Sidoh's Death Note

This is the earliest Death Note to appear and the first that Light Yagami ever discovers and uses. Ryuk had taken it from its true owner, Sidoh, scribbled instructions inside, and let it drift down to the living world. Finding it on the grounds of his school in Kyoto sets Light on the road to becoming Kira, the killer who hunts down criminals.

A black cover carries the words DEATH NOTE above ruled white pages, and the side Ryuk chose for the lettering means the book opens to the right and reads across from the left. Just before the story begins, Ryuk added the five basic rules, written in English inside the front cover, none of which existed while Sidoh held it. Later Light has him pencil two more onto the back cover, fabricated clauses that cannot truly take effect yet prove decisive in staying a step ahead of L. That pair of fakes warns that going thirteen days without an entry kills the owner and that burning or destroying the book dooms everyone who ever touched it.

The notebook's ownership winds through a long chain. After Light surrenders it to throw off the investigation, it travels from Ryuk to Rem and on to Kyosuke Higuchi while Light, his memories gone, works beside L to chase Kira. Once Higuchi is cornered, Light's touch restores his memory and he kills the man with a fragment hidden in his watch, taking the book back. It then sits with the task force until Soichiro Yagami trades it to the mafia following Sayu's abduction, passing through Jack Neylon and Roy before being recovered and finally returned to Sidoh in the Shinigami Realm. Adaptations treat its identity loosely: only the anime names it as Sidoh's, the film series reframes it as Ryuk's second notebook, and the 2017 Netflix version gives it many more written rules and a long line of earlier users.