Death Note

Death Note is a Japanese fantasy thriller about Light Yagami, a gifted student who comes across a notebook that can kill anyone whose name is written in it, provided the writer also knows the person's face. Light tests it, then begins using it to execute criminals around the world under the name Kira, believing he can rid society of evil. His killing spree draws a worldwide investigation, and the enigmatic detective L, who hides his identity, takes on the case. The two become locked in a battle of wits, each trying to outmaneuver and expose the other.

The film is directed by Shusuke Kaneko, whose earlier work includes the Gamera trilogy, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack and Azumi 2: Death or Love. Tetsuya Oishi wrote the screenplay. Tatsuya Fujiwara plays Light and Kenichi Matsuyama plays L, with Asaka Seto, Shigeki Hosokawa, Erika Toda and Shunji Fujimura among the credited cast of twenty-four. It was produced by Shueisha, Nikkatsu, Nippon Television Network and Shochiku, and was followed the same year by Death Note: The Last Name, the second of Kaneko's two 2006 entries.

Made for a budget of 20 million dollars, the film took about 30 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.5 out of 10 from roughly 33,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.1 out of 10 from over 800 votes. A critics' rating of 5.7 out of 10 from nine reviews is lower than both audience scores.