Updates, discussion, events and news about Death Note.
Death Note News
  • News
  • Death Note Month of...
    • Kira Month
    • Matsuda Month
    • Misa Month
    • Naomi Misora Month
    • Wammy Month
  • Death Note Interviews
    • Drew Nelson Interview
    • No Need to Stay Interview
  • Death Note Gifts
    • Death Note Books
    • Death Note Cosplay
    • Death Note DVDs
    • Death Note Music
    • Death Note Accessories
    • Death Note Mugs and Water Bottles
    • Death Note Christmas Gifts >
      • It Matters Death Note Christmas Gifts
    • Character Stores >
      • Death Note Light Yagami Gifts
      • Death Note Matt Gifts
      • Death Note Mello Gifts
      • Death Note Teru Mikami Gifts
      • Death Note Misa Gifts
      • Death Note Naomi Misora Gifts
      • Death Note Wammy Gifts
  • News Summary
    • On This Day in Death Note
  • About
  • Contact
  • News
  • Death Note Month of...
    • Kira Month
    • Matsuda Month
    • Misa Month
    • Naomi Misora Month
    • Wammy Month
  • Death Note Interviews
    • Drew Nelson Interview
    • No Need to Stay Interview
  • Death Note Gifts
    • Death Note Books
    • Death Note Cosplay
    • Death Note DVDs
    • Death Note Music
    • Death Note Accessories
    • Death Note Mugs and Water Bottles
    • Death Note Christmas Gifts >
      • It Matters Death Note Christmas Gifts
    • Character Stores >
      • Death Note Light Yagami Gifts
      • Death Note Matt Gifts
      • Death Note Mello Gifts
      • Death Note Teru Mikami Gifts
      • Death Note Misa Gifts
      • Death Note Naomi Misora Gifts
      • Death Note Wammy Gifts
  • News Summary
    • On This Day in Death Note
  • About
  • Contact

All the latest information about Death Note: reports, gossip, releases, analyses, speculation and discussion.

Death Note news articles

Viz Media Turns 30 (Promises Goodies to Thank Fans) - Japanamerica Pop Culture Scholar Roland Kelts Contemplates the Impact of Three Decades of Viz

3/6/2016

5 Comments

 
Happy 30th Birthday Viz Media
This summer, Viz Media celebrates its 30th birthday firmly entrenched as North America's foremost exporter, and promoter, of Japanese manga and anime.

There will be no big party in the streets by all accounts.  Yet fans can look forward to special offers and goodies given out as a thank you for for thirty years of support. 

However, those deals currently announced are only available to indivduals attending anime conventions across the USA.  Kicking off on July 1st-4th 2016, at the Los Angeles Anime Expo, and continuing throughout the summer and autumn season.  More on all that when we know further.

What Did Viz Media Ever Do for Us Anyway?

The obvious response is that Viz Media brought us Death Note.  Game over and cause to party right there.

However, if we can broaden our horizons for just three seconds, an even greater boon may be discerned. If you're reading from a Western nation then you have a lot to thank the company for in how it's spent those decades. Viz Media is probably the reason that you're here, or have even heard of Death Note. 

Even if only indirectly, with Viz acting as the trend-setter company that inspired others elsewhere to follow its lead, bringing Japanese pop culture into your local stores.

It barely seems possible that a time existed when the words 'manga' and 'anime' weren't mainstream in the West.  That outside Japan and its immediate neighbouring states, only Eastern ex-pats, Japanese Cultural Studies students, and a scattering of literary sci-fi geeks in any nation could have told you with any certainty what such alien terms described.  Or even hazarded a decent guess.

Yet in 1986, when Seiji Horibuchi - a Japanese ex-pat from Shikoku, then living in San Francisco - mooted to friends the notion that he could interest Americans in manga, anime and other cultural mainstays from his homeland, most people laughed.  They didn't think readers in the US would go for that at all.

Though obviously the majority first had to ask him what manga and anime were, before getting on with the general amusement and cynicism. 

Three decades later, we can say with great certainty that he wiped the smile off their faces.  Seiji's efforts through Viz Media - the company he founded to make good his idea and his dream - not only made him extremely rich, it secured a place for manga, anime and all else attached in the American heart and throughout the Western world.
Seiji Horibuchi Founder of Viz Media

Viz Media founder Seiji Horibuchi

Roland Kelts Puts Viz Media's Achievements in Context

Japanamerica by Roland Kelts cover

Buy Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture
has Invaded by US
by Roland Kelts on Amazon US
Just in case you haven't already grasped the enormity of Viz Media's impact in the West, Roland Kelts is on hand to spell it out.

As an academic specialising in Japanese Cultural Studies, Kelts is an author; essayist; lecturer at Keio University, Tokyo (and the occasional TED Lecture too); journalist with regular articles and columns in such illustrious publications as Time Magazine, The New York Times, Newsweek Japan and The Guardian; and steering committee member of the Tokyo Think Tank Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation.

He also wrote the acclaimed JapanAmerica (see left), all about how Japanese manga, anime and other pop culture became so big in the USA.

In May 2016, his monthly editorial for The Japan Times was devoted to Viz Media's thirty years as the main instigator of that.

Entitled Viz's 30 Years Pack a Punch in the US (May 14th 2016), Kelts outlines how Seiji Horibuchi pulled it off - from unlikely beginnings in the 1980s through to the legacy left behind by the time he parted company with Viz Media to explore pastures new.

Comparing notes with modern day Chief Marketing Officer Brad Woods, Kelts explores how Viz Media played a key role in the changing face of manga interest and sales throughout the West; touches upon the ever-growing mainstream awareness of Japanese pop culture, and projects how that success may continue into the future.

He's rather excited about how titles like Death Note are discussed as commonplace, particularly within the glittering circles of Hollywood studios executives, telling us that, 'in all the years I’ve watched manga and anime become mainstays in American homes, I’ve never seen a moment quite like this.'
More to the point, Kelts discusses the effect of such global popularity success on the domestic market in Japan. With its shrinking population population and declining consumerism, the business opportunities at home were always limited.  The injection of worldwide capital turned out to be very timely and very welcome for the overall prosperity of that island nation.

Not bad for a notion mooted by a San Francisco hippy, which turned out to be quite a fabulous one at that.  Happy 30th birthday, Viz Media; the celebrations may run worldwide.
5 Comments

Manga Entertainment: Death Note Blu-Ray Anime Coming to UK in 2016!  (Meanwhile Viz Media Promotes Death Note: Omega Edition in Blogs & Illinois)

31/5/2016

10 Comments

 
Looks like the high definition, formatted blu-ray Death Note Omega Edition will be appearing in British stores later this year.

Manga Entertainment announced at MCM London Comic Con that Death Note blu-ray for the UK is on its way. The company has just secured the licence to distribute in that format to the Britons, and the description certainly matched that of Omega.

The news was simultaneously proclaimed on Twitter via its official account (see right), though fans at the convention found out first.

In both venues, the product spec was unveiled as being the entire run of thirty-seven Death Note anime episodes on blu-ray.  Included are the two re-cut movie length features Death Note Relight: Visions of a God and its sequel Relight: L's Successors.
Manga Entertainment: Death Note blu-ray Britain

Manga Entertainment: Death Note UK blu-ray
Announced on Twitter by @MangaUK, May 28th 2016
It's hard to imagine British distributors reinventing the wheel, when an English language blu-ray Death Note edition with that exact specification already exists as Omega. Available for US consumer viewers since March 1st 2016, created, packaged and promoted by Viz Media.

Talking of which, the Viz newsletter recently ran a piece reviewing precisely that Death Note blu-ray box set!

Urian Brown provides a pretty thorough synopsis of the story and what we may expect by revisiting its anime again in blu-ray.  The main event is earmarked once again as the unbelievable quality on display through blu-ray's famed high definition focus.  There's much talk of the detail in L's strawberry or Misa Amane's frills in his Viz blog entry - entitled Death Note: The Omega Edition with the tag-line Death Note finally gets the proper Blu-Ray treatment! (Viz, May 17th 2016).

Worth a read if you're wondering what all of the fuss is about.

Viz Media reps were also busy promoting its Omega Death Note blu-ray box set in Illinois last week.  The company had a booth at Anime Central 2016 convention, held from May 20th-22nd at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare and Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont. Fans stopping by to say hello could walk away clutching a free give-away Death Note poster.
Death Note Omega Blu-Ray Ryuk cover detail
Find Death Note Omega Edition in our own Death Note Anime Gift Store
- in fact, buy formatted blu-ray Death Note films from there too!

10 Comments

MCM London Comic Con Anime Karaokers Belt Out Songs from Death Note

30/5/2016

6 Comments

 
MCM London Comic Con May 2016 logo
MCM London Comic Con 2016 is currently in full swing with convention goers able to wow the crowds with Death Note theme tunes, if they so wish.

The Manga UK stage has been taken over by Anime Karaoke, which is precisely what you think it's going to be.  Punters called up into the spotlight get a choice of over 150 songs from anime across the board.

Their tuneful menu includes two helpings of Death Note music - The World and Alumina both by Nightmare, both made famous as Death Note theme songs.

Let's hope that any fan brave enough to try it knows what they are doing.  Each track has the potential to trip folk up - The World by being faster than intrepid songsters might fancy; while Alumina on the surface seems much the easier option, while being pitched an octave higher than most routinely recall.  Until it's too late and there's a microphone in their faces and expectant hordes of Londoners looking right up at them.

Good luck, brave and beautiful Death Note karaoke singers!  Ignore the cockneys and sing like Kira's coming tomorrow!

Staged at ExCeL London, May 29th 2016 is the third and final day of MCM Comic Con, but the website reports that there are still tickets left.  Anime Karaoke kicks off at 11am today.  We dare you.

6 Comments

L Theme Park Attraction! Universal Studios Japan Join with Weekly Shonen Jump to Bring Death Note to the Tourists

10/5/2016

2 Comments

 
Picture
A theme park in Osaka will be taking day-trippers into the Death Note universe with L right alongside to ensure no-one gets themselves killed.

Because he was always so good at that...

Universal Jump Summer marks a collaboration between Weekly Shonen Jump and Universal Studios Japan.  Running throughout the summer months of 2016 at the latter's tourist attraction, the event will bring to life major characters from manga and anime.

That includes Death Note detective L, who'll be recruiting rookie investigators (that'll be you) to accompany him through a role-playing, puzzle-solving, live action game entitled Death Note: The Escape.  It will be built on the back of other Death Note themed Real Escape games, that have been running in cities around the world to mark the manga's 10th anniversary.

Additionally, the theme park will regularly host theatrical performances featuring another stalwart of the genre.  One Piece Premier Show 2016 tells a story especially written for the event.

Unfortunately, visitors to Universal Studios Japan will have to pay extra to enjoy either of these anime-based attractions.  However, their general admission price allows for free access to the third one - Dragon Ball Z: The Real 4-D.  Not too much further information there, other than our hero Goku will be fighting the evil Frieza.

Yeah, whatever.  Our lot will be with L, taking on the truly nefarious designs inherent in a locked door.  And if you don't think that's dangerous, then you seriously never read Another Note.  Hold on.  Ok, so our guide looks like L. Fine. But someone must have double-checked his jam eating propensity.

Haven't they?

Enjoy going beyond in the Universal Jump Summer 2016 Death Note Real Escape event.
2 Comments

Teri Mikami Voice Actor Masaya Matsukaze Announced for CA's FanimeCon 2016

14/4/2016

2 Comments

 
Death Note Mikami voice actor Masaya Matsukaze
It's the first time that Masaya Matsukaze has stepped foot out of Asia to meet Death Note fans before. Nevertheless Teru Mikami's original Japanese anime voice actor is going to be in the USA at the end of next month.

The Death Note seiyuu will be at FanimeCon, in San Jose, California, from May 27-30th 2016, organizers have announced.

In addition to providing the voice of Mikami in Death Note, Masaya Matsukaze may also be heard as:
  • Koyoya Ootori (Ouran High School Host Club);
  • Zoisite (Sailor Moon Crystal);
  • Gaelio Bauduin (Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans);
  • Shin Hyuuga Shaingu (Code Geass: Akito the Exiled);
  • Illumi Zoldyck (HUNTER X HUNTER).

Gamers will also know him as:
  • Ryo Hazuki (Shenmue series).

If you're planning to go, please do report back if you meet him and/or catch anything Death Note related.
2 Comments

Misa Amane at Animazement! North Carolina Plays Host to Aya Hirano in May, Plus Death Note Anime Producer Masao Maruyama  

11/4/2016

1 Comment

 
Death Note actress Aya Hirano will be at North Carolinian anime convention Animazement this May, organisers have announced.

Also in attendance is Madhouse co-founder Masao Maruyama, who produced the Death Note anime.  In 2012, after more than four decades with Madhouse, he branched out on his own again, forming a new company - MAPPA (Maruyama Animation Produce Project Association).  He'll be there to talk about his experiences with both.

It was recently revealed that Hirano - Misa-Misa's original voice actress in the anime - is moving to the United States for six months to as part of her studies.  It looks like her work doesn't completely stop for that!

Animazement runs from May 27-29th, in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.  Registration is currently open for attendees, panellists and exhibitors alike. More information on the event website.

If anyone bumps into Aya Hirano and Masao Maruyama, or else hears them talk as special guests at the convention, then do please report back!  Particularly if either of them mention anything Death Note related.
Animazement Aya Hirano and Masao Maruyama

Death Note's Aya Hirano and Masao Maruyama to appear at Animazement Anime Con.
1 Comment

Welcome to Wammy Month on Death Note News!

5/4/2016

0 Comments

 
Death Note News Month of Quillsh Wammy
Better late than never, it's time to enter the shady world of Quillsh Wammy - sharp-shooter, collector of orphans, entrepreneur, inventor, master of espionage, international crime-fighter and, of course, handler for L.

Great man?  Or the dodgiest villain to stalk the pages of Death Note, Kira notwithstanding?  Can't wait to see where you leap with this one.

In an altered time-frame from advertised, Month of Watari will run from today until May 5th 2016.

It may cover more than the man himself - Mr Wammy; Quillsh to his friends; Watari to others - insofar as anything connected to or with him is also acceptable for publication during this event.

This means you may dig out your exposes of the Wammy House or contemplate its founder from Beyond Birthday's point of view - or any other of his kids.

Though please do keep it referring back to him if running with the latter.  All Wammy alumni are bound to feature in a month of their own anyway.

How to Submit Content for Month of Wammy on Death Note News

You must be used to the form by now, but here it is again for those needing a recap or new to one of these events:
  • General submission page - various mediums through which you may contact us or send in files;
  • Cosplayer Questionnaire - for those feeling generous with their tips and advice;
  • Fan-art Questionnaire - for Watari artists happy to share their craft;
  • Fan-fiction Writers Questionnaire - for authors of Wammy fan-fiction kind enough to pass on their knowledge to those just starting.
We already have a few items in.  As for the rest of you, off you go!  Send in your Wammy stuff now!

Watari Month Begins on Death Note News!
0 Comments

Thank You All Who Contributed to Month of Matsuda on Death Note News!

5/4/2016

0 Comments

 
Another epic monthly event! Redeemed after a shaky start by all who flooded in with their submissions to make this a focus worthy of the character himself.

The archives will show that Death Note Month of Touta Matsuda was an unparalleled success!

Good fight all.

So what went wrong at the beginning (and most of the middle) to make this event move so slowly?  Then in true Matsuda style speed up unfathomably towards the end, and in the nick of time to save the day.

While Death Note News has a plethora of writers, columnists, researchers and the occasional guest penning articles too, it only has one person to actually press the button to publish their considerable output.

If she gets carted off to hospital in the back of an ambulance, then everything grinds to an ignoble halt.

We've spotted the obvious flaw in our administrative set up; and Matti is completely fine now.  Once back at her desk, the contributions for Matsuda Month could flow once more and fabulousness ensued.
Touta Matsuda Death Note month

Thanks are Owed to All Who Participated in Our Matsui Month Event

All due applause and accolades are directed towards:

Sakiko Rau - who kicked us off with an essay on why she (and we) should like Matsuda from Death Note. She will also be jumping on board as a regular columnist writing from a Japanese perspective.  You heard it here first.

Lua
- who did so much in the background to keep the home fires burning, as well as penning a philosophical analysis of Touta Matsuda's importance within the Death Note narrative.

Aerial Skye - who gave us cosplay advice for Matsuda costume creation.

All on the Death Note News Community Touta Matsuda Pinterest Board, for maintaining a steady flow of interesting images and links whatever the month.

Lei K - who turned her considerable talent to Touta Matsuda artwork especially for this event.

Silent Reaper - who allowed us to share her classic comic strip Matsuda's Rant.

Deacon (and the Tuxedo Team), especially Beyond Infinity/Jin - who let us publish their photographs of an amazing Matsui cosplayer.

Ziferonan - who gave us full rein to plunder an extensive collection of Matsuda fan-art, fan-fiction and cosplay too.

Stella Meyer - who not only sent in her Matsuda artwork, but answered questions providing insight and tips on creating the same.

Liam Dodd - who brought an air of the academe to proceedings with a scientific examination of Death Note's infamous Matsuda rescue with a mattress.

Emerald-Moonlight - who let us loose on her gallery and permitted the republication of three pieces of her Matsuda art.

MRSJeevas - who wrote Matsu fan-fiction for this event, though that's not nearly all, considering that in another guise, she is Matti - who researched, edited, proof-read, wrote and caused a backlog on much else that was published this month.

Tarot Mikami - who took us once again into the depths of the tarot's secrets, this time with a distinctly Matsuda Death Note flavour in regard for his monthly focus.

And, of course, all who read and commented, shared links and discussed these articles elsewhere. 

All Added to our Permanent Collection

Matsuda Month Archives
Read More
And prepare to do it all again, this time with the focus on Wammy.
0 Comments

Death Note Nets Best Musical at the Korean 2016 eDaily Culture Awards

25/2/2016

1 Comment

 
KPop heart-throb Junsu collected the top prize for Death Note the Musical's Korean staging,
at a star-studded awards gala held in Seoul's National Theater this week.

Jun-Su Kim L Death Note Musical Best Musical at eDaily Culture Awards Feb 2016
L actor Kim Jun-su - Death Note Musical - Best Musical at eDaily Culture Awards Feb 19th 2016
Death Note's stage adaptation came first in the 2016 eDaily Culture Awards Best Musical category.  Kim Jun-Su accepted the award on behalf of the whole theatrical team behind Death Note, in his capacity as the actor who played L.

His speech was translated by Rilanna at JYJ3.net:

pic.twitter.com/UHF2rNeI9V

— 두부둡맘 (@DOOB_2) February 19, 2016
Kim Junsu began to speak with, “I would like convey words of thanks on behalf of the performance cast and production crew of 100 people”. Continuing, he also said, “‘Death Note’ had its first cultivation in Korea when it hit the stage last summer; and I am grateful that this award has more meaning, as much as it was C-JeS Culture’s first debut work,” and, “I am thankful to Baek Chang-joo who had helped the work go up, in the one word that I only want to do it, and to have been directed by Japan’s Kuriyama Tamiya who undertook the directing of its Korean version”.

Adding, he completed his thoughts, “Teamwork between the actors was important to proceed as a one-cast with my previous installment of 57 performances. I shall share this pleasure with actors & actresses Hong Kwang-ho, Park Hye-na, Kang Hong-seok, and Jung Sun-ah; who created the stage together with me. I am accepting this award with praise and encouragement for C-JeS Culture and I promise that I shall go forward in creating a better work in the future ahead”.
~ JYJ3.Net, [NEWS] 160219 3rd eDaily Culture Awards: Musical ‘Death Note’ seized top prize in Musical category… Kim Junsu “Will repay you with a better work” by Rilanna (Feb 19th 2016)
This is only the third ever outing for the eDaily Daily Culture Awards - the Korean Oscars, if you will.  At least a glittering, celebrity ridden event aiming to become the premier awards ceremony for performance art in Korea.  Befitting such lofty intentions, big names provided much of the razzmatazz pouring into the gala beneath the flashes and glare of paparazzi, TV cameras and press.
Some of the country's most popular artists - from music, screen and stage - walked the red carpet into the Haeorum Theater, part of Korea's National Theater in Seoul, on February 19th 2016.  They were in attendance then to witness Death Note the Musical grab its highest accolade yet. The top prize for a musical currently available in Korea.

Moreover, in accepting the trophy for Death Note, Kim Jun-Su's position as a theatrical actor - as opposed to a Korean pop idol courtesy of JYJ - is largely viewed as consolidated within the country.  No wonder then that Korean news reports most widely quote Junsu in saying, 'I am honored to be given such a grand prize. I want to share this glory with all the staff members and actors who starred in Death Note.'  It was a big moment for the L actor.  Worthy of cake.
L actor Junsu Death Note Best Musical eDaily Culture Awards Feb 19th 2016 - Photo: @Ac_dog

Photograph courtesy of @Ac_dog
1 Comment

Monster Designer Shinji Nishikawa at California's Monsterpalooza

25/2/2016

0 Comments

 
Godzilla concept artist Shinji Nishikawa will be at California con Monsterpalooza, at the Pasadena Convention Center, from 22-24 April 2016.

Why do we care?  Other than he seems to be a lovely and rather talented gentleman?

Because Shinji Nishikawa was also responsible for setting production on the Death Note anime back in 2006-2007.

Our guess is that he'd much rather be asked about that, rather than all this Godzilla stuff he's become quite famous for in the meantime.  So we're counting on you, Californians, to nip along, question him and report back on our behalf. 

If only to find out what 'setting production' is.

Billed as a manga artist, illustrator and Godzilla series creature designer (with Death Note setting production strangely omitted), Shinji Nishikawa will be at Monsterpalooza taking fan requests for art, whilst sketching some original monsters too. 

More about the convention at Monsterpalooza's website; and check out their announcement re Shinji Nishikawa via the Monsterpalooza Facebook stream.
Shinji Nishikawa at Monsterpalooza, CA, April 2016
0 Comments

Cash Prize Kira Crossword - Death Note Light Yagami Puzzle by Orangepunch

22/2/2016

4 Comments

 
Death Note Kira Crossword Grid
Death Note Light Yagami peering
Across
7.   Light's opposition with L (6)
8.   Fantasize (5)
10.  Powerfully depraved said the Lord (7)
12.  Judge, jury and ? (hint Kira!) (11)
14.  Fair play (7)
16.  Delusions of grandeur (11)
21.  Creator behind an idea (10)
23. Not justice, just a ?  (8)
24. Light's envisioned perfection. (6)
Down
1.   Bored (10)
2.   Light's consumed tool of duplicity (11)
3.   Luck, or Fate (10)
4.  "I was the ONLY ONE who could have done it!" (10)
5.  Moore (or less...) of the New World (7)
6.  Kira (6)
9.  Soichiro Yagami's death (9)
11.  Light's ideology - belief in his right to righteously kill (11)
13.  Delirium (6)
15. "I will be the god of this new world!" (9)
17. Light's Fate (2)
18. Characterised by light (8)
19. Night god (6)
20. Reprehensible (6)
22. Light's glamour (4)
The difficulty level on this Month of Kira crossword puzzle might be called cruel; bordering upon impossible.  Hence we're offering a cash prize of ten whole pounds.  That's probably a barrel full of dollars at today's inflation costs.  At the very least, it's the price of a carefully bought, shiny, new manga. Which isn't a prize to be written off lightly.

See what we did there?   Soon as you've stopped chuckling to yourself, get solving your Kira crossword clues.

How to be in for a Chance to Win the Cash Kira Crossword Prize

You'll need to print off the grid, or copy it into GIMP or your own image manipulation software of choice. Photograph/screenshot the completed puzzle and send it to us via our Month of... content submission page - drop the file into the FileDrop or email us with a link to where it's lodged elsewhere on the world wide web.  Hell, send it by carrier pigeon if you must!  

You have until this time next month, and the publication of our Touta Matsuda crossword, as your deadline. Then we'll whisk all correct entries around a hat and pull out the overall winner.  Their tenner will wing its way to them forthwith via bank transfer or PayPal.

Remember to include your email for riches notification, should you be our lucky winner.  Everyone else, merely enjoy.
If you cannot win the game, if you cannot solve the puzzle, you are just a loser - Near, Death Note

Shut up, Near.
UPDATE:  Finally, here they are - the answers to the Death Note Kira crossword puzzle posted above.

Posted as part of

Kira Month Death Note News
Read More
4 Comments

Squad Six Cosplayers - New Panel at Triad Anime Convention March 2016

21/2/2016

0 Comments

 
Sewing, and Props, and Wigs... Oh My! Panel at Triad Anime Con 2016
Only generally related to Death Note this, Squad Six Cosplayers' Lara has given us the heads up that she'll be part of an ensemble costuming quartet hosting a panel at Triad Anime Convention this March.   Sewing, and Props, and Wigs... Oh My! is an all-encompassing cosplay advisory gig, with freely available tips on just about anything you ever wanted to know about dressing up as your favourite manga/anime character, plus a few things you didn't know to ask.

However, it is worth mentioning the panel here, because there are at least two known Death Note cosplayers on it.  Hence attendee questions in that direction are likely to be more than adequately answered.

Lara will also be joining the rest of Squad Six Cosplayers the following night for Blasting Off Again! Team Rocket panel, celebrating two decades of Pokémon. 
0 Comments

Tokyo Exhibition of Death Note Anime Director Tetsuro Araki's Production Notes

13/2/2016

0 Comments

 
A collection of materials belonging to Tetsuro Araki - director of the anime Death Note - is set to go on show in Tokyo this March. 

It includes behind the scenes, never before seen production notes and other paraphernalia  from all the anime that Araki has worked on.

That naturally means Death Note too.

Tetsuro Araki was just thirty years old when Madhouse placed him at the helm of what was to become one of the biggest anime series in the world.  He not only directed the animation of Tsugumi Obha and Takeshi Obata's manga chapters, but also stepped in as storyboard artist AND the opening credits' key animator.

Items from all of these roles will be on display in Tokyo next month.

In addition, there will be exhibits from other anime that he has overseen, including Attack on Titan, Highschool of the Dead, Guilty Crown and his latest endeavour Kōtetsujō no Kabaneri (Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress). The latter begins its television serialisation in Japan during April 2016.

Tetsuro Araki Works' Production Notes Exhibition runs from March 19th to April 17th 2016, in the Mediage entertainment complex, accessible from Tokyo's Aqua City Odabia.  It coincides with a one-week only showing, in selected Japanese cinemas, of a film-length preface to Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress.
Tetsuro Araki Death Note anime director

Tetsuro Araki
0 Comments

Welcome to the Death Note Month of Light Yagami - Submit your Stuff Now!

1/2/2016

0 Comments

 
Death Note News Feb 2016: Death Note Month of Light Yagami
Wilkommen! Croeso! Bienvenue! Ulihelisdi! Welkom! Ongi etorri! ¡Benvido! Tervetuloa!  خوش اومدی! Velkomin! Swaagat! ¡Benvinguts! Fáilte! Dobrodošli! Velkommen! Καλώς ήλθατε! Namaste! ¡Bem-vindo! Karibuni! Wilicome! Khush Amdeed! Witajcie! добро пожаловать! ¡Bienvenidos! Gnindi ton hap! Seľami! Wöikomme! Soo dhawaw! Tashi delek! Selamat datang! S'up! Ohai!

And, of course, yôkoso -
ようこそ.
Welcome to the launch of what promises to be a great and significant addition to the offerings here at Death Note News - our very first Death Note Month of... community event and on-going feature.

In particular featuring Kira Himself, as the subject of our inaugural Death Note Month of Light Yagami!

(It was so going to be Matt. I mean, it's his birthday! It should have been Matt, shouldn't it?)

So what can you do and what can you expect from this month long Light Yagami Death Note event?  Let me tell  you.  Though in some ways, you should be telling me!

What is the Death Note Month of Light Yagami All About?

The clue's in the title.  It's all about Kira, Light Yagami, Raito, Tsuki, or whatever other name the eldest offspring of Soichiro and Sachiko goes by these days.  Gami.  God.  Nothing.

Our Light Yagami Death Note Month of.. - as with any others forthcoming in the series - encourages everyone reading to share their own expertise, talent, know-how, opinions or whatever else they have on topic to send in.  We'll be posting all the anticipated artwork, fandom links, character analyses, recipes, stories, event heads up and Kira forum promotions that you send us, probably as they come in; while also creating lots of Kira-inspired content ourselves.

This doesn't replace the more general content of Death Note News articles, but runs alongside, in addition to all the rest.

How to Submit to Death Note Month of Light Yagami

I'm sure that could have been worded better.

Nevertheless if you want to see your work/thoughts/bulletin published on Death Note News for this event, then here's how:
Visit our Contact Page
There you will find a FileDrop box for larger content and an email contact form for text submissions.

It doesn't matter which you choose. They both pop into the same inbox.  Go for the one most appropriate for yourself.

Feel free to use the same email form to chat with Matti, if you want to kick around ideas or query some point.

Copyright - intellectual or otherwise - remains with you.

What's the Deadline?

Last day of the month, if you wish it to be included in the Death Note Month of... event.

However, we're unlikely to turn down suitable content* at any other time either.

It just won't be listed in the round-up of Light Yagami Month of... articles beyond February 29th 2016.
* Please keep content family friendly, i.e. appropriate for all ages.  That describes our readership anyway, insofar as we can tell.
Death Note Kira cosplay Cayanna Carma

Where Might One Read This Round Up?

A little sparse until this month long event is over.  Nevertheless, you'll find the whole collection here:
Death Note Month of Kira
With much thanks to Kira, as here represented by the fabulous cosplaying Cayanna Carma!

Death Note News Month of Focus Feb-May 2016
Death Note Month of... Home Page

Forthcoming Features

Not inspired by this month's topics?  Or so inspired that you want to begin work right now in preparation for future Death Note Month of... events?

Here's what's coming up:
March 2016:  Death Note Month of... Touta Matsuda

April 2016:  Death Note Month of... Quillsh Wammy
- Watari, Wammy's House, the Watari Foundation etc, are acceptable as relevant content, in addition to the man himself.

May 2016:  Death Note Month of... Misa Amane
No need to wait on submitting content. We can hold onto things, until the appropriate time to publish them - that your work may be featured as part of its applicable Month of... Death Note News event.

0 Comments

Death Note and Holocaust Memorial Day: What if Kira Killed Hitler, or Would They be Hypothetically Akin?

27/1/2016

0 Comments

 
Holocaust Memorial Day 2016
All over the world today, people are marking Holocaust Memorial Day.

Set on January 27th because that was the date, in 1945, which saw the liberation of Auschwitz.  It's not just an historical 'woe, woe, that was bad' endeavour - though of course it was - but an awareness raising, bridge building day with one key message and goal. 

Never again.


It will happen again.  No historian, nor human rights campaigner, let alone sociologist or political commentator, is naive enough to think it won't.  All of the elements which gave rise to the Third Reich in the first place, and its horrific Final Solution of death camps, execution squads and gas chambers, exist right now. They swim endlessly in our society, often in the background, with a quite worrying frequency coming back to the fore.
Right now, religious leaders in France are warning Jews to not wear their skullcaps, as it renders them too visible a target.  French Jews are beginning to flee their country - as yet a trickle, in danger of becoming an exodus. All across Europe, borders are being closed to those fleeing war and arbitrary cruelties in Syria.

In Britain, asylum seekers were made to don - and keep on 24/7 - distinctive wristbands in Cardiff, thus ensuring that they were publicly identifiable at a glance. While in the north-east of England, refugees housed by the Home Office found that their front doors had been painted bright red. All the better for local thugs and hoodlums to know were they lived.

Everywhere the Far Right is gaining more ground politically than at any other time since the Holocaust.

The USA has a concentration camp, which its citizens apparently don't deem worth rising in enough numbers to pressure their government to close. Because they haven't. While momentum is gathering beyond presidential candidate Donald Trump, whose views wouldn't have been out of step with Hitler's Nazi Regime, including conceptual support for race based internment camps.
Kira Worshippers

In a culture of supposed danger and fear, people will support anything which makes them feel safe.

Meanwhile, Australia is condemning thousands of people to unaccountable 'detention facilities' on islands off their shores.  Human Rights inspectors have been banned from entering.  Legal processes are done in utmost secrecy (with no evidence that they're being done at all). The reports coming out of places like Manus Island and Nauru are unsettling to say the least.  North Korea undoubtedly has death camps. About which much lip service in shaking head disapproval has been afforded by the outside world. But not enough to do anything about it.

All this makes 'never again' seem like a joke.  'Not on my watch' is about the best we can do, and even then it's a terribly uphill struggle.

We have Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27th, not because people forget, but because they forget the specifics and that's what allows the memory to metamorphose into lived experience.

Never again indeed, and certainly not on my watch.

Kira and the Nazi Party: Would our Saviour be Light Yagami in the Holocaust?

Manga Death Note Kira righteous judgment
However, while these sentiments might be very noble and all, it begs the question - why is Holocaust Memorial Day on Death Note News' watch?  It's a little off-topic for a manga (and derivatives) set half a century on from said Auschwitz liberation. 

You got me. Guilty as charged.  Holocaust historian here, ninja-ing an important date in my calendar into the remit of Death Note.

But because it's an important date, and my thoughts are otherwise largely swirling around content for articles here, the two merged in a musing during my commute this morning:  what if Kira had come a couple of generations before?  What if Light Yagami's statement that 'the world is rotten' had taken place against a global back-drop of World War II, the rise of Hitler and the actuality of the Holocaust?

Would the names written in his Death Note have included Heinrich Himmler, Martin Bormann, Josef Mengele, Hermann Göring, Joseph Goebbels and the rest of their ilk?  What would have happened historically, if Kira took out Rudolf Höss before he'd perfected killing on an industrial scale with Zyklon B and cremations?

An intriguing 'what if' in history, but not one which could be answered easily and definitely not within the scope of this article.

Is Justice Served by Kira if his Death Note Ends Genocide?

What concerned me more was the logical query following on - if Kira single-handedly averted the Holocaust through mass murder, does that make him the good guy?  Or just as bad as those he sought to destroy?

The human rights activist in me wants to say the latter.  The historian is wide-eyed and tight lipped with quivering self-horror at my sensibility's tacit assent for the former.

The philosopher of my first degree mutters on about two wrongs not making a right.

The literary critic snaps that this is precisely the sort of dilemma encountered by all within the canon Death Note universe, during the ascendancy of Kira's New World.

I'm sure we can all very keenly picture Near's sneering reaction in disdain of the question.  For him, Kira is a serial killer no matter what the underlying cause.  There is no justification.  Not even the millions consigned to the gas chambers, starved, exposed to epidemics, subjected to scientific/medical experimentation or shot into mass graves.  Even then, Light Yagami is just a murderer.

Where do you stand on the issue?

Imagining a Nazi Kira and the Death Note's Final Solution

Of course, this is all assuming that Light Yagami morally and actively opposed the Holocaust.  It must be remembered that Japan allied WITH Nazi Germany during the period when the Final Solution was being enacted.

Our sense of right and wrong, just or unfair, moral or corrupt, is shaped by our upbringing, societal pressures and the drip-drop of propaganda as fed by every nation's media on any given day.  More so than any of us would like to admit.  Hence it's reasonable to assume that Light Yagami's chief exposure to the Holocaust would be within a generally supportive cultural back-drop.  His information and resultant position could well be akin to Hitler and his government.

Which leads us to another proposal ranked with horrors:  what if Light's Death Note was used for the Nazis?  How even more widespread might be the Final Solution with the Death Note involved?  (Political dissidents, or fleeing refugees known by name and photograph, reached without resource to a death camp.)
Or more pertinently put, what if the Death Note fell into the hands of Nazis?  Then and now.

How much more terrifying might our watch be?  And would we ever get the chance to say 'never again'?

Or could collusion create yet more greatly amassed clues to Yagami's own identity? To play out with deductive precision in a Wammy House mind, thus rendering Kira's capture a swifter endeavour?

Or don't you think Light Yagami would have involved himself in the Holocaust at all?  Ignoring its reality, just as so many of us continue on apathetically when faced with elements today similar to those once staged by a burgeoning Nazi regime. 

A pointless musing perhaps, but one which pays dividends in awareness on a day like this.

Over to  you.
Death Note shinigami realm Ryuk
0 Comments
<<Previous
    Death Note spoiler disclaimer
    Never miss an update - subscribe to Death Note News feed and/or check out an extended list of the latest Death Note news headlines.
    Death Note News categories banner

    Death Note News Categories

    All
    10th Anniversary
    10th Anniversary Website
    Academia
    Actors And Acting
    Adam Wingard (Dir.)
    Aiber
    Akiko-himura
    Ami-hamazaki
    Another-note
    Another-note-novel
    Anthony-rester
    Art And Fan Art
    Astrology
    Bakuman
    Beyond Birthday
    Blood Type
    Business And Marketing
    Calendar Death Note
    Columnists For Death Note News
    Cosplay
    Death Note (2003-6 Manga)
    Death Note (2006-7 Anime)
    Death Note (2006 Movie)
    Death Note (2008 Manga One Shot Special)
    Death Note (2015 Musical)
    Death Note (2015 TV)
    Death Note (2016 Movie AMG)
    Death Note (2017 US Movie)
    Death Note: Light Up The NEW World (2016 Movie)
    Death Note Month Of...
    Death Note News Digest
    Death Note Relight (2007-2008)
    Death Note Relight (2007-8)
    Death Note Relight (2007-8 Anime)
    Death Note Tarot Tales
    Death Note: The Last Name (2006 Movie)
    Death Note: Year One (Movie)
    Demegawa (Hitoshi) (Char.)
    Dr.
    Eriko Aizawa
    Events
    Fan Fiction
    Fans And Fandom
    Focus On A Fan
    Food And Drink
    Franchise
    Games And Gaming
    Gifts And Merchandising
    Gus Van Sant
    Hal-lidner
    Hirokaku-ukita-char
    Horipro
    It Matters Series
    Jump-comics
    Kanzo-mogi
    Kenichi Mikuriya
    Kimiko-kujo
    Kira Worshipper
    Kiyomi Takada
    Koji-yoshida
    L
    Lawliet-movie
    L-change-the-world-2008-movie
    L-change-the-world-novel
    Lei-k-columnist
    Light Yagami
    Linda
    Lucas-king-music-columnist
    Madhouse
    Maki-nikaido
    Manga Entertainment
    Matt
    Mello
    Misa Amane
    Morality-and-ethics
    Movies And Films
    Mrs-mikami
    Music And Soundtracks
    Naomi-misora
    Nathaniel-overthinks-death-note
    Near
    Netflix
    Nippon-television-ntv
    NisiOisiN
    Nori
    Panini-comics
    Philosophy And Theology
    Platinum-end
    Podcast
    Psychology
    Quillsh-wammy
    Real-world-death-notes
    Real World Influence
    Rem
    Rod-ross
    Roger Ruvie
    Ryuk
    Ryūzaki
    Sachiko Yagami
    Sakura Aoi (Char.)
    Sayu Yagami
    Science And Mathematics
    Selecta Visión
    Shane Black
    Shinsuke Sato (Dir.)
    Shiori Akino
    Shō Nanase
    Shō Nanase
    Shonen Jump
    Shueisha
    Shuichi Aizawa
    Site News
    Sociology
    Soichiro Yagami
    Spin-Off Matsuda (2008 Movie)
    SPK
    Squad Six Cosplayers
    Takeshi Obata (Artist)
    Takeshi Ooi (Char.)
    Teru Mikami
    Tetsuro Araki (Dir.)
    The Cosplayer Chronicles
    Toko
    Touta Matsuda
    Tsugumi Ohba (Author)
    Tsukuru Mishima
    Viz Media
    Wammy's House
    Warner Bros
    Wedy
    Yotsuba
    YouTube And Videos
    Yūgi Shion
    Yumi Aizawa
    Yuri

    Visit Death Note News's profile on Pinterest.

    Monthly Archives

    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014

    Disclosure: This page generates income for the author based on affiliate relationships with her partners, including Amazon and VigLink.
    Site Claim and Authorship Verification: All that follows is for me to prove my authorship of Death Note News in various places. Hoop jumping stuff for me; boring for everyone else.
    Google+
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.