However, it's this very Matsuda who carries the final judgement against Kira in the tides decreed by Near; and the 'inept' officer's impetuous daring with the Yotsuba Group gave L the breakthrough there that he needed; not to mention another swift bit of Touta sharp shooting in the Mafia den saw Soichiro's life prolonged (albeit briefly) with Mello fleeing bereft of his Death Note and all alone; plus all the random, workaday instances of bravery, loyalty, duty and query against the will and supposed wisdom of his peers (always a more courageous path than running with the herd).

Given all that - do you think the enduring impression left in Urban Dictionary's mark against Matsuda is fair?

In fact, was it even enduring?  That entry was written in 2010.  Did it last?

Much more famous than Matsuda's Urban Dictionary entry is the Matsuda, You Idiot! Meme.  This one spread across the world and caused lawsuits in the process.

It all began with the airing of that final confrontation scene in Japan.  As Kira and Near faced off across the floor of the Yellow Box warehouse, things turned angry, then violent.  Next thing you know, Matsuda's firing a bullethole into Light's hand and that infamous cry comes within a twisting, contorted expression of pain, 'Matsuda Bakayarou!' 

That's variously translated into English as 'Matsuda, you fool!', 'idiot', or else something much stronger in its expletive.  As soon as it was heard in Japan, the meme began.  That was June 26th 2007, when Matsuda shot Light and the like of this took the world by storm:

Death Note's copyright holders NTV seem to be going for world domination.  In addition to a recent collaboration deal with German distributors Red Arrow Entertainment, and teaming up with Sony to create GEM TV Channel (broadcasting across Asia), the company has just announced that its setting up an office in Singapore.

Nor is Nippon bashful about why.  It's all 'part of (NTV's) continuing pursuit to become the leading media content company in Asia', according to their press release on the subject.

The new venture will be called NTV Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd, with a start-up injection of $1m cash in US dollars, all contributed by parent company NTV.  Hidetoshi Hiramatsu - currently NTV's managing director of International Business - will assume command as NTV Asia Pacific's first CEO, naturally based in Singapore. Their new logo is below:

So what will this mean for fans of Death Note?   Too early to know really, though NTV Asia Pacific will have immediate access to the entire Death Note franchise - as owned by NTV - and an easy means to request more.  I guess it's one of those know that it happened situations, then wait and see.

Fans in Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia are currently enjoying high definition airings of the Death Note TV drama courtesy of the GEM Channel.

The television network is the sparkly new collaboration between Sony Pictures Television (SPT) and Nippon Television (NTV). It includes exclusive shows from both companies portfolios, as well as a clutch of other programming too.

Eventually GEM will be beaming Death Note into South Korea, Taiwan and other Asia territories too, including China, which will surely go down well.

                     Read: 
                          * Chinese Cyber Authority Cracks Down on Death Note
                          * Death Note Fans in China Dodge the Censor

For the rest of us, there's a nice selection of images from the Death Note television drama, courtesy of NTV, highlighted on the GEM Channel Death Note show webpages.  Some of which are reproduced here, above and below.

In addition, there's a synopsis of the show, programming information (every Monday and Tuesday at 8pm (JKT) and 9pm (BKK)) and profiles on various cast members, including Yutaka Matsushige as Soichiro Yagami, Hinako Sano as Misa Amane, Kento Yamazaki as L, Mio Yuki as Near and Masataka Kubota in his award-winning performance as Light Yagami.

A nice touch there is the trivia end-piece on each actor, informing us for example that Yutaka Matsushige is one of the tallest actors in Japan (he's 6ft 2") and Mio Yuki's real name is Rina Kanno. She was launched into stardom after winning a HoriPro talent contest in 2012.

Meanwhile, there's an apology to make.  Much hecticness and chaos behind the scenes a few months ago at Death Note News meant that our analytical reviews of the last few episodes of the drama were never published. Nor indeed written, though much enjoyment was had in actually watching the show!

We intended to.  It's just that the write ups never made our To Do list, thus were overlooked and finally forgotten entirely.  They might never have appeared if one of our readers hadn't been on the ball. 

Grace Butler has given us the nudge (politely and very sweetly), hence those Death Note (2015) reviews are back on the list to do.  Thanks Grace!  And sorry to all who have been waiting on them.

In the meantime, here are the Death Note News analytical reviews of Death Note drama episodes so far.

This is more a reminder for those readers with access to Japanese television that two Death Note Musical concerts are going to be screened on Wowow Live.

The first is on October 17th 2015 at 8pm and stars Kenji Urai as Light Yagami. The second will be aired on November 7th 2015 at 8.30pm. This one has alternative lead actor Hayato Kakizawa as Light Yagami.

Both full productions of Death Note the Musical were recorded in April 2015, during the theatrical show's inaugual run at Tokyo's Nissay Theatre.

You already had a heads up about it in August (Original Cast Death Note Musical on TV), but WOWOW have now officially announced it on their website, so that is new.

Beyond what I've already mentioned, the WOWOW Live advertisement includes L actor Koike Teppei in the billing for both performances.

After a short trailer for the televised Death Note Musical shows, we are reminded that Broadway composer Frank Wildhorn wrote the music for Death Note's theatrical adaptation.

The director is Tony Award winning Tamiya Kuriyama.

This cross Pacific collaboration between the US Broadway and Japan's Nippon TV makes this a truly international enterprise.

Finally, WOWOW uses this bulletin to advertise another television show, which the company obviously feels will appeal to Death Note fans. Its the TV detective drama Mozu back for another season and, I believe, its own theatrical version too.  So does it appeal to us?  Anybody know?

If you're in Japan, enjoy your Death Note the Musical TV shows, and if anyone finds them recorded and uploaded onto YouTube, please do give us the nod. The whole world is waiting to see this too!

Wow! You daren't take your eyes off the latest Death Note news for an instant today. It's all go!  Major stories cropping up everywhere!

Right now, it's the turn of the Adam Wingard directed US Death Note movie.  Showbiz magazine Variety has just (September 29th 2015) run a story claiming the the long awaited Hollywood adaptation of Death Note is close to casting its Kira.

Californian singer/actor Nat Wolff will play Light Yagami in the USA - as long as 'final negotiations' with the film-makers continue just as planned.

This is going to get confusing fast, as it seems the Death Note US film is due out in 2016. At least production is purportedly starting Stateside during next Spring.

That's in addition to Death Note 2016, which is the Japanese Warner Bros./Nippon TV movie, directed by Shinuke Sato.  As the working title suggests, we're expecting that to hit cinemas (or theaters, if you prefer) sometime in 2016.

Yep, you wait years for a Death Note live action film and two turn up at once.

There's a poignant, sick scene in the anime Death Parade, which might include an extra-curricular glimpse of Light Yagami.

Fandom noted and not confirmed by the show's creators. But with enough there to make us all wonder if it could actually be a thing.

Death Parade takes place in a strange outpost of the Afterlife.

Individuals dying at the exact same time may find themselves in bars, where they are forced to participate in games to determine their everlasting Fate. Arbiters doubling as bartenders judge the outcome.

In episode 11, Memento Mori, a character named Mayu is given the option of condemning a complete stranger to eternity in the Void. If she complies, then she may retrieve her lover Harada's soul, that he might regain it and they can continue on together.

But look  at the stranger...

That Mayu does in fact send this Kira lookalike Death Parade stranger into the Void is actually consistent with the canon Death Note storyline.

According to Ryuk - and indeed Death Note Rule 2.3 - no-one owning and using a Shinigami's notebook may continue on to Heaven or Hell upon their own demise. Instead the like of Light Yagami will end up in Mu (Nothingness).

Which sounds very much akin to Death Parade's Void, or even the bars themselves.  Those hospitalities end up acting like reception rooms for those about to be lost to that infinite nothingness. It's a rare soul who manages to escape that eventuality, no matter how many games they play.

Not even Mayu and Harada really get away. 

Could a post-Death Note Kira be sitting in a bar, as a final addendum to his own story?  Not such an unlikely proposition as you might think, when you factor in that Death Parade is produced by Madhouse. 

Madhouse was also behind the production of Death Note as an anime, adapted from the manga.

It's a company for which Nippon TV owns a 95% share.  NTV recently utilized its own rights to the story and characters. It was behind the live-action Death Note (2015) television drama.

Hold on, it gets weirder - or more inclined towards an in-joke, if that really is canon Kira in the Afterlife.

Look again more closely at what is being said at the time that the lookalike Light Yagami is shown in Death Parade.  Harada may only live if Kira dies. So who do we (or, to be fair, Mayu) choose to survive this storyline?

It may illuminate or amuse you to note that Light and Harada are both voiced, in their respective anime, by Mamoru Miyano.

The voice actor would struggle to bring Harada audibly to life, if recording lines for Kira was a current pre-occupation of his career.  One would imagine that he'd be pushed for time, taking on such a main role.

So yeah, Harada's unmuted anime soul really was quite dependent upon Light being lost to the Void.

Or a random stranger, whomever he might be.

Death Note will be the main attraction for GEM - a brand, new television channel launched across Asia on October 1st 2015.

GEM marks a collaboration between Nippon TV (NTV) and Sony Pictures Television (SPT), each of which are bringing their biggest shows to air to Asian audiences.

NTV chose its television Death Note drama, recently broadcast in Japan and streamed on-line around the world, to act as its flagship for GEM's launch. Also on offer to viewers is another drama entitled Angel Heart; season two of Hanasaki Mai Speaks Out; and a Chinese romance series called Lady & Liar.

A hallmark of the channel will be its emphasis upon Asian content.

At a press conference to announce GEM's opening content, NTV's International Business Development divisional President Yukiko Kimishima told reporters:

So, do you reckon Asia is going to like Death Note?  Wry smile. 

Though I suppose there might be the odd one or two who haven't heard of it. Under their rock. And perhaps a handful more who never saw Death Note's 2015 TV dramatisation. They're all in for a treat.

MIPCOM - the world's entertainment content market - will be held at the Palais de Festival in Cannes this October, and Death Note will be there.

Nippon TV will be showing their live action television drama Death Note to international media industry executives, in the hope that one or more will snap it up.

If successful, then Death Note (2015) may be subtitled or dubbed for native viewers in other countries.

NTV will also be taking Matsuko-Roid - a show wherein a cross-dresser presenter and his android companion explore a future where robots have become mainstream in society - and The Kindergarten - a mix between a game show and reality TV, wherein young children are filmed completing quizzes, reacting to the appearance of monsters and confessing all on-camera.

But mostly the broadcasting corporation is pinning its international syndication hopes upon Death Note.

Confidence is already running high that the show will be picked up in the USA and Europe. A press release from NTV stated that the company were inundated with expressions of interest from television companies worldwide, as soon as their dramatic live action Death Note series was announced in June.

One buyer from Italy seemed especially keen.  Hence it may turn up on terrestrial television there sooner rather than later.

MIPCOM runs from October 5th-8th 2015.

At 10.30pm GMT, the countdown timer came to a close on an official website normally devoted to Warner Bros. Death Note movies in Japan.

I caught the moment in .gif form above, but wasn't filming widely enough to capture the message that ultimately popped up.  (Nor did I start soon enough. I was sooo going to have this counting down for 40 seconds...)

Here's a still of the final screen:

And a translation from the wonderful Amaryllis:

Which is a little strange, as said Death Note television drama had finished airing several hours before, and I'd already blogged about the announcement.

Did somebody mess their timings up?

As expected, the website was counting down to telling us about a new Death Note film, set within the Japanese live action movie universe, due for release in 2016.  See earlier blog entry for more details.

It turns out that I had way too much to say about this episode.  But I do love dissecting the symbolism and drifting off on a voyage of thematic discovery re Death Note.

You should read part one of my discussion about episode 8 in Death Note's TV drama before carrying on here. This is merely a continuation of that.

The colour yellow seemed to be everywhere in Death Note's episode eight. Particularly in the vicinity of the hapless Kudagawa and/or providing hints towards the emergence of Mello.

Previously, I was speculating that yellow, in television Death Note's colour themes, had something to do with thuggery or violence.

However, there was a very poignant moment with the colour yellow, seemingly teeming with significance, which fell back upon the traditional meaning of yellow in Japanese culture.  Namely the hue of courage or nobility.

This was the moment when Near handed L a yellow jigsaw piece and suggested they might add the final bit of the puzzle together.  And L slotted it perfectly into the partially completed jigsaw on the floor.

It was all in stark contrast to the mirror scene in episode seven, when L distractly tried to force a piece into the wrong position on a white jigsaw.

Then handed Near the errant jigsaw piece with dire warnings that it might not be himself to insert the last one.  Maybe it would be Near.

White is the colour of purity and spirituality.  Yellow is the hue of majesty and bravery.  The photography and direction of both scenes were extremely similar, but bathed in light to match the colours on the jigsaw.

Though they sat in the same relative positions, L faced Near the first time around. He sat sidewards on the second, wherein the personality could well have been Mello.  Or Near under internal barrage from Mello's scathing tones.

Plus the emotions of the major players were at odds.

In the first instance, receipt of the jigsaw piece caused consternation in a hitherto jubilant Near.  It triggered Mello into momentarily coming out, both personae swinging back and forth in domination of their body.

Meanwhile, a despondent L merely left.

In the second, a watchful Near purportedly had control of their body after earlier taking it back from Mello.  Near seemed quite pensive, until L took the jigsaw piece. 

Meanwhile, a determined L simply sat back down.  Then fitted the piece into the puzzle.

To my mind, a whole sub-current in unspoken conversation was going on here. 

In the first iteration, L was unsure if Near (and/or Mello) were even on side regarding the Kira case.  They'd joined in with the whole Babel thing, but then so had Light. 

Previously Near had left Wammy's House without sanction and proceeded to hack L's computer and interfere with his investigation vis-a-vis handing information to the errant Kira Countermeasures police team.

Right now, Near was sitting back in a position of purity, innocence or spirituality. Chaotic neutral at best, but certainly not fully signed up as L's successor in anything, let alone the battle with Light Yagami.

L handed over the white jigsaw piece as a challenge. Pretty much saying, "Who's side are you on, Near?"

We'd seen that yellow jigsaw previously in episode eight. It was after Near/Mello had been off breaking and entering, then murdering folk, then had popped back to enjoy an afternoon with L and Watari.

The former NOT playing jigsaw puzzles with his younger foster ward.  The latter baking Near's favourite cakes as a lovely treat.

Near anxiously queries L's safety with Mr Wammy, who doesn't do much to alleviate their concern.  Mello, as puppet, gleefully concludes that L is prepared to die to 'finish Kira'.  Near tells him to shut up with such talk.

Thus we get a long shot, the mirror of that above, but with Near and Mello turned 90 degrees from their prior position.

Their allegiance appears already cast with L, if the evidence of the puzzle board is to be believed. Even Mello has his sights set firmly on (the) board.

Internal decision made, all that is left now is to inform L that they will become his successors in the Kira case, if circumstances require it.  Hence the undue significance placed upon Near (or was that Mello; it works best as a combination of the two) handing over that yellow jigsaw piece.

Yellow for courage and/or nobility. 

And note that we're not yet over the hidden chess-piece symbolism either. Near's come from a position of white - spirituality, priesthood, monks - and he's now sitting in L's gigantic chessboard room, occupying the Bishop spot.

Moreover, look at how prominently L's White Queen pillar is displayed, along with all that lighting picking out Near/Mello, in the instant immediately prior to the yellow jigsaw piece being handed over.

Near and Mello may play black or white in this particular, or indeed any, game of chess. But right now they are firmly aligned with the White Queen, in whose defence L is prepared to become over-shadowed. 

In short, the second iteration of this scene is a continuance of the first.  "Who's side are you on, Near?"  "Yours, L."

Light's strategy, early on in episode eight, surrounded setting up matters so that Misa acquired shinigami eyes. 

It didn't quite work out like that, but it set up an on-going theme involving eyes and watchfulness per se, which ran throughout this entire chapter in television's Death Note story-telling.

Here are a few such recurrences:

Only this time, L had pulled off the most delightful twist. Circumventing Near's trick from the Yellow Box scene in canon - swapping the Death Note for a fake, thus surviving.

Thus giving all us old timers watching something unanticipated to enjoy.  No-one's averting their eyes here, I can tell you.  It's aye all round!

There was a bit, quite early on, wherein Light bent over his Death Note was attempting to justify his use of it.  He said something which seemed to me to paraphrase MacBeth's famous line, quoted above from his eponymous play by William Shakespeare.

All this spoken whilst staring down at his clawed fingers in a 'will these hand ne'er be clean?' kind of way.

I wish I could find where I wrote about that, because it was very much mirrored by L's feigned first usage of his own Death Note.  Only with the hooked hands bit substituted for a 'is this a dagger I see before me?' sort of pen-holding stance.

Same MacBeth quote in modern form though.

Oh!  And he had a Tolkeinesque moment too - with L practically recasting himself as Samwise right at the instant when the hobbit realises his best friend Frodo can't escape the fatal pull towards using the Ring.

All in all, it's (patently) left me fascinated, and I can't wait to catch up with the three remaining episodes.  Though writing their analyses in blog entries might take longer.

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.

A rather intriguing countdown timer has appeared on the official Warner Bros website for their Japanese live action Death Note films.

Ordinarily, the site is dedicated to the earlier trilogy of Death Note movies - Death Note (2006); Death Note II: The Last Name (2006); and L: Change the World (2008).

They were all distributed by Warner Bros., with the first two produced in conjunction with Nippon Television (NTV).

This is significant, as the timer on that website runs out on September 13th 2015, at 10.30pm Japanese time.  Also known as the moment when the final installment of NTV's Death Note television drama finishes airing.

In short, the small screen climax will coincide with whatever news for the big screen this will bring.  A double w(h)ammy for Death Note fans then.

Naturally I've checked the source code to see what clues might lie in there. Nothing much. Just a plain, old page with the apple icon bouncing and the countdown completing.

Its meta tags are all in Japanese, but for one English language rendering of the title Death Note and the words 'movie, trailer'. Which are repeated in the native tongue too, alongside the kanji for Yagami, Light, Raito, Kira, Shueisha, Nippon Television, NTV, official, film, Warner and Warner Bros.

All of which could pertain to the content this counter replaced.  Or might not.

The current buzz, across the fandom and anime/manga news sites, is that we're about to see a fourth Japanese live action Death Note film announced. But it's all speculation at this juncture. 

What do you think?