WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the Death Note: Special One-Shot, by Tsugumi Ohba, Takeshi Obata, Stephen Paul and James Gaubatz, available in English from Viz Media.
Though Death Note has become famous for its labyrinthine, Sherlock and Moriarty game of one-upmanship, its premise is really quite simple: What would you do if given the power to kill anyone you wanted? And not only that, but from anywhere in the world, without any consequences, and with only their name and face to go by? That's the quandary that faced Light Yagami in 2003 when the manga began, and it's one dropped in the lap of Minoru Tanaka a decade later, when the new one-shot picks up.
Unlike Light, who used the supernatural notebook to embark on a path to Hell paved with the good intention of a crime-free world, Minoru decides not to use the Death Note for himself. Instead, he decides to sell the murder weapon to the highest bidder, starting a global auction that soon attracts the attention of world leaders. World leaders that include the eventual victor, the president of the United States of America -- who is the spitting image of Donald Trump.
This wouldn't be the first time that Trump has appeared in one of Ohba and Obata's works: A Trump mask worn by a Trumpian boy made an appearance in the pair's Platinum End manga in 2017. Here, the actual Trump buys the Death Note on the grounds that it will never be used in the name of "world peace," essentially, transforming the Death Note from a tool of terrorism into the magical equivalent of the nuclear deterrence idea.
However, when Trump wins the book and the money is distributed among Tokyo residents as Minoru stipulated, the Shinigami Ryuk informs Trump upon its delivery that a new rule has been added: "A human who buys or sells the Death Note will die." Ryuk offers him a deal, though. "If you refuse to take the notebook, I'll treat it as if you didn't buy it. [...] If you take the notebook, you'll die, but it will remain here. So someone high and mighty in this country will get it right? You'll die but it'll belong to your nation."
Trump decides not to take the book but says he'll announce that he's "gained the power of Kira anyway. I've got it, but I refuse to use it... It'll make me look like a saint." Ryuk -- a literal death god -- commends Trump on his shrewdness. Not a compliment most people would be pleased to receive from such a creature.
Since his election to the highest office in the U.S., Trump, and Trump-inspired characters, have become a frequent fixture across comics and animation: from The Simpsons to South Park to the recent Dark Knight Returns sequel. While Trump's depiction in Death Note isn't the scathing caricature that other creators have drawn, the chapter subtly digs at his obsession with public appearance, and though he ends up looking like the most powerful -- and terrifying -- man on the planet, that power is a very expensive lie. (His offer to use the Death Note for a peaceful aim isn't even an original one, either, coming right after the Chinese government makes the exact same pitch.) It's exactly what you'd expect from a President presiding over our current era of "Fake News."
Though Trump's appearance is a surprising one, this unmistakable nod to real-life politics is hardly a departure for a series steeped in the ethics of crime and punishment. It also ends with a characteristically tragic and unjust duality. Both Minoru and Trump give up the Death Note, but while Minoru suffers a huge loss for his generous act -- dying before he can reap the rewards of his auction -- Trump earns huge personal gain, despite having nothing real to show for it.
