Category: Real-world-death-notes

Ohio Schoolgirl Cosplayer Suspended After Attending School Fandom Costume Fundraiser Dressed as Light Yagami with Death Note Prop

23/3/2016

I've seen some nonsensical school Death Note replica over-reactions in my time, but this one truly takes the biscuit. Or should that be the cookie? As needless to say, this is the USA.

An anime loving girl - aged 12-14 - has been given a three day suspension from Lakewood Middle School in Hebron, Licking County, Ohio, for turning up clutching a reproduction Death Note.

Inside were listed the names of some of her friends. Unlike many previous cases, this wasn't a lashing out silently at bullies situation. This was a bit of fun, attempting to freak out her buddies.

Because here's the rub: it was a 'spirit day'. A fund-raising event for the school, whereby pupils could don the costume of their favourite fandom character. She arrived cosplaying Light Yagami.

She'd spent the weekend creating the notebook as a prop. It was part of the outfit.

Half the friends listed in it admitted that they also owned replica Death Notes. They were fans too. Though reports have been careful to add that none of them had written each other's names in it.

The girl in question didn't anticipate any hassle. Probably because she saw no danger, only fun. On account of the fact that a shinigami's notebook of death is a fictitious thing; and anyway, she didn't own one. She'd crafted it herself in her bedroom. No Ryuk in attendance.

No-one was ever going to die.

The fund-raiser occurred on March 14th 2016. During the morning, the girl had misplaced her Death Note - which is described as little more than a booklet or pamphlet - and a teacher found it. Flicked through, discovered the names and raised the alarm. All they needed to do then was identify who owned the prop.

They evidently knew enough about Death Note to link the item with the student in Light Yagami cosplay.

She got in trouble over coming as Kira (well, as Kira WITH notebook) and was told not to mention the forthcoming discipline to anyone. However, being a pre-teen and probably chaffing under the absurdity of the situation, she 'vented' to a male schoolmate - whose name was also on the list.

He freaked out and phoned his parents, one of whom came to the school to 'voice their concerns'.

Next thing you know, a local sheriff had also arrived at the school - possibly called in by the parent - to investigate the threat. One report says she was charged with 'inducing panic'; another says no charges were filed at all.

Nevertheless a three day suspension from school it was, and the rest of the world rolls its eyes with utter incredulity.

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Apparently Measured Response in Edmond, Oklahoma, After 8th Grader's Replica Death Note Found in Sequoyah Middle School

6/2/2016

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Edmond Oklahoma Sequoyah Middle School Death Note

We get so used to hearing of hysterical over-reactions concerning US schoolchildren with reproduction Death Notes in their classrooms. We're surely by now forgiven knee-jerk responses of 'here we go again' to each initial report of another one found.

It's become an overly pleasant surprise to find that no parent, principal nor police officer has mistaken the prop for the real thing; thus inadvertently announcing their own belief that shinigami are real and names on paper have the power to kill outside the pages of a manga.

This measured, common sense approach is precisely what happened this week in Edmond, Oklahoma, if news reports are accurate.

In fact the education district's information officer even correctly identified the replica and references as pertaining to Death Note.

On February 4th 2016, an eighth-grade pupil at Sequoyah Middle School was spotted with a cosplay Death Note on his person. His teacher took it off him and flicked to the inner pages. Whereupon a list naming four fellow students and two teachers was uncovered. In the time-honoured (or besmirched) tradition of Kira, the time, date and manner of their deaths were also included right alongside.

According to Edmond Public Schools Public Information Officer Susan Parks-Schlepp, the assigned wish-list of their demise contained elements so fantastical that they couldn't possibly be carried out by the young teen. Privacy and decorum prevented her from recounting them, though a very familiar sounding example was used: heart-attack within forty seconds.

His replica Death Note confiscated, the Sequoyah schoolboy - who would be aged 13-14 years old - was said to be very co-operative. What happened next is detailed in a letter to parents, penned by School Principal Jason Galloway, aired via a local news channel.:

Dear Sequoyah Families,

Nothing is more important to me in my work with your children than their safety and well-being; and I honestly believe that it takes our entire community to ensure the safety of our Edmond students. This is why I am writing to you this afternoon - to enlist your support today and always and to advise you of a situation that came to my attention today.

This morning I learned that a Sequoyah student generated a list indicating possible harm to some classmates and staff. With this information, we took immediate action to isolate the student while we simultaneously contacted the Edmond Police Department via our School Resource Officer. Together, we intervened to establish contact with the student and the student's family, who have cooperated fully with law enforcement. The school has applied the appropriate discipline policy and the student is no longer on campus. As a matter of assurance, please be advised that no weapons were involved.

We are contacting the families of the students who were identified by telephone. We are confident that the school and all of our students were safe throughout this investigation and for the future as well. Thank you for your continued support as we move forward.

Respectfully,
Jason Galloway
Principal

Letter sent to parents from Sequoyah Middle School principal re Death Note initmator Feb 4th 2016

Letter sent by the principal of Sequoyah Middle School to parents,
after an eight grader's intimation Death Note was found on campus

The police in Edmond wrapped up their investigation pretty much the same day - no crime had been committed and all was well, insofar as regarded their jurisdiction. Whether 'the student is no longer on campus' means he was suspended, excluded, or merely that his parents took him home for the day, is unclear.

But from the Death Note News point of view, the most refreshing aspect of all was how no-one seems to have blurred fiction with fact. No erstwhile Light Yagami was supposed to have stepped from the pages of a manga into Edmond's real life.

Hopefully those tasked with the well-being of all children involved (and teachers too) get to smooth whatever waters were ruffled to prompt this, and the rest of us get to keep our noses out.

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Not That Kind of Death Note

9/12/2015

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As part of our research and heads up on stories to bring you about Death Note, we're subscribed to several general news sources, each searching for the key phrase 'Death Note', amongst others.

However 'death note' doesn't only describe a manga from Japan. In some countries (the USA seems prevalent, as does India) it's an alternative name for a suicide note.   Every so often, our trawl through the world's online papers feeds a tragic, albeit off-topic for us report about someone ending their own life and leaving a message to tell their kin and kith why.

I've heard it said that emergency services note that suicides peak around the holiday season, but this is the first time I've seen it reflected in our RSS feeds. Right now, I'm staring at ten distinct and separate cases from around the world. Over half of the whole feed, with the rest reporting actual Ohba penned Death Note news (all of which we've already long since covered in our own stories).

Ordinarily I'd skip over them, as they are irrelevant here. But today, I wondered if perhaps they are. Perhaps someone searching for death notes/suicide notes online, in order to write their own (stranger things have happened) might stumble across this. And that would be Fate.   Don't do it. You matter.   And most of all, sod 'em.   This is your life, as much as it is your death, and there is always a third way unforeseen until you attempt the audacious.

Here is the wording for your death note:

'Today I was going to kill myself.   Today, I will. But not that part of me that lives and breathes. Only that which has been straining to breathe, yet chokes on the cards dealt to me.   Today instead, I will take the first deep and long breath of many, and today I am going to find out what living means. And I will be fabulous.

Watch me fly.

yours
That Beautiful Person you used to call The Sad One
xxxxx'

And on the off-chance you need more than my prose to keep this show on the road, then please make like Alice and CLICK ME. Good luck.

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Common Sense Approach to Death Note Replica Found in New Hampshire School

17/10/2015

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With real life asserting itself quite forcibly behind the scenes of Death Note News, we're a little late reporting upon a story we saw breaking earlier this week.

Yet this has turned out to be quite a boon, as we've instead watched events unfolding in quite astounding ways at Nashua High School North, in the USA's New Hampshire.

At least insofar as these things normally turn out.

Seventeen Names Discovered in New Hampshire Schoolgirl's Fake Death Note

On the morning of Friday, October 9th 2015, a store bought cosplay Death Note(book) was discovered in the possession of a Nashua schoolgirl.

No details concerning how, when, where or why have emerged, other than it was found by administrators at Nashua High School North.

Known for its athletic achievements, this public educational faculty is located in the city of Nashua, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire.

What is clear is that the notebook contained the names of seventeen fellow students. In the fabled tradition of Kira, the date, time and manner of their (proposed) deaths was listed alongside each entry.

Naturally no-one actually died, as this was a replica Death Note and the schoolgirl wasn't Light Yagami.

Costume Death Note replica
- one of many available
to buy for cosplay purposes.

While no details have been released regarding the teenager, nor her motives in writing the names, unofficial sources* have claimed that they were her bullies. Listing them was merely a cathartic exercise by a besieged young lady.

* Comments on reports published on-line by local news agencies.

No Hysteria in New Hampshire Over Death Note

Third on the list was a classmate named Madeline Charest. As gossip about the discovery leaked amongst the student fraternity, she learned of her placement and 'in fear' visited School Principal Marianne Busteed.

The principal informed her that 'it was being handled and please return to class'.

This is the first hint - chronologically - of the common sense approach taken by Busteed and other Nashua authority figures in dealing with the incident.

A reaction which felt downright refreshing to read, when compared to the hysteria usually accompanying Death Note related 'scares' in US schools.

Just see some of the recent stories (linked right) for evidence of that. Not even accounting for the boy expelled in 2008 for writing George W Bush's name in a 'Death Note'.

June 2015: 13 year old Connecticut boy arrested by police and suspended from school after being found with a reproduction Death Note(book).

April 2014: 10 year old Tennessee boy suspended from school for two weeks, after tearing page out of an ordinary notebook and writing Death Note on the top.

February 2014: Depressed and suicidal 8th grader in Arizona submitted for psychiatric treatment after a replica Death Note is found on him at school.

Perhaps inspired by Charest's visit - especially as it foreshadowed the kind of fuss her mother could kick up - or else in line with general school policy, Principal Busteed drafted an email to parents.

Posted shortly before close of day on that same Friday, it briefly outlined what had occurred - that administrators and a 'school resource officer' had recovered a Death Note from an unnamed pupil.

Iterating that 'at no time was any child in danger', the principal explained that the costume reproduction Death Note itself posed no threat. It could easily be bought from retailers, both in real world shops and online.

She went on to provide a context for the prop:

According to the story, the book is perceived to have some kind of magical power to cause harm to the person listed — there were several of our Titan students’ names on the list.
~ Principal Marianne Busteed, report by Kimberley Houghton, 'Death list' with names of 17 students discovered at Nashua High School North, New Hampshire Union Leader (October 12th 2015)

Before emphasizing those facets bound to most occupy the minds of parents:

Please know that the safety of our students is our primary concern, and that we will fully discipline the student who developed this list in accordance with the Nashua School District student behavior standards
~ Ibid

The school then individually contacted the parents of those pupils whose names had appeared within the pages of that fake Death Note. Keeping them in the loop, assuring each that their child was never in any actual danger, and offering counsellors for any student who might feel unsafe at school due to the imitation Death Note.

Nobody appears to have added that said counsellors could also point out the difference between fantasy and reality, with particular regard to how owning Death Note memorabilia does not make one Kira.

Rabble Rousing Parent Facebook Panics over Replica Death Note in Nashua

None of which was enough for Madeline's mother Danielle Charest, whose hyperbolic feats of panicked conjecture and lynch mob mindset grew to most spectacular levels with each newspaper contacted.

But first she took to Facebook.

Danielle Charest - Nashua parent Facebook post re Death Note

Danielle Charest's Facebook account of
Nashua School Death Note incident (October 12th 2015)

Reading the comments to the Facebook post is quite something. Quite a few people seemed to wholeheartedly agree with the Nashua mother's statement that this 'was in no way an unsafe situation'.

Presumably because they all thought that a shinigami MIGHT turn up and words written on a piece of paper would come true.

Though in truth, none of them were overly concerned about such things. They were all too busy equating costume notebooks with firearms, and playing armchair psychiatrists in denunciations of the schoolgirl as 'mentally unstable' or a 'sociopath'.

By the time they'd finished warming up, their calls and emails had gone out to every major news outlet, plus everyone from the local Mayor to the President of the United States (and his wife).

Meanwhile, the young lady in possession of the Death Note had reached out on Facebook to Madeline Charest, in order to apologise for any upset and assure her that she really didn't mean any harm.

Imitation Death Note at Nashua High School Sparks Social Panic in the Press

Concerned about Death Note Nashua parent Danielle Charest on WMUR9

Concerns about Death Note - Nashua parent Danielle Charest (WMUR, Oct 12th 2015)

You can't get away from the name Danielle Charest in news reports about the cosplay Death Note notebook found in the possession of a girl in Nashua. As a concerned parent, Charest ensured that she wrested her full fifteen minutes of fame from the incident.

"I think the mystery shrouding this is what's causing the alarm to parents... Parents are afraid. Kids are afraid."
~ Danielle Charest, report by Mike Cronin, 'Death Notes' (sic) book found in Nashua school raises concerns, WCVB (October 12th 2015)

Thus proving that she could neither read Principal Busteed's e-mail, nor search online for Death Note. Unless the 'mystery' was simply when Nashua could expect a visit from Ryuk, Rem or their ilk?

"I pray with every ounce of my being that it's never something that would turn into a tragedy," Charest said. "But how do you know it wouldn't? How do you know this isn't the beginning of a tragic situation?"
~ Ibid

Because Shinigami notebooks don't work as advertised outside the pages of a Japanese manga - give or take the anime, television and movie adaptations.

Exactly the same story was repeated on WMUR News on Demand (October 12th 2015), though the editor there at least caught the typo in the headline. This version is notable because of the 200+ comments left upon it, constituting a slanging match/witch-hunt starring Nashua High School North parents and associates.

Grab your peanuts and switch your incredulity levels down low to read them. You'll need it.

Personal favourites include:

Momof2, who claimed her daughter didn't know why she was on the list, but it was probably because she's 'pretty and has friends'.
BrianHyland, who agrees that writing names down won't hurt the individual but 'writing them down in that book, is a serious matter'.

There were plenty more beyond those, but once you've waded through with your jaw gaping once, it gets pretty tedious on the return trip.

Meanwhile, my prize for best social scare-mongering presentation of the story in the press goes to Seventeen Magazine for this:

Social scare about Death Note in Seventeen

Good try, Seventeen, but a gun isn't anything like 'a book called Death Notes' (sic)

Practical Response from Police and Principal in Nashua Death Note 'Scare'

After all that frothing at the mouth, it might be wondered why the reaction to a Death Note in Nashua was deemed 'refreshing' and 'a common sense approach' way back at the beginning.

That's because - under considerable pressure from parents to act otherwise - those in charge of the situation kept things utterly in proportion.

Principal Marianne Busteed refused to release the girl's name, nor any details concerning disciplinary action carried out by Nashua High School North. If, indeed, any was judged appropriate to the situation.

All this despite a barrage of calls and emails from parents and the press demanding that she spill immediately.

She also arranged a meeting for parents at the school on October 13th. Then, when Danielle Charest and co began to rally people to attend and demand more answers than the principal was legally (and ethnically) able to give, Busteed simply closed the meeting to all but those parents directly involved.

Meanwhile, Nashua police officers did investigate, and representatives were on hand to answer questions and reassure at the Tuesday evening meeting.

We did not find any evidence that the student had intended to harm students or that there were any plans beyond simply placing the students’ names on the list.
~ Superintendent Mike Conrad, report by Kevin Melrose, New Hampshire high school shaken by ‘Death Note’ scare (October 14th 2015)

However, he had to admit that some parents were left frustrated, as he 'couldn't share all of the information' regarding their investigation, nor personal details about the girl in question, nor anything about potential disciplinary measures.

She's a juvenile. US privy laws protect such things, particularly if she's not been charged with anything.

He also shook off requests that the girl be constantly monitored by the judiciary, including a watch on all her digital communications across all devices. It was neither necessary nor legal in the circumstances.

I assigned multiple detectives to this; it is an ongoing investigation... We don't feel there's an ongoing safety issue.
~ Nashua Police Chief Andrew Lavoie, report by Osvaldo Nunez, 'Nothing To Worry About' After High School Officials Find 'Death Note' With Names In Them, Design & Trend (October 16th 2015)

Police Chief Lavoie confirmed that no arrests had been made, though all concerned continued to take the case seriously.

The sticking point being that no crime had actually been committed. The replica Death Note could not kill.

The student and their parents were interviewed and were very cooperative and open about what was going on. It was determined that no criminal threatening, nor any other crimes were committed.
~ Nashua Deputy Police Chief Michael Carignan, report by Tina Forbes, Authorities report school safe after ‘Death Note’ found, Nashua Telegraph (October 16th 2015)

Meanwhile, the girl herself has apparently been doing the rounds of calling those listed in her book to apologize. It was never meant to be taken seriously. It was never meant to be all this.

But if she's frightened them, then she's genuinely sorry.

As was said before - all quite refreshingly practical, polite and proportional in response from those central to the situation. (Less so from those on the periphery.)

Now. Is anyone going to deal with the fact that she was purportedly being bullied, and that's why she listed those seventeen names in her notebook in the first place?

Just wondering.

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Lucknow Police to Blame Death Note 'Code' for Teenager's Apparent Suicide

13/8/2015

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Rahul Sridhar Facebook Death Note banner

Death Note cover picture alert
from Rahul Sridhar's Facebook profile

Death Note fans, were you aware that we have a code of conduct - enshrined into being by Kira himself - which commands us to destroy all evidence of our own lives, if such could potentially be sought by police?

Nope, neither was I.

Yet that is precisely the conclusion set to be reached by Indian investigators, as they pen their final report into the tragic death of teenager Rahul Sridhar. (For more context, see Rahul Sridhar: Lucknow Teen Suicide Linked to Death Note (April 2015))

Police have devoted three pages to the fifteen year old's obsession with Death Note, including noting that Rahul had updated his Facebook cover picture to depict Light Yagami. Thus proving that Kira was his hero, or at least someone whom he saw as representative of himself.

The official report says that this explains anomalies in the boy's behaviour shortly before his alleged suicide, particularly the burning of certain papers and wiping clean portions of his digital history too.

The boy was patently emulating Kira, prior to the latter being arrested by L. This is the infamous Death Note Code to which we surely all adhere.

In both cases - fact and fiction - the result was a lack of evidence by which the full story may be pieced together by police.

Sorry, investigators, as someone fully entrenched within the Death Note fandom for quite some time, I have never heard of such a code being prevalent amongst us. In fact, Rahul's death is the first time I've ever encountered even a suggestion that it might be a thing.

It's not, nor should it ever be.

And I do hope that such scaremongering doesn't lead to Indian parents all panic snatching their children's manga from bookshelves, nor petitioning politicians, libraries and stores to ban Death Note as a dangerous influence.

Particularly when it's a conclusion reached through lack of evidence.

In the meantime, RIP Rahul Sridhar, I do wish your own life could have been otherwise. You were one of us.

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State Police Called on Connecticut Seventh Grader with a 'Death Note' at School

8/7/2015

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Here's a true story which made headlines while I was busy moving house. It takes place in Connecticut, USA, where a thirteen year old boy caused chaos, terror and confusion by taking a Death Note to school.

By 'Death Note', I don't mean the standard issue given to shinigamis. I mean one he'd made himself with a staple and some sheets of paper folded in two. Nobody died.

I feel like I'm insulting your intelligence having to clarify that, but apparently its a thing that whole herds of adults - some in positions of authority - wouldn't consider for themselves. Their panic and, dare we say, over-reaction led by example to stir even their Tween children into worrying for their lives.

So to reiterate, the homemade Death Note didn't cause heart-attacks, nor any other mode of fatality, within 40 seconds.

Nevertheless, the police were called and the seventh grader arrested. He's been suspended from Jewett City's Griswold Middle School until the end of term (actually just a few days in this instance), with his future inclusion dependent upon the result of a police investigation.

Image: News report of a real world Death Note in Connecticut

Screenshot from WTNH's News Report (YouTube, June 17th 2015)

A Connecticut Kira at Griswold Middle School

Griswold Middle School
Jewett City, CT, USA

The boy had been rumbled by a class-mate, who saw his Death Note and spotted that there were names written inside.

The friend 'phoned home, fearing for his own life. Whereupon his father pretty much lost the plot in panicking and instead of saying, "Son, such notebooks belong to the realm of myth and fantasy, you're quite safe. Do you want me to come anyway?" Dad 'phoned the school and demanded that they keep his boy safe until he got there.

Apparently the class-mate's name wasn't even amongst those scrawled within.

School Superintendent Paul Smith stated that there was 'less than six' names listed. (So five? Four? Why is he the superintendent of a school, if he can't count up to six?) His office confiscated the notebook on Friday (June 12th 2015), then sat on it all weekend.

The following Monday, the police were called in to deal with the dangerous thirteen year old and his book. The parents or guardians of those children listed within it were privately notified.

Then on Tuesday, a school-wide e-mail went out to every parent. Mass panic ensued forthwith.

Jewett City Parents Panic Over Juvenile

Panic buttons pressed

I'm the last person to assume that what is written in the papers is unadulterated fact (I lived through the Miners' Strike in Britain), but if even a modicum of truth is reflected here, it's almost hilarious.

Well it would be, if a child's educational future wasn't hanging in the balance.

Let me illustrate with how some parents were quoted in the media:

“We were petrified, absolutely petrified." - Kim Gauthier (WFSB 3 Eyewitness News, June 16th 2015)
"What's being done? I made a call to the school. I wanted to be assured that (my son) was safe at the time." - Tony Gauthier (husband of the above) (NBH Connecticut, June 17th 2015)
“It is concerning (sic) that a young child wrote a letter like that.” - Crystal Littlefield (WTNH Connecticut News 8, June 17th 2015)
“It is pretty frightening. You never know what goes on in a kid’s mind, at that point." - Tom Buris (Ibid)

At least this one sounds a little more measured in his reaction:

"I'm more shocked than anything that this stuff is going on in the school. "More information would have helped me understand this situation more." Rodney McCoy (The Bulletin (Norwich), June 16th 2015)

Meanwhile School Superintendent Paul Smith did imply that some parents had been downright rational about it all, asking him if the notebook couldn't be considered an expression of creativity.

In an interview with Wolverine Radio, Smith explained that he'd been over many quite innocent scenarios as suggested by parents in conversation with him. But his stance was that 'the school really has no reaction but to go all the way to the extreme of this is a credible threat.' (My Griswold, News, date not given)

Though, in fairness, the mass e-mail sent to parents that Tuesday did iterate that the school judged their children to be safe and all end of term events would continue as scheduled.

However, Connecticut State Police Sgt. Shane Hassett told the press, "Those in the book were meant to die."

He doesn't state how.

Death Note's Kira (who actually is dangerous with a notebook)

Pst! The Death Note isn't Real

Am I being too scathing here?

Perhaps I'm missing the point or prematurely losing patience in the sheer relentless with which these kind of stories keep coming up. Maybe my cynicism and lack of compassion comes from knowing all about the manga. Therefore grasping its preternatural plot-line enough to know that a wouldn't be a credible threat in the real world.

But I don't think so. A simple internet search, or a question in a book-store or the library would inform those parents just as much.

So where is the common sense? Where is the touch upon reality?

Just once, I want to hear about a parent, police officer, teacher or educational administrator pausing to think, 'Erm, does this Death Note work as advertised? Because if not, then it's fundamentally a few bits of paper folded together in a home-made booklet.'

There's a very easy test to find out. Place your hand upon the paper. Do you see a shinigami? Nope? Then it's probably not going to give anyone a heart attack, give or take those allowing their blood pressure to rise out of sheer paranoia.

In fact, there's an even easier test to discover its authenticity. Are you a character in a Japanese manga? No. Then it's not a blasted Death Note!

Between me and you, the object is fictitious. If your child bought a pair of plastic fangs, would you panic that (s)he had become Dracula? No! By the same token, a black notebook, however well designed and/or horrifically inscribed, does not make your kid Kira.*

Now let's address a more pertinent question - why is your child so desperate that to kill - even in fantasy - seems the only way forward? Or is it that your little one is a bully? In which case, for the sake of those being psychologically intimidated, parent him/her.

Or better still, why are YOU living in so much fear that a 13 year old with a piece of paper sounds so very threatening?

These are the questions which seem key to me.

* Though finding a stick and waving it around as a make-believe light-saber DOES make you a Jedi knight. That's how I became one.

Cosplay Death Note Journal
available from Amazon US

Replica Death Notes Available as Toys

The Griswold boy didn't have to make his own Death Note replica. Money permitting, he could have bought a fairly realistic prop quite easily.

Cosplayers and other fans have been adding them to their collections for years!

Reproduction Death Notes are harmlessly marketed as toys - with a huge array from which to choose right here on Death Note News.

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Rahul Sridhar: Lucknow Teen Suicide Linked to Death Note

18/4/2015

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Man Down: Rahul Sridhar (15)

Rahul Sridhar - a fifteen year old Death Note fan from Lucknow, India - jumped to his death from his school building this week.

At least two newspapers are linking that to his love of the manga.

Rahul came from Lucknow - the capital city of India's Upper Pradesh district - where he attended the prestigious La Martiniere school.

On April 10th 2015, at 11.15am, he leapt from a fourth floor ledge of its Constantia building. Rahul was rushed to hospital with horrific head injuries, where he died shortly later. His suicide was witnessed by several horrified students, some of whom have penned blogs to express their traumatised reactions.

Rahul's elder brother Rohit has hit out at school authorities. They didn't act fast enough to curb the bullying to which his brother was subjected at the school. Rohit believes it wasn't even suicide. He's lodged a complaint with the police stating that Rahul may have been pushed by those same bullies.

The investigation thus far appears to have circled around another angle - Rahul had been spending a lot of time talking and texting with a female friend. He deleted entries from his call log and burned papers upon the ledge, which are suspected to have pertained to her.

When he died, a note in his back pocket read, 'waiting for you Juliet'. He'd painted 'waiting for you' on a wall close to where he jumped.

Rahul Sridhar and Death Note

However, some elements of the press are seizing upon Rahul Sridhar's love of Death Note as a contributory factor in this tragic event.

The front page of the Hindustan Times, on April 12th 2015, ran an editorial noting that Rahul's Facebook cover image was Death Note related.

It was Kira, captioned 'I am the God of this New World'.

Under the headline 'Was 'Death Note' as FB Cover Rahul's distress signal?', it was reported that La Martinere's school management were left 'puzzled' by the picture. They would be looking into what 'drove' the teenager to read the 'thriller'.

It was suggested that reading manga like Death Note would be used in future as an alert. Students enjoying such literature might find it triggering a recommendation to their parents that counseling should be forthcoming.

On the same day, The Times of India scrambled around to find people who would attest that Rahul Sridhar was indeed an introverted, manga obsessed Death Note fan.

Under the headline 'Introvert Who Doodled Death Note', Sawil Khan - who rode on the same school bus as the stricken teen - told reporters that Rahul didn't interact much with other students, preferring to listen to music on his MP3 player. Mihir Kumar - another classroom - called Rahul introverted.

Then Rohit Sridhar described his brother's propensity to draw manga and anime characters that Rahul liked. '(Death Note) was there in every notebook of his. It was his favourite.'

In short, reporters are already reaching to stick this one onto Death Note.

Hindustan Times (April 12th 2015)

Don't Blame Death Note for Teen's Death

Light Yagami in Death Note

There are plenty of armchair psychologists, without full possession of the facts, coming up with speculation on such matters as these. Journalists with copy to sell finding any theory to shift newspapers from their stands.

I can't escape the unsettling feeling that I could be counted amongst them.

But I like to think that I'm writing for pity - my heart breaks when I consider what Rahul's family and friends are going through right now - and awareness. No problem is so vast that time can't move it along, with a little help from communication and working to fix the underlying issues. I didn't know Rahul, but I wish my time machine worked and I could be on that ledge waiting for him.

We had a shared language and frame of reference. We had Death Note.

Tragedy and heartbreak aside, what worries me most about speculation in the wake of Rahul's suicide is this propensity to find a thing - Death Note - and apportion blame. It's too pat, too easy and won't save the next child to stand on a ledge and wish for an end.

The next Rahul will be helped by those investigating with all the known facts. Those who can identify the bullying, the (failed? thwarted?) romance, the depression or whatever else it really was that drove him to despair. Because it sure as Hell wasn't Death Note.

The darkness and moral ambiguity of that story, to my mind, is the sort of thing that appeals to those who think deeply about right and wrong. It's an escape; an avenue for catharsis, which might have saved another mind. If whatever required the escape wasn't so overwhelmingly stacked against him.

I guess that all I'm saying is - don't reach for the easy answer, nor play the blame game on something which causes a moral scare enough to make this go away. Because it won't go away, as long as the real reasons are there.

Tackle them. That's all.

And for now, RIP Rahul Sridhar. I didn't know you, but you were one of our own. We have a man down and for that I'm sorry.

Need to talk about it?

Whatever crap is going down, I can guarantee that you are loved and will be missed by more people than you know. You matter a lot.

Befrienders Worldwide
- International organisation providing local helplines for those feeling like suicide is the only way out. It's not. Please give them a chance to prove it to you.

Stay beautiful.

L calls; Watari waits

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Ten Year Old Tennessee Boy Suspended from School for Passing Around 'Death Note'

25/4/2014

2 Comments

Parents at Sycamore Elementary School, in Collierville, Tennessee, are calling for a young boy to be expelled after he created his own 'Death Note'.

The ten year old apparently ripped a page from an ordinary notebook, wrote 'Death Note' on the top and listed class-mates names underneath. Then passed it around his fifth grade class.

This naturally panicked the children whose names featured on the list. One of whom was the daughter of Jill Wiernik, who approached her mother in floods of tears at home time.

The mother immediately marched into the Principal's Office and had the boy suspended from school for two weeks.

On April 23rd 2014, he was back in class. This didn't impress Ms Wiernik, who used Facebook to rally other parents to the cause of getting the child expelled for good. She told EyeWitness News, 'This is criminal activity, and it needs to be handled not only by a juvenile court but by the board of education. And they're not looking out for the best interest of the 800 students.'

For the record, Death Note is fiction, and even within that universe the names had to be written upon a page supplied by a Shinigami. Personally, I'm not convinced that merely writing 'Death Note' at the top of an ordinary piece of paper - in the real world - constitutes the making of the next Light Yagami. Particularly since no child died of a heart attack within the next 40 seconds.

Am I being too harsh or flippant here? What do you think?

2 Comments

Urals Teen Suicide Led to Calls to Ban Death Note in Russia

28/2/2014

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Hobo CTN news report about Death Note suicide girl in Russia

HoboCTN news report linking
Russian teen's suicide
with Death Note

It's always tragic when people die young. But when its suicide, then the tragedy, anger and guilt go into overdrive.

That's when the blame games really kick off, and a year ago this week, it was Death Note in the frame.

On February 20th 2013, a fifteen year old girl leapt from the 13th floor of an apartment building in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Her suicide note simply read, 'I don't want to live anymore'.

What drew the ire of her distraught parents towards Death Note was where the missive was left - on a pile of four volumes of the manga.

There was apparently no other link. She didn't write, nor tell friends, that Light Yagami had told her to do it. Nor did she seem to have any avowed affinity with Naomi Misora. It was just the position of the suicide note that made the link.

However, the teenager's bereft parents quickly blamed Death Note for making suicide seem so enticing.

That fury was channelled into a protest against the manga. Russian parents soon began campaigning for President Vladimir Putin to ban Death Note outright from the country.

Does Death Note Promote Suicide?

No. In my opinion, it really does not.

The parents protesting in the Urals stated that the story 'arouses an interest in death'. But so does living. And I'd argue that this particular manga actually warns against death.

As a Death Note fan, I know that there's nothing in the story to spark any wish to end your life. It's a dark tale, but those who die stay dead.

There's no fantasy Other World to entice the lost and lonely like, say, the Annwn of the Mabinogion or the Tír na nÓg of the Tain. The only supernatural realm present in the narrative is the home of the Shinigami, but mortals don't go there. It's for the Death Gods alone.

For a manga story so concerned with death and destruction, there's not even a single ghost. This isn't Bleach.

On the contrary, the only Fate mentioned for humans beyond death is Mu. That is the nothingness, the loss of all existence, for those who touch a Death Note. As for everyone else, the Death Note universe and its implied philosophy is completely silent on the matter.

If anything, Death Note is all about survival. People do reckless things, but the narrative is ultimately about a lot of individuals going out of their way to stay alive. If life wasn't so precious, then nobody would have cared enough about Kira to try and stop him.

My heart goes out to this girl's parents, and all others who loved her. They all have my profound condolences. But I'm hard pushed to think of anything in Death Note that could have inspired that leap, even if read through the twisted interpretations of extreme distress.

What do you all think?

Was Death Note Banned in Russia?

No, it wasn't.

Death Note was translated into Russian in 2012. It had long since been available on-line in Japanese, English and many other languages besides, so this wasn't the first time that Russians per se had access to it.

(In fact, I had two Russian Death Note fans ask permission to translate my fan-fiction back in 2009. They'd long since got past the point of enjoying the canon and well into the realms of fan produced stories in foreign languages!

Blanket permission was granted for them to translate any and all of my Death Note fan-fiction. They duly did so and added it to an already bustling Russian Death Note fan forum, which was bursting at the seams with stories based on the manga.)

President Putin has hitherto ignored calls for Russia to ban Death Note anime, manga and other related media. Hence the Russian Death Note fandom are still able to hear Nika Lenina's beautiful version of the original ending theme song.

I just wish that the poor girl in Yekaterinburg could too.

What are your thoughts on the subject? Could Death Note have really been a factor in the teenager's death? And do you think Russia should ban the manga, or keep on importing and translating it?

10 Comments

Hysteria After Depressed Arizona Eighth-Grader Found with Replica Death Note

25/2/2014

8 Comments

ABC screenshot of Death Note in Arizona school

ABC News report on the Arizona
school Death Note story

Police were called into an elementary school, in Florence, Arizona, after a student was found with a Death Note.

It's unclear whether the notebook was hand-made or a merchandised version designed for cosplay. But it had Death Note written on the cover along with at least one rule - those names written inside will die.

Within the pages, the adolescent had penned the names of over a dozen fellow pupils at Anthem Elementary School.

His family had already been concerned about the boy's depression. He'd been kept off school for the first part of the week - in early February 2014 - in order that he might calm down somewhat.

Once back in class, his teachers were tipped off when he sent a text to another student threatening suicide. The Death Note was discovered when his school-bag was searched, and local police department was duly alerted.

Parents of pupils at Anthem Elementary School received a robocall notice that a threat had been detected on the premises. Those whose names were on the list were personally called by the head teacher.

The boy never gave any indication that he planned to physically harm the other children. He seemed to hope that his Death Note would actually work.

He's now undergoing (presumably psychiatric) treatment, after which the school will decide what - if any - action they will take.

More information:

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Need to talk about it?

Ten Year Old Tennessee Boy Suspended from School for Passing Around 'Death Note'

Urals Teen Suicide Led to Calls to Ban Death Note in Russia

Does Death Note Promote Suicide?

Was Death Note Banned in Russia?

Hysteria After Depressed Arizona Eighth-Grader Found with Replica Death Note

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