This Death Note quiz has 50 free questions with answers and covers the whole franchise: Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata's 108-chapter manga, the 37-episode Madhouse anime, the Japanese live-action films with Tatsuya Fujiwara and Kenichi Matsuyama, and the Netflix version that moved the story to Seattle. It asks about Light Yagami's rise as Kira, L's aliases and habits, Ryuk's apples, Misa's two deals for the shinigami eyes, and the successors Near and Mello, right through to the Yellow Box Warehouse and who finally writes Light's name. About a third of the questions are answerable by anyone who has watched the anime once; the rest are for people who know Watari's real name, which chapter the pilot was, and what Mikami mutters while he writes. Spoilers, obviously, all the way through. Every answer has been checked against a cited source, and the citation appears under each explanation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who wrote Death Note?
Tsugumi Ohba
Ohba is a pen name and the writer's identity has never been confirmed. Takeshi Obata, of Hikaru no Go, drew it.
Q 02In which magazine was Death Note serialised from December 2003 to May 2006?
Weekly Shōnen Jump
It ran alongside Naruto, Bleach and One Piece in Shueisha's flagship title, an unusually dark series for the magazine.
Q 03How many chapters does the Death Note manga have?
108
They were collected in twelve volumes. 108 is also the number of earthly desires in Buddhism, which fans have taken as deliberate.
Q 04The public nickname 'Kira' for the mystery murderer is the Japanese rendering of which English word?
Killer
The media coin it after criminals start dying of heart attacks worldwide. Light comes to accept it as his title as the god of a new world.
Q 05The shinigami Ryuk is invisible to everyone except whom?
People who have touched the notebook
He dropped the notebook into the human world out of boredom. Light's father and the task force can only see him once they handle the Death Note themselves.
Q 06What is Ryuk's well-known weakness in the human world?
Apples
He calls them 'juicy' and goes through withdrawal without them, twisting himself into knots. Mello is the chocolate one.
Q 07Which studio animated the Death Note anime?
Madhouse
The 37 episodes aired on Nippon TV from October 2006 to June 2007 under director Tetsurō Araki, who went on to Attack on Titan.
Q 08How many episodes does the Death Note anime have?
37
Two 'Relight' compilation films followed, retelling the story from Ryuk's point of view. Adult Swim ran the series in the US from October 2007.
Q 09Which band performs 'The World', the first opening theme of the Death Note anime?
Nightmare
Maximum the Hormone took over from episode 20 with 'What's Up, People?!', a change fans still argue about.
Q 10What is L's real name, revealed only in supplementary material?
L Lawliet
Lind L. Tailor was the death-row convict L used as a decoy on TV.
Q 11Which of these is NOT one of L's aliases in the series?
Touta Matsuda
Coil and Deneuve are supposedly the world's second and third best detectives; L is all three. Matsuda is the task force's youngest member.
Q 12Which eccentric habit is L known for?
Crouching in chairs instead of sitting
He also lives on sweets and holds objects with his fingertips. Obata asked whether L should be drawn as unattractive; Ohba left the design largely to him.
Q 13Who ultimately kills L?
Rem
Light engineers it so that Rem must write L's and Watari's names to save Misa, which also destroys Rem herself.
Q 21What is Watari's real name?
Quillsh Wammy
A famous inventor and the founder of Wammy's House, he acts as L's sole link to the world. Rem kills him alongside L.
Q 22What word does the prosecutor Teru Mikami mutter repeatedly as he writes names in the Death Note?
Delete
'Sakujo!' The obsessive habit is what Near exploits: Mikami's rigid schedule lets the SPK swap his notebook for a fake.
Q 23What is Soichiro Yagami's position?
Detective superintendent of the NPA
Light's father leads the Kira task force without ever suspecting his son. He dies after taking the shinigami eyes to see Mello's name.
Q 14What is Misa Amane's job?
Model and idol
'Misa Misa' is famous across the Kansai region. She worships Kira because he killed the burglar who murdered her parents.
Q 15What does a Death Note owner give up to obtain the shinigami eyes?
Half their remaining lifespan
The eyes reveal the name and lifespan of anyone whose face you see. Misa makes the trade twice, leaving herself very little time.
Q 16Which shinigami gives Misa her Death Note?
Rem
The notebook originally belonged to Gelus, who died saving Misa's life out of love for her. Rem picked it up and delivered it.
Q 17After L's death, his two potential successors are introduced. Which of them joins the mafia?
Mello
Near works with the US government instead. The two were raised as rivals at Wammy's House and only ever add up to L together.
Q 18What is Near's real name?
Nate River
Mello is Mihael Keehl and Matt is Mail Jeevas. Near spends most of the story building towers of dice and toys while out-thinking Kira.
Q 19Mello is rarely seen without which food?
Chocolate
The bar of chocolate is his trademark, as sweets are L's and apples are Ryuk's. Potato chips belong to Light's most famous scene.
Q 20Wammy's House, the orphanage that produced L, Near and Mello, is in which English city?
Winchester
It was founded by the inventor Quillsh Wammy, better known as L's handler Watari.
Q 24In the final showdown, which task-force member shoots Light four times to stop him killing Near?
Touta Matsuda
The youngest and most naive member of the team, who had always believed Light was innocent, is the one who snaps.
Q 25How does Light Yagami finally die?
Ryuk writes his name in the notebook
Ryuk had warned him on day one that a shinigami who has taken a liking to you is not your friend. The manga and anime stage the death slightly differently.
Q 26The kanji of Light's surname, Yagami, mean what?
Night god
His given name is written with the character for 'moon' but read as 'Light'. Fans also noticed the surname spells something rude backwards in English.
Q 27Who voices Light Yagami in the Japanese version of the anime?
Mamoru Miyano
Brad Swaile voices him in English. Miyano's unhinged laugh in the finale became a meme in its own right.
Q 28Who voices L in the Japanese anime?
Kappei Yamaguchi
Yamaguchi is also the voice of Inuyasha and Usopp in One Piece. Alessandro Juliani plays L in English.
Q 29Who played Light Yagami in the 2006 Japanese live-action films?
Tatsuya Fujiwara
Fujiwara had already played the lead in Battle Royale. Shusuke Kaneko directed, and the sequel The Last Name followed the same October.
Q 30Which actor played L in the 2006 films and their 2008 spin-off L: Change the World?
Kenichi Matsuyama
The spin-off covers the 23 days L has left to live after writing his own name to trap Kira, a plot unique to the films.