk's legendary passion for human world apples.

Entitled Gods of Death Love Apples, the shinigami cocktail mixes brandy, rum and angostura bitters around an apple base. Just the thing to warm the cockles on these cold winter evenings!

In addition, The Speakeasy's podcast comes from New York Comic Con 2014, where Takeshi Obata was a special guest. You may hear that from the same page, while enjoying a Death Note cocktail or three.

All of which gets me thinking - what Death Note character cocktails can we come up with here on Death Note News?

Comment with your concoctions and I'll feature them all in a blog closer to Christmas, possibly with taste tests filmed and uploaded. I'm certain that my homies would take one for the team, when it comes to sampling Death Note alcoholic beverages. They're full of heart like that.

Bring it on!

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Mamoru Miyano: Kira's Japanese Voice Actor in new anime Tokyo Ghoul √A

19/12/2014

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Death Note fans know Mamoru Miyano best as the Japanese anime's Light Yagami.

The award-winning actor was the first to provide a voice for Kira. His tones in the original Death Note anime set the standard by which all other Light Yagami voice actors have been dubbed.

Mamoru's talent will be showcased again in Tokyo Ghoul √A - a brand new anime premiering in Japan on January 8th 2015.

The Kira voice actor will play Shu Tsukiyama.

See also: Mamoru Miyano: Light Yagami Voice Actor Takes to the Road in a Musical DVD

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Focus on a Fan: BrookeStardust from MangaBullet (aka Bubbles from the EHC)

17/12/2014

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As part of this blog, I promised to highlight those Death Note fans who scattered when MangaBullet went down. Welcome to our monthly Focus on a Fan feature!

The rest of this entry is given over to, and penned by, Bubbles! By which I mean BrookeStardust, who plays Bubbles in Twitter's long-running EHC group and on the He Moves Me Differently website forum.

I have come to realise, in the many days I have spent with this document open and only the header of “DN Thing” typed on the page, that I am not particularly good at writing about myself.

I think the crux of this whole event came to pass when I found myself on tabloid websites, trying to find interview questions which might seem useful to ask myself.

It does not particularly help that I am not a celebrity though.

Questions like “how’s the new album coming along?” or “so are you and Beyoncè a thing now or….” just don’t apply to me. (For the record, if they did apply, the answers would be “Oh, it’s great, we’re on the mixing stage” and “Duh”.)

I guess all that leaves is trying to think of what’s happened that’s worth filling people in about since MangaBullet stopped being a thing and my immediate access to the fandom kind of withered away.

It’s a bit interesting to think back on, but fandom locations in general have changed so drastically in the past few years. I might wax poetic a moment here, but I remember the days of Geocities fan-page circles, LiveJournal communities and DeviantArt and the slow transformation that had to something like MySpace then things like Tumblr or Reddit.

We are in weird times, friends.

Image: BrookeStardust and boyfriend... erm... actor Ben Whishaw

Furry commission drawn recently by BrookeStardust

This leaves me trying to think where things left off though…

2011 I graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology with a BFA in Film and Animation after finishing a thesis which I still cannot watch.

This happened around a pretty weird time in the Animation and Film world. Layoffs were happening across all the major companies (Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks,etc.) which created a giant market flood of people who had far more experience than the kids just getting out of college.

So, like literally everyone in my graduating class, I had to improvise and scramble a bit for a job (for the record, not a single person I graduated with has a job in the industry right now). My first summer out, I moved back home and put in about seven applications a day to different animation companies, film houses, advertising firms, graphic design companies, video game houses, special effects houses… whatever.

At the time, I was working full time at the eBay job I had in high school, as well as working as a law office secretary part time. Eventually, I started getting desperate (you can only sell so many used women's sweaters online before you /really/ start wanting to not do that), so I began putting in applications wherever I could think of.

Long story short, I was hired in November of 2011 as a sales specialist for a fruity computer company, moved to technician within about three months, and have been there since.

As far as retail jobs go, it’s pretty good. I really love my team and have come to think of them as more of my family than my actual relatives are. We’re a close knit group, especially in a store of over a hundred employees, and I couldn’t ask for better coworkers.

Customers are customers and I think that would remain a true statement no matter where I worked. Some are great, some are not.

Unfinished sketchy thing I still like the look of

I wish I could say that this is my dream job, or even what I thought I’d be doing at this point in my life, but it really isn’t.

I know that, in the situation of the economy being what it is and the market being what it is, that I’m doing pretty well, but there are days (a lot of them) where I just feel stuck or lost or terrified that I’m going to wake up in twenty years still trying to fix the iPhone X9000, or whatever’s out by then.

I make sure to put in at least one job application a day now (long work hours leave one quite tired, so the seven I did when I first graduated had to be cut back a bit), and I just keep hoping that maybe something will strike a lead up. In the mean time, I keep saving as much as I can to eventually use to move to New York City and try to strike it big with some tiny animation house there.

Something something best laid plans of mice and men, perhaps, but it keeps me on a goal path, which has been useful when I get really emotionally lost.

Force10 and Bubbles
by Brookestardust

Other than work, I have been trying to enjoy the few bits of free time I do get.

My platonic life partner, Niki, and I have been attending more concerts lately than I ever have in my life. Last month included Streetlight Manifesto, Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band, ReBulder, Weezer, and O-Town. (I know you are jealous of my early 2000s boy band viewing. It is okay.)

We have also been making as many plans for both day trips in the area and longer trips out of New England as we can.

I make it an absolute point to attend Otakon in Baltimore MD every year (this year marked my… sixteenth year going, I think? I’ve started losing track) and make it more of a point to hunt down BlAIRbender for annual dinners.

For those who follow the EHC twitter group, which I still hold irrationally near and dear to my heart, consider it the real life reunion of Bubbles and Force10. I hold a firm belief that BlAIRbender /is/ Force10 and no one can convince my Roomba and I otherwise.

Tweets by @Opaque_Bubbles

I’ve been trying diligently to keep up with my art (to some success), and generally have been sketching more on real life media than on my computer.

Every once in a while I’ll post over to my Tumblr (which, because I am original as anything, is my name. But it’s under the tag AlexArt there).

Or I’ll post on Furaffinity, although I have been really bad about posting with any sort of regularity. I tend to draw on my lunch breaks at work and just never think to post anything when I get home. The worst!

I still cosplay with complete regularity, wear more makeup than a streetwalker, watch more anime and movies more than is probably healthy, play D&D or PathFinder whenever possible (ask me about my bard hooker and her bag of holding wedged between her boobs), and dye my hair more than any person should be able to get away with.

Not much has really changed, I guess. Beyond the whole… being older thing. Which, for the record, is really weird and I do not agree with. I refuse to feel like an adult until I am 85. No matter what the government or my retirement fund has to say about it.

I am pretty easy to find on the internet, which is good if you are into that sort of thing. Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram all rock out with my name. The real one, not BrookeStardust, even though that name is infinitely cooler.

Folgers - two characters from Niki's current novel which I drew

I am trying to think of something profound to leave this off with. I wish I had a meaningful quote or a song lyric or something.

I could put a video link to A Better Place A Better Time, which has been a tune that has helped me out a lot over these past few years, or perhaps I could find some serene yet inspiring image on Google, which somehow reflects a perfect summary of this write up.

I like to imagine there would be several lobsters and a jackalope gazing off meaningfully into the sunset. Perhaps a rainbow would float across the sky. Eagles.

Instead, I am going to leave you with perhaps my favourite short collection of arranged words. I have no idea where this came from anymore. I only know that I have had it saved on every one of my computers for years and that I will go and reread it more than is normal.

I hope it brings to you all what it has brought to me.

What is McRib?

McRib is peace of mind and a sense of purpose. McRib is a memory of simpler times--of cool pitchers of lemonade on hot summer days and respect for one's elders. McRib is renewed consumer confidence and economic prosperity. McRib is conviction in your own beliefs. McRib is Manifest Destiny and the American Dream.

McRib is your first kiss and the embrace of a former lover. McRib is a shoulder to cry on and a confidant in troubled times. McRib is watching your child take his first steps. McRib is your favourite tee shirt fresh from the laundry. McRib is timeless elegance.

McRib is desire. McRib is a thirst you can't quench and an itch you can't scratch. McRib is a tangy, sauce-covered reminder of what you didn't even know you were missing. McRib is ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife. McRib is a destination. McRib is a state of mind.

What is McRib? McRib is back.

Love forever and ever chickadees,

-Alex

If you'd like to feature in Focus on a Fan, then please let me know via the contact form on this site. It would be great to know where we can find the old gang!

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Elite Hackers Consortium Gets a Logo!

16/12/2014

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It's a website front page designed to strike fear into evil people everywhere - the Elite Hackers Consortium have been into their system and 'tango down' is probably now the least of their troubles.

Fortunately for the villains, despots and other baddies of the world, you're only ever likely to encounter a hacked home page like that within the pages of my Death Note fan fiction novels. Or Zazzle.

The real world only has to deal with Anonymous et al.

But do you notice something new about the EHC hacked website screenie? There's the EHC logo blazing back at you. We've actually got one. More than one in fact. The version above informs the initiated that Mariomatt was the lead hacker on this particular operation. That's HIS take on the EHC's symbol.

Mariomatt's Chaotic Matrix EHC Logo

What Mello hadn't quite grasped was that the EHC symbol wasn't entirely fixed. It could change in quite dramatic ways, or disappear entirely, again in direct relation to which member of the EHC was running the show. Though the vague shape and colour scheme seemed to survive them all.

The version he had mostly seen, he realised now, belonged to Matt. It owed much to the Matrix. Each element had that movie's trademark computerized lettering flowing across their surfaces. Static on headers; swarming on hacks. Only the hues changed to delineate the letters: the huge white E, with its strange kink in the middle, curving around from behind the solid red H - like goalposts from a rugby pitch; and the smaller green C defying perspective, floating behind with its shading seeming to suggest that it should be pushing through the rest.

"Did you design this?" Mello had once asked Matt, during a rare moment consciously acknowledging its existence. It still made the Slav feel a little uneasy, though not due to its associations anymore. The sheer disorder had Mello itching to find an art program with which to fix it. Matt hadn't answered verbally, just smirked with a wary sideways gaze. Mischief twinkled behind those goggles. "I can tell." Mello snapped. "It's chaotic." Realizing too late that such sentiments were bound to delight his husband. Mello had left it be after that. It wasn't his prerogative to alter a thing. This was Matt's world. His crowning glory to date.

2D Mariomatt Matrix EHC Symbol

A major hint is right here for the focus of my latest full length addition to the It Matters series. Though please don't prick up your ears too much. It's taken me over a year to get this far, and there's no publication date in sight yet.

Currently untitled, my 11th Death Note fan fiction novel features the EHC quite heavily. As a point of plot-line, I needed to describe the Elite Hackers Consortium symbol, which meant that one had to be conceived.

I'm a writer. I have no artistic vision. I find it incredibly difficult to imagine what a piece of artwork would look like without it being there in front of me. Hence the thing was designed, then properly created.

I planned to come up with an idea for a logo for the EHC, then hand over to BrookeStardust to actually produce it. The shock result here is that I didn't do the latter.

The EHC's logo artwork was all me. More GIMP skillz for the win!

Firebomb's upright black EHC symbol.

"It's not always Matrix!" Mello exclaimed now, his attention caught and pointing towards a plainer iteration on Firebomb's screen.

The E still bent inexplicably behind the H, but the overall effect was much less hectic. Almost hypnotic in its tunneling simplicity. Like the H was a big, red gate, barring the way pointed towards by the white, suddenly arrow like E. The black inner section of the C practically inviting. Calm. There was blackness beyond and all around, but the white, red and green felt trustworthy in its midst. Sanctum.

"Good for you, stripping his Matrix overload from it." Mello caught himself mid-stream and cringed. He peered around to see how Matt was receiving this public condemnation of his artistic taste. The red head was smirking, seeming as amused now as he had back then, when Mello had first criticized the symbol's rendering.

Firebomb shrugged, "It's not even usually black."

Force10 snorted, "There's a 'usually'?"

Except none of you have yet seen the Elite Hacker Consortium's main logo. What you've perused thus far is only the variants on a theme, which individual EHC members have created for their own personal use.

Not only the inner sanctum consortium, but the hundreds of thousands in the outer area too.

Bubbles laughed, "They probably only do one each. It's practically a rite of passage... Though some of them really love it. Handful perhaps, who live in there, modding. Giving advice. Some don't do it at all."

'There', in this context, being a sub-section of the EHC's public forum devoted to all things digitally artistic, which includes a category for those producing their own take on the EHC symbol.

It was meant to be endlessly reproduced in ways personal, imaginative, contemporary and/or appropriate to any given situation, cause or individual. There are EHC members who never do a thing for any cyber operation, except create a rendering of the logo for use in its promotion.

As 'mother of the internet' - or at least that part of it accessible to the Elite Hacker Consortium (so all of it then) - Bubbles collects every single solitary rendition of the EHC logo produced by her 'babies'. They are pinned upon her cyberspace equivalent of a fridge door.

That gallery already runs into the many thousands of individually distinct pieces. Each carefully tagged with the designing hacker's name.

"Then there is a 'usually'." Mello told her. "A template which they all follow. Something immutable behind the customisation." He smiled sweetly. "May I see it please?" He saw Matt's mind, blazing behind his nonchalance and smile, betrayed by the depth of his gaze. Part Puckish, part ancient intelligence. Confidence here. His own sweet battlefield.

Bubbles had breathed another laugh, almost dismissive, no great importance attached, but only almost. "If you want."

Red EHC logo template

Basic EHC main symbol template

Mello blinked. The background was red. Alongside it sat another with the background white. Inside both the EHC logo sat the same, but utterly altered from that which Mello was used to seeing. It was turned 90 degrees, seeming toppled onto its side. The symbol was outlined in black, allowing it to stand clearly against either choice.

"This is what we give them to play with."

In the spirit of the Elite Hacker Consortium, their logo now belongs to you, and me, and your Mum, Uncle Tom Cobberley, Tom Bombadil, SuperMario, Kira, the POTUS and everyone else too.

It belongs to the internet.

What I'm saying here is that you can - and should - create your own EHC symbol, then plaster it wherever you want to put it. It's free to use, reuse and adapt, publicly, personally and commercially.

Put it in your blog, journal, gallery and heart. Post it on your social networking. Add it to your CSS. Embed it in HTML, PHP, Perl, Python, Javascript or any other programming language. If there's a app for that, then stick it in your app. Stick it on products and sell them in your shop. Better still, build your awareness raising posters around it and use the EHC logo to change the world.

Here are the files. Take them. They're yours.

Only please let us have a copy of your creations, so that Bubbles can pin them to her cyberspace fridge door.

There's the FileDrop to make it happen. Only remember that everyone else can see what you add to it. And take that too.

The proviso always being that none of us own this, because we all do. EHC logo copyrighted by the EHC 2014 and forever. All rights preserved, blah, blah, blah. All rights held in common. No single individual, entity, organization, government, country, charity, group, consortium, animal, mineral, gas, deity, elemental being or bird may claim sole ownership of the EHC symbol nor any adaptations thereon.

Check back if that isn't absolutely clear. Assume that the answer is 'yes, you have permission to use the EHC logo for that', unless 'that' is to copyright, patent or otherwise stop anyone else using it.

It Matters EHC Ethic Ornament
Look at more EHC decorations

And in the meantime, perhaps you'd like an EHC holiday ornament for your tree? They're already part of my (hurriedly assembled) It Matters Xmas decoration collection.

It all goes to the great and noble cause of keeping me afloat. The quicker I'm able to make a livelihood online, the sooner you'll get all my future Death Note fan fiction novels. I'd actually have the time to write them! (Two planned, including the aforementioned EHC one, currently stalled at thirty chapters.) Wish me luck.

You don't actually need to buy any of my stuff though. You have the files to make your own. Now go and be creative.

Mario clear.

But not Bubbles. Check back tomorrow to learn what the frig I mean by that. *smirk* Less than three.

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Death Note News Takes Over the Internet

14/12/2014

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I've been working on cyber-world domination. Would you like to come with me?

Hopefully, a fair number of you are finding us for the first time because I've been running rampant through the world wide web. You'll have followed me home from whichever corner of the net I just breezed through.

For the all the rest, a little clarification is in order.

Guess what I've been up to today....

It all began when I quickly checked my news streams for anything Death Note related and missed. Glancing through several headlines, it occurred to me that we have much better news here than half of those allowing to submit to such places. So why haven't I added us?

Because I'm a lazy git.

I'm much better at researching and writing these blogs than I am promoting them. I just trust that the universe is sending people to read all that I'm finding to amuse, delight and inform. I'm a bit hippy like that at heart.

But not if I want to submit Death Note News to places curating news about Death Note. Then I have to have accounts, readers, figures, verification and stuff. It was time to tidy up and sign up.

To begin, I did the round of search engines and submitted the Death Note News site map to them. Bots are currently crawling all over us, wave hi to them. Then things became a little more interactive.

Find Death Note News Online

Visit Matti's profile on Pinterest.

Not only do I now have a Pinterest account, but Death Note News is verified on it.

Once I actually get moving, I don't hang about!

I'm in the process of setting up a series of community based boards. You have an open invitation to come and join me there, then help me fill up the Death Note Pinterest boards. Populate it with stuff not only from here, but all the web.

My sparkling new Google Plus profile is only the most visible hint at the hoops I've leapt through today.

Behind the scenes, there's also a bespoke email address for Death Note News, plus a whole webmaster account.

We've had our site map submitted, which means that Google owns our soul. Or, at least, will vaguely consider us for its search engine.

Perhaps the most useful new resource of all is over on Rebelmouse.

I certainly thought so. I've added its widget to the Death Note News Summary page, for those who like pictures instead of RSS lists of words.

Here is where I've brought everything together - this website, all the social networking, Twitter hashtags, related products and all the rest.

While Death Note News undoubtedly remains the central hub, Rebelmouse is more immediate. You'll see what's just been updated, and where, in real time.

Twitter has been going since the beginning. That's where the majority of you probably found me in the past.

However, it has just had a facelift too. Usual header, brighter colours, our site's URL added to the profile.

MB avatar kept for auld lang syne.

Better Death Note News Contact Information

Folk here have always been able to contact me, as you can probably tell by the amount of blogs inspired by a reader tipping me off about the latest Death Note gossip.

But the actual contact page on Death Note News has long been woefully inadequate.

Plain might be a better word. Functional for getting an email to me, and that's about it. I went a little wild there.

I defy anyone not to be able to contact me now. Whether I actually have time to do anything with the communication is a different matter, but it should reach me. Pick your place and send! Twitter recommended, or a comment left on a blog entry here.

Death Note News Site Stats - the day after I did the above. Seems to have worked.

Game Over?

Er, no. The one thing I forgot to do in this social networking frenzy was submit Death Note News to any actual news sites. I'll put it on the To Do list...

But please do come and find me on all the new pretties. It will be pretty lonely without anyone to do the social bit with me. Cheers!

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Happy Birthday Mello!

13/12/2014

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Today would have been Mello's 25th birthday (if we're going by the original manga timeline). Anyone got any fan fiction or fan art planned for the day?

I've vaguely been kicking around a short story in my head. I might actually write the thing before the day is out. In the meantime, I'm still experimenting in GIMP and that resulted in this circa Wammy's House Mello - I was aiming for about fourteen years old, just before he left the institution.

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JPop Star Tomomi Kasai Gets Her Misa on for Death Note Musical and Anime Festival Asia

12/12/2014

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Forget manga characters and actresses, this was the real thing.

Tomomi brought more than mere costume could convey. Star quality, of the kind that could never be bought nor faked, wrapped around Death Note's own starlet.

A Japanese idol worthy of Misa Misa's own public appeal. Dressed as Misa. Standing next to Kira.

Kira actor Hayato Kakizawa
at AFA2014

When HoriPro staged a promotion for Death Note the Musical at Anime Festival Asia 2014, they took Kira with them.

Hayato Kakizawa - one of two actors playing Light Yagami - was on hand to meet and greet at the Singapore convention, which ran from December 5th-7th 2014.

He might be Kira personified, yet even that couldn't make him the star attraction for many in the AFA2014 convention crowd. All eyes there were upon his companion.

HoriPro pulled a blinder when it came to publicity for Death Note's first theatrical outing. The ace up its sleeve was Japanese pop idol Tomomi Kasai, erstwhile member of mega selling hit girl group AKB48. While nothing personally to do with the staging of Death Note the Musical, the singer was brought in to make certain that everyone's attention was drawn in that direction.

And while she did it, Tomomi Kasai cosplayed Misa Amane.

Tomomi Kasai in Misa Cosplay at AFA2014

Tomomi Kasai brought Misa Amane's look and persona to life like no-one ever has before. Give or take the shinigami eyes, second Death Note and murderous predilection, the girl band JPop sensation practically IS Misa.

Fortunately, Unicorn (@BYS0007 on Twitter) was there to witness the phenomena and take fabulous photographs for prosperity. Then graciously allowed Death Note News to feature them here for the enjoyment of all our readers. What can I say? Enjoy!

Image: AKB48's Tomomi Kasai in Death Note cosplay

Image: Tomomi Kasai's Misa cosplay at AFA2014

Image: Japanese pop idol Tomomi Kasai at AFA2014

Image: AFA2014 Death Note the Musical promotion with Tomami Kasai

Image: Girl band idol Tomomi Kasai in Misa Amane costume

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Loss and Hope: A Massive Thanks to Bubbles and Weebly's Helen C!

12/12/2014

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Five hours ago, I was fast asleep
in bed. Weebly's Tech Team ftw!

Yesterday I lost five blog entries. You might not have spotted it, as one did actually post overnight. That was the moment when all was redeemed.

I've been behind here. Horrifically so. How many times have blog entries begun with the words, 'thank you to *insert reader's name* for the heads up...'? I aim to be a fabulous resource for all Death Note related news, but real life happens so hard sometimes.

My big plan was to get up to date and stay there. I've spent much of this week working my way down my To Do List of Death Note stories, then scheduling them in, so you're not inundated with dozens all at once.

Five of them were in the scheduler - an automated posting facility - when it went down. Annoying, but I thought it was easily fixed. I could see them, even if you could not. I could go in and post them manually.

Except when I tried that, a blog post was completely lost to the cyber ether. Naturally, I was too scared to attempt a retrieval of the rest. Had it been my own code, then maybe. But I was a lazy git when I set up Matti's Death Note News. I went for a content management system. -.-

I rushed into Weebly's support section, where a lovely operative named Helen C calmed me the sweet proverbial down.

It took a while, but she and her tech team managed to salvage the four remaining Death Note blogs. Lost - apparently forever - was the one about Death Note and Nietzsche.

The 'lost' Nietzschean Death Note blog.

Friends kicked in backstage. I'm away next week. Those future blog entries would have covered that time. Bubbles of the Elite Hackers Consortium - the lady behind her anyway - had my back.

The Mother of the Internet will be here all week, logging in and posting those blogs Herself. I've written them all (unless she h4XX0rs them), but she'll be doing the actual publication and inserting the categories etc.

Previous to that being agreed, Orangepunch had been arranging matters so I could access this site from our trip. I'd have done it myself.

As for the Death Note Nietzsche blog, I could have rewritten it. You can see it. It's hardly long, in depth nor anything involving much brain on my part. But after that epic battle to save several days worth of work, I didn't have the heart to write another thing.

Stressed doesn't cover it with me. Sanity isn't always my thing.

I was half tempted to let it go. I was more than half tempted to see if Anon Nietzsche knew anything about Death Note. Letting Anonymous guest post in my blog seemed thoroughly fitting, while I had the EHC curating the thing!

Then I logged online this morning to find that the Nietzschean Kira post was right there, published automatically onto my Twitter timeline.

Weebly's support team never stopped looking, and they found it. Sometimes the abyss gazes and gives back.

Thank you Helen C and her people, Bubbles/BrookeStardust and Orangepunch. And if Anon Nietzsche - or any Anon - ever does want to guest blog here, the invitation is always good. Let's face it, we've ALL wondered what Anonymous would have done if they'd existed in Kira's world. We could always ask.

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Death Note Musical Rem: Songstress Megumi Hamada Cast as Misa Misa's Shinigami Mentor

11/12/2014

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First a quick apology. I had every intention of completing all Death Note actor biographies when they were announced. I blinked and somehow it's two months later with two Death Note actresses still not featured here.

I didn't forget either of them. Time just conspired against us. But let me make good that deficiency with the first of the two right here - Death Note Rem actress Megumi Hamada!

Death Note Musical actress Megumi Hamada as Rem

Shinigami Rem actress Megumi Hamada

No-one in her native country would need any introduction to Megumi Hamada. She's one of Japan's leading musical actresses!

Set to bring a death goddess to life, our shinigami actress was born in the human world on August 2nd 1972. She hails from Kitakyushu, on the Fukuoka Perfecture, in Japan.

Megumi Hamada attended Kyushu International University High School. After graduation, she worked for a time in a local book-store, before saving up enough funds to move to Tokyo. There she enrolled in the Performing Arts Academy, based in the capital's Toshima district, determined to realize her dream of becoming an actress. Just like her idol Yuko Doi.

That seems to be working out well.

Japanese Musical Death Note Rem Megumi Hamada

Megumi Hamada as Death Note Musical cast member Rem

More images of Megumi Hamada as Rem in Death Note the Musical.

Obviously the biggest item now on Megumi's professional resume is her upcoming portrayal of Rem in Death Note the Musical. Previously it was Wicked that everyone was talking about.

Megumi Hamada was the first actress to play Elphaba in Japan. She took that high-profile leading role - heading the original Tokyo cast of Wicked - back in 2007. (Nevertheless, she'll be the first actress in the world to play Rem!)

Evidently a good place to begin, if we want to see our new shinigami actress in action. Can you envisage how she will perform as Rem from this? It's an opening cast trailer for Wicked starring Megumi as Elphaba. For the culturally inept, she's the green one.

Megumi brought Elphaba to life for Japanese theatrical audiences from 17 June, 2007 – 6 September, 2009.

Whereupon she handed over to Masae Ebata, who's carried it around the country ever since.

However, as the originating Elphaba, Megumi was the one recorded for the official album release from the show: Wicked: Gekidan Shiki Version (Japanese Cast Album).

Here she is again, in another YouTube clip, performing one of Wicked's most famous songs, Defying Gravity.

Megumi Hamada as Christine Japan Love Never Dies

Despite the fact that most commentaries focus upon Wicked, Megumi Hamada has been in many other musicals in Japan.

More often than not, she's cast as the female lead.

Roles like Christine (pictured left) in Love Never Dies - Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical sequel to The Phantom of the Opera - which opened in March 2014, at the Nissay Theatre in Tokyo.

We get to see Megumi Hamada in white here, a colour that she will most certainly be rocking whilst playing Death Note's pale shinigami Rem!

Versatile in both her singing and acting, Megumi Hamada never appears typecast, judging from the parts offered to her. In addition to her performance as Christine Daae, Rem's actress has recently played Alice (another source says The Mad Hatter) in Wonderland'; Bonnie in Bonnie and Clyde; and led an operatic showing of Bizet's Carmen. Naturally as Carmen.

Anyone else get the feeling that, if Light Yagami had been female, then Megumi Hamada would be Kira?

As it is, Fuka Yuduki must be quite wide-eyed at the fact that she's landed Misa Amane, when Megumi is also on board as a Death Note Musical original cast member!

Shiki Theatre Company: Megumi Hamada - Four Seasons Lead Actress in Western Musicals

It's hardly a coincidence that the actress poised to play Rem has already acted in a plethora of shows well known in the West.

From 1995-2010, Megumi Hamada was contracted to the Shiki Theatre Company, and that's what they do. In house Shiki writers take musicals and plays that are huge in the West, then adapt them to suit Japanese audiences.

Generally they'll retain the same names as the shows that inspired them, rendered in English - or whichever other language the play was originally penned - rather than also translating all titles into Japanese.

Whether for this reason, or as an in-crowd thing, the company is often referenced as the Four Seasons by theatrical critics, reviewers and fans alike. Especially Western ones. Four Seasons being a literal translation of Shiki into English. Then again, this might not even be a thing. It might just be a glitch in all the translation programs that I'm using to research this biography!

Japan The Lion King - Megumi Hamada as Nala

Megumi Hamada as Nala in The Lion King

It was through Shiki that Megumi starred in Wicked, as well as lead roles in:

Beauty and the Beast (Belle);
Cats (Jellylorum);
Crazy for You (Polly Baker);
The Lion King (Nala);
Exotic Hill (RiHanaRen);
Aspects of Love (Giulietta Trapani);
Aida (Aida - one scrambled translation implies that Megumi performed this part over 1000 times during its three year run; but another reading suggests that the Aida role itself has been subject to the 1000 performances by many different actresses, spanning decades, world-wide);
Rokumeikan (Akiko Daitokuji);
Black Comedy (Carol Meruketto);
Mamma Mia (first the mother, then Donna).

The clip below purports to be Megumi Hamada in fine voice as Aida. I'm not convinced this is the same actress! What do you think? Just me getting tired?

Megumi Hamada Meets Frank Wildhorn

Attitude: Shinigami actress Megumi Hamada
sings Frank Wildhorn's songs.

It was around now that Megumi made the contact which has brought her into our Death Note orbit.

Transferring to Shiki Theatre Company's Taidan group, she was cast as Bonnie in Bonnie & Clyde - a show written by Frank Wildhorn, the man now tasked with creating music for Death Note the Musical. It seems that the Broadway composer was quite taken with his Japanese star actress, because he invited her to 'do a CD together'.

The result was Megumi Hamada's 2012 album Attitude, wherein her tracks were all composed by Frank Wildhorn.

There also seems to be a second album floating about called Wildhorn Melodies, which again features Megumi Hamada singing Frank Wildhorn's tunes.

He 'fell in love with her voice'. Very much in love apparently, because she's now Rem.

In addition to which, Megumi Hamada recently switched theatrical agents. She's now being represented by HoriPro, which is the company promoting Death Note the Musical. As this occurred just ahead of casting, the move doesn't feel all that coincidental.

Moreover, Shiki Theatre Company have repeatedly staged plays with music by Frank Wildhorn, during the three years since Bonnie and Clyde. Megumi Hamada is usually the actress leading those shows, thus performing his songs.

It makes me wonder if her role in the musical Death Note occurred at the request of its composer. Not to mention the fact that, if he knows her so well, then Rem's music is probably being written with Megumi in mind.

Plus her Japanese Wiki page lists the Death Note Musical as being staged BY Shiki, though this is the first time I've heard the company mentioned in connection with the project.

If that is correct, then may we speculate that it was the prospect of working with Megumi Hamada again which brought Frank Wildhorn on board in the first place. There definitely appears to be a pattern of collaboration going on here! In which case, we can all fully embrace Megumi in the role of Rem, as that casting is what made Death Note the Musical a reality.

Megumi Hamada's Shiki Theatre Company Taidan roles:

Jekyll & Hyde (Lucy)
Wonderland (Mad Hatter)
Cyrano (Roxanne)
A Tale of Two Cities (Madame Dofaruju)
The Count of Monte Cristo (Louisa)
Love Never Dies (Christine Daae)
Carmen (Carmen)
Memphis
Death Note (Rem)
Sunset Boulevard (Norma Desmond)

Rem Actress Megumi Hamada Live in Concert

In addition to her theatrical work, Megumi Hamada has embarked upon a career as a singer, packing out concert halls and producing more albums. She released a DVD last year from one of her live performances. Most of its tunes are sung in English, including her take on the old Carpenters' classic (They Long to Be) Close to You.

Megumi Hamada's Cozy DVD Tracks

Don't Know Why
Lovin' You
Dindi
Slighty Out of Tune (Deasafinado)
Isn't She Lovely
黄昏のビギン
ラヴ・スコール
Never Can Say Goodbye
(They Long to Be) Close to you
Smells like Morning（オリジナル曲）
Remember（オリジナル曲）
All You Wanted
Free（オリジナル曲）

Buy Death Note actress Megumi Hamada Live 2013 Cozy DVD

So what do you all think? The living personification of Rem, as we know and love the shinigami? Or are you not yet as convinced as Frank Wildhorn?

Over to you.

0 Comments

Did Kira Gaze Into the Abyss, and Did the Abyss Gaze Also Into Him?

10/12/2014

6 Comments

Have you never considered the Nietzschean themes inherent in Death Note? Pity, because I did and so did Joani Mato.

Though to be fair, I only briefly alluded to the works of Friedrich Nietzsche in Poisoned Rationality and again in Annals of Fear II. Joani produced a whole freaking essay on the subject.

Those of a philosophical bent might want to head on over there and read what the blogger has to say: Thoughts on the Nietzcshean Themes of Death Note. Do you share their views regarding Kira, when set against Nietzsche's statement that (the) God (of this New World) is dead?

I found it interesting anyway. Particularly when applied across the board of Death Note characters and their situations.

"You look sane enough to me." She shrugged. "And I don't think you could ever become a monster."

But when Mello looked up, her smile froze and she understood. The abyss had stared right back.

~ Poisoned Rationality (Chapter 22 - The Abyss)

6 Comments

Takeshi Obata in Germany - Death Note Artist Appearing at Manga-Comic-Convention 2015

8/12/2014

1 Comment

Death Note artist Takeshi Obata is certainly getting about just recently. After personal appearances in the USA and Spain, he's now off to Germany.

German Death Note fans will be able to catch up with the legendary mangaka at the 2015 Manga-Comic-Convention, held on March 12th-15th in Leipzig.

There will be plenty of opportunities to meet Takeshi Obata too. With public appearances every day of the Convention, including one panel, it seems that he's practically moving in!

The Death Note artist is attending as a guest of TOKYOPOP, hence look to its Convention stand for most of Obata's German events.

For those who do attend one, there is apparently a 'surprise' awaiting you. Do report back! Nosy minds want to know what it is!

However, read the details very carefully, as this is going to be organized very specifically in the same way as occurred in New York. Death Note's German fans could wind up shut out of proceedings, if they arrive unprepared.

At the end, I'll run through what you need to do before turning up at one of Takeshi Obata's German signing sessions.

Takeshi Obata's Schedule in Germany

March 12th 2015:

14.00-15.00: Takeshi Obata signing autographs, at the TOKYOPOP Stand, Manga-Comic-Convention 2015, Leipzig.

March 13th 2015:

16.00-17.00: Takeshi Obata signing autographs, at the TOKYOPOP Stand, Manga-Comic-Convention 2015, Leipzig.

March 14th 2015:

12.00-13.00: Takeshi Obata signing autographs, at the TOKYOPOP Stand, Manga-Comic-Convention 2015, Leipzig.

14.45-15.45: Takeshi Obata taking part in a panel, which will include live drawing demonstrations. This will occur at the ComicForum Schwarzes Sofa, Manga-Comic-Convention 2015, Leipzig. All questions will be collected in advance. From these a selection will be made. Those chosen will be read aloud by the organizers on your behalf during the panel.

March 15th 2015:

13.00-14.00: Takeshi Obata signing autographs, at the TOKYOPOP Stand, Manga-Comic-Convention 2015, Leipzig.

I will update this as more information about Takeshi Obata's German schedule comes in. I'd be grateful for a heads up, if you spot anything happening, hitherto unlisted above. Danke!

How to Get Takeshi Obata's Autograph

Death Note's mangaka will not sign anything that you put before him.

This isn't your big moment to get your inflatable dolphin collection etched with artistic kanji, and certainly not a chance to secure an original L to have tattooed onto your breast. I suppose it curtails the risk of the artist scribbling his real name into a Death Note, or something.

You will be given a card to present to Takeshi Obata. He signs this and only this.

However, you need to pick up that card in advance, and only a limited number are available for each signing session. To secure a card, visit the TOKYOPOP stand at the Convention at 10am.

It's a first come, first served affair, but (assuming this is the same as in New York, though this part hasn't yet been mentioned for Leipzig) you will only be allowed to start queuing 15 minutes before - i.e. 9.45am. In the US, anyone loitering in a I'm-not-queuing-just-standing-where-the-queue-will-be manner was asked to move on. They automatically lost the chance to get a card.

During the 10am pick-up, only the signing cards for that day's session will be given out. You can't queue on Thursday to get Saturday's card etc.

If you fail to get one, then don't appear at the actual event, as you will not be permitted to approach Takeshi Obata's signing desk. Thus proving categorically that he really is manga royalty.

At Obata's public signing appearances, all photography and filming is strictly prohibited.

This is why the internet isn't swarming with pictures of Death Note fans grinning alongside its legendary mangaka.

I don't know what the penalty is for yielding to the Hands On Imperative here. It could be a Significant Glare and Much Tutting during the immediate aftermath of a flash going off. It could be you falling to the ground, clutching your heart 40 seconds later.

It does seem strange that everyone obeys this rule. Being asked is one thing, but in my experience universal politeness often fails, when the alternative is the Fandom Photograph of a Lifetime. Particularly when masses of people are involved.

Has anyone here attended one of these signing sessions in the US, Spain or Japan? Any insight to share concerning such matters?

The answer could really be that Death Note fans are genuinely quite lovely, despite our dark reading matter. The impetus for the No Pictures thing has come from Obata himself. Organizers of all these events merely request that fans respect the artist's wishes, and apparently we do!

1 Comment

Annals of Fear II: Matt - Death Note Fan Art

8/12/2014

4 Comments

Behold my GIMP skillz! I know I'm not generally pegged as an artist - with good reason! - but I have been getting a lot of practice pretending to be one, whilst creating Zazzle stuff in GIMP.

The above is based upon a scene in The Annals of Fear II, when Matt faces down the rest of his Wammy's House cohort sans goggles. A fuller context is here.

So why the sweet proverbial am I suddenly attempting Death Note fan art concerning hobbits my own stories? That's down to Orangepunch, who recently realized that I've never experienced what everyone else did. I never got to read my fan fiction. I was too busy writing it, then moving on to the next one. Frankly, I've never quite grasped what all the fuss is about.

Through endless Skype sessions, we've been reading chapters to each other, taking it in turns to complete each book. We began with The Mello Code (her favourite and her answer to me saying, 'but wasn't that one a bit wishy-washy with no real plot'. (kk point made, Orangepunch.) Then Annals of Fear 1, now Annals of Fear 2.

There's the inspiration. But mostly, it's me trying to hone my GIMP skills by attempting something different. Decent enough for a writer?

4 Comments

All I Want for Xmas is Telltale to Make a Death Note Game Like Tales from the Borderlands...

3/12/2014

2 Comments

At least that's what ar1speedboy's asking for over on Metro's Game Central.

He's made a good case for it too!

Mind you, I'd consider any case to be fabulous, which advocates a Death Note game in English. As the response was made on Game Central, there are plenty in Japanese, but none - insofar as I know - for the rest of the world.

I would play the proverbial out of that!

All this does have me thinking though - if any gaming company, in any genre, was to announce tomorrow that a game for Death Note was being created, what would it look like in your ideal world? Who would make it? And on which console?

Let's dream big dreams and hope that the game makers are reading!

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Death Note Musical Rem: Songstress Megumi Hamada Cast as Misa Misa's Shinigami Mentor

Shiki Theatre Company: Megumi Hamada - Four Seasons Lead Actress in Western Musicals

Megumi Hamada Meets Frank Wildhorn

Rem Actress Megumi Hamada Live in Concert

Did Kira Gaze Into the Abyss, and Did the Abyss Gaze Also Into Him?

Takeshi Obata in Germany - Death Note Artist Appearing at Manga-Comic-Convention 2015

Takeshi Obata's Schedule in Germany

How to Get Takeshi Obata's Autograph

Annals of Fear II: Matt - Death Note Fan Art

All I Want for Xmas is Telltale to Make a Death Note Game Like Tales from the Borderlands...

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