Death Note watch order
Top student Light Yagami finds a notebook dropped by the death god Ryuk: write a name in it and that person dies. He sets out to remake the world as the killer "Kira", and the reclusive detective L sets out to catch him. Madhouse adapted Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata's manga as a single 37-episode series, plus two recap films.
First time? Just watch the TV series, all 37 episodes. The two Relight films are recaps for afterwards, if at all.
Release order
The series, then the two Relight recap films that aired in 2007 and 2008. Story order is the same, since the films retell the series rather than add to it.
- Death Note (episodes 1–25)
The first part of the story: Light starts killing criminals as Kira, the police and L close in, and the two play a long game of cat and mouse.
- Death Note (episodes 26–37)
The second part, after a time skip, with new players chasing Kira. Episode 26 opens with a half-episode recap, but don't skip it: the rest of it sets up the jump forward. The anime condenses the manga most in this stretch and changes some details of the ending.
- Death Note Relight 1: Visions of a God (optional)
A 130-minute TV film that recuts the first part of the series, framed as Ryuk telling the story to another death god. There are only a few new scenes. Optional; watch it after the series, never instead of it.
- Death Note Relight 2: L's Successors (optional)
A roughly 90-minute recut of episodes 27–37. It adds about 20 minutes of new or changed footage but cuts a whole subplot, so it's a companion for fans rather than a replacement. Optional.
Explained
Is the second half worth watching?
Yes. Many viewers find the episodes after the time skip weaker than the first part, and the anime squeezes this part of the manga hardest, but the story only ends in episode 37; stopping at episode 25 leaves it unfinished.
Do I need the Relight films?
No. They're recaps that cut the series into two long films, made for TV in Japan, with a handful of new scenes. Relight 2 has the most new material, about 20 minutes, but drops a subplot. Watch them only after the series if you want a refresher.
Does the anime end like the manga?
The broad outcome is the same, but the anime changes how the final scenes play out, and it leaves out the manga's short epilogue. The manga ran 108 chapters in 12 volumes and finished in 2006, before the anime started.
Is there any other Death Note anime?
No. The later one-shot manga chapters, C-Kira (2008) and a-Kira (2020), have never been animated. Everything else is live action: the 2006 Japanese films Death Note and The Last Name, L: Change the World (2008), a 2015 TV drama, Light Up the New World (2016) and Netflix's 2017 film. None of them follow on from the anime.
Sub or dub?
Either works. The English dub, with Brad Swaile as Light and Alessandro Juliani as L, first aired on Adult Swim in 2007, and Viz Media released the series and both Relight films in English with dub and Japanese audio.