2016 Death Note Film Reveals 2 Stills Featuring Investigator Tsukuru Mishima

The staff for this year's live-action Death Note film revealed two stills from the film on Thursday. Both stills feature Masahiro Higashide as Tsukuru Mishima, an investigator pursuing the Death Notes. Tsukuru is the sole investigator of the "Death Note Counter Measure Headquarters Special Team," and he is an expert on the Death Notes' rules, so much so that he is often referred to as the "Death Note otaku." The following sentence contains spoilers for the Death Note manga, highlight to read.

Spoiler: Death Note

[After the death of Light's father Soichiro Yagami, Tsukuru becomes the de-facto leader of the team.]

The new film will open in Japan on October 29.

In Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata's original 2003-2006 supernatural suspense manga, a teenager named Light finds a notebook with which he can put people to death by writing their names. He begins a self-anointed crusade against the criminals of the world, and a cat-and-mouse game begins with the authorities and one idiosyncratic genius detective.

In the new film's story, a highly advanced information society is beset by global cyber-terrorism in 2016. New charismatic figures, who inherited the DNA of Light (previously played Tatsuya Fujiwara) and the detective L (Ken'ichi Matsuyama), emerge. The successors of the two geniuses will wage a war over six Death Notes on Earth.

A crucial plot element will be the "Six-Note Rule": Only six Death Notes are allowed to exist at a time in the human world. Of course, the Shinigami (Gods of Death) themselves are limited to the number of Death Notes. Therefore, up to six Shinigami may exist in the human world. This rule existed in the original manga, but previous adaptations in the franchise have not used this rule thus far.

The film will also star:
Sousuke Ikematsu (The Last Samurai's Higen, MOZU's Kazuhiko Shingai) as Ryūzaki, L's successor and a world-famous detective.

Masaki Suda (live-action Assassination Classroom's Karma Akabane, live-action Kuragehime's Kuranosuke Koibuchi) as Yūgi Shion, a cyber terrorist who reveres Kira.

Rina Kawaei (Azumi: Bakumatsu-hen stage play) as Sakura Aoi, the most terrible Death Note user ever, an indiscriminate murderer, and the complete opposite of Light Yagami.

Mina Fujii as Shō Nanase, an investigator on the Death Note task force.

Erika Toda as Misa Amane (Toda is reprising the role from the previous live-action films.)

Shinsuke Sato (live-action Gantz, Gantz: Perfect Answer, Library Wars films) is directing the film. The film is a "forbidden sequel" to the two earlier live-action Death Note films, 2006's Death Note and Death Note: The Last Name. The film is shooting in overseas locations, and Warner Brothers will distribute.​