Claim: Ryuk (Death Note) is from a manga series that later became an anime.

is a Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata . The story follows Light Yagami , a high school student who discovers a supernatural notebook from a Shinigami named Ryuk that grants its user the ability to kill anyone whose name and face he knows . The series centers around Light 's attempts to create and rule a world `` cleansed of evil '' as `` God '' using the notebook , and the efforts of a detective known as L to stop him .   Death Note was first serialized in Shueisha 's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 2003 to May 2006 . The 108 chapters were collected and published into 12 tankōbon volumes between May 2004 and October 2006 . An anime television adaptation aired in Japan from October 3 , 2006 to June 26 , 2007 . Composed of 37 episodes , the anime was developed by Madhouse and directed by Tetsuro Araki . A light novel based on the series , written by Nisio Isin , was also released in 2006 . Additionally , various video games have been published by Konami for the Nintendo DS . The series was adapted into three live-action films released in Japan on June 17 , 2006 , November 3 , 2006 , and February 2 , 2008 , and a television drama in 2015 . A miniseries entitled `` Death Note : New Generation '' and a fourth film were released in 2016 . An upcoming American film is scheduled to be released on August 25 , 2017 .   Death Note media is licensed and released in North America by Viz Media , with the exception of the video games and soundtracks . The episodes from the anime first appeared in North America as downloadable from IGN , before Viz Media licensed it and it aired on YTV 's Bionix anime block in Canada and on Adult Swim in the United States with a DVD release following . The live-action films briefly played in certain North American theaters in 2008 , before receiving home video releases . In 2015 , the collected volumes of the Death Note manga had over 30 million copies in circulation .