Death Note (2006)
The human whose name is written in this note shall die.
Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects—and he’s bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But will Light succeed in his noble goal, or will the Death Note turn him into the very thing he fights against?
| Type | TV series |
|---|---|
| First aired | 4 October 2006 |
| Status | Ended, last episode 27 June 2007 |
| Genre | Animation, Mystery, Sci-Fi & Fantasy |
| Starring | Mamoru Miyano, Kappei Yamaguchi and Shido Nakamura |
| Seasons | 1 season, 37 episodes |
| Episode length | about 22 min |
| Time to watch it all | about 14 hours |
| Rated | TV-14 |
| Scores | Crunchyroll 4.6/5 · IMDb 9.0/10 · AlloCiné 4.1/5 · Trakt.tv 88% · Moviepilot 8.6/10 · AniDB 8.57/10 · TMDB users 8.6/10 |
Where to watch Death Note
Death Note is streaming on Hulu ($18.99 a month) in the US. It is also on Netflix ($17.99 a month), Prime Video ($8.99 a month), Crunchyroll ($9.99 a month) and Tubi. At ten hours a week, all of the series takes about 1 month of Prime Video, or $8.99 at list price.
We check availability daily. Page last updated 1 October 2026. Prices are standard monthly plans and change often, so check with the service before you sign up.
What kind of watch this is
Light Yagami finds a notebook that kills people whose names he writes down. He uses it to judge criminals, convinced he is fixing a broken world. The show is an animated mystery with a sci-fi twist, running 14 hours across 37 episodes. It asks if a person can stay good while holding absolute power.
What the critics said
The critical consensus is rare: 100% positive on Rotten Tomatoes from 14 reviews, averaging 8.5/10. That is a clean sweep, not a split. John Powers of NPR called it "at least as addictive as a show like Lost." The reception is almost uniformly high. Crunchyroll scores it 4.6/5, while IMDb gives it 9.0/10. Even the dissent is mild; The Daily Telegraph noted some "droning voice acting" but still found it a "brilliantly terse noir." One nitpick does not sink the ship, especially when the rest of the crew is steering so well.
How it did with audiences
TMDB users rate it 8.6 out of 10. IMDb audiences scored it 9.0 out of 10 as of January 2021. For a live-action adaptation of a manga with a protagonist who kills by writing names in a notebook, that is a surprisingly polite reception. The numbers suggest people watched it, liked it, and then promptly forgot it was a film.
If you liked this
TMDB's recommendations for people who watched Death Note.
Sources
- Death Note on TMDB — synopsis, cast, ratings and recommendations
- Wikidata Q718624 — review scores, box office and awards (CC0)
- “Death Note (2006 TV series)” on Wikipedia, by its contributors (history) — reception, audience figures and legacy, summarised and adapted here under CC BY-SA 4.0
- Where to watch and prices: Binge Boss, from TMDB watch-provider data (powered by JustWatch) and our own provider list
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