The basic premise of the series follows a young man named Light (Raito in Japanese) Yagami who finds a notebook after school entitled "Death Note." Upon reading the rules of the Death Note he finds it a clever and funny prank. Though, through sheer curiosity falls for the temptation and decides to use it. He sees a news broadcast of a man holding a bunch of kids hostage in a school. Since it was live coverage he was able to know for sure if the claims in the Death Note are real or not. So he writes the name in the book and (per the rules) waits 40 seconds for something to happen.
The rules of the Death Note state that if you write a name down in the notebook and think of their face then they will die in 40 seconds of a heart attack (or at least they will get a heart attack and die soon there after). Unless the terms of the death were listed otherwise, as long as it is physically possible, you can conceivably control the person up until the point of death, as long as it is written in the notebook.
Once Light realizes what he has was real, he takes it upon himself to rid the world of criminals. Though because he's an egotistical teenager, he also takes it upon himself to become "god" of this new world. This is where the story then takes off. Though for the sake of the blog, I will end it there. Since this blog is not about the story of Death Note and more about how parents need to really start teaching their kids versus letting a manga or television series do it for them.
When I was a kid, Power Rangers ruled the roost of child programming. My parents were never ones to really censor too much. I wasn't allowed to watch The Simpsons or Ren and Stimpy, but other than that I had free reign as long as it was age appropriate. So I was no different than really anyone my age and loved Power Rangers. It was my favorite show, and it still shapes my life everyday even though I no longer watch it. I am a martial artist because of it, a lot of life skills I learned from it, and I also have a love for Anime which I think could be rooted in my love for Power Rangers. Though what my parents did do, was watch these questionable shows with me and give me a good base so I understood, even at that age, that this was make believe and not okay in real life. So I already knew from the beginning that Power Rangers was pretend and needed to stay that way. I played Power Rangers when I was a kid, but I never actually hit anyone in play. If memory serves me correctly, my friends and I fought the air. No one wanted to be the monster, they always wanted to be the Power Rangers.
I remember news reports of kids hurting other kids and it being tied directly to Power Rangers. Parents were up in arms about this violent television show and how it shouldn't exist because it is teaching our kids how to be violent. I watched Power Rangers for a long time, probably longer than I should have, and am not a violent person. And this is because I had actual parents who taught me right from wrong growing up.
There are so many parents out there who are too lazy to know what their kid is watching or reading and how their child is processing what it is they are seeing. Sure, Power Rangers could have helped some kids out there become violent, however, in order for the claim to be true that it was because of Power Rangers, then all kids who watched it should have become violent. It all boils down to the base that the parents set up for their children. So these kids who became violent because it is what they saw on Power Rangers, wasn't because of Power Rangers but the sheer laziness of the parents.
Recently, anime has become the new charge for parents to become very upset at the actions (and in some cases, death) of children. Naruto was the first, that I can think of, to be attacked.
Here is a news clipping of the issue at hand
Now even though this is a terrible tragedy. There is no right to blame a television show as innocent as Naruto for the child's death. At ten years old, he should have known better than to allow himself to be buried head first into sand. I am not downplaying his death at all, I was heart broken when I first heard about it, but later enraged at the fact that the media was trying to blame anime for this child's death.
Most recently, Death Note has been the main focus of parents blaming media for their faults as parents.
I have a link to "Anime News Network" which explains in detail some of the issues at hand. You can find the link at the end of the post, for now I will quote a few passages from it and explain my irritation.
In the very first part of the article it states that a school district in Albuquerque, New Mexico almost banned the manga from their library because of it's content.
Peggy Salazar, a mother of a student at Albuquerque's Volcano Vista High School, advocated for the ban and added, "Killing is just not something we should put out there for our kids to read in this way." At least two of the district's 13 other high schools — Valley High School and Atrisco Heritage Academy — also carry the manga in their libraries.
With no disrespect to Ms. Salazar, I would have to disagree. If the main objective is to get rid of stories that involve killing then you should also be banning stories like Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, and Huckleberry Finn. Some real classics that have been a staple in literature for longer than some of these parents have been alive. Trying to dispose of Death Note because of it's death content, which is a lot less violent than that of the other three stories, would be a moot point.
Tom Genne, one of the seven committee members at Thursday's hearing, said, "High school age kids do grapple with questions about justice and morality, and whether civilization, or the societies of which they are a part of, are making good decisions."
This comment I do agree with 100%. I was once a teen much like that, and to some extent, an adult that suffers with that very idea. This is what makes Death Note so intriguing. Light claims himself that there is no human alive who would not be at least tempted to try the Death Note at least once. I am comfortable with myself enough to know that if it were real, and I stumbled across it, I would be tempted to use it much like Light did. However, I am just as comfortable with myself to know that I would never actually use it. If only because of my viewpoint about death and killing in general.
Death Note helps people explore these questions and concerns about life in a new and exciting way. It follows a teen that everyone can relate to (whether they want to admit it or not) who is given great power and suffers because of this great power. This is where the plot comes back into play for the blog. Now I am not going to say what happens at the end, in case a few people out there have yet to see it I want to stay spoiler free. However, I can safely say that Light isn't exactly portrayed as a hero. Even though I side with him throughout the series, he is often shown to be going crazy and a villain. It really helps you face your own inner demons.
On the other side of the argument, I have never thought of Death Note as a story for any kind of younger audience. It is not age appropriate for younger teens or kids. You need to be at a certain maturity level to handle a storyline as intense as Death Note.
There have been at least six previous incidents in the United States where school officials linked "Death Notes" to students being disciplined....Two elementary school students from Oklahoma City were to be disciplined last December for allegedly listing two other students and the manners of their fictional deaths in a "Death Note" notebook.
This one I broke up as to explain my last paragraph. Again, this is a wonderful example of lazy parents who aren't paying attention. Death Note, yes, is a "comic book" and yes is a "cartoon" but that does not immediately signify it as "children's programming." Only our society places the connotation of "children" to the term "animation."
In Japan, animation is like any other show on television. Sometimes it is for children and other times it is for adults. Something like Hamtaro is a perfect example of an anime geared toward children and a safe choice for any parent to let their child watch. Where as one of my personal favorites When They Cry is very much the opposite. At 23, I am almost too young for something like that. It is an amazing story, but it is very violent. When it comes to foreign animation, parents need to really pay attention and understand that just because it is animation doesn't mean a single thing. However, even America has some cartoons that I would never let a child watch. Such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama, American Dad, and anything else that comes on Adult Swim (Which is where Death Note aired).
In the case of the fact that Elementary school aged children even know what Death Note is worries me. Not because of Death Note, but because the parents are really that lazy with children of that age. I am not saying that those children will be bad members of society, but I personally would never let my Elementary school aged child (if I had one) watch Death Note. At that point I would be letting them watch things like Pokemon, Digimon, Monster Rancher, and other monster type anime. Again, this goes right back to age appropriate. Those three shows are actually pretty violent, and possibly more violent than Death Note, it's just a different kind of violence. The same kind of violence that Power Rangers was. Monsters fight other monsters and no one ever "dies." In Pokemon's worst case scenario, the pokemon will faint and awake later just fine. In Digimon and Monster Rancher the monsters disappear after they are defeated. In Digimon they go back to being eggs and in Monster Rancher they turn into discs that can, and will, be revived later.
In all reality, this is an open letter to parents. You really need to pay more attention to what your children are watching and reading. If you are not comfortable with their choice then either forbid them for now, until the story is a little more age appropriate, or sit them down and talk to them. I was once one of those children. My parents raised me with enough respect for them, I listened, and understood. So please, stop blaming television and manga for your short comings.
If you would like to read the whole article you can find it here.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-05-10/death-note-ban-in-albuquerque-high-schools-fails-vote
As well as the synopsis of Death Note from the same source
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6592
