Death Note (2006 TV series)

Death Note is a Japanese anime television series, based on the manga series of the same name written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. It was directed by Tetsurō Araki at Madhouse and originally aired in Japan on Nippon TV every Wednesday (with the exception of December 20, 2006, and January 3, 2007) shortly past midnight, from October 4, 2006, to June 27, 2007. The plot of the series primarily revolves around high school student Light Yagami, who decides to rid the world of evil with the help of a supernatural notebook called a Death Note. This book causes the death of anyone whose name is written in it and is passed on to Light by the Shinigami Ryuk after he becomes bored within the Shinigami world.

A two-hour "Director's Cut" compilation television film, titled Death Note: Relight: Visions of a God, aired on NTV a few months after the anime concluded. Although advertised to be the "complete conclusion", the popularity of the series inspired the release of a second TV special, titled Death Note: Relight 2: L's Successors nearly a year later. These specials recap the first and second arcs of the anime, respectively, with new scenes added to fill in any plot holes resulted from omitted footage.

In 2007, Viz Media licensed the series for a bilingual release in North America. Episodes of the series were officially available for download soon after they aired in Japan; according to Viz, this was "significant because it marked the first time a well known Japanese anime property [was] made legally available to domestic audiences for download to own while the title still [aired] on Japanese television." Viz Media began releasing these episodes via Direct2Drive on May 10, 2007. In addition to this downloadable release of a subtitled version of the series, Viz also acquired the rights for the home video release of both the subtitled and dubbed version of the series.

On October 21, 2007, Death Note premiered on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Death Note episodes were also added to Adult Swim's streaming video service, Adult Swim Video, on Fridays before airing on television. On November 9, 2008, Death Note began airing weekly, at 3:30 a.m. EST, starting with episode 1, "Rebirth", on Adult Swim. In Canada, the series premiered on YTV's Bionix programming block on October 26, 2007. In October 2007, Hong Kong began airing the Cantonese version of Death Note at 12:00 a.m. Saturday nights on TVB. On April 14, 2008, Death Note premiered in Australia, where it aired on ABC2 on Mondays at 9:30 p.m.

Five pieces of theme music are used for the series. The first opening theme, titled "The World", is performed by Nightmare. Nightmare also performed the first ending theme, , which reappears as the ending theme in the television film Death Note: Relight: Visions of a God and as an insert in episodes 12 and 19. Both songs appear on their album The World Ruler. The second opening theme from episode 20 onwards is "What's Up, People?!" and the second ending theme is , which also appears as an insert in the TV special Death Note: Relight: Visions of a God. Both themes are performed by Maximum the Hormone and appear on their album Bu-ikikaesu. The final episode's ending theme is "Coda ~ Death Note" by series co-composer Yoshihisa Hirano. "Misa's Song", performed by Misa's voice actress Aya Hirano, is heard as an insert for episode 25. The English version of the song is performed by the character's English voice actress, Shannon Chan-Kent.

Cast and characters

• Mamoru Miyano as Light Yagami, the main protagonist of the series. Light is an overachiever who uses the Death Note to feed his desire to become God of a new world, inflicting mortal judgement on criminals.
• Brad Swaile as Light in the English dub.
• Kappei Yamaguchi as L. L is reclusive, blunt, and eccentric, but regarded as the world's best detective.
• Alessandro Juliani as L in the English dub.
• Shidô Nakamura as Ryuk, the Shinigami whose Death Note is picked up by Light. He has a flippant attitude to the events of the story.
• Brian Drummond as Ryuk in the English dub.
• Aya Hirano as Misa Amane. Misa is a popular Japanese actress and model, who also possesses a Death Note and falls in love with Light.
• Shannon Chan-Kent as Misa Amane in the English dub.
• Noriko Hidaka as Near, the young detective who replaces L.
• Cathy Weseluck as Near in the English dub.
• Nozomu Sasaki as Mello, a detective raised alongside Near who also pursues Kira. His emotional streak and desire to do things his way causes complications in the case.
• David Hurwitz as Mello in the English dub.
• Masaya Matsukaze as Teru Mikami, a stern and scrupulous prosecutor that becomes Light's disciple.
• Kirby Morrow as Teru Mikami in the English dub.
• Naoya Uchida as Soichiro Yagami, Light's father and the chief of the taskforce investigating the Kira murders.
• Chris Britton as Soichiro Yagami in the English dub.
• Ryô Naitô as Toota Matsuda, the youngest member of the Kira investigation team. He gradually becomes more confident and mature as the series goes on.
• Vincent Tong as Toota Matsuda in the English dub.
• Keiji Fujiwara as Shuuichi Aizawa, a confrontational member of the Kira investigation team that is a devoted family man.
• Trevor Devall as Shuuichi Aizawa in the English dub.
• Kazuya Nakai as Kanzoo Mogi, a reserved member of the Kira taskforce.
• John Murphy as Kanzoo Mogi in the English dub.
• Hideo Ishikawa as Hideki Ide, a member of the Kira taskforce that dislikes working with L and has a snarky attitude.
• Brian Dobson as Hideki Ide in the English dub.
• Hidenobu Kiuchi as Hirokazu Ukita, a member of the Kira taskforce who is almost as bumbling as Matsuda, but slightly more confident.
• Jeremy From as Hirokazu Ukita in the English dub.
• Kiyoshi Kobayashi as Watari, L's laconic manager who runs the orphanage where Near and Mello grew up.
• French Tickner and Ron Halder as Watari in the English dub.
• Maaya Sakamoto and Masumi Okamura as Kiyomi Takada, Light's ex-girlfriend who becomes a spokesperson for Kira.
• Heather Doerksen as Kiyomi Takada in the English dub.
• Hideo Ishikawa as Raye Penbar, an American FBI agent sent to Japan to investigate Kira.
• Michael Adamthwaite as Raye Penbar in the English dub.
• Naoko Matsui as Naomi Misora, a former FBI agent and Raye Penbar's fiancé.
• Tabitha St. Germain as Naomi Misora in the English dub.
• Issei Futamata as Kyoosuke Higuchi, a Japanese businessperson with the Yotsuba Group. He is given the Death Note by Rem and uses it to kill business rivals.
• Andrew Kavadas as Kyoosuke Higuchi in the English dub.
• Kimiko Saitō as Rem, the Shinigami whose Death Note is picked up by Misa Amane. She has a protective streak of Misa.
• Colleen Wheeler as Rem in the English dub.
• Ai Satō as Sachiko Yagami, Light's mother and Sooichiroo's wife.
• Saffron Henderson as Sachiko Yagami in the English dub.
• Haruka Kudō as Sayu Yagami, Light's younger sister and Sooichiroo's daughter.
• Kelly Metzger as Sayu Yagami pre-time skip and Kristie Marsden as Sayu Yagami post-time skip in the English dub.

Episodes

Television films

Home media release

Japanese

English

Reception

The anime was commended by Tom S. Pepirium of IGN, who said that Death Notes "heavy serialized nature" is what "makes the show so engaging and discussion worthy". Pepirium, saying that translating Death Note is "no small task", stated that Stephen Hedley created an English dub with "nothing clunky". He added that Karl Willems, director of the dub, assembled a "stunning voice cast of professionals" with a "solid tone minus some of the cheesy yelling and screaming of other dubs". On the NPR show Fresh Air, John Powers said that Death Note is "at least as addictive as a show like Lost". Hyper wrote: Jacob Hope Chapman from Anime News Network praised Teru Mikami's role as bloody and flashy and even better than that of Near, Mello, and Misa. The Daily Telegraphs Henry St. Leger wrote, "What starts as a moral fable about the corruption of power becomes a slow-burning game of cat-and-mouse as Light is chased down by the world's greatest detective. Some droning voice acting leadens what is otherwise a brilliantly terse noir." Vulture's Maya Phillips wrote, "Beyond its deft twists and turns, Death Note also addresses questions about morality, justice, and capital punishment. All this, plus beautiful animation and well-written dialogue and plot, makes Death Note the cream of the animated crop."