‘The Simpsons’ Goes Anime With Episode In The Style Of ‘Death Note’
By Nicole Rodrigues, 27 Oct 2022
The Simpsons are celebrating their annual Treehouse of Horrors special with an unexpected twist this year. Never a stranger to experimenting with different concepts, the iconic television sitcom is dipping its toes into anime with a parody of the hit 2006 series Death Note.
Death Note first appeared as a hit manga by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. The psychological thriller was soon picked up as an anime created by the South Korean animation house DR Movie. If the name sounds familiar, it was the same studio that worked with Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko on Avatar: Last Airbender. It is also credited with work done for the Justice League.
Incidentally, DR Movie is also working with The Simpsons to help design and bring everyone’s favorite yellow-hued family into the anime sphere.
First look at Lisa, Marge, Homer and Bart in ‘The Simpsons’ parody of ‘DEATH NOTE’. pic.twitter.com/9b0AMHNG9L
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 25, 2022
The Simpsons’ production studio released three teaser images for the upcoming Death Tome special. We are treated to what the family would look like if they were drawn in human form, as we see Lisa—as protagonist Light “Kira” Yagami—along with Homer and Marge sat around a small table conversing. In the doorway stands the team’s version of Ryuk, the death god that follows Light in the original series.
The teaser highlights other Springfield natives, such as Disco Stu and the Mackleberry twins, Sherri and Terri, all decked out in this new anime style. In the corner of one image, Moe Szyslak can be seen decked out in a suit as he sits with the family.
— Out of Context Simpsons Treehouse of Horror ð (@OOCCouchGags) October 25, 2022
One of the show’s writers, Carolyn Omine, promised that this year’s Halloween special would be riddled with easter eggs. And that seems to be true as in the background of one of the stills is a billboard of Krusty Burger and Duff Beer on buildings in what looks like central Tokyo, where the original series was set in.
Death Note is not the only piece of horror media the episode will cover. The show will also pay tribute to the 2014 film, Babadook and the television series Westworld.
Attention Freeze-Framers! We see you! We love you! This year's Treehouse of Horror is filled with Easter Eggs! I’ll tell you all about them when I live-tweet the East Coast and West Coast screenings of #THOHXXXIII this Sunday @TheSimpsons pic.twitter.com/AegWDUQGKj
— Carolyn Omine (@CarolynOmine) October 26, 2022
[via Creative Bloq and IGN, cover image via Carolyn Omine]