You’re sitting there, maybe halfway through a bag of potato chips, wondering if you should commit the next few days of your life to a high-stakes game of supernatural cat and mouse. You want to know how many episodes are there in Death Note before you dive in. It’s a fair question. Some anime go on for a thousand episodes until the original protagonist has grandchildren and the art style has changed four times. Death Note isn't like that. It’s tight. It’s surgical. It’s exactly 37 episodes long.
Thirty-seven. That’s it.
Honestly, it’s one of the most bingeable shows ever made because of that specific length. Each episode is roughly 23 minutes, including the intro and outro. If you’re a real fanatic and skip the credits, you’re looking at about 20 minutes of actual plot. Do the math, and you can polish off the whole saga in roughly 12 to 13 hours. A long Saturday? Definitely doable. But there is a lot of nuance tucked into those 37 chapters that most casual viewers totally miss.
Breaking Down the 37-Episode Structure
The show is basically split into two distinct arcs. Most fans will tell you the first arc is the "golden era." It covers the intense, psychological warfare between Light Yagami—the high school genius who finds a notebook that kills people—and L, the world’s greatest detective who happens to have a sugar addiction and a very strange way of sitting in chairs.
This first chunk runs from Episode 1, "Rebirth," all the way through Episode 25, "Silence." If you stop there, you’ve seen what many consider one of the greatest stories in television history. But the show keeps going.
Episodes 26 through 37 introduce a new set of antagonists and a bit of a time jump. This is where things get polarizing. Near and Mello step onto the scene. Some people love the shift; others think the show should have ended at 25. But if you're asking how many episodes are there in Death Note, you can't just ignore the final dozen. They lead to the actual, definitive ending of Light’s journey. It's a tragedy in the classical sense, and those final episodes are necessary to see the scales of justice actually tip.
What About the Specials and Movies?
This is where people get confused. You might see "Death Note: Relight" mentioned on streaming platforms or forums. Don't let these pad your episode count.
- Relight 1: Visions of a God is basically a 130-minute recap of the first 25 episodes. It adds a few tiny crumbs of new footage—mostly a scene with an unnamed Shinigami that fans love to theorize about—but it’s not a "new" episode.
- Relight 2: L's Successors does the same thing for the second half of the series. It condenses the Near/Mello arc into about 90 minutes.
If you’re a purist, you watch the 37 episodes. The Relight specials are just the CliffsNotes version for people who don't have time to rewatch the whole thing. Then you have the live-action stuff. Japan made several live-action films (the 2006 ones are actually pretty decent), and Netflix made a Western live-action movie in 2017 that... well, let’s just say it’s a choice you can make. But none of those are part of the core 37-episode anime count.
Why Death Note's Length Matters for SEO and Sanity
In an era of "content bloat," Death Note is a miracle. Think about One Piece or Naruto. Those shows have hundreds of episodes of filler where characters literally stand in a forest talking about their feelings for three weeks. Death Note doesn't do that. Director Tetsurō Araki and the team at Madhouse (the studio behind the animation) kept the pacing frantic.
Because the series is based on the manga by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, which ran for 108 chapters, the 37-episode count is actually a very tight adaptation. Usually, anime follows a 2-to-1 ratio (two manga chapters per episode). Death Note sticks to this religiously. It means the plot moves. Fast. If you blink, you might miss how Light managed to hide a mini-television inside a bag of chips while being monitored by sixty-four hidden cameras.
Common Misconceptions About the Episode Count
I’ve seen people argue online that there are 38 episodes. There aren't.
What usually happens is people count the "Episode 0" or the pilot manga chapter as an episode. It’s not. There’s also a bit of confusion regarding the "Director’s Cut" versions of certain episodes that were released on DVD and Blu-ray, which added a few seconds of animation here and there. But the broadcast count remains 37.
Another point of confusion: the Japanese vs. English releases. Sometimes international distributors split longer specials into two-part episodes for syndication. But in the case of Death Note, the 37-episode structure stayed consistent across the globe. Whether you’re watching on Crunchyroll, Netflix, or an old-school DVD box set you bought at a convention in 2009, the number is the same.
The Pacing Issue in the Second Half
Let’s be real for a second. The reason the question of how many episodes are there in Death Note comes up so often is that the vibe changes so drastically after Episode 25.
In the manga, the part after L's departure is roughly the same length as the part before it. However, the anime team decided to compress the second half. This is why some fans feel like Near and Mello solve things too quickly or that the logic isn't as airtight. They had to cram a lot of manga volume into those final 12 episodes. If the anime had been 50 episodes long, maybe that second half would have breathed a bit more. But we got 37. It’s punchy, even if it feels a little rushed toward the finish line in Episode 37, "New World."
👉 See also: I Could Have Danced All Night: Why This My Fair Lady Showstopper Still Matters
Is There a Season 2?
No. And there won't be.
Stop looking for it.
The story is finished. Light Yagami’s arc has a very specific, very terminal conclusion. The creators, Ohba and Obata, did release a "C-Kira" one-shot and a "n-Kira" one-shot (the Justice-kun story) in the manga world years later, but these haven't been turned into episodes. If you see a YouTube thumbnail claiming "Death Note Season 2 Official Trailer," it is clickbait. Every single time.
The 37 episodes we have are a closed loop. That’s the beauty of it. It’s a complete work of art that doesn't overstay its welcome.
How to Watch Death Note Efficiently
If you’re planning a binge, here is the most logical way to consume the 37 episodes without burning out.
- Episodes 1–10: The Hook. This covers the initial discovery of the notebook and the first meeting (sort of) between Light and L.
- Episodes 11–25: The Rivalry. This is the meat of the show. The introduction of Misa Amane (the Second Kira) and the corporate warfare arc.
- Episodes 26–37: The Aftermath. The final showdown.
If you find yourself struggling after Episode 25, take a day off. The tonal shift is real. But don't skip to the end. The finale is genuinely one of the most visceral, pathetic (in a literary sense), and haunting endings in anime. You need the context of those final episodes to feel the weight of what happens in that yellow warehouse.
Expert Insight: The Animation Factor
The reason these 37 episodes look so good even decades later is because of Madhouse. This was the studio at its peak. They used heavy shadows, dramatic lighting, and that famous "potato chip" cinematography to make mundane actions feel like an action movie.
When people ask how many episodes are there in Death Note, they're often checking to see if it's a "lifestyle" anime (something you watch for months) or a "prestige" anime (something you watch intensely). It’s definitely the latter. The production quality doesn't dip across the 37 episodes, which is a rarity in the industry. Usually, around episode 20, you start seeing "off-model" characters where their eyes are sliding off their faces because the budget ran out. Death Note stays crisp until the final frame.
Actionable Steps for Your Rewatch or First Watch
If you’re ready to tackle the 37 episodes, here’s how to get the most out of it:
- Watch the Sub first: Mamoru Miyano’s performance as Light Yagami is legendary. His descent into madness is audible in his voice.
- Then try the Dub: Brad Swaile (Light) and Alessandro Juliani (L) delivered one of the best English dubs in history. It’s worth a second pass just for the different energy they bring.
- Check the Manga: If you finish the 37 episodes and feel like the ending was too fast, read the final volume of the manga. It provides much more internal monologue from Light during the finale, making his downfall feel even more earned.
- Ignore the Netflix Movie: Just... ignore it. At least until you've finished the anime so it doesn't taint your view of the characters.
Death Note is a masterpiece of psychological tension. It doesn't need 100 episodes to tell its story. It needs exactly 37 to show you exactly how power corrupts and how a "god" can be brought low by his own ego.
Next Steps for Fans:
- Locate a reputable streaming service (Netflix and Crunchyroll usually carry the full 37 episodes).
- Set aside approximately 20 minutes per episode.
- Pay close attention to the transition at Episode 26; it defines the series' legacy.
- Keep a lookout for the "Relight" specials only after you've completed the main series for a fresh perspective on the lore.