News about Death Note

Raw Completed! Ghosting the Street - Mello & Matt Fan Fiction by MRSJeevas

1/10/2015

Cover to Ghosting the Street Mello and Matt fan-fiction by MRSJeevas

Ghosting the Street cover art

Happy October! For those of you here solely to keep up with the news about my fan fiction, there's a big bit of news for you to kick off the month.

The latest instalment in the It Matters series has just seen its epilogue posted on the He Moves Me Differently forum.

Ghosting the Street is the sequel to Walls Came Tumbling Down, though it takes place two years after that story finished.

This time, the only walls truly crashing are those around Matt's psyche.

We finally get to discover the secrets he's been keeping all this time. And it might alter the way you view every novel which went before.

At the moment, the forum is the only place that you may read it. This is because the chapters are still very much in draft form. They have been posted still filled with typos, and very much missing Sarevya's expert touch. If only to maintain continuity.

What happens now is me starting from the beginning, correcting glaring spelling mistakes, checking continuity, answering comments left upon each chapter, updating the website/timeline/wiki for each new element, then gathering the completed version together for publishing in all the usual places.

In short, this is your big moment to influence the content of the latest MRSJeevas Mello/Matt fan-fiction novel, merely by commenting on chapters before I've had chance to amend them.

Thanks to all who've provided such wonderful beta service thus far.

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How Would You Like to be an Extra in Death Note 2016? Recruitment Begins!

29/9/2015

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Extras for Death Note 2016 are currently being signed up by NTV and Warner Japan. Fancy giving it a go?

The live action movie only has a tentative working title at the moment. It will be the latest in the Japanese saga; a sequel to the previous films: Death Note (2006), Death Note: The Last Name (2006) and L: Change the World (2008).

Though the main cast has been assembled, their names remain strictly confidential.

However, we can now reveal precisely where filming will take place - mostly Kobe with some scenes shot in the middle of Tokyo, plus suburbs - and when - from early November 2015 through to the end of December.

Death Note 2016 extras may also expect:

provision for a friend or other travel companion;
food and drink supplied;
photography (still or video) strictly prohibited;
sharing details in blogs or any other medium also strictly prohibited;
'strictly prohibited' means legal action taken and your backside dragged to court;
no stealing props or costumes;
applications accepted based on age, gender etc appropriate for each scene;
right to refuse an application retained with regard to the above;
shooting dates may be altered at the last minute due to weather conditions etc;
contacting the companies involved regarding your application is a no-no;
personal information provided in the form will not be shared with third parties.

These are all details given on the Death Note 2016 extra registration form.

For prosperity's sake, accept my screenshots of that form, as linked from the film's official website, captured on September 29th 2015.

So, are you signing up to be a Death Note 2016 extra?

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Brand New Death Note Live Action Movie Coming in 2016 - Sequel to Japanese Films

13/9/2015

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A new Death Note story will be told in a fourth instalment to Japan's movie saga, it was announced today.

Ten years after the events in L: Change the World, six Death Notes are simultaneously dropped into the human world. Six Kiras arise in a bid to wipe out cyber-terrorism.

One of them will be Light Yagami returned.

Each of the Death Notes will naturally have a shinigami in attendance, thus adding an even more supernatural element to the tale. Crucially, a 'six note rule' is triggered by such prevalence. Though what that entails is yet to be known.

Death Note 2016 - its working title - will be produced by Nippon and distributed worldwide by Warner Bros.

This is what that mysterious countdown was all about, and what was announced after the Death Note television drama completed its final episode in Japan tonight.

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Old Annals of Fear Audiobook Files Uploaded onto YouTube - MelloxMatt Fan-Fiction

28/8/2015

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MelloxMatt Fan-fiction Annals of Fear II eBook by Matilda (MRSJeevas)

Our Death Note bookstore lists where to
read Annals of Fear on-line,
or download it as an eBook.

When I'm not scouring the cyberworld's media for news about Death Note to bring to you, then I'm usually writing fan-fiction set in its universe instead.

As anyone who can read a sidebar already knows.

Those who enjoy reading multi-chaptered Mello and Matt fan-fiction certainly know.

There's a whole forum of people, lured in by my It Matters series, then staying coz it's chatty, sociable and fun.

A real old school community of MelloxMatt fans (or vice versa, or separated out), occasionally even mentioning them, as we put the world to rights.

You're welcome to join us. The more the merrier.

Some of them have stuck around so long, that they can recall moments in my fan-fiction writing past, which I'd totally forgotten. Like the time I read chapters aloud from Annals of Fear, in a live chat filled with readers.

And how I said at the time that I could download the archived recordings to my hard-drive. So what was the likelihood that I still have them somewhere? Lurking away in a folder.

"Oh, I'd love to see them..." added a younger forumer, "I wasn't around for the MangaBullet days." Probably wasn' t even born. "It was already down by the time I found you. I missed out on it all."

"Yeah! It would be cool to relive the old days like that." An old friend PMed me later. "When I used to be your squealing fan-girl." Trolling. "Still am." Definitely trolling. Probably. "Reckon you could find them, if you looked hard enough?"

Like I ever throw anything away.

MRSJeevas Reads Annals of Fear Chapters 17-25
(Chat from Guns & Games Members)

Apologies in advance for whatever is on these Annals of Fear audio files. I haven't actually listened back to them. It's been four years, so I can't remember what was discussed in and between the readings.

Might be safe for granny; might be one long, sordid expletive fest. What can I say? Chaotic Neutral, according to all who know me.

Matti's Audiobook of Annals of Fear in Context

Back in 2011, while I was just starting to pen the opening chapters of Walls Came Tumbling Down, a group of my readers gathered in Livestream to hear me read aloud part of a previous novel.

It was my contribution to a Guns and Games gala day. Lodged within a full schedule of events, encompassing over 24 hours worth of Something Nice for Mello/Matt Fans to Enjoy.

The entire community was involved. Each member of that Mello and Matt fan-club - on the now defunct MangaBullet - bringing something to the table.

A Mello cosplayer streamed herself recreating his burn scar, using some substance which looked awfully realistic when it had dried on. MxM artists shared tips on capturing the characteristics of the couple in pen strokes and shading. Some writers held tutorials on how to make Mello and Matt live again in prose.

And I read stories.

Well, one story, and only in a smattering of chapters lifted from the middle.

Nevertheless, until I eventually get off my backside and fill in the blanks with recordings, it's the best you're going to get in terms of an audio version of Annals of Fear. But you never know. I get asked it often enough. Maybe one day I'll even turn up with the goods.

Guns and Games 200 members Mello and Matt thanks

Random Guns & Games picture
from 2011, found hidden on my hard-drive

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TV Death Note Episode 7: Babble, Beyond & Paradise Lost - One Notebook to Bind Them All

26/8/2015

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Near Watch is pretty much concluded. After episode 7 of television's Death Note drama, it's undoubtedly proved to be Mello Watch too. Though the jury is still out on Matt there as well.

Finally! Death Note live action Mello on our screens! Man and puppet!

We so called it. Back in my review of the very first episode of Death Note's TV drama, I wrote:

Is Near hearing voices? Are we witnessing a schizophrenic future L? Or is (s)he merely dissociating him/herself from the dodgier thoughts passing through consideration?
- Death Note News: Review of TV Death Note Episode 1

Watching and piecing together the clues from week to week, my SO and I have increasingly been talking about Near with Multiple Personality Disorder (though I understand that psychologists would prefer us to discuss this as Near's Dissociative Identity Disorder, because they renamed it again).

By episode seven, all speculation was confirmed as fact. We saw Near's persona physically switch into Mello. We witnessed a re-emerging Near beg Mello, "Don't come out."

Death Note's Near begs Mello not to come out

Thus paving the way for a million future Death Note memes on the subject of Mello coming out.

Death Note's Babel in the Tower: Multiple Voices Seeking to be Heard at the Same Time

There was a hint, in the scenes immediately prior to the great reveal, that split identities - or the divisive babble of too many voices simultaneously sounding - was going to factor into this story.

Our clue was in the pseudonym taken by Near: Babel.

Yotsuba Group discuss Babel in Death Note 2015

With all the Judeo-Christian imagery surrounding Near in this series, it's not too difficult to guess from whence they lifted this new moniker. Genesis 11:1-9 tells - within a Biblical context- the story of the City of Babel.

Its people decided to build a tower, those top reaches would allow them to climb into Heaven itself. God wasn't best pleased about this imminent invasion of human beings, so set out to thwart them.

Until then, everyone on Earth had been united. They spoke just one language and all understood each other. God did a bit of smiting, or cursing, whatever you call it, whereby their mother tongue suddenly splintered into all the various languages heard around the globe, then and since.

Hence Babel being the root of babble. Multiple voices. No-one able to understand the other.

Additionally, God 'scattered them abroad', so that none were congregated in the city anymore, but its population exiled all over the planet. The people divided from one into many.

And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language...
- Genesis 11:6

Oh look! Near and Mello are one! And possibly Matt makes three, though the evidence is tenuous and not yet confirmed by canon. But they can be - and are about to be - separate entities. Just like the people of Babel.

Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
- Genesis 11:7

Plus it doesn't hurt that Babel looks a bit like Babe L, as befits L's successor or, as Near is described in the TV adaptation of Death Note, 'consultant'.

Nor does the Babel imagery end there.

Kiras Meeting in the Yotsuba Tower of Babel

The whole Yotsuba group could be seen as acting akin to the citizens of that Biblical city. They band together at the top of a Tower and, as a kind of collective Kira, they seek to steal for themselves that which habitually belongs to deity. Be that access into Heaven, or writing in a Shinigami's notebook.

Yotsuba Group's website prominently features their tower

The Yotsuba arc continues running parallel to the Tower of Babel tale, insofar as God (well, Light Yagami shorn of his Kira memories) sets out to divide and conquer them, thus snatching back divine power as his sole preserve.

Light doesn't change the Yotsuba executives' language. Despite the nice touch in 'Babel' (aka Near/Mello) asking for 'hush money'.

However L and Babel succeed in causing divisions amongst the group's mindset. When they are no longer working in accord, nor even in the same room, its a simple matter to confound their pseudo-divine plan.

Another Note: Beyond Birthday's Near Nod in Death Note (2015) Episode Seven

Of course, when we first saw that giant B appear upon the screen, none of us were thinking of Mello, Near, Babel nor anyone else inserted into the show.

In the Death Note universe, an Old English font letter B signifies L's original back-up: Beyond Birthday.

I thought we were jamming with L's second. We were, but not in the way that elicited so many gasps from those watching from my house.

Watari: There are three people known as the greatest detectives in the world. L, Eraldo Coil, and Marie Deneuve. Babel is ranked after the three of them.

Makimura: The fourth, then?

L: No, Coil and Deneuve are both me. So Babel is actually the second. Quite the troublesome one.
- Death Note Episode 7 (2015)

We were so being trolled by the writers of this television version of Death Note. Despite the fact that most of us, after our initial shock at seeing Beyond's B, had spent the rest of its occurrences assuming that Yotsuba's detective was Near.

The only major mystery being whether we were hearing Near or Mello, as the dominant personality at the time.

Yet when L introduced B as his second, Beyond's cameo suddenly felt like a distinct possibility again.

It was now common knowledge that the three great post war detectives, L, Eraldo Coil and Danuve were all actually the same person... L engaged in a war with the real Eraldo Coil, and the real Danuve, and emerged victorious, claiming their detective codes... in addition, L possessed many other detective codes... at least three digits worth.
- Mello, Another Note by Nisioisin, p43

He was B.
The second child in Wammy's House.
"If only I could see the death of the world," Beyond Birthday murmured, on August 19th at 6am, just as he woke up.
- Mello, Another Note by Nisioisin, p 95

NB This episode of television's Death Note drama was aired on August 16th 2015. The 19th was a Wednesday.

Beyond Birthday was L's
antagonist in the novel
Death Note: Another Note

He was B. B stood for Backup. For Babel - the second... OMG! Was Death Note's Beyond Birthday in this show after all?!!

I mean, how fabulous would that have been?!

The first child, A, was unable to handle the pressure of living up to L and took his own life, and the second child, Beyond Birthday, was brilliant and deviant.
B stood for Backup.
But B tried to surpass L, not become him.
Mello, Another Note by Nisiosin, p105

Alas, no. Near has not only merged with Mello, but absorbed Beyond Birthday's background too. It remains to be seen whether this includes his jam-loving, murderous self, as a separate persona.

However in that 'I know all about it. Deep down inside, you think you're better than L' line from episode two, we've already seen Mello accuse Near of something more commonly attributed to Beyond. Did 'deep down inside' hold a more significance than hitherto realised?

Dissociative Identity Disorder in Death Note

Ok, I'll call it - Near IS Beyond Birthday! And that's not all.

A could have been the original individual - the first child - whose personality fragmented into the rest, and is now lost beneath them all. Near is so named, as the persona most closely resembling A. Or its an acronym: Near Enough A's Replica.

I tell you, Matt's in there too. Probably Linda and all the Letters from L: Change the World as well. Given enough time, scope and energy, Near's going to turn out to be a walking Wammy's House; all Watari Letters contained within a single form.

Which probably accounts for the outstanding cleverness overall.

A Double Wammy in Death Note's Multiple Personality Plot Twists?

We should never forget the key point about Beyond Birthday - he looked like L. Enough to fool Naomi Misora into thinking she was dealing with the same man. Practically clones, L and Beyond, physically at least.

Beyond Birthday with Naomi Misora on the fly sheet of Another Note.
A version depicting Beyond Birthday close up adorns the German translation book-cover.

Have we yet discounted the hypothesis given in an earlier blog entry - that it's L with the multiple personalities? Near et al live solely within his head; with an option on Watari additionally being a dissociated fragment of L's own self.

It would explain why the detective's insistence upon a sterile home environment faded whenever he went outside to play tennis or watch Ichigo Berry in concert. That wasn't L. It was Mello or somebody wearing L's face.

Less L changing the world, than the world triggering a change in L.

Moreover, L's Dissociative Identity Disorder would fix an anomaly which has been niggling me since the very first episode. (I am a Death Note fan-fiction writer, finding plot-holes to credibly fill is what breathes life into our tales.) How could Wammy's House alter architecturally, depending upon whether L or Near sit on that staircase?

L and Watari at Wammy's House - Death Note Episode 1

Wammy's House: Watari opens the door, while L waits on the stairs

Wammy's House with Near and Mello in Death Note TV drama

Wammy's House: Near on the stairs, The Fall of the Rebel Angels replaces L's door

Maybe there is no Wammy's House in the physical world. It exists as a mind palace inside the psyche of a genius detective, acting as the gateway through which dissociated selves become dominant. No accident therefore why it appears as a hallway - the only room ever glimpsed in that house - devoid of creature comforts, stark and stripped, even when highly decorated. Its main purpose being as a place to leave or be received.

Its secondary purpose to be where personae stand by, acting as consultants in the near consciousness. Communicating fully with the self on public display, seeing upon their screens what that worldly self views with their own eyes.

L calls Near a bit of a personal consultant

L explains Near's relationship to himself. Watari had labelled them 'acquaintances'.

Which is why L and Near's respective monitors once displayed the same page of Kira suspects; why L was able to hear Mello speaking, though the camera showed that Near's lips were not moving. They were still in the House at that point. L discerned Mello coming to the fore within his own mind.

Hence the terrified look then, and the horror on L's face, when Watari informed him that Near had left the House.

Watari acts as a kind of internal gatekeeper, or an external carer, able to inform L when personae become dominant without his knowing that time had been missed.

Watari was telling him that he'd been usurped by Near. That Near had been dominant, while L unknowingly and unwittingly was shut down, losing time through being stashed somewhere within the unseen chambers of Wammy's House.

Worse still, that Near could act as a conduit, or else has a twin, a counterpoint to his own behaviour - so close in morality to L, that the latter doesn't always mind him coming to the fore - which can too easily flip to control them both. It might be Mello playing maverick with their case-load, and it's impossible to predict his moves or count on tracking them down later.

They couldn't even trust that he was always on their side, working with L and Near, rather than Kira.

Death Note's Near dismisses L's worries about Mello

Is that a Mafia-esque big, black chair, foreshadowing away, looming in the background? Last seen in the manga Rod Ross's LA penthouse suite.

They could lose the game simply because Mello played by different rules, or entered into another game entirely. And what would it cost, if Beyond Birthday was ever to wake to discern the death of the world from a Wammy House hallway window?

Oh! There's so much fun to be had speculating on the possibilities inherent in this new Death Note storyline! But I'd better return to what is, and not what might potentially be.

Creation of a Successor - L and Near's Michelangelo Moment in Death Note (2015)

As primary player in opposition to Kira, L demonstrated his ability to consider the whole team in episode seven of Death Note TV drama. If he was forced to forfeit his position, then it would be beneficial to assign a successor.

That way Kira wouldn't gain too much ground, while struggles for dominance divided and conquered those who might stand in his way.

L has already foreseen that his baton could soon need to be passed on. He cryptically tagged Near, placing him on stand-by as his choice for successor.

The way he did so owed a debt in imagery to Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam. Wherein God reaches out to touch Adam, gifting the spark of life to one made in His own image.

Death Note's Near takes L's jigsaw piece

Or, as L did it in Death Note (2015), gifting a jigsaw piece to the one who thinks most closely to himself.

All on the off-chance that L should (metaphorically of course) fatally place his own wrong piece in the battle against Kira. Then it would fall to his successor - 'It could be you, Near' - to finish the puzzle, and the war.

Near caught the implication loud and clear, with an expression further seeing significance in L leaving the scene, as soon as his piece was conveyed. It was a gesture laden with pathos. Inherently implying that L expected to die.

Though naturally Mello was looking in the opposite direction, when all consideration of L's successor pointed due Near.

He was probably too busy noticing that their surroundings still looked like a Mafia penthouse in Los Angeles.

Nor had it been explained, other than the room wasn't in Wammy's House ("You don't have to go back to the house?" L asked Near not two minutes previously). The furnishings weren't even remotely like those in the hotel, wherein we last saw Near lodged and within the depths of which L had his own hide-out.

Perhaps it would have been too blatant had they gone instead for the zebra striped suite from the other Mafia digs in the desert.

Though it begs the question that, if I'm right about where this scene takes place, then why are Near and L there?

Unless I'm also right in my wilder speculation that this room doesn't exist in the real world. It's L visiting a secondary self inside a place located inside his own psyche.

And that jigsaw piece passing hands is L acknowledging that he's losing his position as dominant personality amidst a multitude of others.

How this scene is more commonly seen

Light Changes L's Mind: Death Note Winners

Actually, we did watch L's mind wilfully changing, or at least his mindset concerning how winning and losing would be judged in this clash between himself and Kira.

In L's world-view, the challenge has been issued with Light as his opponent, regardless of how they spent episode seven double teaming against an external interloper. The Yotsuba group, headed by Higuchi as the current Death Note owning Kira, were never serious challengers in L's book. They existed as an opportunity to gather clues and ammunition for the proper battle of wills with Light.

But to play an effective game, both sides need to know the rules. Otherwise how could anyone be declared champion? It would be a hollow victory without the loser knowing themselves to be beaten.

Thus the conditions for winning were set out by Light and agreed by L.

Even if we learn how he kills people, if a comrade dies that's losing, in my opinion.
- Light Yagami, Death Note (2015), episode 7

A game-changing moment, which saw L immediately switching tactics to take down the Yotsuba group and its Kira with ease. But for him, this contained a fatal flaw.

A Fatal Flaw for L in new Death Note Drama

Death Note's L observing that Light thinks like Kira

Light couldn't have known that he spoke for Kira too.

But no matter that. L had already observed that Light and Kira's minds worked along the same lines. Light's thoughts would probably fit in with Kira's plans too. Their dual outlook aligning in this duel.

Nor was Light necessarily aware that his definition of winning was meaningful for L.

It was Kira who entered into the battle of wills with the detective, not Light. If he felt the challenge, then it was in reaction to L's actions now. His memories of the previous cerebral duelling had been wiped.

If L's pride hadn't been so intent upon recognition as the winner, then he wouldn't have altered his game-plan. Perhaps the outcome might have been different. As it was, allowing Light to influence strategy had immediate consequences.

He touched the Death Note. His memories flooded back. Himself as Kira returned. Just as planned.

Paradise Lost and Kira - Myself am Hell

There have always been shades of Milton's Paradise Lost running as an undercurrent through Death Note.

One day, I shall write a whole blog comparing the two, demonstrating how significantly Kira quotes Satan from Milton's epic verse.

To my mind, one of those moments comes in Light's classic line, 'I am Kira'. I can't help thinking of Satan in Paradise Lost screaming out, 'Myself am Hell!'

It's not word for word - nor even close - but their proclamations hold the same feeling for me. Not least because both are spoken as each anti-hero assumes their role by mentally and emotionally accepting its inevitability. Each against a background of isolation, as all relationships become merely instruments through which power may be gained or retained.

Light the bringer of L?

If this Death Note live action drama continues along tradition lines, then we can see another link between Milton's Satan and TV's Kira.

Each are now poised to duel with an avenging second. Be it Satan's clash with the Archangel Michael (Champion of El), or Kira's confrontation with Mello, aka Mihael Keehl (Champion of L).

The latter already long since viewed in kinship to St Michael. Ensured by Near's constant visual references to Giordano's The Fall of the Rebel Angels - showing Michael taking down Satan - whenever Mello's potential in play came to the fore.

Plus the obvious parallel in which Satan was Heaven's Light-Bringer, and Kira was Light. Ignorance is bliss they say. Light hated Kira. His own paradise lost in the knowledge that he is Kira.

The Return of the King: Kira Finds his Precious

However it wasn't Milton, but Tolkien brought to mind in Masataka Kubota's performance as a re-emerging Kira.

Watching this Kira clutch his Death Note prompted me to write 'Gollum' on my pad, then circle it several times as the sequence progressed. I really did expect him to start hissing, 'My Precious!'

Eat your heart out Andy Serkis! Kira has his Precious back!

The television adaptation of Death Note has pinged off Tolkien's Middle Earth saga several times already.

Not until Death Note 2015 have we heard that the notebook alters personalities to the bad. That using it invokes paranoia and feelings of dread, not to mention causing agony for those writing names. These are traits more commonly associated with the One Ring to Bind Them All in Tolkien's universe.

The emergence of a secondary personality - split from the owner's primary persona and seemingly built to serve the artefact - is another facet found in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Most notably in Gollum, whose conversations with his other self might have also inspired Mio Yuki's portrayal of Near and Mello in open discussion.

That Gollum with the Ring appears physically transformed is echoed in how TV Death Note's Kira can be discerned, distinct from Light, changed utterly.

In Death Note's Dark Prism Light Splits

Light Yagami denies being Kira

Light was actually being truthful then, when he emphatically told L that he wasn't Kira. At least in this version of Death Note.

There was none of that in the original manga Death Note, nor its anime, nor even the previous Japanese live-action adaptations. In all of those variants, Kira seemed less Light Yagami's split personality and more an alternative name for the same individual.

Light's nick-name, if you like.

Accepted and assumed during a period when Light's psyche stretched to embrace ownership of the Death Note. A label therefore for his supposed megalomania and increasingly apparent descent into madness. But still fundamentally a single self.

Only by integrating Tolkienesque themes, do we witness Light and Kira separated, as dissociated identities and possibly an emerging secondary self entirely.

By implication, the Death Note dividing his very soul.

Kira Identified in Split Personalities

Let's just say this: you will feel the fear and pain known only to humans who've used the notebook. And when it's your time to die, it will fall on me to write your name in my death note. Be warned any human who's used a death note can neither go to heaven nor hell for eternity... That's all.
- Ryuk, Death Note Anime, Episode 1

Maybe this soul-split is why those who use the Death Note are condemned to Mu when they die?

Complete souls are required to enter Heaven or Hell, at least as such things are understood by shinigami. Personae fragmenting from the same being dilutes the core identity enough that their passport into the afterlife is denied. With nowhere to go, they are lost to the void and formless. Nothingness ensues.

Moreover, this might explain why Death Note owners are identifiable by the lack of a name and date above their heads. It could be that shinigami eyes are confounded by the data being multiplied, as more than one person is present inside that head.

If so, then this has obvious implications for Near and Mello too.

How does one view the name and days of a puppet, or two in one personae?

Not least because shinigami eyes are twice used to read Mihael Keehl above Mello's head in the canon rendering. What will happen during those scenes in the story? Can Mello still be killed, as one self amongst multiples?

If so, how does that affect Near? Will he die too? Or will he seem to make like a gamer or a cat with apparently numerous lives to risk in battling Kira?

If not, then how might Kira react to the discovery that some - to all practical extent and purpose - possess immunity from the Death Note's deadly reach. And L's successors are amongst their number.

A new twist beckons, as the insertion of split personalities creates diverging plot-lines. It will be interesting to see how this pans out as the story progresses.

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It Surely Must Happen to Mello Too - Death Note Secrets Gleaned from Cosplay

21/8/2015

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Squad Six Cosplayer Lara Sizemore Death Note Misa

Misa Death Note cosplayer
Lara Sizemore at Ichibancon 7

Nowhere is this more true than in anime related cosplay, wherein its much more than a mile spent traipsing in another's footwear. It's probably several, and not just the shoes either.

All day spent in character at conventions, or clambering into awkward places to position oneself for photographs - after minutely studying the manga or anime for clues on how to appear recognizably convincing - can certainly provide insights into the persona being aped.

So much so that you have to ask yourself - if it happens to me, then it certainly has to have been experienced by the original character too.

The old adage states that none may be understood, until a mile has been walked in their shoes.

Ryuk Cosplayer in Pittsburg Comicon 2008

Ryuk Death Note cosplayer at
Pittsburgh Comicon 2008.
Photograph by Jim Reynolds

Blinding Detail in Death Note Matt Cosplay

blAIRbender cosplays Matt

Like the anecdote shared by a friend, blAIRbender, following her quest to create a cosplay for Death Note's Matt that was exact in every detail.

Many hours were spent scrutinizing images from the manga; sourcing and moulding materials; then engaged in painstaking assembly. Finally she held a perfect replica of Matt's goggles. It was only when she came to wear them - particularly over several hours - that she realized Matt must spend a lot of time demisting said goggles. The slightest hint of perspiration saw the lenses fogged from edge to edge.

As far as goggle fog goes, it takes about two to five minutes after putting them on initially, depending on how warm you are at the time and the room temperature. After that, they are constantly foggy on the inside. They will fog in all weather conditions. My dad recently mentioned that there is a spray that exists that would prevent fogging, but I haven't looked into it any further.
~ blAIRbender, Matt Cosplayer, in conversation with Death Note News

Also his peripheral vision was non-existent.

God knows why he favoured that sidewards look, while keeping Takada under surveillance. Misdirecting her gun-toting louts into thinking he could see them too?

Though it would explain how Matt was able to miss all of those wide escape routes in the spaces between encircling cars. For want of opaque side panels on fashionable googles, thus fatally assuming that he was surrounded.

Matt regretted choosing solid sides on goggles
that mist up at inconvenient times

Matt's side blinding googles meant he missed
escape routes opening up to his right

Mello Cosplayers Concentrate on Chocolate

There's also the friend cosplaying Mello, who emerged smug and filled with insights from a taxing day at an anime/manga convention.

Though it had been fun, the organizers hadn't quite got the hang of crowd control - bottlenecks formed wherever the flow beached (regularly); heavy-handed security unsympathetically carried out long-winded checks at every juncture; rooms not allocated with any apparent common sense - and the venue became increasingly hot and stuffy.

Moreover, food vendors were not spread out, resulting reputedly Hellish conditions, as people crammed into a single section of the arena looking to dine. Each of them subject to long waits in queues for food, tables or simply somewhere to sit. Over-heating, factitious, shouted at by security.

My Mello cosplayer informed me that she was the only person in her group not losing focus and fainting with hunger.

She was the one with a bar of chocolate to hand, which kept the energy levels raised nicely.

Maybe that's why Mello risks all to ensure he has his confectionery to hand (fifteen boxes at least)? Perhaps he's prone to bouts of low blood sugar. The Mafia would be terrible company within which to loose concentration, or collapse in a heap on the floor.

Or he's worked out the advantage in always having food to hand, when you never know what meals will be delayed and what leadership opportunities could arise on a bite of chocolate.

Chocolate helps you keep your head, while
all about you people are losing theirs

Risk Assessment for Rosaries in Mello Cosplay

Mello's rosary was caught on his handcuffs again

Best one I heard is a little too risque to share here. Let's just say the cosplay didn't end with bedtime, but did scream to a sudden halt shortly thereon.

Instead I'll mention the friend of a friend who ended up in an emergency room, due to the crucifix - on the end of her cosplay Mello rosary - swinging up to nearly take her eye out, after it got caught on the furry costume of a tall man in front. A strange combination of her shrieking, him stopping dead and a sudden crowd surge from behind did the rest.

Such things must occur to Mello too, though I can't help thinking that when they do, somebody could well end up dead.

You'd be amazed on what a rosary can get stuck on, trapped inside or otherwise threaten to garrotte its wearer in any number of inventive ways.

Unless you habitually cosplay Death Note's Mello, in which case none of the above even counts as news anymore. You've been there; not only got the t-shirt but also the thread burn scar on the back of your neck.

Nor do you have any patience with those who blithely state that the rosary should have snapped.

You also have snapping rosary stories. Plus a plentiful supply of 'nearly snapped Mello cosplay rosary' scares to add into the general mix.

Don't Misa-Misa the Sunscreen!

Misa Amane always looks stylish, with her fashionable togs revealing random bits of her body to the rays of the sun.

So what would happen if she'd forgotten to apply the sunscreen before she went out? Misa cosplayer Ayane Maro found out, when she did just that at Tokyo's Comic Market.

今日は暑い中ありがとうございました！あしたのミサミサナースも撮ってやってください♡ あと日焼け跡のやつRTやばすぎだから□□□□ まじ自分の名前デスノートに書きたい□□□□ pic.twitter.com/4AYkhrVrLC
— 麻呂あやね@サッカー至上主義 (@aru_nico) August 14, 2015

The full story (with pics) is told in Tweets above from the lady herself, or check out a version in English by Brian Ashcraft (Cosplayer Forgets Something Very Important (Kotaku, August 17th 2015)).

Got any Death Note cosplay tales of your own? Or facets unknown about your character until you donned their clothes?

Comment and let us know about them! Such things are the fodder of fan fiction, entertaining in their own right and might even tip off new cosplayers in the Death Note community, before they make the same errors common to all who preceded them.

In the meantime, there's a collection of cosplay Death Note items available on our website for those perfecting or putting their costume together.

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TV Death Note Episode 5: Symbolism, Style and Split Personalities - Plus Mello Nearly

16/8/2015

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Did I just see Mello in a live action Death Note drama? I think I just saw Mello!

I can't be sure, though you'd think you'd spot that smirk coming a mile off, or at least hear chocolate snapping with all the danger trigger signals more generally associated with a tiger prowling or a T-Rex taking out Tokyo.

Nevertheless, I think I just glimpsed Death Note's most dynamic character in shades a little lighter than his usual Mafioso black. Take a look for yourself.

Near and Mello in Death Note 2015 Episode 5

Is that you, Mello? Can you see him too?

No! I'm not talking about the puppet. That's patently a version of Mello, but not a human actor walking, talking, breathing life into Mello. I'm thinking less wooden here. I'm nodding meaningfully towards the individual who - I grant you - looks a lot like Near.

(S)he's going to turn out to be Mello in disguise over the next few episodes. You mark my words.

Notice how the Mello puppet was mute? Spot how Near was OUTSIDE without an escort? See the grey clothing settling over the spotless white. That's going to be significant. That's Near's 'innocent' morality turning murky with the influx of Mello. Because the great guess in our house is that Near and Mello are one and the same this time.

Potentially Pairing Mello & Near in Death Note

Image: Death Note 13: How to Read bookcover

Death Note 13: How to Read
full of loads of disturbing trivia

Death Note 13: How to Read revealed that Tsugumi Ohba contemplated making Mello and Near twins. Death Note's writer never said if they'd be identical or fraternal.

If the former, then Mello and Near would have looked the same.

Moreover, Takeshi Obata mentioned that his initial drawings of the pair got mixed up somewhere en route to Ohba. The image sketched as Mello actually began Near and vice versa.

It's a story which has had the fandom on both sides staring long and hard into space over many a year in the interim. Imagining a Mello that looked like Near; or a Near with Mello's features.

Now we don't have to picture how that would be. Because all indicators are pointing due Multiple Personality Disorder. Near has been the dominant persona until now, but the morphing into Mello has already begun.

And if I'm wrong, then I deserve all I get from the Near fandom, and the utter disdain of my very own Mello/Matt community. But I'm not wrong. I can practically hear the chocolate snap just beneath the surface, (re)drawing Near.

Let's follow this one through.

What's the Significance of Near Going Outside?

I'm can't imagine any circumstance in childhood, wherein my brother would look quite so startled as L, if informed by our Dad that I'd left the house. (He'd more likely be shocked now. After all, my computer is indoors.)

Yet when Near goes out to play in the park, the very fact of it seriously disturbs the folk back home. Just look how Mr Wammy breaks the news and L's silently fearful expression in reaction.

Death Note (2015) L hears 'Near has left the house'

L (Death Note TV drama) wary hearing Near has left the house

L doesn't say a word. It's Wammy speaking throughout. Starting with a huge sigh close to the door, striding across the room with shoulders stooped and head bent, the very aspect of one readily to impart something unsavoury.

"L." He curtly begins. "Unpleasant news." Then the barest pause before, "Near has left the house."

Immediately, L's head shoots up, his eyes already swivelling sidewards to stare at Watari while the words are still spilling out. Is he scared or is that disdain? Whatever we're seeing, that look lasts for long seconds in mute regard, until the end of the scene.

The whole exchange couldn't be more laden with significance, if someone stuck a neon light above L's head flashing on and off pink with the word 'SIGNIFICANT'. What is less explicit is why.

It could be L's inconsistent horror of the dangerously dirty outside.

This is a man who lives in a place so sterile that all who visit have to suffer disinfection at the gate.

Yet L played tennis last week and attended a concert in this episode without any apparent trauma at all. Strange, and a little jarring.

Personally I think there's significance because Near never goes outside, but Mello does. Wammy is basically telling L that Mello is the dominant personality now.

Disinfecting Kira at L's entrance

Message from a Split Identity in Death Note

Death Note television drama episode 5 is heavier than usual on the symbolism - as we'll come back to later on - and none more so than Near's parkland scene.

Unless, of course, I'm reading way too much into it. See what you think.

The sequence opens upon a huge screen bearing the legends: 'New revelation - there are two Kiras!' and 'A message from the second Kira to the real Kira'.

Image: Death Note (2015) Two Kiras breaking news bulletin

Then that breaking news story becomes pretty much incidental. We know about it already, but its a feight in misdirection, cluing us in to a similar tale hidden in plain view.

For as the message from the second to the first begins, the camera pans from the back of puppet Mello's head to the figure holding it. This 'second' (according to the Wammy House rankings) is mute, not even its limited body language to convey. The puppet's face is turned away. It does not move, utterly inanimate.

Instead its Near's voice which drowns out the newscaster's speech. Or at least the individual who looks like Near and is holding the toy.

Yet not playing with it, as Near is wont to do, hence the seeming emptiness of the previously highly animate doll. Nor is this person twirling a lock of hair, wearing all white or anything else that's previously been a quirk or hallmark of the Wammy House number one.

And this is the person who speaks over the second's message to the first. Because, to my mind, he IS the second (Wammy, persona, whichever you want to call) with his own message to express.

You can practically see the handover taking place between two personae in one form. Though if this is a split personality, as I highly suspect, then the switch seems more like a slow merging from one to the other, than an instant transformation.

It's not a conversation between Near and Mello, as the people of the world think. It's more a struggle for dominance between their twin personalities, currently running parallel - neither quite one nor the other - though I believe that Mello has a slight advantage.

The camera pans in closer and closer, as the commentary plays out. Making it clear that we should be paying attention to what's being said. Closer still, focusing upon the head or mind, like we're poised to enter inside.

Then this Near does what the earlier incarnations rarely did - looks directly at the puppet, whilst addressing it. Quite fondly in fact, aping that Christian scene so beloved by Near above the Wammy House stairs, complete with clusters of people congregating close by, and a foreground grouping of three children.

Though this particular dummy Messiah sits listlessly still.

Unnamed and unmoved until that second. Only belatedly given clunky expression in the eyes, that suddenly turn upwards to the left.

If this was Wammy's House, then the puppet would be looking directly at that painting, as Near so often ended each scene doing.

For the first time ever, the puppet's operation can be clumsily discerned. Near usually makes it seem so effortless. This seems like a parody to me.

But the puppet is empty. Mello is inside the body and Near is simply fading from view.

Wammy's House Stained Glass window from Death Note episode 1

Near's stained glass window at Wammy's House
from the end of Death Note episode 1

Three in One? Multiple People Grouping Near

Three children in Death Note Episode 5 (2015)

Before any of that, there was a long shot and childish dialogue, which yet may hold some especial significance.

All those people watching the exchange between two Kiras on the screen seem themselves uncommonly grouped. Each gathered into sets of three. Except Near, who seemingly sits alone. Even the trees in the background were planted in a clump.

Visually, its just another clue to complement the two Kiras broadcast heard over the top. We are being nudged to note that all present belong to a collective. Thus - I'm certain will transpire - Near too constitutes a group, albeit one wherein its harder to count heads than the rest.

Three perchance? I cut one lady off with my screen-shot, but there are three to the side. Three behind. Three in front.

Nor can I help but see Matt, Near and Mello respectively alluded to in the three children at the fore there. But that might just be me.

Anyone else see what I'm seeing? Symbolically, not actually. Nope, just me then.

It's these three who discuss what they're seeing, as an introductory commentary over our first proper view of Mello(?) arrving. Or Near on the brink of departure. The grey suitcase prop works as a visual clue for both.

"Who's Kira?" asks the boy I'm calling Matt. The girlish Near counterpart replies, "Dunno." Because identities are difficult to perceive, when not all might be as it seems. Then we hear the news anchor for a final time reading the words of the second, "Therefore, I will cancel L's press conference."

In short, nobody knows who Kira is these days, nor how many Kiras there might turn out to be. And L is no longer required to appear in public. All anyone grasps for certain is that the second is speaking.

As does the person on the bench. With the symbolism of the scene stating - here are three personalities grouped as one, and it's the one ranked second now being so publicly heard.

Near walking away in 2015 Death Note drama

So Mello now that we've even lost the puppet.
White clad and walking towards the red - Death Note
colour code for ascendancy in the field of play

Colour Coding the Three in One and Death Note

Speak to me ordinarily about the Three-in-One and its not Death Note's Near and possible multiple personalities that comes to mind. I'm a Pagan and a Celt, my mind is with the Triple Goddess.

A relevance only in the fact that the Celtic Three-in-One can identified in the tales of bards by the colours worn in each aspect. White for the Maiden; red for the Mother; black for the Crone.

Not something I should comfortably be considering within the context of a Japanese television dramatization of Death Note. Japan is a long way from Western Europe, where those story-telling traditions hold sway.

Light, L and Soichiro in black, white and red

Black clad Kira, the master of his game; white L slipping back to first base; and Soichiro in red in the middle
keeping the peace. Each a point on the Wheel of Fortune still turning.

Yet it's patently there too. Not even subtly so. Downright laid on with a trowel, all those instances where white, red and black combine to indicate the undercurrents in a plot-line. In this episode, it was applied so ubiquitously and heavily that it sometimes seemed like style over substance.

Though such overplay did allow us to watch the shift in power between the two Kiras. Watch Misa slip from mistress of her scene through to the mirror image shot at the end, wherein Light has taken it all.

She shouldn't have gone from black to white. It's too late then to go back to red. Not when Light's completely in black.

Romance in Hues of Black, Red and White

I thought perhaps the director worried that the plot was skirting so close to canon, that we'd all be bored by the familiarity in episode five. Except for the Near segment, there were hardly any twists to stop us settling down secure in the knowledge that we know all that's coming next.

Someone warn Mikami! As he pledges his support on-line for both Kiras,
his black suit, white shirt and red tie bask in a rosy kind of quite literal foreshadowing.

So we got arty shots with aplomb, in shades of white, red and black. So many that I had to look it up, just to see if each colour had any special meaning in Japanese culture too.

Bizarrely enough, the symbolism behind each hue seems to follow fairly precisely that inherent in my own ancient British legends. Shades of the Three-in-One underwriting Kira and L's battles for sovereignty too.

Like Living in a Chessboard, L and Light Make Their Moves in Black and White

Japanese Symbolism in White, Red & Black

The television Death Note drama seems to rely quite consistently upon its stylistic colour coding, in order to depict the challenges between protagonists, antagonists and all respective hangers on.

However, those colours don't always mean the same thing. It all depends upon who is donning them, or otherwise saturated in the hue, and what's being linked with those around them.

As a rule of thumb, these are the colour meanings in Japan:

White: Intellect; cold calculation; rationality; divinity; sacred (angelic/Godliness); isolation; snow; impersonal; incorruptible; cleanliness; purity; sterile. However, it's also the colour worn by health professionals, so may simply be a uniform on some.

White and Red: Seen in Japan as the colours worn when one is in love. Or else celebrating in pure happiness. However, it may also have a religious connotation, implying a wish to reach to the Gods and/or dedicate your life to deity.

Red: As in so many cultures around the world, this is the shade of fire, passion, danger, losing oneself to powerful emotions, sensuality, vitality, activity, energy, zest or strength, violence, aggression and blood.

At home with Rem and Misa, in all the shades of red, white and black

Black: Mystery; power; 'evil'; emptiness; the void or abyss; madness; mourning; sexuality; depth; unhappiness; remorse; sadness; fury; fear. Unless worn as formal attire - as in a 'black tie' dinner - wherein it denotes sophistication, elegance and/or class; or as a fashionable item - as in a 'little black dress' - which might just mean stylish.

Black and White: Traditionally the colours worn to funerals and left as memento mori. Signifies loss. Unless they're worn as opposing colours - as in L in white and Light in black - in which case we're looking at challenge; battle; the yin-yang; a nice game of chess. Or in a temple, as some areas in the Shinto religion are set aside in black and white, dedicated to the kami - Gods or spirits come from Heaven or the sea.

Let's see how informative that is, as we continue on through the artistically shot future scenes in TV's Death Note. Shout up if you spot those colours being used symbolically.

And especially if 'Near' turns up in black or red, snatching a chocolate bar to prove me right. I'm going to look really daft after all that if I'm wrong.

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Death Note's Limitations Makes it Interesting

21/7/2015

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Rules restrict the power
of the Death Note

Imagine how short the story would be if Kira's Death Note wasn't bound by so many rules, or if the shinigami eyes came without a cost.

Moreover, contemplate how utterly tedious that telling might be.

These are the considerations occupying Kinetic Literature's Kuiper in a thought provoking article entitled Death Note and Sanderson’s Second Law of Magic.

Running with Bruce Sanderson's assertion that 'limitations are more important than powers' in magical fantasy tales, Kuiper takes another look at Death Note. The adage holds up to scrutiny when applied to its supernatural elements - magic as represented here by the notebook(s) and shinigami deals.

Not their awesome power, but their fatally corruptive powerlessness is more than merely important. It's fundamental to the plot.

Musing upon that 2nd Law, I'm struck by how often its true beyond successful story-weaving of magical universes. The most compelling characterisation (or inanimate objects) frequently comes in what is missed, lost or otherwise undermining the efforts of protagonists.

Just think MacBeth in his mindless ambition, manipulated by his missus and misinterpreting the clues set out by the Wyrd Sisters; Heathcliff in his damaged mind and sensibilities, his suffering of abuse transforming him into a bully; or Jane Eyre's 'plainness' blinding people to the fact that she was actually quite radical in her Feminism for her Victorian era.

Where would those stories be if Jane Eyre was pretty enough to be snapped up by the first passing fancy, long before Rochester ever clapped eyes on her? Or if MacBeth had common sense enough to say, 'Hold on! Wtf am I doing?' Or if Heathcliff had just punched Hareton in the gob within days of being brought to Wuthering Heights, disdained Cathy as being a bit too shallow and selfish for his love-starved psyche and grown up accordingly as a well-adjusted member of society?

Short. That's what. And boring. Tales not worth the classic tags and endless reprint editions.

That same fascinating propensity towards fatal flaws can also be seen in the personalities of Death Note:

Soichiro Yagami is a kick ass police officer, stately with moral integrity and persistent in his bid to bring in the bad guys. But his blind spot for his son, born of paternal love, means that his otherwise great attributes cannot succeed.
Misa Amane has so much love to give, but its direction leaves her open to its exploitation. Halving her life and pressed into ever more murderous pursuits.
Matt's powers of observation are said - in Death Note 13: How to Read - to be truly amazing. But his proneness to boredom, when 'looking at the same thing, which never changes', denied his ability to utilize such skills, as Kira and crew escaped their hideout over the road.
Light's megalomania curtailed his chances to slip under the radar, writing on without detection, as much as the magical constrictions inherent in his Death Note. As soon as he began to believe his own hype, clues were scattered in his wake, rendering his eventual downfall inevitable.

In such insertions come the brilliant hooks of story-telling. They carry the plot-line into creating a manga classic, standing the test of time and providing endless subject for discussion amongst its on-going fandom.

Such I think was recognized by Tsugumi Ohba. The power of limitation in personality is pretty much spelled out by Near at the end there. He acknowledged that he was flawed and so was Mello. But together they made good each other's deficiencies.

Thus embracing their individual powerlessness - and rejecting the crippling restriction imposed by Wammy's House in solving cases competitively - they were able to surpass L in bringing down Kira.

I'm with Sanderson and Kuiper alike. The story is in the limitation and that truly is its magic at its most elementary.

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Mello/Matt Fandom! MangaBullet's Guns and Games Community Regrouping in my Forum

31/5/2015

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Guns and Games MangaBullet MxM Community

MangaBullet's Guns and Games Group Banner

Forum for MelloxMatt Fan-Fiction Authors

After yesterday's blog, you may be wondering what the frig just happened to prompt such accelerated progress on my 11th MxM novel. After all, it's been in limbo for well over two years now.

That's no big mystery. I've been enthused into finishing the story (well, nearly finishing - I'm about ten chapters from completion at the moment, but sssh, don't tell anyone) by the sudden influx of old MangaBullet people onto my website's forum.

What's blowing my mind is where they've all come from, why now and wow! Look how that one's quickly snowballing into a fast filling, highly active and buzzing Mello and Matt fandom community once more. I guess its time had come. My forum appears to be the place enough people checked out, until they eventually did it simultaneously and bam! We're back in business!

Popping up to post over the past few weeks (in no particular order and apologies if I missed anyone): Orangepunch, Spoiled-Kitten, kinofdragons, Mistress 9, Alexhliel/ShinigamiMailJeevas, Melmat, Miyamashi, Aaria, Matt1337Gamer, Kittypup and newcomer DefeatCigarettes. I heard from AnimePrincess earlier too, who indicated that she may well be about to return (and possibly resume her chapter by chapter discussion threads - for the new novel!!!).

So where are the rest of you? Coming to play? We're all waiting for you to get your backside in there, you know. Yes, YOU!

Nor is it all about me anymore.

Other Mello and Matt fan-fiction writers are uploading their stories into the library and then coming into their own dedicated area of the forum to chat about their work.

In short, He Moves Me Differently forum is in the process of metamorphosing into a cyber meeting place for all Mello/Matt fans. That's what will keep it going long after you've all tired of my stuff.

Mistress 9: Rebuilding the Mello/Matt Fandom

Mello and Matt watch Mistress 9

A very special mention must be reserved here for Mistress 9 - whose personality, encouragement and pure energy whipped up a buzz enough to keep a core group of us there, and the posts coming accordingly.

What began in the serendipity of a few people turning up at the same time, became a spark of forum life carefully nurtured by that lady.

That has been swiftly fanned into a frenzy of daily posts, discussions, sharing lives, reading fan-fiction above and beyond my own - interest enough to keep the forum going without necessarily resting upon my stuff.

You can be certain that Mistress 9 was holding the bellows at the time.

She's practically living in my PM box with ideas, suggestions and a keen eye on what's needful for individual users and the whole forum alike. At her instigation, I've upgraded the place to make it more user-friendly; fixed a load of bugs; begun to catch up on the out-standing website content; and added more forums etc. She's like a Union secretary for anyone with account issues too. Letting me know if anyone's stuck in the wrong user group, locked out or whatever else might get in the way of them enjoying the forum, so I can make all problems go away.

It was Mistress 9's idea to bring in other MxM fan-fiction writers AND to add an area facilitating fan-fiction of my fan-fiction - as in Mello and Matt stories within my own universe, but written by other MxM authors.

Now THAT was bloody exciting. Being the author, I've never read original Matti!universe tales before! I cried at the first one posted; the honour and delight was that raw. I don't think I'll ever be able to take those tales in my stride. They'll never be less than novelty, received with the kind of coy gratitude which has Orangepunch - witnessing it in real life - going 'awwww!' and telling the forum how cute I became upon receipt of the reading.

Matti!Universe Mello and Matt Fan-Fiction

So yes, that's my final bit of news for those who enjoy the It Matters series of Mello and Matt fan-fiction.

You've now got a whole new avenue opened up in stories to read.

The powerful play goes on, as Uncle Walt so famously wrote, and you may contribute a verse.

Misadventures of FanGirls...
by Orangepunch

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Death Note's Matt Finally Gets His Musical Themes - A B C - Original Compositions

29/5/2015

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Death Note's Matt listening to his music... ish

Death Note - Matt's Theme A B C | Original Themes by Lucas King

Every major Death Note character has their musical themes but Matt. Light, L, Misa, Mello, Near - we could all enjoy the hints of personality lifted from their scores, as composed by Yoshihisa Hirano and Hideki Taniuchi - but they missed Matt out.

Ok, there's a school of thought which says that Matt isn't a major character. It's one spouted by no-one who's ever taken a close look at the fandom and therefore grasps the popularity of young Mail Jeevas.

Now finally this musical deficiency has been made good by Lucas King. He's presented the world with three original compositions, inspired by Death Note's Matt, matching the genre, style and rhythms of those canon theme sets affixed to the other major players.

Let me introduce you to Death Note's Matt Themes A, B and C. They truly are quite wonderful. Thank you, Mr King.

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Lucas King Proposes Death Note's Matt Themes A, B and C Original Compositions

15/5/2015

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Time to bounce about in abject joy and happiness, Matt fans!

Pianist Lucas King is contemplating the composition of original music for Death Note's Matt. While Kira, L, Mello, Near and others received the full three themes, poor Mail Jeevas received none.

Unless we count Action.

Death Note: The Piano Album by Lucas King

Cover from Lucas King's Death Note:
The Piano Album Kickstarter campaign.

That only ever played during the Death Note anime scenes where Matt drove like a mad man across Tokyo, then was mowed down in a hail of bullets. The closest we had until now for a Matt Death Note theme.

But the ever talented Mr King is looking to make good this deficiency.

Last week, he nipped onto Death Note News to tell us all about his Kickstarter campaign, whereby his own arrangements of OST music - coupled with original tunes inspired by the story - would be released on an album.

I've been keeping my eye on his progress. He's halfway towards his goal of £400 with just under two weeks to go. But even more interesting than that was the comment he left in his updates:

~ Lucas King Kickstarter Campaign promise (May 5th 2015)

If that strikes a chord with you, then you need to let him know. Click on the link to like it, comment, leave your pledge if you're feeling flush enough. But by all means tell him: YES! DEATH NOTE'S MATT NEEDS THREE THEMES NOW PL0X In your own words naturally. kthxbai.

I, for one, am thoroughly over-excited by this one. It's all about time too.

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It Matters Fan-Fiction: Watari 1 & 2, Plus Walls Came Tumbling Down as eBooks

12/5/2015

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I was approached yesterday by someone who has sight difficulties. She'd got as far as Annals 1, when the rest of the stories weren't in a format that she could read.

She wondered if I wouldn't mind uploading them onto a site, wherein she could easily transfer them into eBook format, then read on her Kindle.

Sod that. I have the technology, I can create. Thus I did. The result is that you can now down every one of the already created eBooks in Kindle format here.

Each completed folder contains eBooks as ePUB, PDF, Mobi and AZW3. If you need something else, ask and it will happen.

In addition to creating Walls Came Tumbling Down from scratch, I've uploaded Watari Pt 1 and Pt 2 - amalgamated into a single volume. That's the one I've been on and off working towards proof-reading all this time. It's in there with typos and all.

You were going to get The Mello Code and Annals 1 too, but I had a bad migraine. I'm looking to get those created and uploaded over the next couple of days. Then you'll have the entire set. I've linked each where you'll eventually find them.

Incidentally, I've joined her site too. I'll upload the novels on Archive of Our Own sometime over the next week.

Enjoy!

Walls Came Tumbling Down Death Note fanfiction

Download Matti's Walls Came Tumbling Down as a free eBook here.

Download all MRSJeevas MxM Novels in our Death Note Bookstore

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Death Note Skins for Minecraft Gamers

10/1/2015

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

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

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

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

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

Image: Matt Death Note skin for Minecraft

Mail Jeevas Minecraft skin

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

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

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

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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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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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