Death Note

Light Yagami initially dismisses the claim that a person will die if their name is written in the Death Note. But when the brilliant 17-year-old Japanese student tests the notebook on a criminal, the resulting death proves its power—and makes Light a murderer. The notebook reached him because Ryuk, a god of death bored with his own realm, dropped it into the human world for amusement.

Disgusted by the state of the world, Light adopts the alias Kira and uses the notebook to pursue his goal of eliminating all evildoers. His killings draw the attention of L, a meticulous detective whose intellect matches his own. With L pursuing Kira, the two become opponents in a battle of wits that can end only with one of them dead.