New Death Note Play Debuts First Poster

It’s been over a decade since the debut of Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata’s Death Note, and the series is still held in high regard by fans. The franchise has spawned numerous anime and live-action adaptations in the years since, and fans are there to support it every step of the way. The Death Note franchise has been garnering good will through sheer name recognition alone, and its massively popularity means that we are still seeing new projects pop up.

After having successful runs in 2015 and 2017 in Japan, the Death Note musical will be returning for another outing beginning January 2020. Touting a new cast with a double billing for Light Yagami, fans got their first look at the musical’s revival with a new poster featuring its Light and L actors.

Scored by Frank Wildhorn and Natalie Cole, directed by Tamiya Kuriyama, with lyrics written by Jack Murphy (Wonderland), and a script written by Ivan Menchell (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), Death Note THE MUSICAL is currently scheduled to debut at Tokyo’s Toshima Ward Performing Arts Exchange Theater in January 2020. After holding auditions of over 2,000 potential actors to double cast the lead role of Light Yagami, the role is now filled by Ryota Murai (Yowamushi Pedal) and Shouma Kai (Kamen Rider Ex-Aid).

They are joined in this first image by Fu Takahashi’s L, who will be portraying the character in all the performances, and while not in this image other confirmed cast members include Sakura Kiryuu as Misa Amane, Hirari Nishida as Sayu Yagami, Hye-na Park as Rem, Eiji Yokota as Ryuk, and Kiyotaka Imai as Soichiro Yagami.

There are currently plans to expand this musical to other locations in Japan, and perhaps even in other territories, but only time will tell if this pans out. 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?”