14 years after the original Death Note run ended, we were blessed with the return of familiar characters and introduced with a new one, Minoru Tanaka. A character whose ingenious actions causes the Shinigami king to create a new rule. This will be the last Death Note related episode between the boys as they discuss the manga's legacy and more.
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101: Death Note 2020 Special One-Shot
Story by Tsugumi Ohba
Art by Takeshi Obata
Plot Synopsis:
The Death god Ryuk is bored as usual and hungry for some more delicious apples, he goes back to the human world and finds someone who is intelligent enough to use the Death Note in new ways.
Ryuk gives Minoru Tanaka the same Death Note that Light Yagami used in exchange for apples, Of course Minoru knows of Light as the tyrannical Kira. A person who he now studies in his ethics class as a terrorist albeit Kira was successful at preventing wars and lowering crime rates, using the Death Note to rid the world of whomever he deemed as evil.
Minoru is different, in that he decides not to murder anyone but instead to sell the Death Note, he tells Ryuk that the world has changed since Kira had the Death Note and that to become like the next Kira would be more so difficult in a world where cameras are on every street corner and in everyone's pocket. Plus, people are aware of the existence of Ryuk and can identify him and the Death Note now.
Minoru hatches the plan that Ryuk goes to Sakura TV station so to announce the bid and have people use twitter and the hashtag "Power of Kira"
Ryuk will be untraceable so long as he travels underground, under earth, much to the chagrin of L, the surviving members of the NPA and the SPK.
It becomes apparent that the money for the bid is reaching beyond that of any individual to be able to afford, Minoru sends out Ryuk to relay the message that government and world leaders must use their PR representatives to announce their bid. Eventually the winner is announced to be the government of the United States of America.
To make the transfer of money discreet, Minoru has the US government transfer the winning amount worth 10 trillion dollars divided in equal parts to people under the age of 70, living in Tokyo and who also own a Yotsuba bank of Japan account.
Once Minoru deems the plan a success, he gives Ryuk the Death Note to pass on and tells him that he no longer wants to see him again, and that he will live his life happily thanks to the fortune from the U.S. government.
The plot twist, as Ryuk knows, is that the Death Note brings misfortune to those who touch it, and that is still the case. Before Ryuk gives the Death note to the US he is summoned by the Shinigami King, afterwards he tells the current US president of the time, Donald Trump that the rules of the Death Note have now changed.
Anyone who buys and sells the Death Note will die as punishment. The buyer dies upon receiving the Death Note and the seller upon receiving their currency.
Ryuk explains to Trump that although he will die upon acquiring the Death Note, the Death Note itself will still be owned by his second in command, and thus will become the property of the U.S. government. Trump however decides to abandon the Death Note but pretend that he still has it so that people will see him as a hero. Very Shrewd.
Topics and Facts:
- The one shot made its public debut during Takeshi Obata's art exhibition, named Never Complete, before being published on Viz Media's website. It is now available as part of an anthology of short stories, released under Viz media.
- The main character Minoru is an intelligent character as was Light Yagami, unprecedented for a Death Note user is his pacifism, in terms of capitalist ideology you can consider Minoru a far better hero if not a better man than Light Yagami but what makes the series so good as a story is how it presents owning the Death Note as a moral dilemma.
- We also talk about Near, who makes another appearance in this one-shot, having previously appeared in the 2008 'C – Kira' one-shot story.
- Although this one-shot manga is satire it is important to note that when this was published the world was in the middle of a pandemic which threatened the economy and the lives of those from all walks of life. Tsugumi Ohba did not write this manga as a response to the pandemic nor the January 6 U.S. capitol attack, but one can still see it as a response to Trumpism. During president Donald Trumps' service, the country was (and as of 2023 still is) culturally divided. Possibly due to the newness of social media platforms propagating disinformation and propaganda. As of this episode air date January 28, 2023, political discourse worldwide is still dangerously tense.
- "The Gold Standard" that James refers to is a monetary system that provides a fixed international exchange rate. James is correct in assuming that under such a standard the transaction for the Death Note is not feasible however, both countries would need to share the same kind of standard, and the buying country would need to be the larger provider of gold stock for the transaction to be completely beneficial to Japan. The U.S. does have the larger supply of gold stock compared to Japan, however as steven mentions, the U.S. has not used the standard since 1971, a decision dubbed the "Nixon Shock". Because of this the U.S. can prevent a drastic economic deflation, which would happen if the U.S. if they were to buy the Death Note under a gold standard. There is also the "The Silver standard" which is more feasible of a monetary system because of silver having widespread stock worldwide, in retrospect it may seem absurd to consider gold stock as a fixed rate for international exchange, but one must keep in mind that the gold standard was after all created by the world dominating English empire.
- Although it certainly seems Minoru did the right thing in comparison to his predecessor Light Yagami, one can wonder if such an auction could be successful to an economic boom, after all a country could place sanctions on the trading of WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) but then again what country could be powerful enough to threaten sanctions on the U.S. and Japan? Especially after the transfer of Kira's power?
- A new (supposedly Netflix) adaptation Is to be written and executively produced by Halia Abdel-Meguid, it will be made by the 'Upside Down pictures' production company. The same company responsible for 'Stranger Things' created by the Duffer brothers.
Differences from the original 2003/'06 manga run and the 2015 NTV Mini Series:
- L appears in all white clothing, more so like the character of Near in the manga. He also wears buttoned linen shirts, which Watari has multiples of ready whenever L wants to change.
- The Death Note that Gellus owns before Misa is coloured red, it appears black in the manga, however the manga explains that there are red and white coloured Death Notes that Shinigami own within the rules section.
- The Eraldo Coil character/alias that L uses is absent from the story but otherwise replaced with the name "Babel" which is possibly derived from the Hebrew word בָּלַל (bālal), meaning to jumble or to confuse. It also comes from the name "Tower of Babel" which is referred to in the bible as a tower reaching God, with its construction itself being mentioned in an origin myth for the world's languages.
- In the miniseries, Babel is not an alias of but is instead an associate of L. The real identity of Babel is Near a.k.a Nate River.
- Near appears earlier in the story, before L dies. Near's appearance is also different, instead of wearing white pyjamas Near wears something that is a mix between a tailored suit and dungarees. They do however have a white bob hair style, albeit less curly than the manga.
- There is no SPK (Special Provision for Kira), instead after the death of L Near joins the same task force as the NPA, becoming the new L.
- Teru Mikami appears much earlier in the story; he spies on Misa, then attacks and steals her Death Note after Light instructs her to dig it up in the woods. Like the manga this event happens after Light regains his memories of the Death Note.
- Rem does not kill L, instead Teru Mikami, having sided with Light and acquiring the Shinigami eyes, is the one to kill L whilst Rem remains passive throughout.
- Rem does not die through the events of the series and neither risks their life to save Misa.
- L's death occurs after he pulls off a desperate and crude tactic to frame Light. L gets Light alone and proceeds to write Light's name in the Death Note. Through the ordeal Light receives a text message from Mikami that shows L's real name. Light attacks L, then takes the Death Note and writes L's name down as a form of self-defence. This does not kill L, since L had Watari create a fake Death Note in order to trick and goad Light into using the note on L. Before L manages to use the fake note as evidence, he is killed by Mikami's Death Note and Light tells the task force that L told him his real name in order to goad him into an attack.
- Mello is not a legitimate heir to L, instead he is a character that is trapped within the body of Near. Near having what is known as Disassociate Identity Disorder, otherwise known as "split personalities".
- Sometimes Near keeps Mello at bay by having Mello talk through a ventriloquists' doll. Mello ends up taking full control later without the need for a doll, and dresses just like their anime/manga counterpart.
- Near/Mello are both male characters but they are played by a woman, Mio Yuki.
- Ryuk does not write Light's name in his Death Note, instead Light dies in a warehouse on fire trying to grab his Death Note, he begs Ryuk to make the eye trade with him but the book is already in flames at that moment and soon Light himself burns. (If my memory is correct, Light is so deluded at that point he forgets the death note is fake - J)
- Mikami is the one who starts the fire, in order to prevent the task force from arresting Light.
- Near is the dominant personality when Light is captured as Kira, and remains dominant throughout most of the episodes.
- Watari does not die; he survives to the end and assists Near after L's death.
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