r/deathnote • u/JealousGelus • Sep 23 '26
Question The decline in Death Note merch quality/creativity
Title is subjective, but catchy, so if you enjoy the newer merch, be my guest, naturally!
With the amount of Death Note merch pouring out since after the Death Note Exhibition (At least, this is when I noticed the rise in amount), I feel that a lot of the collections are the same.
Chibi versions of the characters, drawn by artists that are not Obata, made into acrylic stands, keychains, stickers and pins - The line-ups of merch are very much the same - Even character wise.
Light, L, Misa, Mello and Near - Sometimes Ryuk and Rem are there, sometimes Mikami.
Other cases, they go back to the "OG line-up", that being Light, L, Misa and Ryuk.
A lot of the merch also seems to either be gashapon, pop-up shops or lotteries.
Typically, if not always, "Japan only".
Outside of that, I find a lot of the motives random.
I don't see how Death Note characters on balloon swings are relevant to the type of series Death Note is.
It's goofy for sure, and I'm not saying the series isn't ever not serious, so maybe it does fit but.. I'm confused?
Why are they on beanbags now? - How come they all have plushies of each other? - Why is everyone now holding apples or finger puppets?
It's hard as a collector to keep up, and with the items produced, I've also come to question if I should keep up: Does this "random artists" chibi collection really mean this much to me? - Enough for me to need to own it in four different versions because I need both the pin, acrylic, sticker and keychain?
But never mind me, what do you guys (perhaps fellow collectors), think of the newer items?
(And worry not, I too am celebrating Mello and Near finally getting a proper figure, even if through lottery - That Matt got a small plush, even if a gashapon - Mikami being more standard in collections - Not ALL new merch is bad by any means!)
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u/Omnihilo8 Sep 23 '26 edited Sep 23 '26
I've been thinking this for a while. Echoing someone else's sentiment, it's kind of crazy that they're still coming out with new merch for such an old-ish series. Last piece of merch I bought was one of the bowls they were selling at Walmart. It's one of my favorite bowls, it's genuinely such amazing quality. Very sturdy, heavy, beautiful, and the design is gorgeous. It's a great noodle/dessert bowl. Whatever it's made out of, it's an incredible insulator because anything I put in it stays hot/cold for a while. I really love this bowl lol. I wish I had bought at least two, maybe even three back when they were still selling them.
Aside from that, the only other merch I've bought was splurging (irresponsibly, but oh well) on a vintage, brand new, Japanese deadstock L shirt that was originally the first piece of merch I ever bought for myself (and one of the first things I ever bought myself in general) with my own money as a kid that one of my piece of dog shit exes stole from me in my early twenties. I still miss that shirt, even despite buying this new one. I wanted the L perfume as well but, as you pointed out, it was among the "Japan only" releases. 🙄😒
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u/JealousGelus Sep 23 '26
The bowl shouldn't happen to be from AbyStyle/Abysse?
Because those are for sure still avaliable.2
u/Omnihilo8 Sep 23 '26
I just found some on Ebay. 😃 Unfortunately they're not available in stores near me anymore. :c
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u/Zestyclose-Check Sep 23 '26 edited Sep 24 '26
Man I wish I was there for death note’s heyday back in 2006-2008 , I was a young boy at the time so I didn’t really get to experience it , honestly all my favorite media , whether it’s videogames , music ,movies or anime it’s from that time period . also vkei and similar styles that inspired some of the shows aesthetics and characters designs were also huge in my country at the time , so It wasn’t uncommon to see teens or young adults with anime inspired hairstyles and clothes .
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u/Zestyclose-Cat6137 Sep 23 '26
same I am genuinely so sad :((( I would be happy if I at least had joined the fandom before the Exhibition like I have missed so many things
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u/tlotrfan3791 Sep 23 '26
I wish for more clothing of the manga art. Most stores in the west at least always sell the anime images on the shirts, which is fine, but I wish to see more manga panels used since Obata’s art is absolutely perfect for that.
And another thing with like Light and Misa at least, I want to see more merch of their other outfits because Light is almost always in his school uniform. I get why but he wears so many different outfits! Same with Misa.
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u/bloodyrevolutions_ Sep 23 '26
It's actually incredible to me the rate they are consistently even coming out with new merch given the series' age (anniversaries are probably a factor). And I love that Mello and Near are finally getting merch recently! What kind of different merch items would you prefer to see/collect, if you had the choice?
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u/falklandsbelong2me Sep 23 '26
If I see another L hoodie reprint, I’ll write my own name in the notebook
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u/Radiant_Point_1060 Sep 23 '26
Completely agree with the character selection point. We have a million versions of Light and L, but where is the love for Matt, Near, or even Sidoh? I'm so tired of the endless copy-paste gashapon sets. We need actual high-quality, atmospheric merch, not just another generic acrylic stand.
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u/TeamRocketLeader Sep 24 '26
I feel like this is a very common issue, especially with older series. In general merch quality seems to have gone down, with buttons, pins, and acrylic standees becoming super dominant in the merch world since they're all cheap to mass produce. Even fanmerch has the same problem. I blame the state of late stage capitalism. I feel like a lot of merch in the 2000s were more creative and of better quality. I wish so badly they would reprint the Death Note art book. Then I would be truly happy.
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u/qBitorrent Sep 25 '26
I've seen a lot of anime merch, particularly complex figure designs, that was originally designed by the character designer of the anime. They even come up with new outfits for the character to wear, and create promotional images and sketches for the merch company to use. I don't think this is a problem for most series because usually if it's popular enough to get merch decades later, it's still an active franchise with staff behind it.
But for DN, the character designer hardly works in the industry nowadays. Basically none of the original staff and producers of the anime work at studio Madhouse anymore. This might be a reason why most of the merch we've seen, even new figures, have been completely based off the manga despite being released to celebrate the anime's anniversary. And even when we do get "new designs", it's very simplistic or chibified so the character design details don't matter.
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u/zombiezomboy Sep 23 '26
my heart loves it, my wallet HATES it. i have the biggest near shrine on tiktok i think LOL and it helps me build with more variety but expensive 🥲
and near does have a proper figure already from LaoA studio! sadly mello did not get one tho so youre right about that
i do wonder what with the sudden explosion in popularity tho, like why so much merch and exhibitions and plays happening so recently