Death Note (Japanese: デスノート Hepburn: Desu Nōto) is a Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. The story follows Light Yagami, a high school student who discovers a supernatural notebook from a Shinigami named Ryuk that grants its user the ability to kill anyone whose name and face he knows. The series centers around Light's attempts to create and rule a world "cleansed of evil" as "God" using the notebook, and the efforts of a detective known as L to stop him.