Death Note Shares First-Look at New One-Shot

Anime and manga fans might have noticed a curious trend lately as the nostalgia boom of the late 90s and early 2000s has resulted in many classic properties making a big return in the last couple of years. One of these major returns has been for the Death Note franchise, which has seen a sort of a revival thanks to live-action film a couple of years ago. But now fans will probably enjoy this next revival a little bit more as original illustrator Takeshi Obata is returning to the series for one more outing.

Death Note will soon be releasing a new one-shot presumably set after the events of the original series, and fans got their first look at the new project with a few rough storyboards released onto Shueisha’s Jump Plus app.

The rough storyboards see Ryuk approaching his next prospective Death Note user, and Comic Natalie actually shared a much more detailed look at the new one-shot displayed at a special exhibition celebrating Takeshi Obata’s long career. Original series writer, Tsugumi Ohba, is reportedly returning for the new one-shot as well. The new one-shot has also been confirmed to run for 87 pages.

Obata’s career is currently being celebrated with the “Takeshi Obata 30th Work Anniversary Exhibition: Never Complete,” which will run in Tokyo until August 12th before moving to other areas in Japan. There’s currently no word on the release date for the full one-shot either, but Obata teased that it’s going to feel much different than the original series, according to Comic Natalie.

Originally created by Tsugumi Ohba with illustrations provided by Takeshi Obata for Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 2003, Death Note has since inspired an anime series, several video games, an animated film, a novel, and most infamously, a live-action film on Netflix. Though the film wasn’t too well received by fans, it’s not the only live-action adaptation as there were several produced in Japan along with a musical. The series is described as such:

“Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects—and he’s bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But will Light succeed in his noble goal, or will the Death Note turn him into the very thing he fights against?”