Updates, discussion, events and news about Death Note.
Death Note News
  • News
  • Death Note Month of...
    • Kira Month
    • Matsuda Month
    • Misa Month
    • Naomi Misora Month
    • Wammy Month
  • Death Note Interviews
    • Drew Nelson Interview
    • No Need to Stay Interview
  • Death Note Gifts
    • Death Note Books
    • Death Note Cosplay
    • Death Note DVDs
    • Death Note Music
    • Death Note Accessories
    • Death Note Mugs and Water Bottles
    • Death Note Christmas Gifts >
      • It Matters Death Note Christmas Gifts
    • Character Stores >
      • Death Note Light Yagami Gifts
      • Death Note Matt Gifts
      • Death Note Mello Gifts
      • Death Note Teru Mikami Gifts
      • Death Note Misa Gifts
      • Death Note Naomi Misora Gifts
      • Death Note Wammy Gifts
  • News Summary
    • On This Day in Death Note
  • About
  • Contact
  • News
  • Death Note Month of...
    • Kira Month
    • Matsuda Month
    • Misa Month
    • Naomi Misora Month
    • Wammy Month
  • Death Note Interviews
    • Drew Nelson Interview
    • No Need to Stay Interview
  • Death Note Gifts
    • Death Note Books
    • Death Note Cosplay
    • Death Note DVDs
    • Death Note Music
    • Death Note Accessories
    • Death Note Mugs and Water Bottles
    • Death Note Christmas Gifts >
      • It Matters Death Note Christmas Gifts
    • Character Stores >
      • Death Note Light Yagami Gifts
      • Death Note Matt Gifts
      • Death Note Mello Gifts
      • Death Note Teru Mikami Gifts
      • Death Note Misa Gifts
      • Death Note Naomi Misora Gifts
      • Death Note Wammy Gifts
  • News Summary
    • On This Day in Death Note
  • About
  • Contact

All the latest information about Death Note: reports, gossip, releases, analyses, speculation and discussion.

Death Note news articles

Tragic Murder of TV Celebrity, Singer and L Cosplayer Christina Grimmie

13/6/2016

238 Comments

 
Our interest here in singer, songwriter and US NBC The Voice competitor Christina Grimmie is rather peripheral, which makes news of her fatal shooting by a previously unacquainted killer no less saddening.

Police investigators in Orlando, Florida, have yet to uncover a motive for gunman Kevin James Loibl's actions. He had apparently set out to kill her on June 10th 2016, armed with several weapons and travelling two hours across the US state to reach her.

Outside concert hall The Plaza Live, Christina Grimmie and rock band Before You Exit were signing autographs, posing for pictures and chatting with those who had come to watch them perform that night. Or merely to be there meeting them afterwards.  A voracious updater of social media (wherein she'd grown to fame as a star on YouTube), Christina had encouraged folk to pop down and say hello, if they could.  It was fun, exciting, a happy and friendly event; eye-witnesses said she opened her arms to hug Loibl as he approached upon his turn to do so.


He opened fire and killed her, then shot himself dead too.

A sickening, senseless story, as I'm certain most here will agree.  But what has it got to do with us?

The fact is that Christina Grimmie was one of us.  For all her celebrity and meet and greet press of crowds vying for a moment in her company, she was also a Death Note fan.  Who got excited when she was able to wear her L cosplay while recording a music video.

That's what she took to social media about at the time, that's what she wanted to share - not the fact that she was making the promo for her own song Shrug. 

A notion no doubt met wryly by more than a few of us with the ability to chuck an L cosplay together from the contents of our wardrobes, but not film a music video to transmit to thousands, who wanted to actually hear us sing our songs.
Christina Grimmie Death Note L cosplay for Shrug
Seventy weeks before she was killed, Christina Grimmie sat with friends and watched the last episode of the Death Note anime.  As so many of us have done, and like us all, it was viewed with gleeful anticipation, as her Instagram snapshot confirms.  An event worth recording.  An excuse for a party.  One of us.

Watching the Death Note ending.......

A video posted by Christina Grimmie (@therealgrimmie) on Feb 6, 2015 at 1:18pm PST

Christina Grimmie Death Note computer background

Just over a year ago, she was showing us Mello, L and Near on her computer's wallpaper and telling us it makes her happy.  I don't know about you, but I've got Mello on my PC background image and it makes me happy.

For the record, I've also got Matt as a theme on my browser.  It also makes me happy.

The purpose of all this?  No matter how remote and star-studded, scratch the surface and we're all the same.  If not in the specifics, then the generalities certainly: one fan likes Mello, another L, a third is Team Kira, a fourth is for Mikami, a fifth prefers Naruto and the last can't stand manga/anime, but has a passion for NASCAR.

In the passion, we find points of commonality with all humankind, regardless of its focus.  In tears and love too, we touch the same, no matter that we might not grieve or infatuate our hearts upon identical loves.  Different subjects irritate; things distastefully seen or grinding sentiments heard might drive us to fury according to our own perspectives; yet she share with all that well of anger ready to propel us into attempting to improve our world as per our lights.

No-one is so alien to our very own humanity that they should be hunted down and shoot for whatever motive.

Christina Grimmie might have been a glittering star in the limelight and a vivacious entertainer. But she was also somebody's daughter, somebody's sister - her brother nearly died trying to save her - somebody's friend and confidante. 

And she was a Death Note fan just like us. We are bereft, one down tonight, and that has to do with us all.
238 Comments

Viz Media Turns 30 (Promises Goodies to Thank Fans) - Japanamerica Pop Culture Scholar Roland Kelts Contemplates the Impact of Three Decades of Viz

3/6/2016

3 Comments

 
Happy 30th Birthday Viz Media
This summer, Viz Media celebrates its 30th birthday firmly entrenched as North America's foremost exporter, and promoter, of Japanese manga and anime.

There will be no big party in the streets by all accounts.  Yet fans can look forward to special offers and goodies given out as a thank you for for thirty years of support. 

However, those deals currently announced are only available to indivduals attending anime conventions across the USA.  Kicking off on July 1st-4th 2016, at the Los Angeles Anime Expo, and continuing throughout the summer and autumn season.  More on all that when we know further.

What Did Viz Media Ever Do for Us Anyway?

The obvious response is that Viz Media brought us Death Note.  Game over and cause to party right there.

However, if we can broaden our horizons for just three seconds, an even greater boon may be discerned. If you're reading from a Western nation then you have a lot to thank the company for in how it's spent those decades. Viz Media is probably the reason that you're here, or have even heard of Death Note. 

Even if only indirectly, with Viz acting as the trend-setter company that inspired others elsewhere to follow its lead, bringing Japanese pop culture into your local stores.

It barely seems possible that a time existed when the words 'manga' and 'anime' weren't mainstream in the West.  That outside Japan and its immediate neighbouring states, only Eastern ex-pats, Japanese Cultural Studies students, and a scattering of literary sci-fi geeks in any nation could have told you with any certainty what such alien terms described.  Or even hazarded a decent guess.

Yet in 1986, when Seiji Horibuchi - a Japanese ex-pat from Shikoku, then living in San Francisco - mooted to friends the notion that he could interest Americans in manga, anime and other cultural mainstays from his homeland, most people laughed.  They didn't think readers in the US would go for that at all.

Though obviously the majority first had to ask him what manga and anime were, before getting on with the general amusement and cynicism. 

Three decades later, we can say with great certainty that he wiped the smile off their faces.  Seiji's efforts through Viz Media - the company he founded to make good his idea and his dream - not only made him extremely rich, it secured a place for manga, anime and all else attached in the American heart and throughout the Western world.
Seiji Horibuchi Founder of Viz Media

Viz Media founder Seiji Horibuchi

Roland Kelts Puts Viz Media's Achievements in Context

Japanamerica by Roland Kelts cover

Buy Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture
has Invaded by US
by Roland Kelts on Amazon US
Just in case you haven't already grasped the enormity of Viz Media's impact in the West, Roland Kelts is on hand to spell it out.

As an academic specialising in Japanese Cultural Studies, Kelts is an author; essayist; lecturer at Keio University, Tokyo (and the occasional TED Lecture too); journalist with regular articles and columns in such illustrious publications as Time Magazine, The New York Times, Newsweek Japan and The Guardian; and steering committee member of the Tokyo Think Tank Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation.

He also wrote the acclaimed JapanAmerica (see left), all about how Japanese manga, anime and other pop culture became so big in the USA.

In May 2016, his monthly editorial for The Japan Times was devoted to Viz Media's thirty years as the main instigator of that.

Entitled Viz's 30 Years Pack a Punch in the US (May 14th 2016), Kelts outlines how Seiji Horibuchi pulled it off - from unlikely beginnings in the 1980s through to the legacy left behind by the time he parted company with Viz Media to explore pastures new.

Comparing notes with modern day Chief Marketing Officer Brad Woods, Kelts explores how Viz Media played a key role in the changing face of manga interest and sales throughout the West; touches upon the ever-growing mainstream awareness of Japanese pop culture, and projects how that success may continue into the future.

He's rather excited about how titles like Death Note are discussed as commonplace, particularly within the glittering circles of Hollywood studios executives, telling us that, 'in all the years I’ve watched manga and anime become mainstays in American homes, I’ve never seen a moment quite like this.'
More to the point, Kelts discusses the effect of such global popularity success on the domestic market in Japan. With its shrinking population population and declining consumerism, the business opportunities at home were always limited.  The injection of worldwide capital turned out to be very timely and very welcome for the overall prosperity of that island nation.

Not bad for a notion mooted by a San Francisco hippy, which turned out to be quite a fabulous one at that.  Happy 30th birthday, Viz Media; the celebrations may run worldwide.
3 Comments

Death Note in a 10th Grade Social Studies Textbook in South Korean Schools

14/4/2016

5 Comments

 
Death Note's Light and L in Korean school textbook

South Korean 10th graders learn Social Studies via Death Note
Light Yagami and L have turned up in cartoon and dialogue within the pages of a Social Studies textbook - destined for the classrooms of South Korean 10th Grade schoolchildren.

This is admittedly old news to those living and learning in South Korea, but we admit its only just turned up in our orbit.  The first time the screenshot appeared online was 2009, meaning there's a whole generation of Korean sociologists now used to referencing Kira in their problem-solving.

We'd love to know what it says, if any kind Korean speakers care to translate it for us.  Thanks in advance!
5 Comments

Donald Trump as Light Yagami: US Presidential Candidates Made Anime

6/4/2016

1 Comment

 
Donald Trump as Kira

Donald Trump imagined as the Kira of the US Presidential Election
It's enough to give you nightmares.  Never has Kira seemed so dark and dangerous, as when US newspapers began imagining Donald Trump turned Light Yagami.

We first spotted it in the press yesterday, as Las Vegas TSG ran it under the headline US Presidential Candidates as Anime Characters (April 5th 2016).

Today it's already spread across several sites, not least Morning News USA (April 6th 2016), under the same headline but with the additional name of the journalist responsible for such heresy against the God of this New World: Jereco Paloma.

I know that Americans like to examine their prospective Presidents from every conceivable angle - so do we all, but mostly concerning policies and the such elsewhere - but likening them each to anime characters seems a little rich.

For the record, Hilary Clinton got Izumi Curtis from FMA: Brotherhood; Bernie Sanders is Edward Newgate from One-Piece; while Samurai Champloo's Mugen-Jin Duo covered Ted Cruz and John Kasich to finish up.
In explanation of his likening Donald Trump to Light Yagami, Paloma wrote, 'While Light’s intention with the notebook at first was good, which is to eliminate the criminals in the world, this power consumed him. Trump, on the other hand, has a lot of good intentions for the country, but his methods and ideologies are a little bit odd.'

He went on to add that Kira's vision got him killed in the end, as arrogance out-stripped his vision.  It was pointed out that Donald Trump's ideology has already drawn a great deal of criticism, not only from incredulous commentators within the USA, but on a global scale too.  Racism, anti-Feminism and general insensitivity are just the start of it.

What do you reckon?   Did this alignment with Donald Trump besmirch Kira's reputation more or less than the mass-murdering megalomania for you?
2016 US Presidential Candidates as anime characters

The full collection of anime US Presidential Candidates
1 Comment

Ten Years On - Business Still Brisk for Death Note Manga in North America

3/4/2016

4 Comments

 
Death Note Black Edition Volume 1
Death Note Black Edition Vol 1
- buy it on Amazon.com
It may be the tenth anniversary of its initial publication, yet manga editions of Death Note sales remain evergreen in the US, Canada and Mexico. 

In fact, this far down the line, Death Note manga volumes are still one of the Top 10 best-selling titles within the c0ntinent for the genre.  It pretty much seems lodged there; camped in all perpetuity.

That's according to ICv2 - the North American pop culture news magazine for retailers - reporting in the April 4th 2016 issue of Publishers Weekly.

While Death Note may lack the current mega-sales of latest releases like Attack on Titan, Tokyo Ghoul and One-Punch Man, that's because they are new and trending fashionably. But that's more than made up for by the steady drip-drip of continued Death Note manga editions purchased throughout the last decade.

It even survived well during the overall manga slump in North America, which saw the trade in Japanese titles fall from a high of $210m in 2007 to a mere $65m by 2012.  The market had bounced back up to $75m by 2014 - mostly on the back of Tokyo Ghoul and One-Punch Man - with early figures suggesting that North American manga sales rose by another 13% again during 2015.

Yet even during the down days in manga consumerism, interest in Death Note there never really wavered.  ICv2 stated that it, along with Dragon Ball, went on 'selling well'.

So why should Death Note stand out so much amid all the rest?  ICv2 CEO Milton Griepp has an answer for that too.  "I think it all comes down to quality," He said, comparing Ohba and Obata's epic manga with iconic graphic novels of the West, like Alan Moore's Watchman or Batman: The Killing Joke. "Death Note is a good series."

And sometimes it really is as simple as that.

4 Comments

Light Yagami and Other Anime Personas Promoting the Androgynous Look for Indian Men? Japanese Influence Behind 'Girly' Male Fashions ~ Hindustan Times

2/4/2016

0 Comments

 
Light Yagami, Death Note
Genki Tanaka, aka Genking
From Kira to Genking, take a good look at the two images above.  Can you see a direct causal link between the styles exhibited by God of the New World Light Yagami there on the left and that of Genking, the fashionista gentleman in the right-hand picture?

The Hindustan Times can.  Moreover, it's citing the like of Light Yagami as the reason why current fashions for men in India are becoming ever more 'girly', or at least 'genderless'.

In an article entitled This Japanese guy and more are adopting women’s style because why not? (March 14th 2016), it was pointed out that determinedly unisex clothing is not a new thing in Asia.  Items like the ubiquitous sarong can adorn the hips of anyone without eliciting passing comment in regard to the wearer's chromosomes and anatomy.

Meanwhile ladies have been happily blurring the previous gender fashion divide for ages, as trousers become reasonable and respectable female attire.  Once such outfits were the sole preserve of men.  So why shouldn't the shift in style go the other way too?

To the Hindustan Times writer, Japanese cultural influence has helped oil the path towards increasingly androgynous wardrobe options for Indian men.  It's all come on the back of the onset of anime, which has only recently exploded as a popular entertainment genre across the nation.

Of them all, Death Note is the biggest, leading the way with the vision of Light Yagami one of the more readily recognizable Japanese anime characters.  His is the new stylish look and male fans throughout India are turning to cosmetics to ape that wide-eyed, 'feminized' look with the tussled hair.  Add into the mix the aspect of KPop idols, whose music has leap-frogged into the same arena from the rearguard of Japanese manga and anime.   No-one questions the masculinity of Korean men singing pop anthems with boyishly styled physiques and hair and make-up perfectly fixed.  A fact not missed by those viewing them openly, perhaps for the first time, as something new within Indian mainstream culture.

So is 'feminine' the new 'masculine' amidst the Indian fashion conscious?  And is Kira really to be credited with its cosmetic start?

That's where the Hindustan Times writer doesn't really make the case, continuing instead into the example of Genking - Instagram self-made star and model, now opening at the Tokyo Girls Collection catwalk - whose name on the birth certificate is Genki Tanaka.  With his flowing bleached blond locks and carefully articulated make-up, he appears more traditionally female than, well, probably half of the women reading on right now.  Yet Genking is known primarily for his fierce advocacy of 'genderless' fashions.  Wearing what pleases you, not what the label - seen or unseen - dictates is appropriate for each sex to don.

It's all very interesting, though the issues raised seem more akin to LGBT and transgender debates than touching anywhere near Death Note and Light Yagami.  Genking certainly didn't mention Kira as a guiding force in his decision to 'stop pretending' at the age of twenty.  Light Yagami didn't grow those lovely, flowing locks.

In fact, maybe I misread it, but the two hardly seem linked at all.  Thoughts?
0 Comments

Supposed 'Death Note Suicide' Teen S.Rahul's Father Writes In

7/2/2016

2 Comments

 
Rahul Sridhar Facebook Death Note banner
In amongst all of the fun, entertainment and joviality here, it's difficult to remember that sometimes some quite serious real world instances get linked with Death Note.  One of them is here now.

It's been quite some time since we brought you the tragic reports about Lucknow schoolboy Rahul Sridharan.  Months in fact.  To refresh your memory, this is the teenager who apparently committed suicide by throwing himself off a fourth floor ledge at his school.  The press said it was something to do with his love of Death Note.  The police coroner agreed, stating officially that it was the 'Death Note Code' that led to Rahul's death.

Which was a little surprising to the rest of the Death Note fandom, as we didn't know we had such a code. Nor do we want one, thank you very much.

With all due respect to our man down, I was accordingly rather scathing about such reports, which is why Rahul's father has approached Death Note News seeking permission to publish his side of the story.  Not least, his belief that his son, Rahul Sridharan, did not commit suicide.  He was killed.  What could we say, but yes? 

Here is Mr V Sridharan's letter to the Death Note News readership, with occasional clarification notes interjected by Death Note News editor Matti.



Sub-Mysterious Death of my 14 Year Old Son Inside
La Martiniere Boys College in Lucknow on 10th April 2015

Respected Sirs and Madams,

I humbly thank you for considering my letter of complaint regarding the mysterious death of my fourteen year old son, S.Rahul*, inside La Martiniere Boys College in Lucknow, around 11am on April 10th 2015.

[*Aka Rahul Sridhar in the press; S. Rahul properly, with the S representing Sridharan Rahul. Mr Sridharan told me that his son's Facebook account used the former merely as a nickname  - Matti]

My son was actually very badly beaten to death by other students inside the school, but the school and the police authorities are trying to hide the truth.  First they said it was a one-sided love affair. But when could not find any proof, they planted a story concerning Death Note. I filed a case against them in the High Court.

I firmly believe that the police and the school authorities were pre-determined to close the case as suicide, without proper investigation and without thorough enquiry. As was the conclusion of their Closure Report, filed on 12th October 2015.

Starting from Day One, the police and the school authorities played a pivotal role in delay tactics and destroying the evidence.  For example:
  • Almost all of the school's top brass was present at the Civil Hospital in Lucknow, where Rahul was declared dead for almost 2 hours.
  • Most or all of the evidence at the school's crime scene had been destroyed by the school authorities. A ward-boy from the school was burning a bed-sheet soaked with my son’s blood - the video was shown on many TV channels, whereas there was no trace of blood on the spot where he was found lying.

[Note from Matti:    This is one of the news channels showing the clip referred to by Mr Sridharan. It is in Hindi, but the images - starting several seconds in - are tragically self-evident.

The segment with an individual burning bloodied linen comes around the 1.13 mark.]
Lucknow ward boy burning bloodied linen S.Rahul case


  • The police took too much time to reach the crime scene who did not take any fingerprints of my son's belongings,  like his school bag, pencil box or mobile etc.
  • The police recovered my son’s (S.Rahul) mobile one day after the crime. That too with all details deleted from the same location where my son reportedly jumped. The police also recovered three mobiles from my son’s schoolmate and friend - call details and all data from all four mobiles were found to have been deleted.
  • The Panchanama* had only three genuine signatures with repeated signatures of the same persons. The signature of Rahul's mother was missing, but her name was included in the Panchanama.
[* Panch - Sanskrit meaning 'respectable persons' - Nama - 'written down'.  Also called a Mediator's Report. Equivalent to a Crime Report in the West - Matti]
  • The police officials ridiculously quoted a non-existent ‘love affair’ over just ONE set of phone records, and a audio clip where there are constant exchanges of “Didi”, Bahin & “chhotu”.  In many conversations, between Rahul and the girl on Facebook, there is NOT EVEN a trace of romance; absolutely nothing suggesting a love affair. The girl knows exactly what happened, as my son was talking to her just minutes before the incident, or crime. Even the police themselves were confused, and quoting different reasons for my son's 'suicide'.
  • The police did not investigate deeply enough the girl with whom my son was talking to just minutes before his death. The police have not properly probed the murder angle, as they have only suicide in mind.
  • It took seven long days of running from one police officer to another before we - as anguished parents, - could file a FIR* under sections 120B, 201 and 302.  For six days after the crime, the police refused to accept one.
[* First Information Report - Filed by victims (or representatives of victims) of crimes in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Once registered with police authorities, the FIR's contents cannot be altered, except by a High or Supreme Court ruling. They must be investigated. In India, it is a crime to refuse to register a FIR - Matti]
  • Our son S.Rahul was present at the morning assembly on that Fateful day (10/04/2015), but the School Principal lied to say that my son was absent. Many of his classmates/friends have given statements to the police regarding my son’s presence in that assembly.
  • In the alleged suicide note, my son has written his name as 'RAHUL SRIDHAR'. But my son never used to write like that, he always signed his name ‘S.RAHUL”. I have doubts regarding the writing of this note, but somebody could have forced my son to write it.  Although Uttarprdesh Police verified that the handwriting belonged to my son.
  • Most importantly, the post-mortem analysis from an independent forensic lab - TruthLab in Hyderabad - states that the post-mortem report and nature of injuries very clearly suggests that it cannot be a fall from such a height. It is a homicide (murder), NOT a suicide.
  • Moreover, the FIR was filed on sections 120B, 201 and 302, but the police did not bother to touch sections 120B and 201; despite there being clear evidence proving the destruction of evidence by the school authorities and others.

Even knowing the facts listed above, the police filed their Final Report at their convenience. It was tailor-made to benefit the culprits, and this is so very unfair and unjustified.

So with all due respect I request you to do what's needful to get justice for my 14 years old innocent son, S.Rahul.  I hope, Sirs and Madams, that you make every effort at your command to achieve this for my boy on the merits of the case. My son was everything to me, but I am lifeless now; fighting a lonely battle for my son’s justice with limited resources.

Sirs and Madams, I enclosed most of the documents with this letter. If you need any further documentation, I humbly request you let me know.

Thanking you.

Yours Faithfully,

V. Sridharan
(Father of S.Rahul - known to us as Rahul Sridhar)
Protest for justice for S.Rahul (murdered schoolboy)

Protest calling for justice on behalf of S.Rahul

NB Mr Sridharan attached copious documentation and images supporting his claims in this letter.  As many of them contain personal, private and/or quite graphic and horrific details, they are not being made public here.  Nor will they be passed on for the asking.

However, I can confirm that the staff of Death Note News have had sight of them and we would be happy to put you in touch with Rahul's father, if needful.

There is no attendant plan of action, nor any specific call to arms, beyond Mr Sridharan's wish to be heard and to elicit assistance in his family's fight for justice on behalf of Rahul.  Do feel free to use of the comments section below to discuss this case. Those convinced by his arguments, and sympathetic to his plea, might brainstorm ideas; find ways in which they might progress.  It goes without saying that all will be kept respectful.  Rahul's parents are reading. Whatever your views on the matter please bear that in mind. Anyone attempting to troll will be up against me.  Good luck with that.

As always our heart goes out to Rahul's family and friends.  Rahul Sridharan was a Death Note fan, thus one of us - Matti

2 Comments

Arsenal's Death Note? Italian Newspaper Contemplates Possible Footballing Kira

20/1/2016

1 Comment

 
What if Kira killed by scoring goals in premiership football matches?  That's the scenario pondered by journalist Marco Buonasorte in Il Giornale d'Italia.

English top league football club Arsenal was founded by workers from the nearby Woolwich Royal Arsenal in London.  Now the modern day team may have added a Death Note to its  horde of weaponry.  At least if today's musings in an Italian newspaper are correct.
Aaron Ramsey as Kira?

The curse of Aaron Ramsey, as described
in Il Giornale d'Italia (January 20th 2016)
It appears that whenever midfielder Aaron Ramsey scores a goal, somebody famous dies within twenty four hours.

Just check out this tally:

May 1st 2011:  Ramsey scores against Manchester United; next day - Osama bin Laden assassinated;

October 2nd 2011: Back of the net versus Tottenham Hotspur; three days later - goodnight Steve Jobs... that's not 24 hours;

October 19th 2011: Another goal against Marseille; October 20th - Colonel Gaddafi assassinated;

February 10th 2012: Goal past the Sunderland keeper; October 11th 2012 - Whitney Houston dead (surely pushing a theory way beyond its limits!);

On and on until Aaron Ramsey scores BOTH goals in Arsenal 2-1 win over Sunderland (again) on January 9th 2016.  Followed by the death of David Bowie on January 10th. Then another one versus Liverpool on January 13th, with the sad demise of Alan Rickman the very next day.

However, before anyone points at Ramsey and screams soccer playing Light Yagami, Buonasorte does point out that statistical analysis can throw up many a spurious correlation and we aren't to hold too much store in it.

Unless the curse of Aaron Ramsey is real, in which case surely he should be banned from a premiership football pitch for life.  Or get signed by the Wolves.

What do you make on it?   The Italian paper lists many, many more correlations than those repeated here.
1 Comment

Golden Ticket Theatrical Award for Kim Jun-su - Korean Musical Death Note's L

19/1/2016

0 Comments

 
Junsu with Golden Ticket Award for L Death Note Musical

Junsu with his Golden Ticket Award for his portrayal of Death Note's L
Kim Jun-su's performance as L in the Death Note Musical has netted him an accolade Korean theatrical industry.

Interpark - which represents the ticketing side of live theatre in Korea - named him as its 10th Golden Ticket winner, mostly for his successful run in the role of L.

The Golden Ticket Awards are based on hard statistical data from the box offices. Winners are those who prompted the most ticket sales, in addition to attracting the most votes from theatre goers and critics surveyed at the venue. 

Attendees were asked to highlight those actors delivering the strongest performances on stage.

Just over 90,000 people watched JYJ's Junsu perform as L, in fifty-seven productions of Death Note the Musical, staged at Seongnam Arts Center in Seoul during July and August 2015.

Every show sold out with audience members pretty much unanimous in their praise for the L actor's 'outstanding performance'.  That and hard figures from the box office secured his industry prize.

0 Comments

Not That Kind of Death Note

9/12/2015

0 Comments

 
Writing a death note
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.



0 Comments

Daily Mail Attacks Misa Cosplaying Conservative (Mistakes Costume for 'Racy' Pics)

3/12/2015

0 Comments

 
Conservative activist Marina Muttik - Daily Mail December 2nd 2015

Marina Muttik in screenshot from the Daily Mail December 2nd 2015
The Daily Mail is running a scandal piece about a British Conservative politician (or three) and his bullying/blackmail tactics, which led to his victim's suicide.

Then they went after the politician's defender on Twitter, who just happened to be an attractive, blonde-haired lady.

Under the lucid headline, Tatler Tory and a very naughty blonde activist: Shapps was made a scapegoat over scandal, says campaigner (who loves to post rather racy photos on social media) (Daily Mail, Dec 2nd 2015), the 'news' paper attempted to discredit Marina Muttik - head of Bristol and Gloucestershire Conservative Future - because one cannot be pretty on Twitter AND hold valid political views regarding one's friends in government.

Marina Muttik doesn't need further discrediting. She's a Conservative.
However, then Britain's most insidious tabloid actually reproduced the Tweeted photographs of the young Tory campaigner, so that we could gasp in shock and outrage at someone in suspenders daring to express an opinion regarding politics.  Instead, every undiscerning Death Note fan out there (i.e. those daft enough to read the Daily Mail) and the folk catching it on social media later all frowned in abject familiarity.

Ms Muttik was wearing Misa Amane cosplay.  She was even holding Misa-Misa's replica Death Note.  The clues were there.  In a secondary cited picture, she's even got shinigami eyes, hopefully courtesy of contact lenses.

Thus raising a much more pertinent question - the British Conservative Party have a Death Note?  And a second Kira to wield it on their side?!
Eve McLeod Tweet re Misa cosplayer Marina Muttik

One Twitter user calls their bluff
Source: Eve MacLeod/Twitter
Marina Muttik Misa cosplay Death Note Daily Mail Dec 2nd 2015
Screenshot from Daily Mail (Dec 2nd 2015)
0 Comments

Academic Death Note Debate at University of Mexico

13/11/2015

0 Comments

 
Looking to debate Death Note with fellow political scientists and sociologists?  If you're a student or associate of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, you can do just that with an event scheduled for later this month.
UNAM debate on Death Note Nov 17th 2015

Death Note analysis and debate promo
for Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Death Note is the subject of the first in a month long analysis of anime at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).  Members of the prestigious university's Political and Social Science Department (Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales) will be meeting to debate aspects of the show.

Their Death Note analysis and debate event will be held on November 17th 2015, at 1pm, in the Lucio Mendieta y Núñez Room, at UNAM's campus in Mexico City. 

It's unclear whether members of the public are also free to attend.  If you wish to participate, then contacting the faculty itself may be the way forward.

If you find out - on behalf of everybody else - please do report back and we'll update this accordingly.
0 Comments

Dead Kira in Death Parade? Reference, In-Joke or Mere Coincidental Look-Alike?

27/9/2015

1 Comment

 
Death Parade Anime
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...

Kira lookalike Death Parade stranger

Mr Yagami, is that you?!
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. 

Official Reference Kira in Death Parade?

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.

Actor In-Joke for Death Parade's Kira?

Light Yagami voice actor Mamoru MiyanoKira voice actor
Mamoru Miyano
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.

1 Comment

Death Note GEM Flagship as NTV/Sony Launch New Asian Television Channel

24/9/2015

0 Comments

 
Logo for Asian TV channel GEM
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:

Nippon TV already has a proven track record in our country as the first and most watched commercial broadcaster, so we are extremely delighted at the opportunity to launch GEM in partnership with SPT Networks to deliver Nippon TV’s captivating fresh line-up of dramas and variety entertainment shows along with the finest programs from the rest of Asia.
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.
0 Comments

Indonesian Death Note Fans - Would You Like to Read Death Note News in Bahasa?

23/9/2015

0 Comments

 
Mayagami's Death Note News in BahasaScreenshot of Death Note News
Bahasa version


The intrepid Mayagami contacted me recently to ask if it was possible to translate Death Note News into Bahasa.

Well, when I say recently, what I mean was she asked ages ago, but her email got caught up in my blocked contact form system. Hence I only read it recently.

Naturally I gave the nod and Mayagami wasted no time in translating Death Note News for her Indonesian readership.

You can read Mayagami's Bahasa Death Note News here.

0 Comments
<<Previous
    Death Note spoiler disclaimer
    Never miss an update - subscribe to Death Note News feed and/or check out an extended list of the latest Death Note news headlines.
    Death Note News categories banner

    Death Note News Categories

    All
    10th Anniversary
    10th Anniversary Website
    Academia
    Actors And Acting
    Adam Wingard (Dir.)
    Aiber
    Akiko-himura
    Ami-hamazaki
    Another-note
    Another-note-novel
    Anthony-rester
    Art And Fan Art
    Astrology
    Bakuman
    Beyond Birthday
    Blood Type
    Business And Marketing
    Calendar Death Note
    Columnists For Death Note News
    Cosplay
    Death Note (2003-6 Manga)
    Death Note (2006-7 Anime)
    Death Note (2006 Movie)
    Death Note (2008 Manga One Shot Special)
    Death Note (2015 Musical)
    Death Note (2015 TV)
    Death Note (2016 Movie AMG)
    Death Note (2017 US Movie)
    Death Note: Light Up The NEW World (2016 Movie)
    Death Note Month Of...
    Death Note News Digest
    Death Note Relight (2007-2008)
    Death Note Relight (2007-8)
    Death Note Relight (2007-8 Anime)
    Death Note Tarot Tales
    Death Note: The Last Name (2006 Movie)
    Death Note: Year One (Movie)
    Demegawa (Hitoshi) (Char.)
    Dr.
    Eriko Aizawa
    Events
    Fan Fiction
    Fans And Fandom
    Focus On A Fan
    Food And Drink
    Franchise
    Games And Gaming
    Gifts And Merchandising
    Gus Van Sant
    Hal-lidner
    Hirokaku-ukita-char
    Horipro
    It Matters Series
    Jump-comics
    Kanzo-mogi
    Kenichi Mikuriya
    Kimiko-kujo
    Kira Worshipper
    Kiyomi Takada
    Koji-yoshida
    L
    Lawliet-movie
    L-change-the-world-2008-movie
    L-change-the-world-novel
    Lei-k-columnist
    Light Yagami
    Linda
    Lucas-king-music-columnist
    Madhouse
    Maki-nikaido
    Manga Entertainment
    Matt
    Mello
    Misa Amane
    Morality-and-ethics
    Movies And Films
    Mrs-mikami
    Music And Soundtracks
    Naomi-misora
    Nathaniel-overthinks-death-note
    Near
    Netflix
    Nippon-television-ntv
    NisiOisiN
    Nori
    Panini-comics
    Philosophy And Theology
    Platinum-end
    Podcast
    Psychology
    Quillsh-wammy
    Real-world-death-notes
    Real World Influence
    Rem
    Rod-ross
    Roger Ruvie
    Ryuk
    Ryūzaki
    Sachiko Yagami
    Sakura Aoi (Char.)
    Sayu Yagami
    Science And Mathematics
    Selecta Visión
    Shane Black
    Shinsuke Sato (Dir.)
    Shiori Akino
    Shō Nanase
    Shō Nanase
    Shonen Jump
    Shueisha
    Shuichi Aizawa
    Site News
    Sociology
    Soichiro Yagami
    Spin-Off Matsuda (2008 Movie)
    SPK
    Squad Six Cosplayers
    Takeshi Obata (Artist)
    Takeshi Ooi (Char.)
    Teru Mikami
    Tetsuro Araki (Dir.)
    The Cosplayer Chronicles
    Toko
    Touta Matsuda
    Tsugumi Ohba (Author)
    Tsukuru Mishima
    Viz Media
    Wammy's House
    Warner Bros
    Wedy
    Yotsuba
    YouTube And Videos
    Yūgi Shion
    Yumi Aizawa
    Yuri

    Visit Death Note News's profile on Pinterest.

    Monthly Archives

    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014

    Disclosure: This page generates income for the author based on affiliate relationships with her partners, including Amazon and VigLink.
    Site Claim and Authorship Verification: All that follows is for me to prove my authorship of Death Note News in various places. Hoop jumping stuff for me; boring for everyone else.
    Google+
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.