News about Death Note

Death Note News Editor Feedback on our Reader Survey and Other Updates

9/5/2016

Many thanks to all who took the time to voice their thoughts on Death Note News' Month of... feature. In addition to airing viewpoints on various items relating to the running of the site, and how we deliver content to you, via the completion of last month's reader survey.

All comments have now been read. Some whilst blushing and feeling suddenly very coy; others forming a cringing addendum to our discussion agenda and/or directly onto a lengthening To Do list. All were very helpful and wonderfully appreciated upon receipt.

There were a few pointers requiring acknowledgement, answers, action or announcements, including the results of who will be featured at the centre of future Death Note Month of... events. I'm here to bring you fully into the loop.

Known Issues, Omissions and Pointers for the Death Note News Website

First the problematic parts, or things to be actioned here, to get them out the way:

Feedly RSS reader isn't picking up news articles very well - Matti to look into it;
Death Note TV drama analyses were never finished - another one for Matti;
Articles on Death Note News should clearly differentiate between canon fact/fanon speculation, particularly those submitted for Month of... features, which tend towards the theoretical - added to agenda for editorial meeting;
Comment on the Matsuda theory article proved canonically impossible the one re Near controlling Mello via a Death Note. The article should be altered, or a note added within the write-up, to reflect this - Orangepunch to do;
Not clear in the FAQ how one might join the Death Note News team - answer below, plus Matti to add to the FAQ.

Hopefully we didn't miss any and you're happy with the actions! Please do leave a comment below, if you have views to add to anything highlighted above, or spot something which didn't make the list.

How to Join the Death Note News Team

Contact the Death Note News Team

Ask. We're always good for welcoming new writers, or other talented folk, into our team. If it's a regular column that you wish to pursue, then hunt down Matti to discuss what you have in mind. Either way, our contact page has a plethora of ways to contact us. In this instance, an email (via the form) is probably best.

Whatever Happened to Those Voice Actor Interviews We Were Promised?

Everything has been collated, tidied up, formatted and emailed to the requisite Death Note actors. Each acknowledged receipt of the questions and indicated their intent to answer as many as possible.

Brad Swaile has since sent his apologies for the delay. Life has suddenly become very busy for him, and there ARE rather a lot of questions that were asked. He does still plan to return his answers eventually. Until then it's a patience Padawain moment.
Sergio Zamora was full of enthusiasm and beginning to work through them last we checked. We're slightly afraid that we've overwhelmed him along the way. No reason to believe that we won't get his responses back sooner or later.
Kim Hasper is currently exchanging emails with our German language translator, Jo Coburn. Unfortunately he MAY have to drop out.
Vincent Tong is a complete sweetheart, who gave up an hour of his life to answer questions asked by us on your behalf. We have it in the bag. Well, hard-drive. It could go up right now, if only the sole Death Note News team-member with any skill in video editing would stop getting ill and edit the video instead. We hold out hope that it will happen sometime this week. Poor love recorded it weeks ago, while the monthly focus was still upon his character Touta Matsuda! Sorry, Vincent.

Vincent Tong interview for Death Note News

The lovely smile of Vincent Tong, all unknowing that he'd be waiting over a month for Death Note News to actually feature his interview!

In short, we're confident that all (but possibly one) remain winging their respective ways to us and will be made public quickly thereon.

Results of the Reader Survey Regarding the Month of... Feature

We're already three days late with Month of Misa. Nine, if you count the original intention for it to begin on the first of May and continue through to its end.

However, it appears from the responses given in the reader survey that none of you are too worried about things like that.

You'd rather have well-written articles with every contributor's work included, than any strict adherence to the dates.

You also almost unanimously fed back that one topic per month is perfect; running them bimonthly not at all a welcome suggestion (mostly because momentum would be lost); and you're happy with how we're choosing the subject of each focus thus far.

That said, there were some great ideas thrown into the mix too. One person thought it might be nice to choose the topics a month or two in advance via readers' poll.

Another individual thought having a 'what if' month would be interesting, as in 'what would have happened to the characters if Light Yagami hadn't received his Death Note, thus the Kira case never occurred?' I have to say that my imagination has been running overtime in pondering, since reading it posed there. But could we pull off a whole month of it? Probably. Maybe another format would work better. It's one of those added to the staff agenda for mulling over.

Nearly all of you indicated that yes, you would like to see a Month of... focus being the forthcoming Death Note movie, released at the end of October 2016. Of those, one person voted for November to be the ideal month. The rest of you didn't mind, as long as it happens.

All excepting the single respondent who said no full stop to that and indeed everything about the Month of... events. He/she really didn't like it and wished it would go away. Your views have been read and noted. Thank you for them. Unfortunately, you were outvoted by your peers.

Everything in, it was overwhelmingly positive and extremely helpful. Even the person who hated the feature told us nicely! And we were really pleased with the wide array of places where people are finding Death Note News. Particularly as one source was apparently the Archangel Mello pointing this way with his fiery sword.

As for the one who asked if being in the Mello/Matt fandom counts - YES! Yes, it does. Most important part of the whole Death Note fandom Mello and Matt. Though I might be biased, given what I write.

Forthcoming Characters to be Featured in Death Note News Month of... Focus

Lots of fabulous suggestions here. We had Mello, Beyond Birthday, Mikami, Sayu, ALL live-action tellings together, L, Shingami (collectively), Naomi Misora, the LABB murders, and the movie thumbs up for a month closer to the release date.

We've decided to start with the one garnering the most votes in that survey. Admittedly to the mild surprise of all here, though we're game for everything. Bring it on! Therefore I can announce that June and July look like this, with more made public when we've finished tatting with the list:

Month of Naomi Misora on Death Note News

Coming June 2016

Ms Misora not only received the most votes overall, but she also managed to beat Beyond Birthday by a single point. Hence the surprise. Then again she does make quite a habit of thwarting of poor BB at the last minute!
Go Naomi! You won your month, fair and square.

Coming July 2016

Mr Mikami's high rating in the straw poll of suggestions was less surprising. We already hold in waiting two pieces of content about him, submitted by different readers, both long before he'd even been considered for a Month of... feature!

By tomorrow, we should have their submission and questionnaire pages up and ready. In the meantime, do feel free to send in things using generic tools for contributing content, or mentally amending questions pertaining to another character asked of Death Note fans writing, creating art or donning cosplay.

Also by tomorrow, we should actually start Death Note News' Month of Misa Amane. Three items in already. Get a head start on the crowds by chucking in any relevant content now.

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On This Day in Death Note: February 11th

11/2/2016

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Why is Light Yagami's Name Read as Yagami Tsuki? (Guest Post by Amaryllis)

7/2/2016

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Start of Death Note Chapter 1 Ryuk and moon

Ryuk, clouds and full moon at the
start of Death Note

So the funny thing about Japanese is that it uses three different systems of writing: kanji, hiragana, and katakana.

Kanji was borrowed from China a long time ago and applied to Japanese words (although the sounds it represented had to be tweaked along the way) and is now used in combination with hiragana for native Japanese words. Since kanji had to be tweaked and adapted for convenient use, several different readings (or pronunciations) exist for each one.

Japanese names in modern times are typically written in kanji, though there are exceptions. Light’s name is written using these kanji: 夜神月 (ya gami raito).

Kanji Yagami Tsuki - Light Yagami kanji Raito Yagami

Each of the kanji in his name have different possible pronunciations and common meanings, with “Yagami” using the kanji for “night” and “god”, and “Raito” using “moon/month”.

Interestingly there are no readings for 月 that sound anything like “raito”. The existing readings are “tsuki” (moon) and “getsu/gatsu” (month).

End of Death Note - Kira worshippers with moon

End of Death Note Kira worshippers and the moon

Kira worshippers and moon at the
end of Death Note

So why is a kanji, that is usually read as “tsuki” on its own, pronounced with a very English sounding “raito”, or “Light”? Simple answer: because Ohba-sensei told us that’s how it’s to be pronounced.

Complex answer: a naming phenomenon exists in Japan, utilising kanji that looks cool, in order to write names that would typically be written a different, more common way.

It is not so strange for parents to want their children to have unique names, nor for manga authors to name their characters using these conventions. It enables them to give their main characters names that are not used in other manga. Ohba-sensei chose the kanji that means moon to represent a new meaning of “light”, stretching the meaning of the original just enough to still be understood.

Why Light Continues to be Called Tsuki Yagami or Raito Yagami by Fans Today

This explains why Light Yagami's name is sometimes read as Tsuki Yagami and/or Raito Yagami too. After all, we're being asked to render a common word in kanji in an uncommon way.

Then - back when Death Note was first released - and now - with each new person picking up the tale - every Japanese reader would assume that Ohba-sensei intended his protagonist to be called Yagami Tsuki. They have no reason not to, until Light himself explains in the manga how to pronounce his name. That doesn't happen until, I believe, chapter twelve.

During his encounter with Naomi Misora, Light goes to great lengths to spell out precisely how his kanji is meant to be read. It seems a little strange in context; too long-winded an explanation over a simple name pronunciation. Particularly in conversation with a lady whom Light is about to kill, concerning kanji that she can't even see written down.

Yagami Raito kanji explanation between Light Yagami and Naomi Misora

But this was the way that Ohba-sensei got to tell his manga's readers too how to say his main character's name. En masse the whole fledging Death Note fandom suddenly had to teach themselves not to say Yagami Tsuki (or Yagami Raito) as assumed, but the now familiar Yagami Light. Some still got it wrong - misunderstanding the correction as being from Tsuki to Raito - like in the panels above, produced by an unofficial early translator of Death Note manga chapters into English.

All proving how unusual it is for a Japanese schoolboy to be called Light, spelled as tsuki kanji and pronounced raito. So uncommon and strange that some readers still opt for what the kanji is more obviously telling them, hence all three names continue to be prevalent throughout the fandom and even the rarest of them - Tsuki Yagami - may still be heard.

It may be that Ohba-sensei waited so long before (literally) spelling out how he wanted Light's name to be known, because the author hadn't quite decided the issue for himself.

Not until Death Note 13: How to Read was more insight divulged on the subject. In the interview with Tsugumi Ohba, it's stated that he struggled with Light's name, unable to settle upon the right one. Then his editor suggested 'Yagami' and it sparked enough inspiration in the writer that he went on a quest to find the kanji.

When I looked through the Japanese name registry, I found the Kanji for 'star' and 'light'. At first, I wasn't too concerned about it. But the final scene in the manga gave his name deeper significance. I liked that.
- Tsugumi Ohba, Death Note author, How to Read: Death Note 13, p 61.

Reading between the lines, it's quite possible to imagine Ohba-sensei merely enjoying the duality of 'star', 'moon' and 'light' inherent in his protagonist's Kanji. Then, as the story grew and the characterisation became more fixed, future scenes might flash eradescent through a storyteller's mind. As yet unformed, but filling him with glee enough to shift away from that lack of concern into a sudden conviction that it should be Light, not Raito, nor Tsuki, that readers saw in that Kanji.

The writer had found the right name for Death Note's central character. Now he just needed the manga reading public to switch tracks with him, and that last scene would be beautifully full of symbolism.

Yet he kept the moon there too - in the first pages and penultimate ones too, as evidenced by the twin images shown at the top of this article; in situ bookmarking hundreds of pages across 108 chapters. The Yagami Tsuki people were able to feel validated in stubbornly retaining that original presumed moniker for their character.

But then turn the page and that light upon the worshipper's face could just as easily be cast from a star. At least metaphorically, with the star of hope. There's a nod to the editor's name registry book and the dual meaning of the star-light Kanji found inside. The moment when Ohba-sensei could breathe life into his creation; for no persona lives on the page, until its name is known.

And again, turn a page to the manga's final word - a simple candle and its glow burning bright. No celestial being this, nothing so divine. Just Light, casting shadows, and the nothingness beyond. Great final scene. Good name.

Tsuki? Moon glow in the background; seemingly stars bright in their hands

Turning away from stars and the moon to a candle's small 'light' - this is Kira-sama

Just a Light - the final word in
Death Note from its creators

See also:
Death Note Names: The Kanji of Light Yagami (Guest Post by Renchan)

Amaryllis's analysis of why Light Yagami may be called Tsuki Yagami by some fandom members, was posted as part of Death Note Month of Kira.

Running throughout February 2016, anyone may contribute Kira related content for this event. That includes you, and your mate.

To find out more about it, visit Death Note Month of... Home; to send in articles, art, recipes, queries, fan-fiction, tutorials, opinion pieces or any other wonders you're moved to share, please visit our sparkly new Month of... Reader Submission Page.

Cosplayers, you now have your very own Death Note costumers' questionnaire, as another option for inclusion in the Month of... focus. Other groups, you'll get one soon, if you're an artist, writer and - if there's demand enough for it - role-player. Nudge us to request more community surveys for any other category of Death Note fan expression not yet counted.

Just want to read more on Death Note's Light Yagami? Lay on, MacDuff.

Death Note News Month of Light Yagami banner

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Death Note Event Reminder: Death Note Ladies Appreciation Weeks on Tumblr

14/12/2015

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Can you name these Death Note female characters? (Answers at the end)

Just a reminder about a Death Note event on Tumblr, which began yesterday and continues over the Christmas period to finish on December 26th 2015.

Death Note Ladies Appreciation Weeks looks to redress the balance in focus given to Death Note's women and girl characters. Let's face it, the fandom really does relish its male personae over the female cohort. Yet there are some extremely kick-ass and/or fascinating ladies in this universe. Explore their stories in canon pics; elaborate upon them in fan-fiction and fan-art; discover that they even exist, if you blinked and missed their cameo.

This is the second year running for the Tumblr event for Death Note fans. Anyone can join in. You just tag your update with #dn ladies appreciation and post away, preferably on the day scheduled for your yuri pairing and/or each individual female Death Note character's bespoke date:

Week One
December 13th: Misa/Takada
                                Halle/Misa
December 14th: Naomi/Halle
                                Halle/Takada
December 15th: Misa/Sayu
                                Rem/Misa
December 16th: Wedy/Naomi
                               Wedy/Misa
December 17th: Sayu/Yuri
                                Yuri/Misa
December 18th: Sachiko Yagami/Eriko Aizawa
                                Sachiko Yagami/Mrs. Mikami
December 19th: WILD CARD (Any yuri Death Note pairing)

Week Two
December 20th: Halle
                                Wedy
December 21st: Naomi
                                Takada
December 22nd: Sachiko
                                 Sayu
December 23rd: Misa
                                Rem
December 24th: Yuri
                                Shoko Himura (from Death Note TV drama)
December 25th: Shiori Akino
                               Maki Nikaido
December 26th: WILD CARD (Any Death Note lady)

For more details, check out our original head's up about the event; where you'll also find a slightly easier collage of Death Note women to test your knowledge of characters in the Death Note universe. For answers to the much more difficult one posted at the top here, see below:

Characters from Death Note who are female

Clockwise ( l-r from top):
Wammy's House aide and two female Wammy kids; Dr Kimiko Kujo; Sayu Yagami; Yumi Aizawa; Akiko Himura; Nori (Misa's friend); Unnamed Kira Worshipper; Yuri; Ami Hamazaki; and Shiori Akino

And if you're looking for inspiration and/or something to post on each day, then our sidebar has all of these ladies listed under Death Note News Categories - archives full of things about them! Feel free to post links to what you will.

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Christmas Death Note Ladies Appreciation Weeks on Tumblr

19/11/2015

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Some of the women of Death Note - how many can you name?

Can't get enough Hal Lidner? Sick of hunting in vain for some Misa/Takada yuri? Wish you saw more fan love for Shoko Himura? Your time has come.

For the second year running, Death Note Ladies Appreciation Weeks will be hosted on Tumblr over the Christmas period. It aims to throw a spotlight on those under-rated female characters from Death Note.

Death Note Ladies Appreciation Weeks 2015 on Tumblr

Under the heading Expect the Unpredictable!, Tumblr user ComplicatedMerary announced the site wide event, and highlighted the guidelines for those who wish to participate.

Beginning on December 13th 2015 (Mello's birthday!), Death Note Ladies Appreciation Weeks spans the holiday period to end on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas. Until then, the Tumblr event will be divided into distinct halves.

Week One (Dec 13th-19th) is given over to Death Note yuri. Each day is devoted to two bespoke pairings, with the final one a yuri wild card for the female Death Note couple of your choice. Week Two (Dec 20th-26th) similarly features a daily focus. This time the limelight falls upon individual Death Note women. Two named in any given day, before that too ends with a wild card.

Dec 26th is the day for highlighting your favourite female Death Note character.

Hop on over to Tumblr to learn more about it. Contribute, or merely sit back and watch the ladies of Death Note fill the website in glorious array.

Answers to the collage quiz for Death Note's female characters:
Clockwise (l-r from top):
Kiyomi Takada; Hal Lidner; Naomi Misora (central); Wedy; Misa Amane; Maki; Linda; Eriko Aizawa; and Sachiko Yagami.

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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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TV Death Note Episode 3: Deities, Dualism and Dreams with Light the Bringer of Kira

11/8/2015

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Death Note red apple -
why do we suddenly have
three scratch marks?

I've been a little late in catching up with the Death Note television drama. Life happened in stress inducing proportions, then I watched two episodes back to back last night.

The first was episode 3 of Death Note (2015) wherein we begin to see Light transforming into a very recognizable and familiar Kira.

During the opening scenes, Light is very frightened; devastated because L is getting too close and gleaning too much from very little information. There's the sense that Light knows he's in over his head, with the horror becoming even more real once it occurs to him that his own father would be the one to arrest him.

This is all juxtaposed against a flashback scene, wherein we see a very young Light playing at cops and robbers with his father. He obviously idolizes him and wishes to emulate his father further by becoming a police officer. Innocence, love and enjoyment are all there in the bonding, while Mrs Yagami (Light's mother) looks on, fondly, proudly, and an infant Sayu is brought into the game. They were a close-knit, loving family.

The first time Light used the Death Note with any understanding of the consequences, it was to save his father from a dangerous siege situation. His earliest justification for the notebook's continued use was that he could protect his family by creating a better world. Even so, he tore himself apart emotionally, analysing each murder, filling his self-reflections with seemingly endless angst.

Now there's the killer, like a split personality beneath the surface threatening to overwhelm the whole. Ready to kill his own father - at the barest suggestion from Ryuk that he should - in order to avoid exposing himself as Kira.

Nor does this fact even seem to penetrate. Light merely meditates upon the danger posed by L and strategizes how to defend himself from it.

He's no longer protecting his father, his family or society at large. He's losing all conscience in a bid solely to retain his freedom to act as Kira. Or, at least, protect Kira as a separate entity who just happens to share his own self.

Kira eyes in Death Note television drama

Light-bringer Kira burning plans for mass murder

We've had Light dissociating himself from Kira before. Now L is at it too. The detective speaks to Light over the telephone as part of a general trolling of police officers' family members. L tells Light that he will expose 'your, no *pauses* Kira's method of killing'. Like they are distinct personae.

Ryuk several times comments that he can perceive a 'Kira face' upon Light's features. The viewers can see it too, particularly as he constructed his secret cabinet inside a desk drawer and later as he came up with a plan to massacre all Kira assigned FBI agents.

It all puts me in mind of Milton's Paradise Lost and the original Light bearer - Lucifer - bellowing out, 'Evil be thou my good!', even as he is lost to the flames. Twice Light played with fire and both times concepts of good and evil were transplanted beneath the gaze of Kira.

This isn't merely a mental distinction. As Misa - now physically transformed herself with shinigami eyes - peered out across the audience at her concert, she spotted a deep significance in Light Yagami's aspect. He alone, amidst all the crowd, had no death date on display above his head.

He is now quite permanently Kira.

Split Identities in Death Note Episode 3

In my musing upon episode two of Death Note (2015), I discussed the dissociation and projecting going on amongst the characters here. Such things escalated to a downright schizophrenic level in this one, not to mention secrets and misdirection in personal identification aplenty.

We had things practically banal in comparison to the rest - like the Japanese task force all being given IDs with names akin to their own, but slightly misspelled or otherwise minutely changed. Each of their ranks were altered too.

Then there's the ordinary strangeness of this Death Note show's Naomi Misora substitution - Cathy Cambell (or Campbell, in the English subtitles) - choosing to write her full name on the back of a photograph for her fiancée. Considering they were poised to be married, you'd think that Raye Penbar would recognize the lady in his arms on the other side, and barely require her first name in the caption, let alone her surname too.

It just seemed a little like she was writing on behalf of someone else. (Or else it was an overly contrived plot line to facilitate Kira later.)

None of us yet know what's going on with Near and her Mello puppet. All points to Near projecting her darker musings upon a doll of her peer, but each time she addresses Mello personally, she looks above or beyond the toy.

Near and Mello Puppet in TV Death Note show

Follow Near's eyes, it's not the puppet she's addressing

Like that bit of the room we haven't yet seen has the actual Mello in it, delivering his lines, and somehow never mentioning the sodding great puppet in his image on Near's knee.

There's another very significant deviation from norm in the dynamic between Near and Mello. Now it's Mello wanting them work together, while Near is circumspect, as it won't make L happy.

My partner is convinced that Near and Mello both exist solely inside L's mind. That he's the one with multiple personalities and they are our hint towards it. Eventually we'll find out that L is Kira and no-one in this show existed, except Watari, who's L's carer in a psychiatric ward.

Whatever the reality of Near, we can know that she identifies firmly with Christ, as depicted in the stained glass above the landing of the stairs. I previously thought this was Mother Mary at the Nativity, but I've since watched the show in high definition. That's Jesus Christ in 'suffer little children to come unto me' mode.

It compares with Mello's Archangel Michael - Fall of the Rebel Angels - on the other side of the room.

Nor are Wammys the only ones linked with deities, there's someone divine standing right alongside Light too.

Framed Picture on Light Yagami's Wall

The artwork was prominently shown beside Light for a whole scene.

Who is the figure and what is he holding?

Light's bedroom is filled with interesting knick-knacks, ornaments and posters. Each episode thus far of Death Note (2015) television drama seems to focus upon another piece, that's usually pertinent to the plot at hand.

This time, the camera angle quite blatantly drew our attention to framed artwork on Light Yagami's bedroom wall. For a moment there, we seemed to be zooming in on it, but the close up shifted onto Light's face.

The art is some kind of small tapestry, or embroidery, with tassels at each edge. The figure within appears to be highly stylised and based upon an original woodcut. But who is it?

My mind, attuned as it is to Western mythology, immediately supplied the fact that I was looking at Satan. But why would a Japanese young man have the Christian anti-Christ on his bedroom wall?

Instead I'm assuming this depicts a Japanese deity, or mythological creature. However a long perusal through various image searches hasn't produced a contender.

Who is this being displayed so prominently alongside Light? Can you identify them and their context?

Japanese God Picture on Kira's wall in Death Note TV drama

Japanese God? Satan? Can you identify the figure framed on Light's bedroom wall?

My current best guess is that it's Bishamon (aka Bishamonten) - Japanese God of War and Punisher of Evil-Doers. Also considered the chief of Japan's Four Kingly deities.

He would fit in very nicely with Kira's self-perception and wouldn't appear out of place amongst the other pieces depicted in that bedroom. Moreover, Bishamon would be invoked to ward away invaders or personal enemies. The focus here occurs while Light is deeply upset because L is onto him. This is mere seconds before his father turns up with a police colleague to investigate Light's association with Misa's (deceased) stalker.

Both circumstances in which Bishamon's good fortune might usefully be evoked by a desperate Light Yagami.

Nightmare of the Dreamweaver in Death Note

In addition to a strategically placed item in Light's bedroom, I'm also coming to expect a philosophical soundbite - usually occurring around the first third mark of each episode - which sums up the whole theme.

This time it was our protagonist musing upon aspirations.

Dreams are just about self-satisfaction. Everyone has a mission in life.
~ Light Yagami

By the second third mark of the show, Light was suddenly wearing his Sandman t-shirt again. Contrasting his disdain of dreams with a celebration of Neil Gaiman's ultimate dreamweaver.

All this from the man who, in the first episode, stated that his ambition was to be nothing special. Just a public servant with no excitement in his life. Where did this 'mission' thing come from?

His morality seems changed utterly. But so does everybody else's too.

Everyone's a Potential Kira Now!

Raye Penbar with Death Note pages

A major hallmark of Death Note (2015) episode 3 is how readily murder was mooted as the solution to any given obstacle.

We're not just talking about Kira either. Half the people there appeared on the verge of killing, or actually going ahead and doing it. Particularly as concerned the preservation of self or family.

Kira (Light) would have murdered his own father to protect himself;
Raye Penbar was ready to kill Light to save his fiancée Cathy Cambell;
He actually murdered several colleagues with a Death Note in the same cause;
Misa did kill Raye with her Death Note to stop him pulling the trigger on Light;
L consistently sends his people out into potentially deadly situations, especially Raye;
Soichiro seems practically suicidal in his zest to enter the Kira case in the almost certain knowledge that he could be killed. All to protect society, justice and his family;
Near accuses Mello of wanting to kill Kira.

Then you had both Ryuk and Rem urging their respective humans (Light and Misa) to write in their Death Notes.

In fact, murder was downright normalized in this episode, like we were all transforming into mini-Kiras and losing bits of morality to justify the change.

Fifty Shades of Yagami Grey (Well... 3)

Grey plaid all round for the Yagamis

There's a length of chequered black and white fabric that's seriously serving the Yagami family well in episode three of Death Note's television adaptation.

Sayu's school uniform skirt, Light's shirt and (later on) a bag filled with a change of clothes for Soichiro all seem to have been cut from it.

Of course, black and white checks tend to produce an overall effect varying shades of grey. Pretty much like Light Yagami's moral outlook as he hurtles headlong into his Kira persona.

In the meantime, Misa marks her descent from subject of a Shinigami stalker to a Death Note wielding Kira by switching clothes. She's usually in red (just as L is in white and Light tends towards dark colours), but killing Raye saw her donning red and black chequered clothes.

Later on, she would be seen totally in black.

It's a little stylistic colour coding, which may have deep, profound meaning as the show goes on. Or might just look pretty.

Plot-hole Ahoy! Misa in the Warehouse

MIsa Amane and her Death Note

Talking about the newly murderous Misa, have we worked out how she just happened to be in the abandoned Araide Industries factory in order to commit said murder?

One second, she's receiving her Death Note, getting to know Rem and surrendering half of her remaining life span, so she might acquire shinigami eyes as this season's must have accessory. So far so perfectly normal within the Death Note universe.

Misa is able to identify Light as another Kira, as she can't read his death date with her preternatural vision. She could grab his name though, which she completely mispronounces in conversation with her Ichigo Berry pals.

Then nothing to explain how she went from that to being on site at the precise moment when Raye Penbar was about to kill Light.

Even if she'd tracked Light down via his name and some fan mailing list, there's no reason for her to know where he is at any given time. Nor for her to turn up on the off-chance that she might be able to save his life.

Did I miss something?

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'I Struggle to Draw Cute Girls' Takeshi Obata Tells Comic Alliance

19/11/2014

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Do you ever look at Misa and think 'badly drawn and not at all girly cute'?

Nope, nor me. On the contrary, she seems to be the epitome of all that's cute, practically unto the point of annoyance. Give or take the murderous gaze and scribbling. That's not so cute. It just makes for a great story.

Neither do I consider the likes of Hal or Naomi to be particularly conceptualized on the page.

Yet their artist doesn't share our view.

Takeshi Obata gave an interview to Juliet Kahn of Comic Alliance, during his recent trek to the United States. There's not a great deal of focus upon Death Note, so I'll not wax too lyrical about it here. But there was an intriguing comment about his art.

CA: Is there anything you especially love or hate to draw?

TO: I’m really bad at drawing female characters. It’s difficult to capture their expression because I don’t understand them! Making them pretty and cute is the most difficult thing.
(Takeshi Obata, with Juliet Kahn, Comic Alliance, October 30th 2014)

What do you think? Do you agree that Obata is better at drawing the male of the species than its ladies? Or are you as dismissive as I am about the self-effacing criticism?

There's much more in the interview, though it's mostly about All You Need is Kill and Bakuman. Visit Comic Alliance for the full low down.

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Kira is Back! 10th Anniversary Death Note Website Countdown Expired!

3/3/2014

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It's noon in Britain, which means that I've finally been able to see what that intriguing Death Note announcement will be.

Kira is being resurrected from the dead!
At least, that's what is implied.

In an on-going plot, running throughout March 3rd 2014, Matsuda has heard rumours concerning the fact that Light Yagami has returned from the grave. He's investigating it on behalf of the SPK. (Because, you know, Near probably has better things to do...)

The information seems to have originated with Hitoshi Demegawa, the anchorman from Sakura TV, who played such a large part in bringing Light and Misa together. As Kira's erstwhile spokesperson, Demegawa may also have been considered a great source of information.

I say 'have been', because I have a distinct recollection of this same nasty media man writing in fatal agony on the floor. Didn't Mikami kill him with a Death Note?

In the online Death Note 10th Anniversary extravaganza, actors are playing Matsuda and Demegawa. I've grabbed some screen-shots above, while the actual film can be found on Shueisha's website.

Updates will be made there, and on the simultaneously launched 10th Anniversary Death Note Facebook page. Further information is being announced via an official Twitter stream @deathnote10th.

What do you make of it? A publicity stunt, or the precursor to a whole new saga of the Death Note story? There's certainly scope here. The original story finished with a strange cult meeting on a mountain top, performing some kind of ritual. It was certainly to venerate Kira, but could it have been much more than that?

Personally, I'm not sure how I feel about it.

The whole point of Death Note was that the stakes were very high. Those who touched the Death Note went to nothingness - to Mu - when they died. Tsugami Ohba made it quite clear at the time that there was no coming back. If this is a promotional vehicle leading to a brand, new arc of the Death Note story, then it would seem to negate the principles of the previous ones.

On the other hand, these are new canon chapters for Death Note. What's not to love about that prospect?!

And, if Kira can be revived, then why not all of the others too? Demegawa certainly seems to have made it back into the realm of the living.

Will we see a charred and steaming Mello arising from the ruins of a burnt-out barn? Perhaps Near looking startled as a giant Old English L fills his screen, and a familiar electronic voice thanks him for his custodianship of the title and code.

Maybe a ghostly Camero running roughshod through Tokyo streets, with a bloody Matt lighting a cigarette at the wheel. Or the television screens suddenly coming alive with the half-naked figure of Kiyomi Takada, smiling mystically at the cameras.

Will we hear the creaky tones of Noami Misora, as she addresses her former FBI colleagues with a terrible rope burn etched into her neck? And the approaching tingle of a sweets trolley, pushed by the gangling figure of Mr Wammy?

What do you think?

UPDATE: It's been brought to my attention that a FAQ on the official site makes it clear that there will be NO new Death Note manga series. Also Matsuda ISN'T the one we already know and love, but Matsuda MomoFutoshi, a new character created especially for the 10th Anniversary.

Why? I don't know. Matsuda Touta survived the original, so he could just as easily been used.

UPDATE TWO: It's not at all what we thought it might be...

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