If you had the power to kill anyone just by knowing their name and face, what would you do with it? That's the premise behind the anime series Death Note, now available in its first box set. Containing the first 20 episodes of the series, this set takes you on an dark and entertaining ride.
Based on the manga by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, Death Note focuses on a brilliant Japanese high school student named Light Yagami. Despite his popularity, considerable intelligence, and loving family, he is bored with his life and the world.
Things change, however, when he finds a mysterious notebook called a "Death Note." Inside the book, there are instructions on how to use the book to kill a human. All that's needed is a name and that the person writing that name in the book have the person's face in their mind. Conditions, causes, and even time of death can be dictated by writing them next to the name. If nothing else is written, the person dies of a heart attack within 40 seconds.
Curious about the note's power, Light tries it out first by writing down the name of a criminal holding a school hostage. Although the criminal dies just seconds after he writes down the name, Light isn't really convinced until he uses the note to kill a man attempting to rape a young woman in front of his eyes.
When he realizes that the note truly works, he becomes mad with power and decides to rid the world of all the people he thinks are bad. He writes down the names of many major criminals and, in an attempt to gain notoriety, has them all die of heart attacks. Light's deeds bring him a visit from the Death Note's actual owner, a shinigami (god of death) named Ryuk. With Light coming into possession of the Death Note, the two are connected. Only Light and those who have touched the Death Note can see Ryuk.
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