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We can officially leave it to Nerdcore guru extraordinaire Richie Branson to simultaneously educate us on cool anime/manga we’ve never heard of, as well as write an infectious single about it. Case in point this time: Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata‘s manga/anime known as Death Note.
The premise alone is kinda trippy: high school student stumbles upon supernatural notebook that allows the owner to kill anyone they want to, simply by writing their name in the notebook and picturing said evil person’s face. (Uncommonly good) high school student ‘Light’ must decide whether to use these powers to kill as many ‘bad people’ as he can.
If you’ve ever read Chuck Palahniuk’s Lullaby, the plot about a protagonist who can kill with a piece of writing and a thought may sound familiar — only Note seems a bit more interesting just because there’s a detective named L who wants to stop Light from killing every evil person in the world (and is thus a solid antagonist to it all).
No info on exactly how big that notebook is, but hey, sounds like a cool plot and the art is nifty. Perhaps coolest of all is how this time it’s Richie Branson putting himself in the shoes of Light, wondering:
Sometimes I wonder how things would change if I had a book that could kill with just a name/
Would I fly into a rage and write in it every day, or would I hesitate to scribble a name on the page/
Would I choose to kill em all in the name of good, or would I murder for the thrill every moment I could?
And what teenager wouldn’t think those same things if blessed with such power? We’re pretty sure every high school in America would be empty by now.Part of Brason’s ongoing #OtakuTuesdays anime-based raps, Branson’s managed to teach us what we missed out on in the world of anime and manga, as well as write another outstanding song about it all. Hopefully we get an Akira or Macross song soon…
Jeff Nau – who has written 1264 posts on The Jace Hall Show.
Jeff Nau is a main contributor to the Jace Hall Show covering pop culture and music trends in the nerd community. He has contributed to San Diego City Beat, 944, and Ill Literature, amongst others, and spends his spare time working as an artist and photographer.

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