The influences behind Death Note

2003

Death Note

Tsugumi Ohba

Heisei. Japan. Written in Japanese.

Death Note (2003-2006), written by Tsugumi Ohba and drawn by Takeshi Obata for Weekly Shonen Jump, follows a student, Light Yagami, who finds a shinigami's notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it, and the detective L who hunts him. It joins a cat-and-mouse detective duel to a Faustian bargain with a death god and a Raskolnikov-style theory of justified murder.

Where it came from

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1808

Faust, Part One

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Weimar Classicism. Germany. Written in German.

Verse drama in which the scholar Faust stakes his soul in a wager with the devil Mephistopheles, who follows him as a sardonic companion through seduction and ruin.

What it handed down

To Death Note (2003)

Thematic kinship, conjectural.

Ryuk, a bored supernatural being who attaches himself to a human, observes him with ironic detachment and will claim him at the end, plays the part Mephistopheles plays to Faust. The shinigami eye deal, half of one's remaining life traded for power, is a Faustian bargain. The resemblance is to the Faust tradition broadly; Ohba has not cited Goethe.

Where it came from

Historia von D. Johann Fausten, Anonymous 1587 follow this thread
Gospel of John, Anonymous c. 90 CE follow this thread
Book of Job, Anonymous c. 500 BCE
Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe c. 1592 follow this thread

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c. 500 BCE

Book of Job

Anonymous

Persian-period Judah. Ancient Israel. Written in Hebrew.

Wisdom book that opens with God and the Accuser wagering over a righteous man's faith, then tests Job through loss and argument.

What it handed down

To Faust, Part One (1808)

Direct source, well documented.

Goethe's Prologue in Heaven copies the opening of Job: the Lord and the adversary converse in the heavenly court and wager over whether a righteous man can be led astray. Mephistopheles is given permission to test Faust as Satan is given permission to test Job.

Where it came from

This is one of the oldest surviving works in its tradition; the line ends here.

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Where it came from

What it handed down

To Death Note (2003)

Where it came from

What it handed down

To Faust, Part One (1808)

Where it came from

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