Death Note: Light Up the NEW World

Death Note: Light Up the NEW World (デスノート Light up the NEW world) is a Japanese live-action film and the fourth film in the Death Note live-action film series.

The film premiered on October 29, 2016 in Japan. Several of the actors from the previous films returned to reprise their roles, but the main story focuses on three new lead characters.

Plot
It's been ten years since the confrontation between L and Light. Once again, Shinigami bring Death Notes to the ground, and the human world falls to chaos.

Following in the late Soichiro Yagami's footsteps, Tsukuru Mishima leads the Death Note Task Force. Ryuzaki, who is the true successor of L, is also investigating. Yuki Shien is a cyber-terrorist and Kira supporter. A three-way battle ensues between these men over the notebooks.

The movie will make use of the rule that only six Death Notes can be active in the human world at once.

Characters

 * Tsukuru Mishima, portrayed by Masahiro Higashide, is an investigator with the Death Note Task Force who is pursuing the Death Notes.
 * Ryuzaki, portrayed by Sousuke Ikematsu, is L's successor and a world-famous detective.
 * Yuki Shien, portrayed by Masaki Suda, is a cyber-terrorist who reveres Kira. He uses his exceptional hacking abilities to search for the Death Notes.
 * Misa Amane, portrayed by Erika Toda.
 * Ryuk, voiced by Shidou Nakamura.
 * Sakura Aoi, portrayed by Rina Kawaei. She is being described as the most terrible Death Note user ever, an indiscriminate murderer.
 * Sho Nanase, portrayed by Mina Fujii, is an investigator with the Death Note Task Force.
 * Touta Matsuda, portrayed by Sota Aoyama.
 * Kenichi Mikuriya, portrayed by Funakoshi Eiichiro, is a Supreme Court Justice in possession of a Death Note.
 * Ahma/Aama, voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro, is a new Shinigami.
 * Bepo, voiced by Tori Matsuzaka, is a new Shinigami.
 * L, portrayed by Kenichi Matsuyama.
 * Light Yagami, portrayed by Tatsuya Fujiwara.

Pre-release
The first indication that something was planned was on September 11, 2015 when Warner Brothers' website for the live-action Death Note films launched a countdown timer. The end of the timer corresponded to the series finale of the Death Note television drama that would air two days later. The film was announced on Sunday, September 13, 2015 when the first teaser trailer aired after the drama's final episode. The trailer advertised the film as a "forbidden sequel" and mentioned some key elements such as the 6 notebook rule, cyber-terrorism, and L's successor, and said that the leads inherited the DNA of L and Light. The trailer also announced Shinsuke Sato as the director. The film went by its working title Death Note 2016.

In February 2016, Weekly Shounen Jump magazine announced the three lead actors: Sōsuke Ikematsu would star as Ryuzaki, L's successor; Masahiro Higashide would star as Tsukuru Mishima, an investigator pursuing the Death Notes; and Masaki Suda would star as Yuki Shien, a cyber terrorist who reveres Kira. Around the same time, the film's official website revealed that the film would open in Japan in the fall of 2016. On February 23, 2016, the film's website announced that Rina Kawaei was cast as Sakura Aoi, a girl who possesses one of the six Death Notes. On March 8, the film's official twitter and website announced that Erica Toda would reprise her role as Misa Amane, and that the release date would be October 29, 2016. Also announced on the website, Mina Fujii was cast as Shō Nanase, an investigator on the Death Note task force. On April 15, 2016, the film's twitter announced that Shidou Nakamura would be returning as the voice of Ryuk.

On April 20, 2016, the official site put up a new countdown, which ended with the release of the film's official title, Death Note: Light Up the NEW World (デスノート Light up the NEW world), and the film's first official poster. On April 26, the second teaser trailer was released. On May 18, the film's official twitter announced that Sota Aoyama woud reprise his role as Touta Matsuda. He'll be a member of the task force, and the only individual in the film with full memory of the Kira case since Misa lost her memories. On June 4th, ''Anime!! Anime!! reported that actor Funakoshi Eiichiro will play Supreme Court Justice Kenichi Mikuriya (御厨賢一, Mikuriya Kenichi'') who possesses a Death Note; the article was removed within a few hours without comment, and the story officially broke two days later on June 6th when the film's official Twitter updated with the news.

On June 29, the film's official twitter announced that the character Ryuzaki would make his onscreen debut in Death Note: The Escape, a real escape game attraction being held at Universal Studios Japan for their "Universal Jump Summer" event. Ryuzaki's mask would be showcased at the event's Universal Jump Exhibition. On July 7th, the three lead actors appeared live at the event for a select audience. Masahiro Higashide (portraying Tsukuru Mishima), Sousuke Ikematsu (portraying Ryuzaki), and Masaki Suda (portraying Yuki Shien) tried the game and answered questions onstage. On July 14th, the third trailer was released, revealing more of the characters and a new shinigami. On August 5th, the name of the new shinigami glimpsed in the recent trailer was revealed as Ahma/Aama (アーマ).

On August 9th, a prequel miniseries titled Death Note: New Generation was announced. Each episode will focus on the backstory of one of the three main characters of the film. The first episode will be available streaming on Hulu September 16th. On August 12th, Sota Aoyama, who portrays Matsuda in the films, did a live promotional event for the film. The event featured "Ryu-kun," a version of Ryuk portrayed by an unknown performer in costume. On August 25th, the official news account announced that Japanese artist Namie Amuro would perform the film's insert song, "Fighter," and theme song, "Dear Diary." Both songs are new for the film. "Dear Diary" is a ballad that is based on the film's title, and "Fighter" is a dance number written from the point of view of Misa. On September 5th, the fourth trailer was released which also previewed the song "Dear Diary." On September 12th, the voice for the new shinigami Aama was revealed to be Miyuki Sawashiro.

On October 7th, it was confirmed that Kenichi Matsuyama would be reprising the role of L.  A few days later a new countdown went up on the official site, and on October 14th, it was confirmed in a new trailer that Tatsuya Fujiwara would also be returning as Light Yagami. New videos went up featuring the Kira Virus with newly-filmed footage of Light announcing that he is Kira. Three new mini-trailers also went up on the official YouTube channel. On October 20th, the main cast had an onstage premiere event. On October 25th, the novelization went on sale. That same day, the new shinigami Bepo was announced to be voiced by Tori Matsuzaka.

The film premiered on October 29, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan.

Reception
The film topped the Japanese box office its opening weekend, beating the popular film Your Name. (Kimi no Na wa.) which had held the top for nine consecutive weeks. Within a month of opening, the film earned over 2 billion yen (about US$17.85 million) and had sold over 1.5 million tickets.

It averaged 2.8 out of 5 stars on Eiga.com, 2.73 out of 5 stars on Yahoo, and 6.5 out of ten stars on IMDB. The main criticism of the film was that it was not as clever as the previous ones with little reminiscent of the intellectual games that were played between L and Light. Misa's role was generally praised, as were the CGI of the shinigami.