Draft:The Death Notes

The "Death Note" is a fictional book in manga series Death Note, written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. In the series, the Death Note appears as a black notebook with white characters on its front cover, spelling out "Death Note" in a scribble-like font. The Death Note has the supernatural power to remotely kill any person simply via their name and face, and is bound to a Shinigami (Translation: God of Death), who may possess an additional Death Note obtained from other Shinigami. In Death Note, the Death Notes are used by several characters throughout the story, most notably: Light Yagami, Misa Amane, Kyosuke Higuchi and Teru Mikami.

Rules

The Death Notes follow a few rules and will not take effect when those are disobeyed. The rules written inside the notebook are listed below accordingly.

" - The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die.

 - This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.
 - If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen.
 - If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.
 - After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds."

Aside from these rules, the manga series notes that more rules of the Death Note come into play. Some of these rules are:

 - The Shinigami bound to each Death Note only becomes visible to humans who have touched said notebook.
 - The user of a Death Note may request Shinigami Eyes from their Shinigami. This ability allows them to see the exact name and lifespan of any person simply by viewing their face, in exchange for shortening their lifespan by half of their remaining life.
 - In exchange for using the notebook, the user shall not go to Heaven nor Hell. Shinigami Ryuk states that all humans eventually go to Mu (Translation: Nothingness) after death.
 - Written death scenarios in the Note may not break principles of time and space. If this is the case, the death will not occur.

Later in the story, character Light Yagami makes use of the principle of these rules by asking his Shinigami Ryuk to add two fake rules, stating:

" - If the person using this Note fails to consecutively write names of people to be killed within 13 days of each other, then the user will die.

 - If you make this Note unusable by tearing it up or burning it, all the humans who have touched the Note will then die."

These rules are not real and will therefore not take effect, however Light Yagami added them to clear his name as serial killer Kira while under investigation.,

Origin

The Death Notes are originally given to Shinigami by the mysterious Shinigami King in the Shinigami Realm. These are used to shorten the lifespan of humans in the real world in exchange for lengthening the lifespan of the Shinigami. However, this cycle led Shinigami Ryuk to become bored, and he decided to drop his Death Note into the human world, after which Light Yagami picks it up and the story of Death Note unfolds. Later, Shinigami Rem enters the real world, bringing Shinigami Gelus' Death Note and giving it to Misa Amane.

Ownership

The Death Note may change ownership through two scenarios: either the user resigns as its owner, or the user is killed. When resigning ownership, the user will lose all memory of the Death Note and its usage, although those memories are regained when touching the Death Note again. Light Yagami and Misa Amane make use of this trick by resigning ownership of their Death Notes while under investigation, leading the other characters to believe they are innocent.

Reception

The Death Note has become one of the most recognizable objects within manga and anime fiction. The Death Note has become the most iconic symbol of the franchise and is on many occasions referenced in works of popular culture. On top of that, many students have also made replica Death Notes, leading to some schools even banning them, due to parents and teachers noting them as a threat because of the sole fictional purpose of the book.