Probably one of the most popular anime and manga stories worldwide, Death Note has marked a milestone in the world of popular culture, because more than 20 years after its original publication, this work continues to give something to talk about, in addition to considered today as ‘cult’.
Written by Tsugumi Oba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, the publication of the Death Note manga began in 2003 in Japan through the famous Shonen Jump magazine with the publishing house Shueisha.
The success of Oba and Obata’s original work was so great that in less than three years Death Note received its first adaptation with an anime, which has 37 episodes and 2 special scenes.
What is Death Note about?
The story introduces us to Light Yagami, a young Japanese man who is attending university and who enjoys being one of the most intelligent, not only in his class, but in the country in general, constantly obtaining high grades.
Despite the recognition that Light usually receives from his family, teachers and classmates, he finds the world extremely boring and monotonous, and shows little interest in other forms of life other than himself.
One day Light finds a black notebook with the title ‘Death Note’ written on it and when he opens it he realizes that it apparently has the ability to kill through certain rules that are also written in it.
Out of mere curiosity, Light decides to do the experiment with a group of gang members who were bothering a woman, being surprised by the result, because the powers of the notebook are real.
“The names of the people who are written in it will die“, says the first rule of the Death Note.
This discovery leads Light to become a kind of ‘vigilante’ who seeks to create a utopian world free of criminals who, over time, will put him under the investigation of the police and also of the best detective in the world, ‘L’.
The legacy that Death Note left inside and outside of anime and manga fans has transcended over time, even achieving live-action adaptations in Japan, Korea and in America by Netflix.
In 2020, Death Note received an official continuation from its creators with a ‘one shot’ manga, which featured a new protagonist who found the same notebook as Light years before.
Currently Death Note can be enjoyed on multiple streaming platforms in its original language or in the dubbing that was made for Latin America.
