Death Note (2006 TV series)
| Death Note | |
|---|---|
 Death Note Japanese DVD volume 1 cover | |
| Based on | Death Note |
| Directed by | Tetsurō Araki |
| Starring | |
| No. of episodes | 37 |
| Original release | |
| Network | Nippon TV |
| Release | October 4, 2006 – June 27, 2007 |
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.[1][2] 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.[3] 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."[4] 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.[5]
On October 21, 2007, Death Note premiered on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.[6] 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, "Alumina" (アルミナ, Arumina), 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 "Zetsubō Billy" (絶望ビリー, Zetsubō Birī, "Desperate Billy"), 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.
Episodes
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Cast and characters
[edit]- Mamoru Miyano as Light Yagami, the main protagonist of the series.
- Brad Swaile voiced Light in the English dub.
- Kappei Yamaguchi as L, the main antagonist of the series.
- Alessandro Juliani as L in the English dub.
- Shidô Nakamura as Ryuk, the Shinigami whose Death Note is picked up by Light.
- Brian Drummond as Ryuk in the English dub.
- Aya Hirano as Misa Amane, also known as Misa-Misa. 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.
- David Robert Moore as Mello in the English dub.
- Masaya Matsukaze as Teru Mikami, a disciple of Kira that Light trusts with the Death Note.
- 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 Touta Matsuda, the youngest member of the Kira investigation team and Misa Amane's manager.
- Vincent Tong as Touta Matsuda in the English dub.
- Keiji Fujiwara as Shuichi Aizawa, a member of the Kira taskforce who is suspicious of Light.
- Trevor Devall as Shuichi Aizawa in the English dub.
- Kazuya Nakai as Kanzo Mogi, a reserved member of the Kira taskforce.
- John Murphy as Kanzo Mogi in the English dub.
- Hideo Ishikawa as Hideki Ide, a member of the Kira taskforce that advocates for Light's innocence.
- Brian Dobson as Hideki Ide in the English dub.
- Hidenobu Kiuchi as Hirokazu Ukita, a member of the Kira taskforce who is killed by Misa Amane using her Death Note.
- Jeremy From as Hirokazu Ukita in the English dub.
- Kiyoshi Kobayashi as Watari, L's 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 former 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, but gets killed by Light.
- Michael Adamthwaite as Raye Penbar in the English dub.
- Naoko Matsui as Naomi Misora, a former FBI agent and Raye Penbar's fiance.
- Tabitha St. Germain as Naomi Misora in the English dub.
- Issei Futamata as Kyosuke Higuchi, a Japanese business with the Yotsuba Group, who is given the Death Note by Rem and uses it to kill business rivals.
- Andrew Kavadas as Kyosuke Higuchi in the English dub.
- Kimiko Saitō as Rem, the Shinigami whose Death Note is picked up by Misa Amane.
- Colleen Wheeler as Rem in the English dub.
- Ai Satō as Sachiko Yagami, Light's mother and Sorichiro's wife.
- Saffron Henderson as Sachiko Yagami in the English dub.
- Haruka Kudō as Sayu Yagami, Light's younger sister and Soichiro's daughter.
- Kelly Metzger and Kristie Marsden as Sayu Yagami in the English dub.
Television films
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Home media release
[edit]Japanese
[edit]| Volume / Title | Discs | Episodes | Release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1–3 | December 21, 2006 | |
| 2 | 1 | 4–6 | January 24, 2007 | |
| 3 | 1 | 7–9 | February 21, 2007 | |
| 4 | 1 | 10–12 | March 21, 2007 | |
| 5 | 1 | 13–15 | April 25, 2007 | |
| 6 | 1 | 16–18 | May 23, 2007 | |
| 7 | 1 | 19–21 | June 27, 2007 | |
| 8 | 1 | 22–24 | July 25, 2007 | |
| 9 | 1 | 25–27 | August 22, 2007 | |
| 10 | 1 | 28–30 | September 27, 2007 | |
| 11 | 1 | 31–33 | October 24, 2007 | |
| 12 | 1 | 34–35 | November 21, 2007 | |
| 13 | 1 | 36–37 | December 21, 2007 | |
| Rewrite | 1 | TV special 1 | March 19, 2008 | |
| Rewrite 2 | 1 | TV special 2 | November 21, 2008 | |
| Blu-ray Box | 7 | 1–37 | October 19, 2016 | |
English
[edit]| Volume / Title | Discs | Episodes | Release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1–4 | November 20, 2007 | |
| 2 | 1 | 5–8 | December 18, 2007 | |
| 3 | 1 | 9–12 | February 19, 2008 | |
| 4 | 1 | 13–16 | April 29, 2008 | |
| 5 | 1 | 17–20 | June 24, 2008 | |
| 6 | 1 | 21–24 | August 26, 2008 | |
| 7 | 1 | 25–28 | October 28, 2008 | |
| 8 | 1 | 29–32 | December 30, 2008 | |
| 9 | 1 | 33–37 | February 24, 2009 | |
| Box Set 1 | 5 | 1–20 | November 18, 2008 | |
| Box Set 2 | 5 | 21–37 | April 14, 2009 | |
| Re-light | 1 | TV special 1 | June 23, 2009 | |
| Re-light 2 | 1 | TV special 2 | October 27, 2009 | |
| The Complete Series | 10 | 1–37 + 2 TV Specials | November 18, 2014 | |
References
[edit]- ^ "Nippon Television Network Program Catalogue: Animation" (PDF). p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 6, 2006. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
- ^ "Death Note: backnumber story" (in Japanese). Nippon Television. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
- ^ "Death Note TV Special to be Three-Hour Director's Cut". Anime News Network. July 12, 2007. Archived from the original on July 14, 2007. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
- ^ VIZ Media (January 10, 2007). "Viz Media Obtains License to Download Death Note". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on January 18, 2007. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
- ^ Mays, Jonathan (January 13, 2007). "Death Note Release Won't be Limited to Downloads". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on January 15, 2007. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
- ^ Loo, Egan (September 20, 2007). "Death Note Confirmed to Air on Adult Swim October 20". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on January 23, 2008. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
External links
[edit]- Official Death Note anime website (in Japanese)
- Death Note (2006–2007) at IMDb
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