Whenever newbie anime fans ask grizzled veterans where they should get their start, the answer is usually Fullmetal Alchemist or Death Note. And for good reason: they’re short, sweet anime with tremendous stories. While their narratives couldn’t be further apart, they share resonating tales questioning how the supernatural would affect global politics in the early aughts. Although folks tend only to recall Death Note‘s benign live-action Netflix show, they often forget that the series pushed its U.S. political narrative into today’s world with a sequel that saw then-President Donald Trump attempting to buy the supernatural notebook.
As one might gather from the title, Death Note is about a black notebook that will unalive anyone whose name is written in it (though many rules and caveats limit its use case). The series, written and illustrated by mangaka duo Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, follows a student named Light Yagami who—after receiving the Death Note on a whim from a gangly death god named Ryuk—sought to use the book to rid the world of criminals he deems unworthy of rehabilitation. From there on, he and a genius detective named L Lawliet engaged in a game of cat and mouse to prevent Light (under the pseudonym Kira) from committing supernatural murders.
But we’re not here to talk about Kira, the terrorist. We’re here to talk about the much more extraordinary (and socialist-leaning) protagonist in its 2020 special one-shot and how his Marxist mind schemed Donald Trump out of a smooth $10,000,000,000,000.
Unlike Light Yagami, Death Note: Special One-Shot sees protagonist Minoru Tanaka come into possession of the Death Note and refuse to use it. Instead, he bides his time until 2019 to publicly and anonymously announce that he’s selling it to the highest bidder. Moreover, he’s doing so on Twitter through the hashtag #PowerofKira. Minoru’s plan not only makes it so he’s technically not using the notebook (so previous detectives can’t hound him), but it also allows him to weaponize the internet’s town square (pre-Elon Musk) to track the highest bidder. Inevitably, things escalated, and the unnamed President of the United States–although from design alone it’s clear to see that Ohba and Obata were writing about the then-contemporary President, Trump–made a televised announcement bidding the aforementioned unholy amount of money for the Death Note using U.S. funds.
Only things don’t go as fictionalized Trump planned. Immediately following his winning bid, Ryuk revealed that there would be no refunds, and that his money would be evenly deposited into the bank accounts of every person with a Yotsuba Bank of Japan savings account. What’s more, before the book was given to Trump in the Oval Office–after declaring he’d use it for “world peace”–Ryuk revealed a newly-minted rule: Anyone who sells or purchases the death note will die.
“Yeah, I know. It’s a brand-new rule. So you paid all that money just to die,” Ryuk nonchalantly tells a perturbed Trump.
What follows is a hilarious conversation between Trump and Ryuk, during which the death god walks him through his options. Should Trump accept the book, he’ll… y’know. But someone “high and mighty in this country” will get the Death Note. Ergo, the U.S. would own the Death Note, but it would not be in the hands of the current President. Unsurprisingly, manga Trump doesn’t accept.
“Got it. You value your life over your country,” Ryuk retorts. Rather than accept defeat, Trump reveals that he will announce that he’s gained the power of Kira anyway, adding that his refusal to use it (because he doesn’t have it) will make him “look like a saint.” It’s a move that, in hindsight, feels very Trumpian after he couched his 2020 election defeat in obfuscation and denialism (and has continued to do so throughout his 2024 campaign). And it’s one Ryuk is impressed by, even!
That’s the meat of Death Note Special One Shot, a chapter released on Viz Media and Shonen Jump on February 3, 2020. A day in the U.S., mind you, where live-action Trump was on trial for impeachment, at the onset of the COVID pandemic.
The Death Note Special One Shot isn’t the first time anime and manga have utilized real-life American politicians to tell their stories. Series like Baki Hanma have used President Trump, Joe Biden, and Barack Obama as set dressing to sell the severity of its ensuing drama. Even the recently released Dan Da Dan anime changed from its manga, swapping out references from Obama with Trump to keep up with American politics, and Chainsaw Man creator Tatsuki Fujimoto has interwoven his best-selling manga with commentary on American politics and our deification of guns. We’re the main character (derogatory)!
All this to say, whether we like it or not, the world is watching U.S. politics and using it for scathing commentary. If this is any indication, go out and vote today if you can, lest you feed into the trend of America being the muse for manga or anime folks recommend a few years from now.
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