Death Note Set to Make It's U.S Debut

The recent announcement on the anime news network that the two live action Death Note films were to make their first U.S debut at the Newport Beach Film Festival came as a shock and a welcome surprise to anime fans across the nation. This move solidifies the popularity of the anime series and seems to foreshadow events in the future of anime film, anime live action adaptations, and the U.S, a place were these films rarely reach "feature" status. In fact, most anime film releases and their live action counterparts barely make it to the DVD section in U.S markets. However, this recent announcement serves to illustrate the ever-growing influence anime and manga is having on a U.S market once dominated by American companies like Disney and Warner Bros. The recent Disney team-up with Studio Ghibli, a studio owned by world famous anime director Hayao Miyazaki, only goes to show the impact that anime is having.

Death Note is a best selling manga, and widely watched anime series directed by Araki Tetsuro. It's the story of a top high school student and his encounter with a Death God's notebook that has the power to take life merely by writing the name of a person and picturing their face. Yagami Light, the high schooler who finds the notebook dropped by Ryuuk (the Death God), decides to use the notebook to try and bring about a utopia by ridding the world of criminals. However, the string of criminal killings attract a great deal of attention and before long the Japanese government, with the support of the other leading countries in the world, hire one rather cryptically named, "L," to solve the mystery behind the string of crimes. With L on the job, it's a battle of wits between Yagami Light and L, with a number of twists and turns thrown in.