The Anime News Network is reporting that Japan's NTV Network will broadcast a three-hour Death Note special on August 31st.  The Death Note Director's Cut: Complete Ending Edition will serve as an epitaph for the popular Death Note animated series by recapping the confrontations between the teenage vigilante Light and the youthful detective L re-edited from the point of view of the shinigami Ryuk.  The special will have an all-new soundtrack with new dialogue as well as some additional animation.

Death Note is reaching its apogee of popularity here in the States with the release of the 12th and final volume of the manga by Viz Media.  The only problem with the series is that there isn't more of it, so the addition of the three-hour special to the 37 episodes of the animated series to provide another point of view on the complex cat and mouse game between Light and L is good news.  Viz Media plans to release the first Death Note DVD in November (see 'Death Note DVD in November').