Death Note

Death Note

デスノート
2006 –2007 Madhouse NTV 37 episodes Completed
Psychological Thriller Mystery Supernatural Drama
Details & Synopsis
Light Yagami is seventeen, top of his class, and bored. Not restless-teenager bored. Philosophically bored — convinced that the world is irredeemably rotten and that the people running it are not equal to the task. Then a notebook falls from the sky. Any human whose name is written in it dies. Light picks it up, reads the instructions, and within forty-eight hours has decided he is God.

This is not a villain origin story. Light does not become the thing he becomes through corruption or trauma or a single catastrophic choice. He becomes it because the notebook revealed what was already there. The horror of Death Note is not what the notebook does. It is what Light does with it — calmly, methodically, with genuine conviction that he is correct.

Produced by Madhouse and directed by Tetsuro Araki, Death Note aired on NTV from October 2006 to June 2007. Thirty-seven episodes adapted from Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata's manga. The first twenty-five are as close to perfect television as the medium produced in the mid-2000s. The remainder are contested in ways that are worth understanding before you arrive at them.

The contest is L. An anonymous detective. No last name. No visible biography. A man who sits in hotel rooms eating cake and stacking sugar cubes and holds the single largest sustained record of solved cases in the world. He is assigned to find Kira — the name the internet gives to the unknown killer who appears to be executing criminals globally through untraceable cardiac arrest. L deduces within the first episode that Kira is in Japan. By the third he has narrowed it further. Death Note's first arc is a sustained cat-and-mouse between two people who are the most intelligent persons either of them has ever encountered, operating with incomplete information, neither willing to move without certainty and both moving constantly. It is one of the great dramatic constructions of its era.

In 2006 this show was downloaded faster than Conclave-Mendoi could release it. Not by the anime community. By everyone. Death Note crossed into spaces that had never heard of fansubs, had no context for seasonal anime, had no prior investment in the medium. It crossed because the premise translated instantly, because Light Yagami is a protagonist who works on people who have never watched anime in their lives, and because L is the kind of character who produces the specific obsession that makes people talk about a show to people who were not going to watch it. The mid-2000s fansub era had no larger single crossover event.

The second arc arrives. Near. Mello. The Wammy's House succession. Whether what follows L is adequate to what preceded him is the argument Death Note fans have been having since 2007 and have not resolved. Watch and form your own position. The first arc alone justifies every minute.
Alt Title デスノート
Studio Madhouse
Network NTV
Aired 2006 – 2007
Episodes 37
Genre Psychological Thriller, Mystery, Supernatural, Drama
Status Completed
Search Go to ep Filters
L Arc (25) Succession Arc (12)
L Arc 25 eps 25 canon 📷 3
001 Rebirth Aired Oct 3, 2006 canon 📷 155
A Shinigami named Ryuk possesses two separate Death Notes. He drops the spare notebook into the human world out of pure boredom to see what happens. What happens is Light Yagami. He is seventeen, top of his class, holds the highest test scores in Japan, and is possessed of a bone deep contempt for a world he considers beyond saving. He finds the notebook, reads the instructions, tests it on a criminal whose face he sees on television, and watches the news the next morning to confirm. The test works. He does not stop. He does not hesitate. He does not experience this as a moral crisis. The notebook merely gave an exceptional student a tool to reveal who he already was.
002 Confrontation Aired Oct 10, 2006 canon 📷 155
The pattern of sudden criminal deaths is officially noticed by global authorities. Interpol convenes an emergency session where a single digital voice on a laptop speaks for L, the anonymous detective whose case clearance rate is entirely without precedent. L deduces within minutes that Kira is operating out of Japan, that he requires a name and a face to execute his targets, and that the original test death was caused by someone watching a decoy broadcast. The confrontation begins face to face via television screens before either principal has ever met the other in person.
003 Dealings Aired Oct 17, 2006 canon 📷 155
Ryuk formally introduces himself to Light inside his bedroom. The cosmic terms dictate that a Shinigami who drops a notebook into the human world must follow its owner until that owner dies, at which point the Shinigami will write that human's name in his own ledger. Ryuk operates purely as an audience who finds human choices entertaining. Light accepts the terms because he has no intention of stopping his grand crusade. The FBI dispatches twelve elite agents to Japan to investigate local police suspects, forcing Light to begin constructing a calculated counter strategy.
004 Pursuit Aired Oct 24, 2006 canon
Light eliminates all twelve investigating FBI agents using a single name obtained through one of them under duress. The method requires manipulating an agent into revealing his colleagues' identities before walking to his own fated demise. The sequence demonstrates the specific quality that makes Kira dangerous, which is the surgical precision with which he deploys his untraceable tool. The families of the dead agents are left broken, including a brilliant former asset named Naomi Misora who begins investigating independently.
005 Tactics Aired Oct 31, 2006 canon
Naomi Misora constructs a theory about how Kira operates that is entirely correct. She attempts to bring her findings directly to L. Light encounters her by pure chance at the police headquarters before she can make official contact. She does not know his identity and approaches him as a trustworthy ally. Light realizes in real time that she is the single most dangerous person alive to his project and uses her emotional vulnerability to extract her true name. Naomi walks away into the shadows, leaving her investigation permanently cold.
006 Unraveling Aired Nov 7, 2006 canon
L reveals his physical form to the remaining members of the Japanese police task force, including Light's father Soichiro Yagami. Operating under the pseudonym Ryuzaki, the eccentric detective establishes a secure headquarters to coordinate their efforts. The task force begins working directly alongside the master investigator. Light learns through his father's phone calls that L is real, present, and actively narrowing the suspect pool to a young student with direct access to police files.
007 Overcast Aired Nov 14, 2006 canon
L makes bold direct contact with his prime suspect by enrolling at Light's university under the name Ryuzaki. The encounter marks the first face to face meeting between the two tactical giants, each taking the measure of the other with complete internal awareness. L tells Light directly that he suspects him of being Kira, while Light responds that fanning such suspicions is a logical dead end. The structural trap closes as neither can move without giving away a critical piece of data.
008 Glare Aired Nov 21, 2006 canon
Light and L engage in a high stakes tennis match on the university campus grounds. Both geniuses know exactly what the other represents, yet neither possesses the physical evidence to validate their models. The athletic contest functions as an intense sequence of surveillance and performance where each attempts to read the other's physical tells. They are precisely matched in stamina and focus. L admits that playing against Light is genuinely engaging, marking a rare moment of transparent connection between enemies.
009 Encounter Aired Nov 28, 2006 canon
L extends an official invitation for Light to join the Kira investigation task force. The inverted strategy dictates that if Light is Kira, keeping him inside the inner circle grants L direct visibility into his methods, whereas if he is innocent, his intellect is an asset. Light accepts for the exact same reason, gaining immediate visibility into what L knows. Father and son are now working the same global homicide case from opposite sides of the secure table.
010 Doubt Aired Dec 5, 2006 canon
A second Kira unexpectedly emerges in the media space, executing targets without requiring access to police files. Someone has discovered a secondary notebook and accepted the Shinigami Eyes deal, trading half her remaining lifespan for the ability to see names above human heads. Misa Amane operates as a popular model whose family's killer was executed by the original Kira. She seeks to find her savior and pledge her absolute devotion to his cause, presenting Light with a powerful tool and an erratic liability.
011 Assault Aired Dec 12, 2006 canon
Misa successfully identifies Light as Kira by using her Shinigami Eyes to confirm his lifespan data is invisible to notebook owners. She tracks him down to his doorstep and reveals her possession of the second ledger. Light immediately assesses her psychological landscape and realizes her absolute devotion can be weaponized. He accepts her as an accomplice while constantly calculating how to manage her reckless behavior before L detects her presence.
012 Love Aired Dec 19, 2006 canon
L acts on physical evidence and arrests Misa on suspicion of being the second Kira. She is confined in a secure facility under maximum restraint. Light understands that L will eventually break her emotional defenses and constructs a cold, complex contingency plan. He surrenders his ownership of the Death Note voluntarily to wipe his own memories completely, passing the notebook to a corporate third party. He prepares to walk into L's custody as a genuinely innocent boy with zero knowledge of his own crimes.
013 Confession Aired Jan 9, 2007 canon
Light turns himself in to the task force and demands voluntary confinement under 24 hour surveillance. As his memory fades along with his ownership of the notebook, his innocence becomes entirely authentic. The Kira executions temporarily cease before resuming under the direction of Kyosuke Higuchi of the Yotsuba Group. Light sits in his cell genuinely oblivious to his past identity as a mass murderer. L watches the security monitors and faces an impossible paradox.
014 Friend Aired Jan 16, 2007 canon
L chains his wrist directly to Light using a reinforced metal link to maintain absolute physical proximity during the ongoing investigation. They begin operating as a unified analytical team to solve the Yotsuba corporate killings. The sequence develops their relationship in a tragic context where Light genuinely believes he is an innocent student and L treats him as a legitimate colleague. Their combined intellect quickly narrows the corporate suspect pool.
015 Wager Aired Jan 23, 2007 canon
The Yotsuba Group's inner council of eight senior executives meets in secret to select which business rivals Kira should eliminate next. Rem monitors the corporate meetings, having delivered the notebook to them under Light's original instructions. L and Light coordinate their data analysis from headquarters, using their shared chain to cross-reference corporate market shifts. The procedural investigation moves at an accelerated pace as Light unknowingly hunts his own proxy tool.
016 Decision Aired Jan 30, 2007 canon
The task force mobilizes an aggressive sting operation against the Yotsuba Group. Misa is released from temporary custody and deployed as an undercover asset due to her celebrity access to corporate executives. She maneuvers through the Yotsuba social circle while Rem provides covert assistance from the spirit realm. Light monitors her wiretap feeds alongside L, entirely unaware that the trap he is closing will dismantle his own innocence.
017 Execution Aired Feb 6, 2007 canon
Higuchi is cornered during a high speed highway pursuit and taken into custody by the task force. L handles the recovered notebook and immediately sees the physical form of Ryuk, validating the supernatural rules of the case. The notebook is passed down the evidence chain to Light. The moment his fingers close around the paper, his wiped memories return in a flash of absolute realization. He resumes his role as Kira while maintaining his innocent mask.
018 Ally Aired Feb 13, 2007 canon
Light sets his final endgame into motion with his memories fully restored. The task force analyzes the notebook rules written on the cover, completely unaware that Light fabricated a fake rule stating the user must kill every thirteen days to survive. The false rule effectively clears both Light and Misa of all standing suspicions. L remains deeply skeptical of the contradiction and prepares a final test to verify the notebook's laws, forcing Light to accelerate his timeline.
019 Humility Aired Feb 20, 2007 canon
Rem realizes Light is deliberately placing Misa in danger to force a tactical resolution against the task force. She confronts the young mastermind and threatens to execute him if Misa's mortality is compromised. Light absorbs the threat and turns it into the exact mechanism for his victory, constructing a scenario where Rem must use her own ledger to kill L to safeguard Misa's life, an act that will dissolve the Shinigami into ash.
020 Matsuda Aired Feb 27, 2007 canon
Matsuda stumbles into the Yotsuba corporate headquarters ahead of schedule and inadvertently compromises his cover to the executives. The task force is forced to orchestrate a dramatic fake death scenario to extract their youngest member from the corporate net. The sequence highlights Matsuda's unswerving loyalty to Chief Yagami and Light, a psychological anchor that will carry massive structural consequences for the final chapter.
021 Performance Aired Mar 6, 2007 canon
Light tightens the psychological net around Rem as L prepares to test the notebook rules using foreign death row convicts. The impending test threatens to expose Light's fabricated thirteen day rule and dismantle his alibi permanently. Rem is pushed into a corner where she must choose between her own immortality and Misa's preservation. Light watches the pieces align with cold, absolute certainty.
022 Silence Aired Mar 13, 2007 canon
Rem executes Watari first, wiping the investigation database before writing L's true name in her ledger. L collapses from his chair as his heart fails, looking up into Light's eyes in his final seconds of consciousness. Light catches his falling rival and allows his mask to slip for a fraction of a second to deliver a silent look of absolute triumph. Rem dissolves into white dust in the hallway, leaving L dead and the investigation completely leaderless.
023 Guidance Aired Mar 20, 2007 canon
The task force processes the devastating loss of their legendary leader. Light skillfully positions himself to assume absolute command of the ongoing Kira investigation, effectively hijacking the global apparatus designed to hunt him down. The narrative begins its major transition toward the next era of the conflict, introducing the first encrypted references to the succession pool inside Wammy's House.
024 Revival Aired Mar 27, 2007 canon
Four years pass into the future as Light operates as both the head of the task force and the undisputed shadow deity of the new world. Global governments begin to publicly capitulate to Kira's authority, normalizing his executions as a standard geopolitical element. Light functions at the absolute peak of his administrative power, yet the complete absence of an intellectual equal leaves his crusade entirely unreached.
025 Mayhem Aired Apr 3, 2007 canon
L's chosen successors, Near and Mello, formally enter the global arena after rejecting a joint leadership model at Wammy's House. Near assumes command of an elite American task force called the SPK, utilizing pure deduction and data manipulation. Mello embeds himself within a powerful international mafia syndicate to pursue Kira via raw kinetic violence. The single adversary is replaced by two distinct tactical threats.
Succession Arc 12 eps 12 canon
026 Greetings Aired Apr 10, 2007 canon
Near establishes his operational command center inside a secure room filled with complex toy models, mimicking his predecessor's eccentric mannerisms. He initiates direct communications with Light's task force to evaluate their integrity. Simultaneously, Mello uses his mafia connections to successfully locate the notebook held by the Japanese authorities, launching an aggressive opening gambit.
027 Abduction Aired Apr 17, 2007 canon
Mello orchestrates the high profile kidnapping of Light's younger sister Sayu Yagami to use as direct leverage for the notebook. The violent tactical play bypasses Light's intellectual architecture entirely, forcing the task force to negotiate with a hostage taker who ignores standard legal boundaries. Chief Soichiro Yagami assumes field command to manage the exchange in the desert.
028 Impatience Aired Apr 24, 2007 canon
The high stakes desert exchange concludes with Sayu safely returned but the notebook falling directly into Mello's possession. Light is forced to manage three shifting fronts simultaneously, balancing Near's growing suspicions, Mello's rogue notebook deployments, and his own father's deteriorating mental stability. The plot architecture becomes increasingly complex as the Spiders' net fractures.
029 Father Aired May 1, 2007 canon
Soichiro Yagami accepts the Shinigami Eyes deal during a desperate military raid to reclaim the notebook from Mello's bunker. He corners Mello but hesitates to execute him, taking a lethal burst of gunfire instead. In his final minutes in the hospital, he looks at Light's face and uses his eyes to confirm his son is not Kira, unaware that ownership rules mask the truth. He dies at peace, leaving Light to process the cost of his kingdom.
030 Justice Aired May 8, 2007 canon
Near coordinates his data analysis with the survivors of the SPK and begins focusing his suspicion directly on the new L. Mello survives the bunker explosion and goes underground to launch an improvised counter investigation. Light selects Teru Mikami, a hyper rigid prosecutor, to operate as X-Kira, passing him a secondary notebook to maintain the executions from a safe distance.
031 Transfer Aired May 15, 2007 canon
Teru Mikami is introduced as a man whose childhood trauma calcified into a fanatical obsession with societal purification. He views Kira as an authentic god and executes criminals with a terrifying, rhythmic devotion. Light monitors his public movements from afar and realizes he has successfully engineered a perfect proxy who requires zero direct commands to execute his grand designs.
032 Selection Aired May 22, 2007 canon
Light recruits his former university classmate Kiyomi Takada to act as Kira's official media spokesperson on national television. She uses her news anchor platform to deliver theological edicts to the population. Light manages her investment through calculated romantic manipulation, turning her into a vital, secure communication hub between his office and Mikami.
033 Scorn Aired May 29, 2007 canon
Near narrows his surveillance net around Mikami, tracking his precise daily schedule to verify his connection to the execution patterns. Mello intercepts a member of the task force to extract a critical piece of data regarding the notebook rules. The two successors close in on Light's apparatus from opposite directions, their asynchronous tactics creating a dual pressure network.
034 Vigilance Aired Jun 5, 2007 canon
Mello executes a rapid tactical kidnapping of Takada to disrupt Kira's communication lines permanently. Takada utilizes a hidden scrap of notebook paper to assassinate Mello inside his escape vehicle. Light reacts to the crisis instantly by using his own paper scrap to command Takada's immediate suicide via fire, eliminating the witness and setting up the final warehouse confrontation.
035 Malice Aired Jun 12, 2007 canon
Near schedules a definitive face to face meeting between the SPK and the Japanese task force at an abandoned dock warehouse. Light accepts the invitation, intending to use the meeting as a final execution ground. He commands Mikami to stand outside the warehouse and write every single name except Light Yagami in the real ledger, confident that his four year reign is about to be globalized.
036 1.28 Aired Jun 19, 2007 canon
The final confrontation takes place inside the Yellowbox Warehouse. Mikami writes the names of everyone present while Light counts down the seconds aloud to his apparent victory. The time expires and the room remains silent. Near exposes that his agents successfully discovered Mikami's hidden vault, replaced the authentic notebook with a perfect forgery, and verified that Light's name is the only one missing from the ledger.
037 New World Aired Jun 26, 2007 canon
Light Yagami completely breaks down under the weight of the undeniable physical evidence on the floor. He delivers a screaming manifesto defending his actions as a necessary sacrifice to save humanity before Matsuda fires multiple rounds into his chest. Light flees the warehouse into the industrial twilight, collapsing on a concrete staircase as his internal clock runs out. Ryuk watches from atop a nearby tower and writes Light's name in his own ledger, bringing the era of the new world to a silent, definitive end.
Legend
canon Episode adapts events from the source manga.
mixed Adapts source material but adds anime-original scenes.
good-filler Anime-original episode generally well-received by fans.
filler Anime-original episode not based on the source manga.
📷 Number of user-uploaded screencaps available for this episode.
LY

Light Yagami

Protagonist / Kira

A brilliant, pristine, and fundamentally bored high school prodigy whose reality alters forever when a notebook drops from the sky. Armed with the power to execute anyone by simply writing their name, his cold academic logic transforms instantly into an absolute savior complex. He does not view himself as a criminal but as the solitary righteous deity tasked with cleansing a rotten world. His terrifying intelligence manifests in his ability to maintain a flawless civilian facade while constructing a global apparatus of fear.
LL

L Lawliet

The Anonymous Detective / Ultimate Rival

The world's premier consulting detective who operates entirely from shadow without a public name, face, or biography. Stacking sugar cubes and consuming excessive pastries in secluded hotel rooms, his eccentric posture hides an incredibly sharp, bloodproof analytical intellect. He approaches the Kira investigation not as a moral crusade but as a high stakes game of logic. He single handedly isolates the killer's location within days, setting up an infrastructure of absolute scrutiny around his prime suspect.
RY

Ryuk

Shinigami / Chaotic Observer

A death god who deliberately discards his lethal notebook into the human realm out of pure, unadulterated boredom with the stagnant realm of the dead. He refuses to take a definitive side in the psychological war between Light and L, choosing instead to operate as a completely neutral, apple obsessed spectator. His presence is a constant reminder of the cosmic indifference underlying the entire high stakes human drama, finding entertainment purely in the lengths to which human ambition will stretch.
MA

Misa Amane

The Second Kira / Devoted Accomplice

A hyper visible pop idol and model whose life was permanently refocused after Kira executed the criminal responsible for her parents' murders. Driven by a blinding, uncritical devotion to her savior, she acquires her own notebook and sacrifices half her lifespan for the Shinigami eyes to aid his cause. Her bubbly, chaotic exterior masks a deeply tragic vulnerability and a lethal capability, allowing herself to be weaponized completely as an instrument for Light's grand designs.
SY

Soichiro Yagami

Task Force Chief / Unyielding Moral Anchor

Lelouch's father figure mirror in the police force, serving as the chief of the NPA and the head of the Japanese Kira Task Force. He represents the absolute old world ideal of law and justice, carrying a rigid moral consistency that refuses to compromise even when the investigation turns toward his own household. His absolute trust in his son is his greatest strength and his ultimate tragedy, serving as the emotional shield Light ruthlessly exploits to stay ahead of the net.
TM

Touta Matsuda

Task Force Detective / Naive Idealist

The youngest and most impressionable member of the investigation team who constantly struggles with the moral ambiguity of the case. While he remains fiercely loyal to Chief Yagami, his naive perspective occasionally symphatizes with the social results of Kira's executions. He is frequently dismissed by his peers as an erratic liability, but his raw, unvarnished human intuition keeps the team grounded when the intellectual altitude of the battle becomes suffocating.
NR

Nate River (Near)

SPOILER!

The Analytic Successor / N

The pale, toy stacking prodigy raised within the secluded walls of Wammy's House to inherit L's mantle. Operating as the head of the Special Provision for Kira, his analytical method is cold, bloodless, and entirely detached from human sentiment. He approaches the global hunt not as a personal vendetta but as a complex puzzle that must be dispassionately dismantled piece by piece. He mirrors his predecessor's eccentricities while lacking his physical warmth, treating the eradication of Kira with absolute clinical certainty.
MK

Mihael Keehl (Mello)

SPOILER!

The Volatile Rebel / Competitor

The fiercely insecure, chocolate consuming orphan who rejects the official succession pool to hunt Kira through the brutal machinery of the global criminal underground. Driven by a burning, lifelong obsession to surpass Near's effortless intellect, his tactics rely on raw kinetic aggression, political kidnappings, and high stakes mafia syndicates. He represents the emotional fire that L suppressed, willing to compromise the entire geopolitical architecture just to prove his individual supremacy over the net.
TM

Teru Mikami

SPOILER!

The Fanatical Hand / X-Kira

A pristine, deeply rigid prosecutor whose life has been organized entirely around a black and white obsession with societal erasure of evil. Selected by Light to operate as the hand of Kira when the investigation grid closes in, his devotion quickly manifests as pure religious fanaticism. He executes criminals with a terrifying, rhythmic precision, screaming the word deletion with every stroke of his pen. He is the ultimate portrait of a righteous civilian mind entirely twisted into a systemic weapon.
KT

Kiyomi Takada

SPOILER!

The Imperial Voice / Kira Spokesperson

An elegant, fiercely ambitious television anchor who utilizes her corporate media broadcast platform to act as the official theological voice of Kira. As Light's former university classmate, her refined exterior masks a calculating pride that welcomes the opportunity to shape the ideology of the new world. She operates gracefully as the vital communication channel between Light and Mikami, completely blind to the reality that a god views all mortal intermediaries as entirely disposable assets.
RE

Rem

SPOILER!

Shinigami / Tragic Protector

The solemn, bone white death god who accompanies Misa into the human realm to monitor her survival. Unlike Ryuk's chaotic indifference, she possesses a deep, profoundly dangerous capacity for human empathy and protective devotion. She watches the manipulative architecture of Light's campaign with absolute clarity and disgust, fully aware that she is walking into a calculated trap where saving Misa's mortality will require the ultimate sacrifice of her own cosmic existence.
KH

Kyosuke Higuchi

SPOILER!

The Corporate Kira / Yotsuba Executive

The greedy, fiercely arrogant director of technology development for the massive Yotsuba Group conglomerate. Handed the notebook blindly as part of Light's high stakes memory concealment strategy, he uses the execution power purely to maximize corporate profits and assassinate business rivals. He represents the complete degradation of Kira's supposed ideological crusade into petty, commercial butcher work, drawing the absolute scrutiny of both L and the task force.
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