8.322 minSeason 1 • Episode 37
LatestThough Mikami has written all the investigators' names in the Death Note, a minute passes and everyone is still alive. Near seizes Mikami's Death Note, and all is at last revealed.
Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects—and he’s bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But will Light succeed in his noble goal, or will the Death Note turn him into the very thing he fights against?
Writing
Cat-and-mouse plotting so tight it could strangle you.
Acting
Miyano's unhinged laugh belongs in the villain hall of fame.
Direction
Every potato chip scene is somehow unbearably tense.
Mamoru Miyano
Light Yagami (voice)
Shido Nakamura
Ryuk (voice)
Aya Hirano
Misa Amane (voice)
Kappei Yamaguchi
L (voice)
Kimiko Saito
Rem (voice)
Naoya Uchida
Soichiro Yagami (voice)
Ryou Naitou
Touta Matsuda (voice)
Keiji Fujiwara
Shuichi Aizawa (voice)
Kazuya Nakai
Kanzo Mogi (voice)
Noriko Hidaka
Near (voice)
Nozomu Sasaki
Mello (voice)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Death Note sparked real-world copycat incidents globally, including banned notebooks in Chinese schools and Russian government blacklists.
The infamous potato chip scene took 40+ animation revisions. Director Araki wanted eating to feel as tactical as murder.
JP
