News
Virginian Teen Suspended over Names in 'Death Note'
posted on by Egan Loo
The Franklin Military Academy in Richmond, Virginia suspended a senior this week for reportedly having a list of his classmates' names in a book called "Death Note," a reference to the Japanese suspense manga and anime of the same name. Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ohba created this story about a boy who finds a notebook with which he can put people to death by writing their names.
NBC12, the NBC affiliate in central Virginia, quotes a student at the public high school who said that she is friends with the suspended senior and that she was not on the list. The suspended student's friend said that neither she, nor her friends who were actually on the list, fear the suspended student.
According to NBC12, the school's principal wrote a letter to the parents of the school's children. In the letter, he explained Death Note's premise by pointing out a Death Note website. This website, which has no official Death Note affiliation, allows visitors to enter names of people and the fictional circumstances in which they would "die."
Death Note has been the subject of scrutiny by schools in other countries such as China and Taiwan. School officials in the Chinese city of Shenyang have banned the manga and replicas of the Death Note notebook, and the educational bureau in Taiwan's Pingtung County warned parents about it. On the other hand, the manga's Taiwanese publisher and a non-profit Taiwanese watchdog group supported the work for raising issues, and a Washington state librarians' group nominated it for a young adults' book award. Two messages left in a Belgian crime scene have been associated with Death Note, but police in that case have yet to identify a suspect or any further link to the manga.
Thank you to chrono jr for the news tip.
Source: NBC12
Image © Takeshi Obata, Tsugumi Ooba, VAP, Madhouse, NTV, D.N. Dream Partners
