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Death Note: New Generation (デスノート NEW GENERATION)

Death Note: New Generation (デスノート NEW GENERATION) is a 2016 Japanese live-action web miniseries of three episodes, each about 20 minutes long, released exclusively on Hulu Japan in September 2016 as a bridge between the earlier Death Note films and the film Death Note: Light Up the NEW World, which opened on October 29, 2016.¹^•² Each episode follows one of the three lead characters of the 2016 film: the Death Note countermeasure task force investigator Tsukuru Mishima, the self-proclaimed successor to L known as Ryuzaki, and the cyber-terrorist Yuki Shien, who believes in Kira's ideology.³^•¹

Key fact	Detail
Format	Three-episode web miniseries, about 20 minutes per episode, streamed on Hulu Japan³
Release	September 2016 on Hulu Japan; TV broadcast listing begins 2016/09/16¹^•⁴
Episodes	三島篇･新生 (Mishima), 竜崎篇･遺志 (Ryuzaki), 紫苑篇･狂信 (Shien)³
Director / writer	Shinsuke Sato (director); Katsunari Mano (screenplay); music by Yutaka Yamada⁵
Main cast	Masahiro Higashide (Tsukuru Mishima), Sosuke Ikematsu (Ryuzaki), Masaki Suda (Yuki Shien), Rina Kawaei (Sakura Aoi), Shido Nakamura (Ryuk)³
Original work	Death Note manga by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata⁶
Reception	First place on Hulu Japan's September 2016 viewing ranking; IMDb 5.7; Filmarks user score 3.3 from about 1,500 reviews¹^•⁶

Spoilers

Plot

The series fills the decade between the fall of Kira in 2006 and the new Kira epidemic of 2016, one episode per future player in the film.

Episode 1: Mishima, "Rebirth" (September 16, 2016)

Tsukuru Mishima (Masahiro Higashide) joins the Death Note countermeasures task force and grows into its ace. Ten years after Kira's death, notebooks keep surfacing, and Mishima's obsession with eradicating them has a personal root: his hatred of the notebooks is as much private grief as professional duty. The episode ends with him hardened into the investigator the film will follow.

Episode 2: Ryuzaki, "Dying Wish" (September 23, 2016)

Ryuzaki (Sōsuke Ikematsu), the successor trained to inherit L, hunts six Death Notes that have spread across the world, working with a young investigator named Sho Nanase (Mina Fujii) and hearing the voice of N (Near, voiced by Daisuke Sakaguchi), the other successor. Ryuzaki eats sweets like L, sits like L, and doubts whether he is a successor or an imitation. Sakura Aoi (Rina Kawaei) appears here as a Death Note owner whose ruthless use of the notebook earns her the label of the worst owner in history. The episode closes with Ryuzaki resolved to follow L's dying wish in his own way.

Episode 3: Shien, "Fanaticism" (September 30, 2016)

The final episode is the one people remember: Yuki Shien (Masaki Suda), a cyber-terrorist who will become the new Kira, is shown as a boy whose home was invaded by robbers who murdered his family and left him alive. The episode moves between the boy who survived that night and the young hacker who decides that the world's justice is worthless. When a Death Note reaches him, he accepts it not as a tool of ambition but as an answer to the question of why he alone was spared. He becomes a Kira who kills with religious fervor, streaming judgments to an online congregation of believers. In the last few seconds, the shinigami Ryuk (Shido Nakamura), rendered in full CG, appears to him with the brief, delighted grin of a god who has found a new owner for his notebook, and the stage for Light Up the New World is set.

Characters

Tsukuru Mishima (Masahiro Higashide) is the task force ace of episode 1, a disciplined investigator whose hatred of Death Notes is personal as much as professional.

Ryuzaki (Sōsuke Ikematsu) is L's successor, haunted by the man he replaced and unsure whether devotion to a dead genius is a calling or a costume.

Yuki Shien (Masaki Suda) is the series' emotional center, a hacker turned fanatic whose family's murder leaves him ready to believe that a notebook can deliver the justice humanity cannot.

Sakura Aoi (Rina Kawaei) is a Death Note owner so ruthless that fans crowned her the worst owner in the notebook's history.

Ryuk (voiced by Shido Nakamura) is the apple-loving shinigami whose full-CG appearance closes the series.

Sequels, spin-offs, and adaptations

The series is a prequel to Death Note: Light Up the New World (2016), which continues the story of Mishima, Ryuzaki, and Shien. It belongs to the Japanese live-action Death Note lineage that began with the 2006 films Death Note and Death Note: The Last Name and the 2008 spin-off L: Change the World, and it followed the 2015 Death Note television drama.

Purpose and place in the series

The miniseries fills the ten-year gap between the earlier Death Note films and Death Note: Light Up the NEW World, depicting each film character's backstory and the "truths" leading up to the movie.⁵^•¹ Because the story is set ten years after the events of the films, Light Yagami and L no longer appear on the public stage; their legacy colors all three episodes, but the focus rests on the new-generation characters the title announces.¹ The listed predecessor in the live-action continuity is L: Change the WorLd.¹

The project was part of a wider 2016 expansion around the film: Nippon Television's investor materials describe the Death Note film campaign as including tie-ups and original drama distribution on Hulu, and the film itself was a Nippon Television-led production distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Japan.⁷^•²

The three episodes

三島篇･新生 (Mishima chapter). The first episode centers on Tsukuru Mishima, the Death Note countermeasure task force investigator played by Masahiro Higashide, one side of the three-way battle of wits the series sets up.³

竜崎篇･遺志 (Ryuzaki chapter). The second episode follows Ryuzaki, L's successor played by Sosuke Ikematsu, as he takes on a locked-room murder case after an approach from J, a member of the Wammy's House, and advice from Near. The title refers to the request L entrusted to Ryuzaki at the moment of his death ten years earlier. Sakura Aoi, a character from the film played by Rina Kawaei, also appears.¹

紫苑篇･狂信 (Shien chapter). The final episode explores Yuki Shien's past, including the loss of his family and the reasons he turned to cyber-terrorism and Kira worship. It also includes a repentant former convict, Taichi Amasawa, and a brief appearance by the shinigami (Japanese death god; supernatural being owning a Death Note) Ryuk, played by Shido Nakamura.¹

Production

Director Shinsuke Sato, screenwriter Katsunari Mano, and composer Yutaka Yamada, along with other staff of the film, reconvened to produce the series, and filming included location work in Hong Kong. Hulu describes the production as carrying the same high visual quality as the film itself.⁵ Producers were Yuzuru Sato, Tadashi Tanaka, and Nobuhiro Iizuka.⁵ At release, the series ran with a special non-credit ending set to Namie Amuro's song "Fighter", who is also credited with the theme and insert song.¹^•⁶

Reception and availability

The miniseries reached first place on Hulu Japan's viewing ranking in September 2016 and received a generally favorable critical response.¹ Audience ratings have been more mixed: IMDb lists 5.7,³ while Filmarks users give 3.3 out of 5, with 45% of about 1,500 reviews in the 3.1 to 4.0 band and 12% in the 4.1 to 5.0 band.⁶

Because it was released as a Hulu Japan exclusive in 2016, viewing options outside Japan have been limited, and availability changes with licensing periods.¹ As of recent listings, the series streams on Hulu in Japan by subscription, with no free viewing option reported.³

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › East Asian drama series › East Asian web and streaming serials › Titles Cr to In

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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