Death Note Episode One Summary: Rebirth

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Death Note is an increasingly popular anime based on the manga series written by written by Tsugumi Ohba and drawn by Takeshi Obata. Light Yagami, a highly intelligent 17 year old high school student is sick of the world. He stumbles across a supernatural notebook and discovers that whoever’s name he writes in it dies. After finding out about the notebook’s potential, he begins to ‘cleanse’ the world by secretly killing off the criminals. World famous detective, L, takes an interest in the case and it’s a war of intelligence as L and Light, known to the world as Kira try to find out who their opponent is before their own identity is revealed.

Death Note Episode 1: Rebirth

Light Yagami is a bored 17 year old highschool student who spends his day either studying or thinking about how corrupt the world has become. He listens to the news and thinks about how every day there’s a newstory about a murder or a robbery. He comes to the conclusion that the world is rotting.

While sitting in class, he spots a notebook labeled ‘Death Note’ tumbling to the ground from the sky out of the corner of his eye. Out of curiousity, he finds the notebook after class and has a look. He opens it and reads that “The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die.” Sceptical, he puts the book back on the ground and passes it off as a twisted chainletter. However, he goes back to pick it up before he gets home because something about it is appealing to him.

In his room, he sees that there are a set of instructions on the inside page. He finds out that he has to know the name of the person is and he must picture their face as he writes their name so people with the same name don’t accidentally die. He also reads that he is able to state the cause of death if he wishes ;to and can add in details about the death. If he just writes the name, they simply die of a heart attack.

At last he can’t take it any more and he decides to try it out. For a few seconds, he tries to think of whose name to write and he realises that if they did die, that would make him a murderer. He switches on the television and decides that he might as well write down the name of a criminal. There is a  live newstory about a man keeping children at a school hostage. They show the name and face of the man commiting the crime. Light writes these down and watches as he waits for the man to die. All of a sudden, the criminal dies of a heart attack.

Shocked by the event, Light decides that he needs to test the Death Note once more because it could just be a coincidence. He leaves the house and finally spots a motorbike gang closing in around a girl. Light walks into the nearest shop after hearing the name of the man that’s about to rape her. He writes that the man will get hit by a lorry. Sure enough, the man is hit by a lorry and is killed instantly.

Back in the Shinigami realm, a Shinigami called Ryuk announces that he’s dropped his Death Note in the human world. He tells the other Shinigami that he is going to go and find it and he flies down to Earth where he finds Light in his room. Ryuk introduces himself and explains that the notebook is his. Light tells Ryuk that he has been waiting for him and he asks Ryuk if he is going to take away his soul. Ryuk finds this amusing and simply tells Light that the notebook now belongs to him. The only catches are that Light will feel the fear and pain known only to humans who have used the Death Note, those who have used the Death Note can neither go to Heaven nor Hell and that when Light’s time is up, it will be Ryuk who writes his name in his own Death Note.

Light’s mum knocks at the door to hand him a basket of apples which Ryuk enjoys eating. Light discovers that his mum is unaware of Ryuk’s presence. He asks Ryuk about this and he finds out that he is the only person that can hear and see the Shinigami.

Light asks why he was chosen and Ryuk laughs at him before announcing that nobody was chosen and it was all just an accident. Light isn’t special or anything. Light then asks why Ryuk dropped the Death Note and Ryuk tells him that he did it because he was bored. Ryuk then points out that Light has written a lot of names down over the past few days and Light tells him that he’s planning on killing criminals and he wants the world to know that he exists and that there’s somebody judging the criminals.

He goes on to say that his own mind and soul is worth it because the world needs saving and only he can do it. Ryuk points out that if Light kills all the ‘evil’ in the world, he will be the only bad guy left. Light laughs this off and explains that he isn’t bad and that he’s going to be the God of the new world.