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Death Note news articles

Viz Makes Takeshi Obata's Hikaru no Go Anime English Dub Free to View Online

30/9/2015

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Hikarau no Go
Takeshi Obata had only just finished working on Hikaru no Go, when he received the call to say he'd been hired as Death Note's artist.  Working with author Yumi Hotta, the manga ran to 23 volumes and inevitably spawned an anime adaptation.  Including a version dubbed into English.

Now Viz Media has made its Hikaru no Go English dub anime available on-line, as free viewing on its own Neon Alley, plus Hulu.  Previously it could only be legally seen on DVD.

Hikaru no Go tells the story of a Japanese six grader, who finds an old, bloodstained Go board and is possessed by the ghost of an ancient game-master. The phantom Fujiwara-no-Sai cannot rest until he's played the Divine Move.

Much top class competitive playing commences against players who have devoted their entire existence to being the best Go strategist around. Can a mere High School boy beat them all?
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Platinum End - New Angelic Collaboration Between Death Note's Ohba and Obata!

24/9/2015

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Platinum End Announcement in Weekly Shonen Jump
Platinum End manga announcement
in Weekly Shonen Jump No 44
This should be of interest to Death Note fans - Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata are teaming up again, and the bare hint from the tag-line implies the plot will be right up our alley.
PLATINUM END
This is the story of a human and an angel.
Well, we all seemed quite taken last time, when it was a human and a shinigami!

The announcement will appear in the next edition of Weekly Shonen Jump, issue 44, due out on September 28th 2015.  It will be followed by a Platinum End première feature the following week, in the October 5th Weekly Shonen Jump No 45.

However, it will be another Shueisha title - Jump Square - wherein the actual serialisation will begin.

Our Death Note creators' brand new manga Platinum End launches on November 4th 2015, dated the Jump SQ December 2015 edition - thus is the way of the world.

Tsugumi Ohba: Angels and Humans

Mello Death Note

Angels featured subtly in Death Note too
I don't know about you, but I'm quite excited about this! Given Ohba's propensity to mess around with angels - vis-a-vis Light's lifting of Lucifer quotations from Paradise Lost and Mello's alignment (made explicit in the recent televised Death Note drama) with the archangel Michael - I feel that the groundwork has already been forged.  And that was quite fabulous.

What are your thoughts on the matter?  Please do leave your comments below in the usual manner, but I'm also going to insert a poll about this.  Mostly because I've only just noticed I've got a pre-coded poll module that I can insert, and I want to find out what it does.
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Weekly Shonen Jump: Two Part Bakuman Prequel and More Ahead of Live Action Movie

22/9/2015

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Weekly Shonen Jump No 43 21st September 2015
Weekly Shonen Jump No 43
September 21st 2015
Only tenuously Death Note related, it's all about Bakuman in their creators' world this week.

While we might consider Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata in terms of OUR manga, they have collaborated much more recently than that on the semi-autobiographical Bakuman.

It's a series which chronicles the rise of an author and writer within the manga industry.

The current edition of Weekly Shonen Jump (September 21st 2015) includes the first in a special two-parter prequel to the main Bakuman chapters.

It tells what happened with main characters Moritaka Mashiro - pen name Saikō - and Akito Takagi - later known as Shūjin - before the pair joined forces to produce a wildly popular manga series. Like, you know, Ohba and Obata did in real life with Death Note.

Spanning 23 chapters, the first part of this Bakuman prequel has boosted the manga magazine to a hefty 315 pages!  Featured as an added bonus is a full colour Bakuman centrespread.

The original Bakuman manga ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 2008-2012.  Those chapters were collected into twenty volumes published by Shueisha, which have sold over 15 million copies worldwide. An anime based upon the story was televised over three seasons, aired in Japanese television between 2010-2013.

Viz Media and Media Blasters reproduced English language versions of the manga and anime respectively, primarily for North American audiences.

A live action Bakuman movie is due to be released on October 3rd 2015, hence the two part prequel beginning in Weekly Shonen Jump this week. It acts as a tie-in special event and incidentally helps boost publicity for the film.

Bakuman 1 manga

Bakuman Manga Volume 1
Buy at Amazon US
Bakuman 1 Anime

Bakuman Anime DVD 1
Buy at Amazon US

Fictional Bakuman Manga Becomes Real

In the story, Muto Ashirogi's third manga is entitled PCP -Kanzen Hanzaitō- (trans. PCP - Perfect Crime Party). Now that fictional manga is due for release as a real world novel.

It will bear Ashirogi's name as the first author, though his co-author Sei Hatsuno (HaruChika) probably did much of the work here.

Another blatant tie-in, the novel will hit bookshelves on October 2nd 2015, one day ahead on the Bakuman movie.

New Takeshi Obata Artwork for Bakuman OST

Takeshi Obata artwork for Bakuman CD
Takeshi Obata draws the artwork for Bakuman's soundtrack CD
A new live-action Bakuman film means an original soundtrack to accompany it. For fans of Takeshi Obata's art, this is an unexpected avenue in which to discover some.

Obata has created the artwork for the Bakuman CD soundtrack, including that for a CD single Shin Takarajima (pictured above) lifted from the OST. Due to be released in a limited edition format, the song has been recorded by rock band Sakanaction and features in the movie.

A DVD of the Bakuman OST is also scheduled.
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Takeshi Obata Draws Bakuman (& Death Note)

2/9/2015

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This is an old news item, but it's been taking up space in my 'Death Note News stories' folder. Despite only tenuously having anything to do with our story.
Takeshi Obata blank pad and pen
Death Note mangaka Takeshi Obata was featured in a Shonen Jump special video, which showed the artists behind four of their most successful series creating their characters from scratch on a pad.

Obata was included, of course, though he opted to draw the main characters from Bakuman rather than those from his earlier run-away success with Death Note.
Takeshi Obata's segment begins at 4.20.  Also featured are Tite Kubo (Bleach), Masahi Kishimoto (Naruto) and Eiichiro Oda (One Piece). 

It was uploaded on July 29th 2013.

Watch Artist  Takeshi Obata Ink Manga Page

Also available on YouTube is a far more leisurely view of Obata drawing a page from Bakuman, back in April 2013.

Filmed in real time, the footage will be of particular interest to those wanting to know what goes into a mangaka's work, maybe to become one themselves.

It takes Takeshi Obata half an hour to ink the previously sketched manga artwork for this page.
It seems wrong in a Death Note blog to skip any examples of Takeshi Obata drawing our characters.  Hence I've found a couple of moments for you.

Takeshi Obata Draws Ryuk from Death Note

This footage is from 2012, when Obata attended Lucca Comics and Games in Tuscany. He's beginning to sketch Ryuk. Unfortunately all fan filming and photography was banned, hence this is a very short clip.

Takeshi Obata Sketches Death Note in NY

We've already featured a clip of Obata drawing Ryuk and L at New York Comic-Con in 2014.  But here it is again.
Death Note News covered Obata's US visit far more extensively at the time. Read more about it:
  • Takeshi Obata Talks About Death Note at New York ComicCon 2014
  • 'I Struggle to Draw Cute Girls' Takeshi Obata Tells Comic Alliance
  • Difficult to Draw Shinigami Should Have Been Kept Simple - Takeshi Obata Interview at CBR
  • Death Note Characters - 'Borderline Fully-Fledged Villains' All, According to Obata
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TV Death Note Episode 4: Manipulation, Paranoia and Compliance

15/8/2015

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As someone coming from the Mello fandom, there's only one thing to know about episode four of Death Note (2015) TV drama.  This!
Death Note (2015) Near and Mello in Wammy's House

Wide shot of Wammy's House: No live action Mello in that big room!

Near and Mello in Death Note TV Drama 2015

For the past three episodes, we've been teased with the notion that a prone, or otherwise blind-to-the-puppet-of-himself, Mello has been out of shot in that room. I suspected he was sitting on one of those chairs.

Near always looks over the head of the puppet, whenever (s)he addresses Mello. His voice is heard, projected without so much as a twitch of Near's lips.

In the second episode it seemed that a shoulder could be glimpsed in the shadows of the fireplace chair alongside Near. Right at the spot where his/her eyes kept being drawn, roughly consistent with where a head might be on the individual seated there.

L addressed Mello directly, as someone external to Near in that same instalment.  He subtly did it again just moments prior to the wide-shot scene above.  Watari approached to say that Near was on the line.  L answered, "I'll call them back."  Implying that there was more than one person to be called back.
Image: L and Watari Death Note 2015
However L's delay wasn't being well received at the other end of that line. Focused fully upon Near and his Mello puppet, we were privy to a disturbing exchange.

Mello: He's disrespecting you!
Near: Calm down.
Mello: Hey, call Kira! We can work with Kira to erase L!
Near: We can't do that.
Mello: Help him out.
Near: No.

It's at this point that Near shifted to physically align position with the puppet.
Image: Near and Mello Puppet Death Note 2015
Before both voices sounded simultaneously seeming to confirm that Mello was indeed a separate entity.

Near and Mello: You're so stuck-up, Near.
Near: You talk too much Mello.
Near and Mello: Dummy! Dummy!
Image: Near and Puppet talking in unison

Near and the Mello puppet talk in unison
The laughter which sounds over the wide shot that follows could be either Near or Mello, or both become one again. We're expecting to see Mello as live action figure sitting in that seat, but the beautiful room is empty beyond Near, his Mello puppet and the Christian iconography in stained glass and huge artwork.

What Near was looking at - in lieu of referring to an actual Mello there - was the canvas depicting the Fall of the Rebel Angels.

Yet two voices were heard and they were both Near.  So yep. That's the major gossip. Near is in fact Mello.  And a whole section of the fandom freezes. While also admitting that it makes for an intriguing storyline.

I know that half of the Mello/Matt fandom are here.  What do you make of it?  Personally I'm quite fascinated. I'm sticking around to see where they go with this, whilst holding out for a real Mello to turn up later in the series.

After all, Near's puppet was based on someone in the manga. It might still be here too.
Elsewhere, there are more mind games being pursued throughout episode 4 of Death Note. 

Item one is a wilful disregard for human life on the part of all three main protagonists.  Four, if we include Near/Mello's avowed compulsion to kill L. 

There's Light scribbling down names a week in advance, so Kira's body count may continue, even as Light himself is under surveillance.  He contemplates the fact that he can only get five names onto his scrap of paper, not with any remorse for murder, nor any avowed sense of justice, but as a personal smoke screen. He's a very different young man from the sobbing one seen in the earlier episodes.  Kira cold and plotting, already consumed by the need to succeed whatever the cost.

There's Misa blithely noting that a cameraman only has a year to live, even as she's smiling and posing for pictures. It doesn't seem to penetrate emotionally at all. She doesn't know him and he appears to be a bit of a creep. Nevertheless, you'd expect a flicker of human feeling at the realisation of his imminent demise.

Later, she's downright gleeful, as she joins spectators at the scene where two criminals lie dead. They've been killed by herself, with her own Death Note, at the urging of Rem. There's none of the angst that beset Light at his first Kira kills playing upon her face. She's even dressed appropriately as the Black Widow incarnate.

Mind Games in TV Death Note Episode Four

Image: Misa as Second Kira in Death Note 2015

Misa as the Second Kira dressed in black
Then there's L, dispassionately announcing that he used Mark Dwellton (Ray Penbar) as bait in order to catch Kira - effectively sending him to his death without any back up.  He didn't seem to spot any incongruity in the fact that he 'didn't get around' to asking who Kira was, though Mark/Ray patently knew by now. Yet L did find time to plant a transmitter upon him.

It was more important for L to be the one to find Kira, than it was to catch Kira per se, or save a man's life.

Compliance and the Loss of Human Rights

L's mindset paved the way for one of the most thought-provoking sequences within Death Note television show episode four. 

The phenomenon of compliance exists all too easily in real life too - which is how concentration camps are built and harsh laws enacted without much more than a murmur on the streets - and L knows very well how to invoke such behaviour.

Human beings basically want to follow the herd. No matter how heinous the action, most will first look around to see if anyone else is speaking out. We second guess ourselves, if all our peers appear readily accepting of the situation. If someone in authority assures us that it's alright, then it's pretty much game over. We're socially programmed to not only keep silent, but actually join in that which ordinarily we'd call an outrage.

Matsuda protests against L's deadly usage of Ray Penbar for bait. L sneeringly dismisses the condemnation, assured in his personal immunity because Matsuda can't file an official complaint without exposing his real name and face to Kira.

The police officer instantly backs down. Personal safety, the silence of his peers and L's scathing tone reduce his concerns to nothing, despite the clarity of his duty here.
Image: L and the Japanese Task Squad in Death Note 2015

Compliance stills the complaints of Matsuda and Mogi in the face of L's disdain
It's the introduction of security cameras, enacting secret surveillance within the homes of police officers which fires Mogi's indignation. "This is a human rights violation!" He rails at L, who merely smirks.  It's the usually upright and morally exact Soichiro who loses sight of all ethical conduct here, reassuring Mogi and ordering his people to follow L's orders.

The compliance is complete, when all officers not only cease their protest, but join in with what they previously found so reprehensible.  It's only several days hence that Mogi has an insight to level at L, "You're the same way (as Kira)!"

Then they're all sent home. L no longer needs to manipulate them into compliance, he was about to switch tactics anyway.

Manipulation Tactics in Death Note Episode 4

Image: Light Yagami 'Kira is Evil' scene from Death Note (2015) episode 4
Then again Soichiro Yagami himself was above similar guilt manipulation.

I refer to his whole speech partway through about evil being the ability to kill, and those with such power being truly cursed.  His condemnation of 'Kira is evil' soon wiped the smirk from his son's face.
Strategies involving manipulation were also very much in evidence in this episode of the television live action Death Note drama.

Some were very subtle indeed, like Light Yagami reading girlie magazines in full view of cameras that he knew to be there. Moreover, he discerned that his father was watching. An obvious guilt trip to make it really awkward for Soichiro to be witnessing the scene before all of his staff.
Mind you, that's a philosophy soon twisted in Light's mind through a filter of Kira, until its finally subverted into, "I think Kira, who was born by acquiring this power, is the most blessed person on Earth."

Other techniques of manipulation were middling, such as Watari - acting upon L's orders - broadcasting fake news bulletins about 1500 FBI agents entering Japan to search for Kira.

More yet were downright blatant. Light came on like a bulldozer in manipulating Ryuk by force of apple abstinence into helping him find the surveillance devices in his bedroom.
Image: Light and Ryuk Death Note (2015)

.... yet.
While the heaviest of all came from Misa and her threatening letter, designed to manipulate Japan's government and its media. She didn't want much, just their open support and assistance for Kira, and L dragged onto television for a public execution. 

Given that the police authorities had already 'lost their nerve', it's probably a blessing for L that its chiefs didn't know his location. Else Misa might have won that round.

Hidden Nod to Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata

Incidentally, did you spot the hidden nod in that scene towards Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata? 

The stricken Chief of Police was called Ogiso Takeshi.  That he shared the same name as Death Note's canon artist was obvious. Less so was the link between Ohba and Ogiso. 

We have to slip back a few centuries and relocate to Africa. There you'll find the biggest Benin dynasties. Firstly the Ogiso, which was succeeded by *drum roll* the Oba.  Different spelling, same pronunciation.  Tenuous?  I think not.

Paranoia in the Watchers and the Watched

Image: Misa and Death Note paranoia
Misa learns all about paranoia
as a concept
Finally we get the most pervasive theme of all in this TV Death Note episode, that of paranoia. 

Particularly in the sense of that old adage:  'just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they're not watching you'.

Light Yagami is downright paranoid from the off. 

Though, to be fair, it's with good reason, what with FBI agents following him, Japanese agents watching his every move at home, Misa stalking him and L turning up at his school to challenge him in front of all his friends. 

He begins the episode with statements like, 'if anything happens to me, Kira's judgements must still go on', thus implying that he believes something might happen to him. He then has a good long paranoid moment in class, trying to guess the identity of the second Kira - is it someone he knows?  It is somebody famous?  It could be anybody!

His paranoia also shows in his behaviour.  Booby-trapping his bedroom door is a big one, though again that actually tipped him off that his room had been entered by professionals. 

By partway through, his self-commentary is coming out with things like, "If I make one false move, (L will) find out." Not the musings of a sane boy, however correct his presumptions transpired to be.

Mind you, he did manage to traverse the potato chip scene without any of the iconic bellowing of his English dub anime counterpart.

Then you get Misa's big moment, wherein Rem warns her that using any Death Note causes its owner to become highly paranoid.  (A new aspect created for this telling of the tale?)  Until now, Misa has appeared relatively intelligent and capable.  Suddenly she's beaming blankly at Rem, asking airily, "What does paranoid mean?"

Before setting out to manipulate Light by triggering his own Death Note incurred paranoia.  It all felt a little jarring from where I was sitting.

Light xL Fanservice in Death Note TV Episode 4

Mostly though, Death Note (2015) episode 4 is going to be remembered for its blatant and gratuitous fan-service for the legions within the Light/L fandom.

Until now, Kento Yamazaki taking his shirt off every episode has been the biggest fare on offer for his fans.  Now a good ten minutes was taken up with nothing much beyond Light and L flirting incessantly and posing with little to no clothes on.  There was a whole scene in a communal shower for Kami's sake!

Let's just have a little picture show and let the images speak for themselves.
I rest my case. 
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Blanc et Noir - Takeshi Obata Artwork - to be Released by Viz Media as Limited Edition

11/8/2015

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Blanc et Noir Death Note

Blanc et Noir - Death Note artwork by Takeshi Obata

A glossy, over-sized art book by Takeshi Obata - featuring dozens of fully realized, colour pictures from his Death Note universe - will be published by Viz Media in Spring 2016.

Blanc et Noir has been available for Japanese readers since 2006. This is the first time the imprint will be in English.

The deluxe English version of Blanc et Noir has a silver-stamped presentation box. Inside there are 132 pages worth of full colour Takeshi Obata artwork. Around a third of those encapsulate his expanded vision of the Death Note world.  Most spread over double pages and can be folded to create posters.

Also included are three laminated wall posters, artist commentary notes and a twelve page 'How to Draw' booklet describing how to reproduce Obata's own pictures.

Moreover, Viz Media are only printing 10,000 of their English language Blanc et Noir, so collectors of Death Note limited editions start saving your pennies now!
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RKD-EK9 - One Shot Takeshi Obata Art in English Weekly Shonen Jump (Dec 29th 2014)

9/1/2015

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Image: Weekly Shonen Jump 05-05 December 29th 2014
Takeshi Obata's artwork on the
cover of Weekly Shonen Jump
(Dec 29th 2014)
Sorry, sorry, I'm a week late with this news, but what can I say? There were parties to be had and hangovers to survive.

In the meantime, the English language version of Weekly Shonen Jump has been having a field day with Death Note related items. By which we mostly mean 'things drawn by the same bloke who drew Death Note'.

Though there are a couple of items less tenuously linked.
The first big news concerns the one-shot RKD-EK9, which Death Note artist Takeshi Obata created with NisiOisiN. There's a double connection here for our fandom, as this was the author of Another Note.

RKD-EK9 was announced in October 2014 and it's already been published in a December edition of the Japanese Weekly Shonen Jump. For English readers, it constituted a special dual chapter stop-gap publication of the US Weekly Shonen Jump - issue No. 05-05 - which came out on December 29th 2014.

Just around the time that I was opening my first bottle of wine.
Takeshi Obata has also teamed up with writer Nobuaki Enoki to produce a new manga serial of Gakkyū Hōtei for Weekly Shonen Jump.

We gave you the heads up about this in November, when it was due to begin its run in the Japanese edition of the respected manga magazine. But English readers get to discover the delights too. The publishers have promised that all stories will be released in the US on the same day as in Japan.

Obviously give or take RKD-EK9...
Image: Takeshi Obata's artwork in RKD-EK9

Takeshi Obata's artwork in manga one shot RKD-EK9
This means that I'm woefully behind on telling you that the slightly renamed Gakkyu Hotei: School Judgment is running in the US version of Weekly Shonen Jump.

It actually began on December 1st 2014 (issue No. 1). By the manga's very nature as a serial, Gakkyu Hotei continued on through every edition thereon, and will do until the tale is told.  Though the special edition on the 29th didn't feature a chapter. All of the serials paused for that one.
Image: Gakkyu Hotei in Weekly Shonen Jump

Takeshi Obata's artwork in Gakkyu Hotei: School Judgment
I did promise some actual Death Note news rather than just what its artist is up to now.

Weekly Shonen Jump has also featured work from a second Death Note artist. Didn't know there was another?  You obviously haven't factored in the fan art of a lady named Sara E.

A week later, there was more Obata fan art. This time from Toshiyaka M. recreating Bakuman's The Detective Trap. No, not Kira. Totally different story.

Finally Weekly Shonen Jump also ran with a feature about the release of the new box set - Death Note: The Complete Series.

But you already knew about that, as I actually managed to report it in a timely fashion, a month before Shonen Jump did. And shoved the actual product in our Death Note box set section of the website.

And there you are - all up to date with all things Death Note related from Weekly Shonen Jump.  Well, recent things anyway. We'd be here all day if I had to return to the start.

Image: Weekly Shonen Jump cover for December 1st 2014 Issue No 1

Takeshi Obata's cover art
for Weekly Shonen Jump
(December 1st 2014)
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Death Note Cocktails for the Holidays Anyone?

19/12/2014

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Picture
Well, how fabulous is this?!

The lovely people over at The Speakeasy - a blog and podcast site run by Alain and Kate - have created a cocktail for Death Note fans.

This alcoholic Death Note drink  takes as its inspiration Ryuk's legendary passion for human world apples.

Entitled Gods of Death Love Apples, the shinigami cocktail mixes brandy, rum and
angostura bitters around an apple base. Just the thing to warm the cockles on these cold winter evenings!

In addition, The Speakeasy's podcast comes from New York Comic Con 2014, where Takeshi Obata was a special guest. You may hear that from the same page, while enjoying a Death Note cocktail or three.

All of which gets me thinking - what Death Note character cocktails can we come up with here on Death Note News? 

Comment with your concoctions and I'll feature them all in a blog closer to Christmas, possibly with taste tests filmed and uploaded. I'm certain that my homies would take one for the team, when it comes to sampling Death Note alcoholic beverages. They're full of heart like that.

Bring it on!

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Takeshi Obata in Germany - Death Note Artist Appearing at Manga-Comic-Convention 2015

8/12/2014

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Takeshi Obata Germany
Death Note artist Takeshi Obata is certainly getting about just recently. After personal appearances in the USA and Spain, he's now off to Germany.

German Death Note fans will be able to catch up with the legendary mangaka at the 2015 Manga-Comic-Convention, held on March 12th-15th in Leipzig.

There will be plenty of opportunities to meet Takeshi Obata too. With public appearances every day of the Convention, including one panel,
it seems that he's practically moving in! 

The Death Note artist is attending as a guest of TOKYOPOP, hence look to its Convention stand for most of Obata's German events.


For those who do attend one, there is apparently a 'surprise' awaiting you.  Do report back!  Nosy minds want to know what it is!

However, read the details very carefully, as this is going to be organized very specifically in the same way as occurred in New York. Death Note's German fans could wind up shut out of proceedings, if they arrive unprepared.

At the end, I'll run through what you need to do before turning up at one of Takeshi Obata's German signing sessions. 


Schwarzes Sofa Comic Forum

Takeshi Obata's Schedule in Germany

March 12th 2015: 

14.00-15.00: 
Takeshi Obata signing autographs, at the TOKYOPOP Stand, Manga-Comic-Convention 2015, Leipzig.

March 13th 2015:

16.00-17.00: 
Takeshi Obata signing autographs, at the TOKYOPOP Stand, Manga-Comic-Convention 2015, Leipzig.

March 14th 2015: 

12.00-13.00:
Takeshi Obata signing autographs, at the TOKYOPOP Stand, Manga-Comic-Convention 2015, Leipzig.

14.45-15.45: Takeshi Obata taking part in a panel, which will include live drawing demonstrations. This will occur at
the ComicForum Schwarzes Sofa, Manga-Comic-Convention 2015, Leipzig.  All questions will be collected in advance. From these a selection will be made. Those chosen will be read aloud by the organizers on your behalf during the panel.

March 15th 2015:

13.00-14.00:
Takeshi Obata signing autographs, at the TOKYOPOP Stand, Manga-Comic-Convention 2015, Leipzig.

I will update this as more information about Takeshi Obata's German schedule comes in. I'd be grateful for a heads up, if you spot anything happening, hitherto unlisted above. Danke!
One does not simply walk up to mangaka

How to Get Takeshi Obata's Autograph

  • Death Note's mangaka will not sign anything that you put before him.

This isn't your big moment to get your inflatable dolphin collection etched with artistic kanji, and certainly not a chance to secure an original L to have tattooed onto your breast. I suppose it curtails the risk of the artist scribbling his real name into a Death Note, or something.

  • You will be given a card to present to Takeshi Obata. He signs this and only this.

However, you need to pick up that card in advance, and only a limited number are available for each signing session.  To secure a card, visit the TOKYOPOP stand at the Convention at 10am.

It's a first come, first served affair, but (assuming this is the same as in New York, though this part hasn't yet been mentioned for Leipzig) you will only be allowed to start queuing 15 minutes before - i.e. 9.45am.  In the US, anyone loitering in a I'm-not-queuing-just-standing-where-the-queue-will-be manner was asked to move on. They automatically lost the chance to get a card.

During the 10am pick-up, only the signing cards for that day's session will be given out. You can't queue on Thursday to get Saturday's card etc.

If you fail to get one, then don't appear at the actual event, as you will not be permitted to approach Takeshi Obata's signing desk. Thus proving categorically that he really is manga royalty.


  • At Obata's public signing appearances, all photography and filming is strictly prohibited.

This is why the internet isn't swarming with pictures of Death Note fans grinning alongside its legendary mangaka.

I don't know what the penalty is for yielding to the Hands On Imperative here. It could be a Significant Glare and Much Tutting during the immediate aftermath of a flash going off. It could be you falling to the ground, clutching your heart 40 seconds later.

It does seem strange that everyone obeys this rule. Being asked is one thing, but in my experience universal politeness often fails, when the alternative is the Fandom Photograph of a Lifetime. Particularly when masses of people are involved.

Has anyone here attended one of these signing sessions in the US, Spain or Japan?  Any insight to share concerning such matters?

The answer could really be that Death Note fans are genuinely quite lovely, despite our dark reading matter. The impetus for the No Pictures thing has come from Obata himself. Organizers of all these events merely request that fans respect the artist's wishes, and apparently we do!
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Watch Takeshi Obata Sketch Ryuk and L at New Year Comic Con 2014

20/11/2014

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We've already seen various crowd filmed footage of the moment when Takeshi Obata got his pen out at New York Comic Con. However, Viz Media were able to get much closer than most - the perk of organizing the panel in the first place, plus the Death Note artist being there as their guest.

Enjoy this unimpeded, over the artist's shoulder view, as Obata draws L and shinigami Ryuk live in front of a New York crowd.  Freehand.  Mine wouldn't come close if I used a blooming stencil!

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

19/11/2014

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

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

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

Yet their artist doesn't share our view.

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

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

TO: I’m really bad at drawing female characters. It’s difficult to capture their expression because I don’t understand them! Making them pretty and cute is the most difficult thing.
(Takeshi Obata, with Juliet Kahn, Comic Alliance, October 30th 2014)
What do you think?  Do you agree that Obata is better at drawing the male of the species than its ladies?  Or are you as dismissive as I am about the self-effacing criticism?

There's much more in the interview, though it's mostly about All You Need is Kill and Bakuman.  Visit Comic Alliance for the full low down.
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Difficult to Draw Shinigami Should Have Been Kept Simple - Takeshi Obata Interview at CBR

17/11/2014

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Death Note Light and Ryuk
The recent appearance of Death Note artist Takeshi Obata at New York Comic Con provided plenty of opportunities for fan posed questions and full scale  professional interviews alike.

As a result, tidbits of information and Death Note insights are currently falling like confetti over our entire fandom. Thank you all for sharing!

One delightful little interview with Takeshi Obata has been published by Brigid Alverson over at Comic Book Resources.  She picked up on his point - given during his panel Q&A - that he took inspiration for Ryuk's look from Italian fashion designs. So did Obata have a particular designer in mind?

Apparently not.
Actually I am not specifically interested in fashion, but I like designed clothing, and like a lot of people, I read magazines and then I'll see stuff I like. I like looking at fashion, and if I see something I like, it ends up in my work sometimes.  (Takeshi Obata, CBR. Oct 17th 2014)
Which isn't to say that he's not interested in designer fashion per se. As already intimidated, there is inspiration to be had there!
The clothes I put the characters in obviously become part of the characters, so I am really careful about how I dress them, for sure. I take a lot of care in that. (Takeshi Obata, CBR. Oct 17th 2014)
That brings a whole new complex to the adage that clothes maketh the man... and the shinigami too.

Talking about shinigami, Ms Alverson wondered if Takeshi was ever so enthusiastic in his original character drawings, that the complexity became later regretted, as he was stuck with reproducing the look in later scenes. He concurred that such things occurred - Ryuk being a case in point.
Definitely, especially with the shinigami, I always end up drawing something really detailed in the beginning, and it gets really difficult as I keep doing it and I think I should have done something a little bit simpler. (Takeshi Obata, CBR. Oct 17th 2014)
I have to admit that it never crossed my mind that this kind of thing happened. I'm no artist, so I haven't got the context first hand. Though I do know how soul-destroying it is to edit stories as a writer. It's the sheer tedium of going over old ground, without the joy of discovering or creating anything new, that weighs me down.

I'm now very, very grateful that I never had the talent to become an artist in a long serial. You'd have to go over old ground constantly, just changing poses here and there, or maybe hair-styles and clothes, if your character gets to enjoy costume changes. *shudders*

How do you artist types keep sane under such conditions?!

Back to the plot, it's worth checking out Brigid Alverson's actual interview with Takeshi Obata, as there's more there than I've quoted here, particularly concerning his non-Death Note work.
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Death Note Artist Takeshi Obata's All You Need is Kill as Oversized Omnibus Print Edition

12/11/2014

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All You Need is Kill manga

Buy All You Need is Kill (manga):
2-in-1 Edition
at Amazon US
I'm never sure to what extent you're all interested in Death Note related work, but I'll dutifully report upon new releases until someone tells me to stop.

Back in May, we heard how the English language version of All You Need is Kill - artwork by Takeshi Obata providing the relevance - was out in digital format.

Viz Media have now released a print edition for those of us who like to hold, sniff, display and gather dust on our graphic novel collections.

But only in the USA and Japan.


Hiroshi Sakurazaka's cult sci-fi novel follows the fortunes of Keiji Kiriya, who is trapped in the Groundhog Day from Hell. 

Forced out onto a battlefield to fight the invading Mimics, Kiriya is just one more face amongst the general cannon fodder.  Nor does he make it very far. He's soon killed and his body is piled up with all of the rest.

Then he wakes up. It's the morning of the battle once again and Kiriya has another chance to survive the carnage of the day. While all common sense says to flee, he's not given the option. One day, another death. Then he wakes up, and so on.  Only each iteration allows him to add a little more to his observations, amassing a sum of knowledge in the angles fought and lost, which might eventually see him safely out the other side.

But what would actually happen if he did survive?  And is this even the same world from which he first marched off to war?

Enjoy your pretty omnibus 2 in 1 hard copy edition of All You Need is Kill, America and Japan.

Meanwhile, the rest of us can check out the digital versions at Amazon: 
Canada | China | France | Germany | Great Britain | Italy | Japan | Spain | US
2 Comments

Gakkyū Hōtei Manga Relaunch to be Drawn by Death Note's Artist Takeshi Obata

11/11/2014

2 Comments

 
Gakkyū Hōtei Dec 2014 Weekly Shonen Jump
Gakkyū Hōtei is coming back.

Shuiesha announced that
Nobuaki Enoki's 'shocking court mystery' manga will feature throughout 2015, as a Weekly Shonen Jump serial, beginning with the January publication (due in December 2014).

So far, so utterly relevant within the remit of this blog. Until you notice that Takeshi Obata is the artist brought on board for the project. Shuiesha will be hoping that Death Note's own visionary will be able to reprise his magic for this title too.

Previously,
Gakkyū Hōtei's artwork was drawn by its author Enoki. The story, formatted as a Smartphone app, ran as part of Jump Live.

'Gakkyū Hōtei' translates as School Investigation Court.  Each of the manga's chapters will highlight another elementary school offender, as they go to trial.

It's a kind of Ace Attorney meets Grade School because... well, why not? High School students being judgmental is hardly anything new (it sets them up for adulthood, where being opinionated comes as standard, though we have to be more subtle about finger pointing and kicking people out of our gangs). 

Though I'm still unsure about how legally binding these School Tribunals are, nor am I 100% on the nature of the crimes under consideration.

If it's mass murder via a supernatural note book, then Obata has this one totally in the bag.  Whatever it is, I'm sure he'll cope.


2 Comments

Death Note Characters - 'Borderline Fully-Fledged Villains' All, According to Obata

23/10/2014

1 Comment

 
Light Yagami Death Note
Anime News Network is running an interview with Takeshi Obata, wherein he mentions Death Note.

Reporter Katriel Paige caught up with him at New York Comic Con to ask questions, including one about how difficult it was to capture the 'cat and mouse' thinking processes visually in the Death Note manga.

After an intervention from editor Koji Yoshida to say that was surely more to do with Tsugumi Obha than Takeshi Obata, the artist did answer the question. He replied,
... in Death Note, a lot of the characters are borderline full-fledged villains, so it was important to capture those manipulative facial expressions so it looked like they were thinking diabolically, just because their faces looked manipulative.
Interview: Takeshi Obata, Anime News Network, October 22nd 2014
So many of the Death Note characters are 'borderline fully-fledged villains'.  Anyone got any thoughts on that?  Personally I think it's fair comment!
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