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Death Note

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Death Note is a famous Japanese manga series.

Death Note, Book
Death Note, Book

A manga is a type of Japanese comic book. This story was written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. It was first published in a magazine called Weekly Shōnen Jump. The series ran from December 2003 to May 2006. By April 2015, over 30 million copies were in circulation. This makes it one of the best-selling manga series ever made.

The story follows a smart student named Light Yagami. He finds a mysterious black notebook called the Death Note. This notebook belonged to a spirit named Ryuk. Ryuk dropped the book into the human world because he was bored. The book has very specific rules. If you write a person's name in it, they die. You must know their face and their true name. Light uses the book to try to stop crime. He uses the name Kira to hide his identity.

Light's plan creates a massive struggle with the law. A great detective named L tries to catch him. L is part of an elite Japanese police task force. This creates a high-stakes game of wits between the two. Light even joins the task force to stay close to the investigation. Later, other people named Near and Mello join the chase. The story shows how Light's choices change the whole world.

Many different kinds of art have been made from this story. There is an anime, which is a Japanese cartoon. This series had 37 episodes and was made by Madhouse. There are also live-action films from Japan and America. You can even play video games about the story. Some games were made by Konami for the Nintendo DS. A social deduction game called Killer Within came out in 2024.

Making the series was a big job for the creators. Ohba and Obata worked together through an editor. They rarely met in person during the work. Ohba wrote the scripts and planned the story. Obata drew the art and decided on the camera angles. They had a busy weekly schedule to keep up. This teamwork helped turn a simple idea into a global success.

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