Death Note is a popular Japanese manga series, written by Tsugumi Ohba. It was first serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from December 2003 to May 2006. It had over 108 chapters published. It was adapted into an anime in Japan, which ran for 37 episodes from October 2006 to June 2007. It was produced by Madhouse and directed by Tetsuro Araki. It was also licensed and released in the USA by Viz media. Recently, it was teased that Death Note Season 2 could be possible, and it will bring a new main character to the story.
In Season 1, Light Yagami is the main character, a teen genius who is disaffected with his life despite his successes. One day after school, he comes across a mysterious black notebook known as the Death Note, which belongs to the Shinigami Ryuk. It grants the user the ability to kill anyone whose name is written in the notebook. Light intends to use this notebook to massacre almost anyone who is evil and immoral and intends to create a utopian world without any evil or crime. He is then given the godlike name “Kira” by the citizens. It ends up attracting the law enforcement’s attention, who later takes the help of L, a mysterious detective, to catch Light and end his reign of terror once and for all.
Near is hired to replace L after his death to hunt down Light, and Takada is killed by Light by setting herself and the evidence pointing to him on fire. Finally, Light and Near meet face to face. Light orders Mikami to write everyone’s names except theirs on the Deathnote, but Near confesses that the pages that he is using are fake as he tampered with the Deathnote earlier to make sure it’s ineffective. All they have to do now is to check whose name was not written to find out who the real Kira is.
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However, Light believes that his plan is working as he had Takada exchange the real Deathnote for the fake one. However, it failed to work, and everyone is still alive. Near reveals that he knew Light’s plan, and he tampered with the real one. Finally breaking his facade, Light begins to laugh like a madman and reveals that he really is Kira. He attempts to write names down in a piece of Deathnote hidden in his watch, but Matsuda stops him by shooting him down several times. Unable to bear seeing Light in agony, Mikami ends up killing himself in front of everyone. Light ends up running away in commotion before hiding out in an abandoned building where Ryuk writes his name on the Deathnote. Light dies of cardiac arrest.
Live-Action and Death Note Season 2
The manga not only has been adapted into an anime series but also had three Japanese live-action movies released in both 2006 and 2008 and a television drama in 2015. It even spawned a franchise with a miniseries known as Deathnote: The Next Generation and the fourth movie with a new set of characters. It even had an American adaptation on Netflix, which ended up being a flop due to its changes in the characters and the story.
For now, it is unknown if there will ever be a Death Note Season 2. But if there is then, it will possibly come out in 2022 and will focus on a new set of characters inspired by both Light and L. It will be based on a special one-shot published by the Jump SQ serving as the sequel to the original story. Ryuk returns to earth ten years after the story’s original events and finds a new genius to use the death note in his own unique perspective.