Death Note (デスノート, Desu Nōto) - is a Japanese manga series created by writer Tsugumi Ohba and illustrator Takeshi Obata. The series centers on Light Yagami, a high school student who discovers a supernatural notebook dropped on Earth by Ryuk, a shinigami ("death god"), that allows Light to kill anyone by writing the victim's name in the notebook. The user must also know the face of the victim to prevent anyone with the same name from being harmed. The story follows Light's attempt to create and rule a world cleansed of evil using the notebook, and the complex conflict between him and his opponents.

"The Hitlist...." (Part 1)

Hit List:

These were the important deaths in DEATH NOTE. It is just an easy reference into the order of what happened and why it happened for some of these deaths that were highlighted in the manga.

Name: Otoharada Kurou

Death: Heart Attack (1.1)
Killed by: Kira
Reason: Light randomly wrote his name in to test out the Death Note. He killed and wounded six people in Shinjuku the day before Light wrote his name. He was currently barricaded in a nursery school with infants and daycare workers.

Name: Shibuimaru Takuo

Death: Car Accident (1.1)
Killed by: Kira
Reason: Light was testing out the notebook for the first time. This guy was bothering a girl, and so he wrote down his death. He died when a truck hit his motorcycle

Name: Lind L. Tailor

Death: Heart Attack (1.2)
Killed by: Kira
Reason: He claimed to be L on the news, and Light killed him for this. Of course, L did this just to check if Kira could really kill by being far away. The guy though was an imprisoned criminal.

Name: Nambarakai Keijuu, Nishida Kyuu, Masanaka Fumitetsu, Shirami Misaaki, Seta Osabuyoshi, Nakaokaji Matsuhiro

Death: All of them died of heart failure, but also did many different things. Shirami was inside a jail when he cut his own fingers and with his blood drew a star with a circle around it on the wall. Yadanaka left a strange note before dying, reading (direct Japanese translation) “With fear I know it/ Only from living in vain in this / nerve-recking state that I/ know this./ Ultimately, he who calls/ out to me, he who/ yearns for my death, will kill me./ Of course I knew it./Definitely for Kira I am just…/Literally a prey.” In the American version it says: “Lord Have Mercy/ Do what I can, I’ll either be hanged or/ you know it, killed by Kira, I/ know about him, he’s going to get me.” Osabuyoshi escaped prison and entered the restroom to die at 6pm. Literally a prey. Matsuhshiro died by blood loss when he entered a convinient store with a knife and stabbed himself in the stomach at 1:30am. (1.6)

Killed by: Kira
Reason: These people were killed so that Light could test out how much he could control people before their deaths. L figured this out.

Question 31: Does Naomi Misora really die?

Question 31: Does Naomi Misora really die?

Answer:
Including this because I found it funny. XD The book says, oh, probably, but maybe she didn't! Then it lists some theories as to how she might not have died. Granted, when I first read the manga, I did actually wonder if maybe she didn't die... but she is, canonically, dead.

Question 25: Is Light right in what he does?

Question 25: Is Light right in what he does?

Answer:
I thought that Death Note was purposefully left ambiguous and up to the reader to decide who was right and who was wrong, if anyone... no, I didn't just think this, Ohba flat out says in HTR 13 that readers should decide for themselves. I think it's pretty presumptuous of the book to try to argue (and all of the arguments in this book are terribly poor) that Light is definitely, unquestionably wrong. Now, normally I think this is a lot of fun as a discussion of ethics and philosophy, but either way, I don't see how such a question has any place in a trivia book... though it fits right in with this book of fail. Light is a character who leaves a lot to fan perception, as should be pretty obvious from the variety of opinions on these message boards. The book even goes on to say in Question 26 that Light only became Kira so he wouldn't feel guilty about accidentally killing the first criminal, Kuro Otoharada. In Question 28, the book says that Light doesn't care about his family, despite HTR 13 asserting that his family is indeed very important to him (HTR13, 60). The claim that "Light only cares about himself" sounds like something we'd argue over on this message board, but seeing it in such a book is so obnoxious to me.

Question 13: How do Humans Benefit from Using a Death Note?

Question 13: How do Humans Benefit from Using a Death Note?

Answer:
This is probably the worst argument in the book. Basically, what the author says is that the Death Note is an ideal weapon for humans simply because it leaves no evidence. Okay. It looks at the first scene between Light and Ryuk, where Light asks Ryuk what his punishment is now that he used the Death Note. Ryuk says there is no punishment, except for no Heaven/Hell. The author then shifts to the flashback in the ending where Ryuk admits that death is equal, and there is no heaven or hell. It even quotes Ohba saying "When humans die, the place they go is MU (Nothingness)". .... And then after that, it basically says, but that's probably not true, Light just can't go to Heaven/Hell because he's gonna become a Shinigami. The author is convinced that there just has to be divine punishment for using the Death Note, and becoming a Shinigami is suitable.

..It seems to be, if I may be snarky, that the author is missing the point of the whole conclusion that was basically drilled in the manga. Death is equal no matter what you do in life. Everyone goes to Nothingness when they die. Heaven and Hell don't exist. If the King Shinigami - in English, the King God of Death - is the one who wrote the how-to-use manuals, then I'm sure he - again, King God of Death - probably knows what he's talking about. We don't have any reason at all to believe that what is written in this extensive Shinigami manual is a lie, all the other rules are true. Contrary to some popular belief, Ryuk is only reciting what he knows from the aforementioned manual. Ohba even said that s/he felt that the rules about death being absolute in Nothingness was one of the most important rules (HTR 68-69).

Another interesting little Fatally Fun Un-canon tidbit: Only a human's legal name works [in the Death Note] (37).

I personally disagree with this one, but the point here is that this isn't canon... It's true that you need to spell the name how that person spells his name, as is clear from the DN rules specifically about correct spelling, but I'm wondering where what name the government has you registered as has to do with it. It can be argued but it's, again, not canon.

The book states (39-40) correctly that if you find a Death Note and gain ownership, you will lose your memories if you relinquish ownership. It then states that you will not lose your memories if you don't use it... Pretty sure that's wrong. It's a Shinigami who erases a human's memories, and does it to anyone who deliberately gives up ownership. The exceptions to memory-deletion are if you were never the owner at all.

Related on Page 41 - "One can give up the Death Note's ownership just by mentally deciding they don't want it anymore..."

Really? Well, if only Light had known that when he locked himself in L's prison. He wouldn't have had to do all that cheesy out-loud dialogue with the secret message to Ryuk to take his memories. He could have just thought "I discard it"!

Page 56 - Humans who use the Death Note but don't have ownership of it do not become Shinigami when they die. (Argued in specific regards to Raye Penber)... Well, that's new, but since no human becomes a Shinigami when they die, I suppose I agree with this backwards reasoning. lol

Question 11: How do Shinigami Die?

Question 11: How do Shinigami Die?

Answer:
"The rule about killing to save a human] is the only one that if broken results in a shinigami's permanent disappearance.... .. It is mentioned, however, that some violations result in a more painful death than that of Rem. "

So the one and only way a Shinigami can die is if they save humans. But they can also die from other things. Nice.