99 Fun Facts About Death Note

Which pseudonymous author wrote the Death Note manga?

Tsugumi Ohba is a pen name whose owner has never been revealed; a long-running fan theory, never confirmed, says it hides the gag-manga artist Hiroshi Gamo.

In which magazine was Death Note serialised from December 2003 to May 2006?

Weekly Shōnen Jump is the home of fight manga such as Naruto and Bleach; Death Note's writer doubted they could pull one off there, so pitched a suspense story built on a battle of wits instead.

The name 'Kira', given to Light Yagami's hidden persona, is the Japanese rendering of which English word?

Killer, said the Japanese way, becomes Kira; the public coins the name once criminals around the world start dying of heart attacks.

Which humans can see and hear the shinigami Ryuk?

People who have touched the notebook are the only humans who can see Ryuk; the live-action films drew him in CGI, their director said, to make that selective presence believable.

What is the shinigami Ryuk addicted to in the human world?

Apples work on a shinigami the way cigarettes and alcohol do on humans, Ryuk says; go too long without them and he twists himself up like a pretzel and does handstands.

Which studio animated the Death Note anime?

Madhouse later re-cut the series into two feature-length 'Relight' TV specials, adding new scenes and reworking parts of the plot rather than simply replaying it.

Which US programming block first aired the Death Note anime?

Adult Swim got the premiere because Canada's YTV, which had been due to air the series first, pulled it from the schedule days before its start date.

Which band performs 'The World', the first opening theme of the Death Note anime?

Nightmare supplied both the opening and the closing theme, 'Alumina', for the first 19 episodes, before Maximum the Hormone took over both slots with 'What's Up, People?!' and 'Zetsubou Billy'.

What is the real name of the detective L in Death Note?

L Lawliet is never given in the manga itself and was first revealed in the official guidebook; Lind L. Tailor was the death-row convict L put on live TV as a decoy to draw Kira out.

Which task-force detective shoots Light in the manga's finale to stop him killing Near?

Touta Matsuda had befriended Light and believed he was not Kira, so the shots that stop him come from the detective who had trusted him.

Which eccentric habit is L known for?

Crouching in chairs instead of sitting is not a whim, L insists: he claims his powers of deduction would drop by roughly 40 per cent if he sat the normal way.

Who writes L's name in a Death Note?

Rem writes L's and Watari's names to save Misa, exactly as Light had engineered, and the act destroys Rem too, because a shinigami who kills to lengthen a human's life must die.

What is Misa Amane's job?

Model and idol Misa Amane worships Kira because he killed the burglar who murdered her parents in front of her, so she travels to Tokyo to find him and offer her help.

What does a Death Note owner give up to obtain the shinigami eyes?

Half their remaining lifespan is the price, and Misa pays it twice, to two different shinigami; in return the eyes show the name of anyone whose face the owner sees.

Which shinigami, in love with Misa Amane, died after killing the stalker about to murder her?

Gelus broke shinigami law by using his notebook to lengthen a human's life, so he crumbled away; a fellow shinigami then carried the notebook he left behind down to Misa.

Which rival of Near joins the American mafia in his race to catch Kira first?

Mello refuses to team up with Near, walks out of the orphanage that raised them both and joins the mafia, using its muscle to seize a Death Note from the Japanese police.

What is Near's real name?

Nate River, who goes by Near, is the detective who finally exposes Light as Kira; he does his thinking surrounded by toys, building towers out of dice.

Mello is rarely seen without which food?

Chocolate was chosen because the writer felt it 'represented all sweets', and it pays off in the plot: a shinigami trades Mello the truth about two fake notebook rules for some.

L's live TV trap with a decoy proves that Kira is in which region of Japan?

Kanto is pinned down when L goads Kira into killing a stand-in on live television; a humiliated Light swears to eliminate him, and their duel begins.

What is Watari's real name?

Quillsh Wammy is a famous inventor who founded the orphanage for gifted children that raised L, and he is killed along with the detective he spent years shielding from the world.

What word does the prosecutor Teru Mikami mutter repeatedly as he writes names in the Death Note?

Delete, 'sakujo' in Japanese, is Mikami's chant; his rigid routine is what Near exploits, letting the SPK swap his notebook for a fake before the final showdown.

Light hides a scrap of the Death Note inside which object, later using it to kill Higuchi?

His wristwatch hides the scrap in a secret compartment; when touching Higuchi's notebook brings Light's memories back, he uses the scrap to kill Higuchi on the spot.

Which FBI agent tailing Light is tricked into writing his colleagues' names?

Raye Penber is one of twelve FBI agents sent to Japan; Light learns his name by staging a bus hijacking, then uses him as a pawn to kill the other eleven before killing him too.

How does Light Yagami finally die in the manga?

Ryuk writes his name in the end, as he warned on the day they met that he would; the wounded Light had begged him to write down the names of everyone else present.

The kanji of Light's surname, Yagami, mean what?

Night god is what the characters 夜神 mean, yet the writer says an editor suggested the surname and its meaning didn't much concern him; the given name is written 'moon' but read as Light.

Who voices Light Yagami in the Japanese version of the anime?

Mamoru Miyano was nominated for Best Lead Actor at the first Seiyu Awards for playing Light and lost, then won the same prize a year later for Mobile Suit Gundam 00.

Who voices L in the Japanese Death Note anime?

Kappei Yamaguchi is also Usopp in One Piece, a part he was offered only after auditioning for the hero, Luffy, and losing out; in English L is voiced by Alessandro Juliani.

Who played Light Yagami in the 2006 Japanese live-action films?

Tatsuya Fujiwara plays Light as a college student from the very start, not the manga's high-schooler, across two films released in June and November 2006.

Which actor played L in the 2006 films and their 2008 spin-off L: Change the World?

Kenichi Matsuyama played L in all three films; the spin-off covers the 23 days L has left after writing his own name to trap Kira, a plot unique to the films.

Who directed the 2017 Death Note film released by Netflix?

Adam Wingard saw Warner Bros. drop the film as shooting neared; rival studios came looking, and Netflix won the scramble.

Who voiced Ryuk in the 2017 Netflix Death Note film?

Willem Dafoe gave Ryuk both his voice and his face, the creature's features being shaped to his through performance capture, while Jason Liles wore the costume on set.

The 2017 Netflix film moved the story from Japan to which US city?

Seattle is where the film's L, working from Tokyo, tracks Kira down; on screen the city is actually played by Vancouver, where the production was based.

Which novelist wrote Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases?

Nisio Isin has one of L's would-be successors narrate the 2006 prequel, in which L and FBI agent Naomi Misora hunt a murderer raised at the same orphanage as L.

The official guidebook released in October 2006 carries what title?

Death Note 13: How to Read is where L's real name is revealed, after the story had withheld it through all twelve volumes; it also reprints the 2003 pilot chapter.

Where does the final confrontation between Light and Near take place in the Death Note manga?

The Yellow Box Warehouse is where Near lets Mikami write down everyone's name and simply waits: when nobody dies, the notebook is exposed as a fake.

Why does the shinigami Ryuk drop a Death Note into the human world?

He was bored: with nothing left to amuse him in the shinigami realm, Ryuk tricked the Shinigami King out of a second notebook and dropped it to see what a human would do.

In June 2015, which country's Ministry of Culture listed Death Note among 38 banned anime and manga?

China's Ministry of Culture said the 38 titles could encourage juvenile delinquency; a decade earlier, schools in Shenyang had banned Death Note after pupils took to writing teachers' names in copycat notebooks.

Which company licensed Death Note for English release in April 2005?

Viz Media is part-owned by Shueisha, the manga's Japanese publisher; volume one followed that October, and Viz later sold subtitled episodes of the anime as downloads while it was still airing in Japan.

What does SPK, the anti-Kira unit Near leads, stand for?

Special Provision for Kira, as the English edition spells it out, is a team of FBI and CIA agents kept deliberately small to stay secret.

Which artist illustrated the Death Note manga?

Takeshi Obata hardly ever met the series' writer: storyboards reached him through their editor, and the pair first met face to face at an editorial party in January 2004.

Who plays Light Turner in the 2017 Netflix film?

Nat Wolff's Light Turner is an isolated outsider, not the manga's golden boy: the notebook falls from the sky just as he finishes a classmate's homework, and his first victim is a school bully.

How long after a name is written in the Death Note does the victim die if no cause is given?

40 seconds is all it takes: with no cause written in that window the victim dies of a heart attack, and the run of identical deaths is what tells the world one person is behind them.

Kyosuke Higuchi, who receives a Death Note while Light loses his memory, works for which company?

Yotsuba Group executives meet every week to choose business rivals for the notebook to remove; with his own memories of it erased, Light genuinely helps L catch Higuchi.

The 2006 Death Note film topped Japan's box office for two weeks, pushing which Hollywood film to second?

The Da Vinci Code was knocked off the top spot by a film whose director had been forbidden to change a single rule of the notebook, even as the manga kept adding new ones.

In the 2017 Netflix film, Light and Mia's final confrontation takes place on top of what?

A Ferris wheel is where Mia snatches the notebook, unaware that Light has already written her name in it; Ryuk wrecks the wheel, she falls to her death and Light drops into the water.

Which character, kidnapped late in Death Note, kills her captor with a hidden scrap of the notebook?

Kiyomi Takada, Kira's TV spokesperson, had been told what to do if she was ever taken; Mikami's rush to silence her afterwards is what exposes the real notebook to Near.

Who directed the Death Note anime series?

Tetsurō Araki 'literally begged' to join the production when he heard a Death Note anime was planned, he later said, and went on to direct the first seasons of Attack on Titan.

Besides Japan, which country staged its own production of Death Note: The Musical in 2015?

South Korea followed Tokyo's premiere that summer with K-pop star Kim Junsu as L; the show's Broadway composer had never heard of Death Note when he was asked, and says his son told him he had to do it.

To fool L's hidden cameras, Light hides a tiny television inside a bag of which snack?

Potato chips let Light seem to be studying while he watches the news on the hidden screen and keeps writing down the names of the criminals it reports.

Which American rock band supplied theme songs for both 2006 Japanese Death Note films?

Red Hot Chili Peppers lent Dani California to the first film and Snow (Hey Oh) to its sequel, The Last Name, which opened in Japan later the same year.

Which animated sitcom parodied Death Note in a 2022 segment titled Death Tome?

The Simpsons gave the deadly book to Lisa in Treehouse of Horror XXXIII, years after its comics had Bart receive the notebook from a ghostly Krusty the Clown.

The Duffer Brothers, announced in 2022 as producers of a Death Note series, created which Netflix hit?

Stranger Things also named their company: the Death Note series was announced as a project of Upside Down Pictures, christened after the show's shadow dimension.

In Death Note, L challenges Light Yagami to a match of which sport to profile his behaviour?

Tennis lets L study his suspect at close range; straight after the match he questions Light about the Kira case and invites him to join the investigation.

When a Death Note user writes a name without giving a cause, how does the victim die?

A heart attack is the notebook's default, and the wave of identical cardiac deaths among criminals is what first tells investigators worldwide that someone is behind them.

In Death Note, Light stages the hijacking of which vehicle to learn the name of the FBI agent tailing him?

A bus is seized by an armed fugitive acting under the notebook's control, and during the ordeal the agent shows Light his FBI badge, giving up his name.

Light Yagami's given name in Death Note is written with the Japanese character for which word?

Moon gave the ending extra weight for the writer: the manga's last scene shows Kira's worshippers gathered by moonlight after Light's death.

As Ryuk tells it in Death Note, where does a human who has used the notebook go after death?

Neither heaven nor hell awaits anyone who has used a Death Note; in the live-action films Ryuk saves the news for Light's dying moments and adds that only nothingness follows.

Misa Amane's wardrobe in the early Death Note chapters follows which Japanese street fashion?

Gothic Lolita was picked to echo the gothic look of the shinigami and their world; when Misa later becomes a top star, the artist swapped it for the style of a popular actress.

Besides the correct name, what must a Death Note user know for the notebook to kill a person?

Their face matters as much as the name, which L proves early on: hidden behind a stand-in on television, he shows that Kira cannot strike someone he has never seen.

Death Note's creators reunited in 2008 for which manga about two boys who dream of becoming manga artists?

Bakuman drew on its makers' own trade: one boy draws and the other writes, and several characters resemble real staff and authors at the magazine that ran it.

Before Death Note, its illustrator first won international attention drawing which earlier manga series?

Hikaru no Go, written by Yumi Hotta, won the 2003 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize and wrapped up in the same year that Death Note began.

Why does Misa Amane worship Kira before she ever meets Light in Death Note?

He killed her parents' murderer, a man whose trial kept being delayed until Misa feared he would walk free; she then moves to Tokyo to find Kira.

The first person Light Yagami kills with the Death Note is holding hostages inside what kind of building?

A nursery school siege hands L an early clue: the hostage-taker was named only on local television, which helped narrow down where Kira was watching from.

In Death Note, which television station airs the tapes sent in by the second Kira?

Sakura TV's publicity-hungry director airs them gladly, until the head of the Kira task force crashes a vehicle into the studio and takes the tapes at gunpoint.

Which fictional university does Light Yagami enter in Death Note, with L enrolling beside him?

To-Oh University is where L first shows himself to Light, turning up as a fellow new student who goes by the name of a famous pop star.

Which Japanese network first broadcast the Death Note anime, in a slot just after midnight?

Nippon TV showed all 37 episodes from October 2006, then aired two feature-length recap films that retold the story with added scenes.

Notes echoing Death Note's Kira were left beside a 2007 murder victim in which European country?

Belgium's press named the case the Mangamoord, Dutch for manga murder; two notes in Latin letters lay near the remains, and four arrests followed only in 2010.

Which company published the three Death Note video games released for the Nintendo DS?

Konami began with Kira Game in 2007, a strategy title in which the player takes the role of Kira or L and must work out who the other one is.

Which former FBI agent in Death Note is tricked by Light into revealing her real name after her fiancé's death?

Naomi Misora worked out more about Kira than the writer had planned for, so he ended her story early; her body is never found.

Which death-row prisoner in Death Note poses on television as the detective hunting Kira and is killed on air?

The decoy was a condemned prisoner whose conviction had been kept from the public. Lind L. Tailor's death on air proved that Kira was watching the broadcast.

Which Death Note detective, among the first to suspect Light after L's death, ends up leading the task force?

Shuichi Aizawa had quit earlier, saying he had a family to support once the team's funding was cut, and returned shortly before L died.

In Death Note, L enrolls at Light's university under which alias, the name of a famous star?

Hideki Ryuga is a trap in itself: if Light acts on the name, he risks killing the real celebrity by accident and giving himself away.

L's kicking style in his Death Note fight scenes has often been likened to which martial art?

Capoeira was never the artist's intention: he said he was simply working out the most effective way to kick someone while handcuffed.

The orphanage that raised L and his successors in Death Note stands in which English city?

Winchester is home to the orphanage for gifted children founded by L's elderly handler, who is known to the wider world as a famous inventor.

Which shinigami comes to Earth to reclaim his stolen Death Note and reveals that the thirteen-day rule is fake?

Sidoh only learns where his notebook went from the Shinigami King's right-hand man: Ryuk had taken it and left it among humans.

Which agent on Near's team in Death Note tails Teru Mikami and swaps his notebook for a fake?

Stephen Gevanni finds the notebook in Mikami's gym locker and photographs its pages, and he can pick a lock when the job calls for it.

In Death Note's pilot chapter, what could a companion eraser do to the notebook's victims?

It could bring them back to life: the Death Eraser let the one-off story revive the characters it had killed, a device the writer later said he did not really care for.

As criminals start dying in Death Note, which organisation convenes the meeting where L takes up the case?

Interpol hears from L only as an electronic voice through a computer; the detective's identity is a closely guarded secret, even from the forces he helps.

Which relative of Light Yagami is kidnapped in Death Note and exchanged for the task force's notebook?

His sister Sayu is handed back unharmed in an underground base reached by a hijacked plane, but the ordeal leaves her in a lasting state of shock.

What does the detective L eat almost exclusively throughout Death Note, with no apparent harm to his health?

Sweets and cakes were held back by the artist until readers had met L, since a detective introduced behind mountains of sugar would not have seemed credible.

What is the profession of Soichiro Yagami, the father of Light, as Death Note begins?

A police chief put in charge of the Kira case, he unwittingly gives his son an inside view of the hunt: Light can follow every move the authorities make.

In Death Note, the shinigami eyes let their owner learn what about anyone they look at?

Their true name appears at a glance, which is why Light keeps Misa close: her eyes could hand him the one thing he lacks to strike at L.

Death Note's writer and artist rarely met during its run; through whom did they communicate instead?

Their editor carried everything between them; the two first met in person at an editorial party in January 2004, weeks after the series had begun.

Near, the successor to L in Death Note, is often shown piecing together what kind of jigsaw puzzle?

A completely blank one underlines his knack for solving problems; he also builds towers of dice and playing cards and acts out his reasoning with finger puppets.

Light's second victim in Death Note, a biker harassing a woman, dies how after his name is written?

Hit by a truck moments after Light writes a traffic accident beside his name, the biker is the death that fully convinces Light the notebook works.

How do Near and his surviving agents escape their besieged New York headquarters in Death Note?

Dropping cash from windows works because the crowd of Kira supporters storming the building stops to grab it, the broadcaster who led them there included.

In Death Note's 2020 one-shot sequel, what does Minoru Tanaka do with the notebook instead of using it?

He sells it at auction, with Ryuk carrying his terms to a TV station; the United States wins the bidding, and the Shinigami King responds with a rule against selling notebooks.

Which Broadway composer wrote the score for Death Note: The Musical, first staged in Tokyo in 2015?

Frank Wildhorn had never heard of the manga when he was approached in 2013, and it was his son who persuaded him to take the job.

Which actor played the detective L in the 2015 Japanese television drama based on Death Note?

Kento Yamazaki's L dresses in a white shirt and white trousers, opposite Masataka Kubota as a Light who begins the story insecure and far less charismatic.

Which actor voices Light Yagami in the English-language dub of the Death Note anime?

Brad Swaile also dubbed the character for the Japanese live-action films, so English-speaking viewers heard one Light across both versions.

Which video game does Ryuk invite Light to play in the Death Note manga, getting no reply?

Mario Golf became plain video games in the anime; Light gives no answer because his bedroom is bugged with cameras at the time.

The artist's first design for Ryuk in Death Note resembled which kind of figure?

A handsome rocker with wings was the plan, until the artist feared a shinigami better looking than Light would seem to be the main character.

The artist of Death Note first pictured Near and his rival for L's title as what kind of duo?

Twins made sense to the artist because he assumed the two would work as a team; the writer had even considered making them the sons of L.

Which criminal mastermind does L hunt with an FBI agent's help in the prequel novel Death Note Another Note?

Beyond Birthday grew up in the same orphanage as L and set out to surpass him by becoming the world's greatest criminal instead of its greatest detective.

L hires two criminals in Death Note, Aiber and Wedy; Aiber is a con man, but what is Wedy's trade?

A burglar by profession, Wedy plants the bugs in a company boardroom and in the suspect's car that let the task force watch the third Kira at work.

Death Note's writer thought he probably took Misa Amane's name from the Japanese word for which ritual?

A black mass, kuromisa in Japanese, was his best guess; he called the choice fairly random for a character he had planned from the start as the second Kira.

Which voice actress plays Misa Amane in the original Japanese version of the Death Note anime?

Aya Hirano's Misa is last seen in the anime standing on the edge of a skyscraper at sunset; the manga never shows what becomes of her.

In Death Note, L has a habit of holding objects between which two digits of his hand?

Thumb and forefinger is how L pinches whatever he picks up, a quirk listed beside going barefoot and scratching one ankle with the toes of the other foot.

To settle whether Light and Misa are the two Kiras, L and Soichiro Yagami stage what in Death Note?

A mock execution, in which the father pretends he will shoot his son and then himself out of shame, convinces L for the moment that the pair are innocent.