The human world is polluted by heinous murders, petty thefts, and senseless violence. The world of the death gods, on the other hand, is a mundane, unchangeable gambling den. Light Yagami, a brilliant 17-year-old Japanese student, and Ryuk, the cruel god of death, share one belief: their worlds are rotten. Ryuk releases his "Death Note" into the human world for his own entertainment. Light comes upon it and laughs at the first of its rules: the human whose name is recorded in this letter will perish. However, the temptation is too much, and Light tries his hand at writing a felon's name, which strangely reenacts his first murder. Aware of the dreadful godlike power that has come into his hands, Light—dubbed "Kira"—follows his cruel sense of justice with the ultimate objective of destroying the gods.