Many Death Note spin-offs From the Main Story Have Been Made

 Even years after its initial release, Death Note remains one of the most widely beloved manga ever made. Adapted multiple times to anime, film and television, the series tells the story of Light Yagami, an incredibly intelligent boy who stumbles upon a Death Note, a book that ends the life of any name written down in it.

Death Note is notable for the great number of spin-offs that launched from the title -- full-blown, original stories that sprouted from the main story. Here is a list of all the various iterations and whether they are worth a watch.

Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases by Nisio Isin was published in August 2006, placing it mere months after the series' proper conclusion in May 2006. The story is a prequel narrated by Mello, featuring a case L helped Naomi Misora solve in Los Angeles.

Beyond Birthday is a violent killer who Naomi tracks down with the assistance of L. While L primarily talks to Naomi through a screen, as he does with the SPK in the early chapters of Death Note, Naomi meets a detective named Ryuzaki, who uses the same alias L uses in the main series. So is this also L? Or is this someone using his name? And if so, why? This is a clever mystery story that exists comfortably in the early canon of the franchise without ever requiring any references to the Death Note or Shinigami proper.

This spin-off is the thirteenth volume of the Death Note manga -- though it doesn't function as a real chapter. Rather, it's a guidebook, containing extra information otherwise left out of the manga proper. As it doesn't offer any spin-off narrative, it isn't necessary to go into too much detail here. However, what it does provide is a wealth of information on the lore of the series, offering context for any lingering questions fans might have had when reading the manga. It's incredibly informative for fans who want more of the Death Note world.

One of the first noteworthy post-series Death Note spin-offs was a manga one-shot published in February 2008 in Weekly Shonen Jump. This chapter is often referred to either as "the one-shot" or "Chapter 109," as it's technically the 109th chapter of the 108 chapter original series.

"Chapter 109," set two years after the Death Note manga's end, focuses on a new Kira emerging, who picks up where Light left off. This Kira is given a Death Note by a shinigami, and tries to make a name for himself as Kira. The story focuses on Near trying to figure out the right way to deal with the situation. He ultimately decides that this guy has no real plan and isn't cut out for the Kira life. Near goes on television as L, says he isn't interested in taking the case and leaves. Readers then learn that the Kira, horrified that no one is taking him seriously, kills himself.

"Chapter 109" came out the same month that L: Change the WorLd hit theaters. This third film in the live-action Death Note series takes place between the defeat of Kira and L's death. In case you didn't see the prior two films, they adapt the Death Note story but omit the Mello and Near arc. Instead, L outsmarts Kira, but sacrifices his life by writing his own name down in the Death Note, although he gives himself enough time to tie up loose ends first.

L: Change the WorLd is one of the cases where L has to solve a particularly challenging mystery that incorporates several Death Note characters. Director Hideo Nakata (the name behind such j-horror classics Ringu and Dark Water) aimed to present a more human side to L because he felt that the previous films gave his character little time to breathe. The film even includes Near, finding a place for the character in the new continuity, whereas before he would have been out of place.