Shinsei: New Birth (3 Oct. 2006)
"Desu nôto" Shinsei: New Birth (original title)

High school student Light Yagami finds a mysterious notebook labeled "DEATH NOTE", and after following the instructions written on it, he discovers its terrifying powers.

Director:

Tetsuro Araki

Writers:

Toshiki Inoue (teleplay), Takeshi Obata (comic),

Stars:

Mamoru Miyano, Kappei Yamaguchi, Shidô Nakamura

Cast

Episode credited cast:
Mamoru Miyano	...	Light Yagami (voice)
Kappei Yamaguchi	...	L (voice)
Shidô Nakamura	...	Ryuuku the Death (voice)
Aya Hirano	...	Amane Misa (voice)
Haruka Kudô	...	Yagami Sayu (voice)
Naoko Matsui	...	Misora Naomi (voice)
Naoya Uchida	...	Inspector Yagami Sou-ichiroh (voice)
Hideo Ishikawa	...	Ray Penver (voice)
Kiyoshi Kobayashi	...	Watari (voice)
Ai Satou	...	Yagami Sachiko (voice)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Brian Drummond	...	Ryuk (voice)
Andrew Francis	...	Various
Alessandro Juliani	...	L / Ryuuzaki (voice)
Lee Tockar	...	Various
Vincent Tong	...	Touta Matsuda

Storyline

High school student Light Yagami finds a mysterious notebook labeled "DEATH NOTE", and after following the instructions written on it, he discovers its terrifying powers.

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Plot Keywords:

based on manga | japan | anime | note

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Genres:

Animation | Crime | Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Release Date:

3 October 2006 (Japan)

Company Credits

User Reviews

Hooked

I decided to watch the first episode of this anime recently because of the summary: an intelligent student finds a unique notebook, called the Death Note, where if he writes someones name down, they die in a matter of seconds. It intrigued me; it sounds similar to the TV show Dexter: a show which I think is fantastic. So I watched it, and I was immediately hooked and I definitely knew I was going to watch the entire series. It's definitely one of my favourite TV shows now. In my opinion, it's better than Cowboy Bebop.

What I really admire about this show is the art style. The show is based on the manga, which I never read, so that is where the art style comes from. I also like the theme song, despite being in Japanese. I watch it dubbed in English and find the voice acting top-notch, fitting perfectly with the characters, and writing that is so comprehensive.

The first episode shows the beginning of it all; a shinigami god is bored one day and drops the Death Note onto Earth. A student, named Light Yagami, finds it on the ground, takes it home and studies it. I love how the first episode explains all the basics of the Death Note. I also like the character development of Light in this episode. So Light reads what it says inside the Death Note that if he writes someone's name down, they die in a matter of seconds. Light finds it ridiculous but tests it out by writing down the name of a criminal in it. It works; the criminal dies of a heart attack. Light is in shock, but he uses it again and another criminal dies in a different way. Light continues to kill criminals, knowing he has the power to kill anyone in any way. When he gets home one day, he suddenly sees the shinigami (that nobody else can see) who explains almost everything we need to know in detail about the Death Note. By the end of the episode, the government find the sudden deaths of dozens of criminals suspicious, and this is where the show really gets started and to know what it's really all about.

In this show, our protagonist is obviously an anti-hero, who kills criminals, and so is a serial-killer. Not only this, but he's also intelligent, which helps to make the show much more interesting and clever. This is one of the serial dramas where it is mandatory to watch every episode of. This first episode truly is the start of something special.