Kira is being resurrected from the dead!
At least, that's what is implied.
In an on-going plot, running throughout March 3rd 2014, Matsuda has heard rumours concerning the fact that Light Yagami has returned from the grave. He's investigating it on behalf of the SPK. (Because, you know, Near probably has better things to do...)
The information seems to have originated with Hitoshi Demegawa, the anchorman from Sakura TV, who played such a large part in bringing Light and Misa together. As Kira's erstwhile spokesperson, Demegawa may also have been considered a great source of information.
I say 'have been', because I have a distinct recollection of this same nasty media man writing in fatal agony on the floor. Didn't Mikami kill him with a Death Note?
Updates will be made there, and on the simultaneously launched 10th Anniversary Death Note Facebook page. Further information is being announced via an official Twitter stream @deathnote10th.
What do you make of it? A publicity stunt, or the precursor to a whole new saga of the Death Note story? There's certainly scope here. The original story finished with a strange cult meeting on a mountain top, performing some kind of ritual. It was certainly to venerate Kira, but could it have been much more than that?
Personally, I'm not sure how I feel about it.
The whole point of Death Note was that the stakes were very high. Those who touched the Death Note went to nothingness - to Mu - when they died. Tsugami Ohba made it quite clear at the time that there was no coming back. If this is a promotional vehicle leading to a brand, new arc of the Death Note story, then it would seem to negate the principles of the previous ones.
On the other hand, these are new canon chapters for Death Note. What's not to love about that prospect?!
And, if Kira can be revived, then why not all of the others too? Demegawa certainly seems to have made it back into the realm of the living.
Will we see a charred and steaming Mello arising from the ruins of a burnt-out barn? Perhaps Near looking startled as a giant Old English L fills his screen, and a familiar electronic voice thanks him for his custodianship of the title and code.
Maybe a ghostly Camero running roughshod through Tokyo streets, with a bloody Matt lighting a cigarette at the wheel. Or the television screens suddenly coming alive with the half-naked figure of Kiyomi Takada, smiling mystically at the cameras.
Will we hear the creaky tones of Noami Misora, as she addresses her former FBI colleagues with a terrible rope burn etched into her neck? And the approaching tingle of a sweets trolley, pushed by the gangling figure of Mr Wammy?
What do you think?
UPDATE: It's been brought to my attention that a FAQ on the official site makes it clear that there will be NO new Death Note manga series. Also Matsuda ISN'T the one we already know and love, but Matsuda MomoFutoshi, a new character created especially for the 10th Anniversary.
Why? I don't know. Matsuda Touta survived the original, so he could just as easily been used.
UPDATE TWO: It's not at all what we thought it might be...