The thought of notebooks don’t normally make death come to mind. Though, that happens to be the case for Light Yagami, a bored but incredibly smart high school student who finds a mysterious notebook with the label “Death Note” on the cover. After reading the notebook, Light realizes if he writes someone’s name inside, that person will die.

Skeptical at first, he writes a few criminals’ names inside the Death Note as a prank. After the criminals die, Light is convinced that it is indeed real. The Death Note’s real owner, a demon by the name of Ryuk, appears in Light’s house and sheds insight about the power of the Death Note to him. After hearing this information, Light decides to become a “god” by striking down anyone who causes injustice in the world.

Originally a manga (or comic as we call them in the states), Death Note is a very dark, but very entertaining series. Pulling readers into the plot, and keeping them there with ingenious writing and characters. The animation is very eye-catching, making viewers come back for more. Currently available in only Japanese, there are sites such as YouTube that have sub-titled episodes available for viewing.