This film contains unmarked spoilers for the 2006 Death Note live-action movie and it's sequel Death Note: The Last Name. You Have Been Warned!
"Now the fun begins."
"I am Kira. I control the lives and deaths of all humans. We are connected by blood and my intentions. I appoint you. Get the 'Death Note'. Live as Kira."
— Light Yagami's Video Will
Death Note: Light Up the New World is a film based on the Death Note franchise, and the fourth installment in the Death Note film series, released on October 29, 2016.
Set ten years after the end of Kira's reign, it focuses on a police officer named Tsukuru Mishima, who finds himself caught in the conflict between a Kira-supporting cyberterrorist named Yuki Shien and a new "L" figure, calling himself Ryuzaki. In a Call-Back to a one-off mentioned rule from the original manga, six Death Notes have entered the human world, the limit to how many are allowed at a time...
A three part Mini Series called Death Note New Generation that bridges the 10-year gap between the previous films was released September 16, 2016.
Death Note: Light Up the New World contains examples of:
- All According to Plan: Wouldn't be Death Note without it. It's the last line of Light's Video Will, and of the film itself.
- Advertised Extra: New Death Note holder Sakura Aoi and her Shinigami Beppo only last the beginning of the movie despite being advertised massively, Sakura is killed off by Shien after her murder spree in the city has gone far enough and Beppo only appears once when he reveals the 6 Death Notes rule to the Task Force and just disappears straight after.
- Art Evolution: Ryuk's new look
for the movie. He looks noticeably sharper and more intimidating than previous appearances. - Ax-Crazy: While Death Note users generally become this, Sakura takes the cake, as she's willing to kill dozens of random innocent passersby, with no reason at all other than because she can.
- Becoming the Mask: Mishima got his memories erased so Ryuk could deliver the Death Note to someone more powerful, with the instruction that he'll eventually need the note and memories back. But when he does get his memories back...he doesn't want to use the note anymore.
- Big Bad Friend: The Task Force, including Ryuzaki, with Mishima, as that the latter is revealed to be the (amnesiac) Neo-Kira.
- Birds of a Feather: Shien's backstory (lost his family to a burglar who escaped justice because he was ruled mentally ill, before being murdered by Light back when he was alive) is so similar to Misa's that he's sure that she'll show up to hand over her Death Note entirely due to that.
- Bus Crash: Soichiro Yagami died sometime between the last film and this one. The miniseries implies that Mishima might have something to do with it.
- Canon Foreigner: Beppo and Arma, two new Shinigami created specifically for the film but physically based respectively on Sidoh/Shidoh and Armonia from the original manga.
- The Cameo:
- Both Light and L are seen giving a message to their successor, and both Ryuzaki and Yuki liberally use their predecessors' images.
- The novelization includes a few appearances by Sidoh/Shidoh, who owned the first Death Note Light used.
- Continuity Nod: Shien hides a phone with a message for Misa in the same brand of potato chips that Light used to use.
- The Corruption: It's always been implied that the Death Notes turn their users bad, but here it's made loud and clear. In a minor subplot a Russian doctor uses a Death Note to euthanise a terminally ill man begging for death, eventually moving on to killing people who express even a single suicidal thought. Mishima notes that Ryuzaki is the only Death Note holder who managed to stay sane.
- Creator Provincialism: Six Death Notes were scattered all over the world...and four of them were dropped somewhere in Japan. The remaining two, which got dropped in Russia and the United States, are already in Shien's possession at the start of the film, so that makes 6 in Japan, then.
- Credits Gag: Some characters' pseudonyms fade to red and are replaced by their real names.
- Dark Is Not Evil: While his motives are questioned by other characters multiple times, L's successor Ryuzaki is shown dressed all in black, contrasted with the white-clad antagonist Yuki Shien. By the end of the film, he's the only one of the protagonists who hasn't done a single evil act; Mishima even notes that despite being a Death Note user, he stays sane and pure.
- Death by Adaptation:
- While this may be a sequel to the film adaptations which changed the ending from the manga, surviving character Matsuda is offed by Shien when they locate his apartment.
- Teru Mikami finally gets adapted into the live action canon, except he's already dead by the time the story has begun.
- Misa Amane (who survived the previous films but committed suicide in the manga) kills herself off using a page of her Death Note after apparently killing Ryuzaki and helping Shien collect all 6 Notes. She even writes that she dies 'in the hands of Light.', though she really just collapses on the ground.
- Death of a Child: Mishima's flashback briefly shows a small body laying motionless on the ground when Mishima confonted Teru Mikami, presumed to be Light's son that Mikami was supposed to look after.
- Driven to Suicide: Like in the manga, Misa kills herself to join Light; the only reason why she initially survived in the films is because her memories of the nature of his death (including that it happened right before her eyes) were wiped out, and she was willing to live on without him so long as she believed he died for a noble cause. She chooses suicide not long after her memories are restored.
- Exact Words: Ryuzaki promises L that he'll never use Death Note to solve Neo Kira case. When forced to write his name on Death Note to get ahead from Shien, he'll just have Mishima do it for him. And besides, Arma is loyal enough to sacrifice herself for him.
- Foil: Shien and Ryuzaki are complete opposites. Shien dresses in white and looks immaculate, while Ryuzaki dresses in black and looks derelict. Shien is polite to people he plans to kill, while Ryuzaki is rude to his allies. Shien is reliant on Ryuk, while Ryuzaki doesn't let Arma get involved. This extends to their Shinigami. Ryuk is black, scary-looking and is amused by people killing each other. Arma is white, attractive and affectionate.
- Fat and Skinny: Kuromoto and Uragami.
- For the Evulz: Sakura. Unlike Misa in the previous films, who did her rampage at random people to get Kira's attention, there's no reason for Sakura to start killing off people right and left. And she kills civilians, while Misa at least only offed security guards.
- Foregone Conclusion: Don't let the video of Light throw you off, he's dead and there's no way he's coming back. The same goes for the video of L, which Shien recognises as being CGI.
- The Ghost: Due to being dead, Light and L don't appear but are referenced repeatedly and their work is carried out in their names.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The Shinigami King, who starts the race-for-the-Kira thing in the first place so he can designate a worthy shinigami to succeed him, thus inducing his subordinates to give as many Death Notes as they can to the humans to satisfy the king. However, since he's way above, he isn't directly involved and in fact never makes an appearance.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Ryuzaki's shinigami, Arma writes Nanase's real name into her own Death Note to protect Ryuzaki and Mishima from her, ultimately showing to Ryuzaki that she does care for him. Even at the cost of her own life.
- History Repeats:
- Ryuzaki bests Yuki Shien using the same way L bested Light. With his name being written in the Death Note with a time limit so he wouldn't die the next time his name was written into another Note.
- Neo Kira a.k.a. Mishima copied Light's amnesia plan to avoid suspicion on him.
- Humans Are Bastards: After the 6 Death Notes are secured by Interpol, Ryuk predicts that the peace won't stay long, because some people would eventually find a way to steal them. A prediction that is proven true by the ending.
- Karma Houdini: Again, while the human characters die, the shinigami who possess the six Death Notes get away scot-free. Except for Arma, but then, her sacrifice is entirely her choice.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Misa finally offs herself in this movie, after it having been belated for 10 years. Of course, given the Shinigami Eye trade, she didn't have that much longer to live anyway.
- Light Is Not Good: The teaser poster depicts Big Bad Yuki Shien as dressed completely in white. Quite fitting, because he's imitating his predecessor Light Yagami, who was a literal embodiment of the trope.
- Malevolent Masked Men: As L's successor, Ryuzaki may or may not share his predecessor's moral ambiguity, but is shown holding a mask on the first poster.
- Men Are the Expendable Gender: Subverted. Numerically, there are more men killed, but none of the named female characters survive by the end. Not even the shinigami.
- Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds: Tsukuru Mishima. Real name: Ryo Hakagami, turns out to be the new Kira. When Ryuzaki finds out what his true name is, he remarks about how mundane it sounds.
- A Million Is a Statistic: Lampshaded by Ryuzaki after the death of Matsuda, pointing out how the Task Force gives Matsuda a dramatic mourning period, yet countless others who are killed by the Death Note get swiftly forgotten.
- Mythology Gag:
- Yuki Shien is one. An antagonist who wears white? We're looking at you, Near. He also shares some quirks with L (Sweet Tooth, Prefers Going Barefoot).
- A white-colored Shinigami once again makes a Heroic Sacrifice, albeit this time, it's not for the villains' sake.
- No Name Given: The novelization has an appearance by an unnamed Shinigami, described simply as "being over two meters tall," who does not appear in the film.
- Passing the Torch: At the end of the film, Ryuzaki passes the L position to Mishima, as the former is dying.
- Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: Shien is the polite villain, Ryuzaki is the rude hero.
- Red Herring: Light's blood relative is hyped up to be an important part of the plot, and considering that promotional materials describe Shien as "inheriting Light's DNA", he might be the relative. He's not, and the relative is actually Light's son, meaning that he couldn't be older than 10 years old. And he frankly figures very little, other than giving an excuse for Mishima to get the note.
- Reincarnation: Early promotional material states that Shien and Ryuzaki "inherited the DNA" of Light and L, and the two do fill the position of the latter two characters. Ultimately, it only literally applies to Ryuzaki; Shien is just a fanboy who wants to usurp the position of Neo-Kira.
- The Reveal: Yuki Shien is not Neo Kira, Mishima is.
- Sequel Hook: Capturing and sealing the 6 Death Notes is ultimately unsuccessful as a terrorist group attacks the convoy moving the Notes to a secure location. Resulting in 4 of the Death Notes being destroyed and the remainder going missing as more murders are carried out once again. Mishima ends up taking Ryuzaki's place as the new L to locate the Notes and more Death Notes will continue to enter the world until the Shinigami King decides which Shinigami will take his place as king.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Mishima's hope that the 6 Death Notes will forever be out of reach really is wishful thinking, since all of them are stolen with four being burned, meaning that new Death Notes will crop up and deaths will follow. This effectively undoes all the achievements that he and the Task Force manage to do and forcing him to start all over again, but this time with fewer allies.
- That Man Is Dead: Used at the end of the film, but in a heroic way. Ryuzaki farewells Mishima by his pseudonym used to conceal his identity as Neo-Kira, as the latter is about to die from a heart attack induced by the 'Death Note'. Mishima then responds that he has embraced his real name instead, Ryo Nakagami, symbolizing how he has stopped being Neo-Kira.
- The Starscream: Shien's real plan for when he encounters Neo-Kira is to kill and take his place. He even trades with Ryuk for the Shinigami Eyes to do it.
- The Stinger: A portion of Kira's video message appears on screen as he utters his signature Character Catchphrase "Just as I planned". He then smiles.
- Those Two Guys: Kuromoto and Uragami are rarely seen without each other. Plus, they die in quick succession of each other as well.
- Tomato in the Mirror: Neo-Kira isn't Shien or Ryuzaki. It's Mishima.
- Wham Line: After Misa gives her 'Death Note' to Shien, she wanders off outside, and slumps next to a chair. The next shot shows us why she did that: in her left hand is some pages taken from that 'Death Note', with a new entry:
- You Killed My Father: Nanase joins the Task Force to avenge her brother, who was a criminal killed by Kira.
