Seventy weeks before she was killed, Christina Grimmie sat with friends and watched the last episode of the Death Note anime.  As so many of us have done, and like us all, it was viewed with gleeful anticipation, as her Instagram snapshot confirms.  An event worth recording.  An excuse for a party.  One of us.

Misa Misa portrait artist Robbuz (is not Kira) but is the founder of DeathNoteFansClub on DeviantART.  She's been at its helm for seven years, welcoming fans with a global interest in Death Note and watching the group attract nearly 4,000 active members - including Death Note News, circa two seconds ago, if our request to join is approved - with another 3,000+ passively observing from the sidelines. Their page views are running into the hundreds of thousands.  Busy place and vibrant community.

While back to the plot, Robbuz is the fantastically detailed digital artist behind the Misa Amane art reproduced with permission above. Called Crime Scene, it took  her three hours to even begin.  Much careful decision-making went into selecting the perfect outfit to be depicted in the portrait.

This Italian talent likes to work with colour, yet fittingly her Misa Misa portrait was part of a Death Note artwork series experimenting with darker tones and hues.  Writing about Misa and the picture Crime Scene in particular, Robbuz wrote, 'I like how she's cheerful and lively, when she's definitely dead inside. Consider it, she sacrificed all her morality, her conscience, herself to be loved by someone who clearly just used her."

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.

 We're a little late into our event now in posting to announce this Misa Amane fan club.  But regular readers must have known  it was coming - given that every other Death Note News monthly focus thus far has prompted a similar invitation to come and join in.

The topic titles might change from month to month, but the location does not. 

We have Pinterest Community Boards dedicated to Death Note characters; fandom genres; differing adaptations; music; manga; anime; movies; cosplay; creators; academia; you name it and Sod's Law practically dictates that it'll be the only remaining aspect within the Death Note universe that none of us thought to build a board around.

Naturally, all of this includes a forum for Misa Amane fans or, if 'fan' seems too strange to speak about a genocidal maniac genki girl, those with an interest in sharing random, related things about Misa found on the internet may come too.   We already have a lively Team Misa Misa posse pinning away and hundreds more enjoying the spectacle by merely following.

All you need do is follow the board.   One of the Death Note News team will be along - hopefully shortly - in order to answer every alert with an invitation. Click yes or no, as your is your wont, then jump in and pin, pin, pin, or watch, if you chose the latter.  Every community member may invite others too, so bring your mates along for the ride.

And enjoy!

American Indie Rock band Speedy Ortiz, active since 2011, announced a new four-track EP to be released June 3rd. Moreover, they shared one of the new tracks included on their Foiled Again EP. It's called Death Note.

Frontwoman Sadie Dupuis confirmed the track is named after the anime, and we can even tell she’s probably not a fan of Light’s New World.

In the press release, she explained the title by pointing out the actual death note in the anime was an 'about an evil supernatural notebook that causes the death of anyone whose name is written inside of it'.

Although the title is meant as a reference, the actual song isn’t about Death Note. The lyrics are meant to touch on a more delicate subject. As Dupuis explained: “The song is about writing through your depression as a way to get better, and how in that way a death note can be kind of love letter to yourself.”

The song is available on Soundcloud.  Or you can give it a whirl below too.  If you love it lots, then buy the MP3 - download Death Note now, or wait until June 3rd to purchase the entire Foiled Again EP.

I’m not really sure how to go about thanking everyone because it always feels like I’m missing someone who contributed and that’s so unfair of me. So, first, let me thank everyone involved because you guys did a brilliant work. The month of Wammy pointed a bunch of fans at an amazing topic, and it resulted in fantastic articles, great discussions and the analysis that this fandom comes up with that’s really awesome to read.

Matti, all the thanks to you for being an amazing hostess and making this site such a lovely place for Death Note fans to find. You put a lot of work into this, and, as a DN fan, I’m really happy you came up with the character of the month idea and that you’re making it happen. I’m really happy you came up with the whole Death Note News!

Not only that, thank you for writing fantastic fic focused on Watari. You do a lot and the result is amazing, thank you.

Orangepunch, thank you for the support behind the scenes. I saw maths happening and that’s awesome; it brought up more discussions, even if I can only admire maths from far far away.

Georgina Aguilar, thank you for adding beautiful fanwork to this fandom we all love and for allowing your art to be shared here.

Kinky Mattila, thank you for bringing to life a character we all appreciate in one way or another and for giving us tips so we can do it too.

CupofSquirrel, thank you for also bringing Watari out of the pages of Death Note and telling us a lot about it and encouraging more fans to cosplay.

Renchan, thank you for writing a great analysis on Watari’s blood type for us and giving us food for thought on the topic.

Everyone from the Pinterest Community for Wammy and Wammy’s House, thank you for keeping selecting and pinning stuff, grouping them in one place for all the other fans to find.

Ethereality, thank you for holding discussions with me about anything that can come up related to Death Note and that sparks the interest.

DeathNotegirl3675, for writing a great Watari fanfic to share with us.

Aerial Sky, for contributing to fandom in another awesome way and, in doing so, giving us more Watari fan-fiction to enjoy.

Tarot Mikami, for exploring the parallels of Death Note and Tarot with such depth and giving us interesting analysis to think about.

There is way more being discussed than we have time to write about in a month. That’s always a pleasant surprise.

It was fun; thank you all for making it happen. See you in the Month of Misa!!

What's your professional opinion about ready-made Death Note costumes, such as those in our Cosplay Store? Any pieces in there decent enough for a Mr Wammy cosplay? (Be honest!)
I didn't see any Watari cosplay items in your store, so I don't think these would work out!  [Ooops! ~ Matti]  Ready-made cosplay items are nice for people who do not have the skills to make things themselves.

When I started cosplaying Watari, I did not have the skills to make a suit coat, which is why I bought one from a thrift store. When buying ready-made items, the most important thing is how they fit you. If you want it to look like it was made specifically for you, you should probably go with a site that takes your measurements to make sure you have a nice fitting costume.

If not anything there, where would YOU source items to cosplay Quillsh Wammy?
I would go to a local thrift store and try on the nicest looking men's suits there.

Any last tips for anyone reading, who wishes to create their Watari cosplay from scratch?
Spend extra time on make-up and wig/moustaches. These parts of your costume will give a recognizable face to your cosplay.

Deadline is May 6th 2016.  Anime vocalists may be male or female, but must own a good microphone through which to record their work.  For more information visit audition listing itself - Casting Call Club: Anime Cover Singers Needed!

A whole group of us are already pinning our Wammy's House and Mr Wammy related items of interest over on Pinterest.  You can too!

Do you have a group, forum, community, fan-club or other website dedicated to Watari, Wammy's House or anything connected with the Wammys?  Let us know via our submission page and we'll big it up for you during this Month of Watari on Death Note News.  Help us get the community connected with like-minded members of the same fandom!

How would you go about creating a costume for Watari/Mr Wammy?
Find at a flea market some suit that fits you and buy some white shirts for men.  They are not that expensive here - about like 10euros. Buy some fake moustaches, and a pair of Santa's glasses, then colour them grey. Add men's shoes, of course.

A nice wig is also good to get, but your own hair works too.

What clothing and/or props do you feel are essential Watari costume items?
Men's suit.

Is there more to cosplaying Wammy than the outfit? (Look/behaviour etc.)
Just to have fun.  That is most important to me and nothing else. <3

What's your professional opinion about ready-made Death Note costumes, such as those in our Cosplay Store? Any pieces in there decent enough for a Mr Wammy cosplay? (Be honest!)
I haven't looked for any custom made Death Note costumes; but the ones that I found right now, most of them seemed really nice and need just a little bit of changing.

Any last tips for anyone reading, who wishes to create their Watari cosplay from scratch?
Go look for a cheap men's suit and start from that. :D  Nowadays it is way easier to look like a man than it was then (when I cosplayed Watari).

But do it!!! GO FOR IT!"!!! You can rock it. :D

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. 

And prepare to do it all again, this time with the focus on Wammy.

Ten years was such a long time to be blinked into passing, while Matsuda was distracted by the close-up minutiae of life. Time enough for academic papers to be produced; published across a range of disciplines in peer-reviewed journals and books; the occasional thesis cropping up amidst an avalanche of dissertations; private reports for classified viewing (some only leaked, glimpsed upon Aizawa's desk, or divulged as a result of his quiet, semi-depressed venting with someone who was there; worse still, stumbled upon online due to a hackers' craft in cyber-theft and sharing). Dry facts delivered with seeming objectivity. The endless debates and analyses so complex as to render distant that whole Kira case. Polarizing conclusions losing something in translation from the academe into common sense.

Like emotion. Empathy. Reality.

It was as if Kira and all he embodied has been set behind glass. Immutable. Divorced from true experience. In the process of becoming severed from that through which Matsuda had lived. And Mogi. Aizawa. Casting them all surreptitiously adrift from involvement in that thing that changed, traumatized in subtle ways, still loomed large over everything, all society, the whole world.

Funny the things that got left in or lost; errors perpetuated into pseudo-fact, until reality shifted and tipped them off its plate. Those Who Were There. The steady drip-drip of Kira becoming a legend through credible channels. He'd long since been legendary among the digital, popular and/or vulgar culture moguls, and masses.  Bellwethers of fashion bringing him in and out of consideration according to their whim. Sometimes it was good to approve of his methods, that strange phantom God who came and went and never came back. Sometimes Kira was to be condemned, the papers said, and all their readers spurted rhetoric stating the same.

And Matsuda felt cold. And contemplated that scar raw ancient moral dilemma for the latest in uncountable time. Boring himself with the stab of angst and indecision before any conclusions ever seemed reached. Just his conscience rocking back and forth on the winds of wondering what was right. Honourable. What Soichiro would have done. Said. Ultimately sided with.

The officer shook off a poised lingering now. This moment was already too laden with potential pathos. Tedious the things that unsettled him so far down the road. More distractions. Distraction aplenty. That's what he needed. Him and the world.

And where was Near?

Matsuda's hand stilled en route to lifting his bottle of beer to his lips. The chill coming white-hot this time. That modern L was the aspect in all of this upon which terror or fury could dwell, not at all muted by time. Made worse by the waiting for his greatest fears in context of that strange Wammy to metamorphose into real life. But either Matsuda was wrong - which was great - or Near's silent psychopathy in secret possession of multiple shinigami notebooks, and all the unfathomable power they afforded him, hadn't yet surfaced in the public sphere. Maybe Near was too clever for them all - which was probable - and they would never know what he did with that divine gift in vault, nor how he managed the death gods loitering in his vicinity 24/7. How he kept them from boredom. Enough to explode an imagination and jolt a mind into terrible places.

The young man continued to engineer reasons for some kind of reunion, usually in Japan, often en situ, on the anniversaries of Light Yagami's death.  Matsuda had only managed to avoid three throughout the decade.

Near liked the Yellow Box Warehouse. He knew it. It was a good place for confrontations.  "Lucky?" Matsuda had asked him once, and Near had sneered. Pure evil, Matsuda thought, surveying the foreigner's features. But Mogi had chuckled at the description, shared later, and Aizawa had merely looked grimly on and said nothing. Well, they could belittle him. They'd earned the right. Near had not. Or had. And Matsuda wished he knew which.

He occasionally saw Sachiko Yagami. She was keeping well. Sayu with her. She was not. It used to sadden him for all that lost innocence and glee. You got used to the most messed up situations given time. That they'd had. Yet Soichiro would have wanted him to ensure they were alright. Keep his eye on them. Of course they were alright. Sachiko was steel beneath the mumsy face and apron. What would dare not be alright with her to face it down?

And he hated that she remained not knowing what happened to Light. That she'd never know what her boy became. Nor yet his true Fate. It wasn't her fault. Kira. Bloody Kira.

Had it really been ten years ago?  When the sudden cessation of Kira's regime caused a momentary global hush; as if the whole planet in chaos and ransom awaited with bated breath developments from its tyrant. Then exhaled as one and forgot about him. Overwhelming the void with pretty much a return to everything that had governed before. The Kira case reinterpreted; encased in ways more palatable to the new-old Powers That Be. Plastering over cracks each time the ripple effect marked the smoothness of their political surfaces.

Cementing it in studies too. Kira re-affixed as yesterday's fad; not so much out of vogue now as refashioned into old news - a failed endeavour; a detached legend; a tired topic eased off most fora. Slowly consigned by populists and professors into nothing much at all.

It was in hours like this that Matsuda felt himself falling. Not physically. But inwardly ajar. Survivors' guilt, somebody once said and he'd thought it must be, after a greater period considering it just guilt. Gullible; ineffectual; Matsuda knew he could have done more.

He did all he could. Heroic.

A message from Mogi beeped onto his device. Startling Matsuda into jerking, swept from his darkening reverie into reading it. "Watch that?" Mogi had asked.

Matsuda replied simply, "Yes."

No response to that forthcoming for a good fifteen minutes. Matsuda picked it up halfway to the pub. "Just ignore," Mogi's legend read. It seemed to sum up more. Matsuda didn't answer immediately, stomping bowed and way too serious through night dreary streets that turned suddenly into an onslaught of neon, as he entered the main strip close to his home.  

Bright lights that initially repulsed, then seduced and lifted his spirits tremendously.  He was hailing friends and laughing by the time he crossed the bar to get his drink. Only then he replied to Mogi, "Already have. So should you. Two for one cocktails on special and karaoke being set up. Coming?"

Mogi must have been secretly morose and musing, because his answer came so quick. Less than a minute. Perhaps a mere forty seconds. "Yeah ok. Get them in."

And just like that, Kira was gone; ghost and decades and all.

Moreover, Chapman contextualises Kira within the wider auspices of justice.  Making me happy, he also alights upon issues of human rights, which Light Yagami certainly never goes near.

Though he never elaborates upon the point, the columnist does demonstrate quite clearly how easily society will accept the wicked and insane, if the justification is presented gradually and enticingly enough.  In this regard using Kira apologists amongst the Death Note fandom as an example, rather than, say, Donald Trump's supporters.  Seen from a long view, their pro-Kira arguments are denigrated as 'commonly insane'.  Can't argue there!

His ultimate dismissal of Light Yagami as God - or Kira as a force of justice and good - pretty much serves as the Japanese populace turning its collective back upon such grandiose pretensions of divinity.   Or as Chapman puts it:

And though Chapman doesn't go so far as to say it, doesn't that make Matsuda our representative in the Death Note universe too?  The Everyman serves as spokesperson for the readership, as we get seduced by the rhetoric of Light Yagami and symbolizes our own slap in the face by reality, as Kira's descent into insanity becomes way too obvious to support.

Then we too, like Matsuda, get to retrace our own allegiances back through each worsening compromise to that first loosening of all common sense and good morals.

Instead, Chapman sees in Matsuda a proxy for Tsugumi Ohba's own secret views on the matter, which itself makes fascinating reading and compelling food for thought.   It's definitely worth the time to check it out.