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Death Note

Five separate screen versions, none of them connected, and only one of them tells the whole story.

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Where to start with Death Note

Watch the 2006 anime. Everything else on this page is optional, and almost everything else assumes you have done that first. It is the only screen version that adapts the complete manga, both arcs, in order, and it is the version every other adaptation gets compared against.

  1. 1
    Death Note, the 2006 anime Death Note

    Thirty seven episodes covering the whole story. Widely available, with both a Japanese track and a well regarded English dub, so it does not force a format preference on you.

  2. 2
    The manga, if you would rather read Death Note (manga)

    The original, complete in twelve volumes or one omnibus. The anime follows it closely, so this is a straight swap rather than an addition. Pick one, not both, unless you want both.

  3. 3
    Death Note, the 2006 film, then The Last Name Death Note

    Once you know the real story, the Japanese films are worth it for one specific reason: they give the Light and L confrontation a completely different ending, invented for the films. That only means anything if you already know how it is supposed to go.

Then what? After the two films, L: Change the World is set inside the 23 days L bought himself at the end of The Last Name, and has no Kira plot at all, so as an introduction to Death Note it introduces nothing about Death Note. New Generation is three short web episodes of backstory for characters you have not met yet, so watch it immediately before Light Up the New World or skip it. The 2015 drama is genuinely interesting and is the only live action version to reach the second arc's characters, but it changes so much that starting there gives you a distorted idea of what the story is. The 2017 Netflix film is a separate thing with renamed characters and altered rules. The two Relight specials are recap re-edits of the anime rather than new story, so they are an alternative to the series, not an addition to it, and they are close to pointless once you have watched all 37 episodes.

A suggested way in, not an official one. The full list is below — tick anything off in either place.

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