Best tv shows like Death Note
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Light Yagami is an ordinary university student. One day, he receives a death note which changes his life. The death note awakens his warped sense of justice and genius. He becomes murderer Kira and punishes criminals. L is a well known private detective. L appears in front of Light Yagami. L defines Kira as evil and decides to catch Kira. Then N, who has a beautiful appearance but dangerous existence, appears.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Fantasy, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 46 min
Plot tags: psychological thriller, tense, suspense, disturbing, anime, psychological, intellectual, detective, captivating
Best tv shows and movies like Death Note (2015):
Similar in 83%
The Long Goodbye (2014)
Plot Summary:
Tamotsu is suspected of murdering his actress wife Shizuka Harada. He flees to Taiwan and commits suicide. Tamotsu’s friend Banji Masuzawa works as a private detective, and has doubts about Tamotsu’s death, but the case is covered up by powerful media mogul Heizo Harada.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 63
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 58 min
Plot tags: tense, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, detective
Similar in 83%
Hell Girl (2006)
Plot Summary:
"Hell Girl" was adapted into a single live-action television drama series that premiered on Nippon Television from November 4, 2006 spanning 12 half-hour episodes.[23] The series was directed by Makoto Naganuma. The theme song for the series is "Dream Catcher."[24] The live action adaptation features Sayuri Iwata as Enma Ai, Kazuki Kato as Ichimoku Ren, Aya Sugimoto as Onna Hone, Saaya Irie as Shibata Tsugumi, and Kazuhiko Nishimura as Shibata Hajime. Hisahiro Ogura, the actor who portrays Wanyundou in the live-action adaptation is also the Japanese male narrator at the beginning of every episode of the anime series. Eriko Matsushima retains her role as Enma Ai's grandmother in the live action series.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 239
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 360 min
Plot tags: anime, psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, spooky, shoujo
Similar in 81%
The Gunman (2004)
Plot Summary:
When Detective Ben Simm's wife is killed, he has to learn to be both father and mother to his little girl while searching for a Vigilante that has his own sense of justice.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 465
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: disturbing, tense, serious, suspenseful, independent film, bleak, realistic
Similar in 82%
CRISIS: Special Security Squad (2017)
Plot Summary:
Inami and Tamaru work at the Public Security Mobile Investigation Unit Special Investigation Team, a team made up of specialists with different expertise. Inami tackles criminals with showy maneuvers, while Tamaru corners criminals with cool calculation. Together, the team tackles terrorists, new religious cults, military spies, secret narcotics organisations and complicit politicians.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 299
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 54 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, disturbing, detective, suspense
Similar in 88%
A Good Man (2020)
Plot Summary:
Who and What is “A Good Man”? This is the central question in this original drama series from Konstantin Bogomolov, agent provocateur of Russian cinema. Based on a true story, inspired by the capture of Russia’s most prolific and brutal serial killer “the maniac of Angarsk”. "A Good Man" looks at everyday violence in quiet suburbia. The protagonist is a police officer and a security guard, keen to uphold the law, protect people and his town. His methods are deadly. It takes almost a decade to reveal him as a mass murderer, who preyed on over 80 young women in and around Angarsk.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 206
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Russia
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: enigmatic, disturbing, suspenseful, detective, suspense
Similar in 84%
The Return of the Dancing Master (2004)
Plot Summary:
Former policeman is tortured and murdered and his friend and former colleauge investigates the case.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 321
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Norway, Finland
Duration: 171 min
Plot tags: suspense, psychological, tense, captivating, disturbing, detective
Similar in 80%
Good and Evil (2009)
Plot Summary:
Il bene e il male is an Italian television series.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 33
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Italy
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, tense, thought provoking, captivating, suspense, poliziottesco
Similar in 82%
The Man Who Smiled (2003)
Plot Summary:
An old friend of Kurt Wallander, solicitor Sten Torstensson, visits him one day to tell him that his father has passed away close to Brösarp under peculiar circumstances. Kurt does not take his friend's worry seriously. Shortly after, the friend is found brutally murdered and Wallander realises too late that he was wrong. In the hunt for the killer Wallander finds a conspiracy of crimes that leads him to a company that handles transplantations of human organs. Behind the company he finds the image of a man. An elegant and self-confident man who writes his own rules. But who is he? Who gives himself the right to judge over other people? Whose morals decide what is right and wrong? Kurt Wallander is not one of them. In "The man who smiled" he gets himself into crossfire of immorality, betrayal, lies and everything else a man will do to be loved.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 691
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Norway
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, detective
Similar in 88%
Heartless City (2013)
Plot Summary:
Nam Gyu Ri sizzles and sways in this noir thriller about getting in too deep. When her best friend suffers a brutal fate while undercover in the crime underworld, Han Soo Min is driven to pick up where her friend left off. But in the shadows, there are no rules and no reason: Soo Min falls for the organization’s king pin, who also happens to be the prime suspect of her friend’s murder. With a betrayal at every corner, can Soo Min afford to trust the unjust? As with all things noir, expect seduction, femme fatales and mystery!.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 534
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: psychological thriller, intellectual, bleak, suspenseful, disturbing, detective, neo noir
Similar in 83%
Bitter Daisies (2018)
Plot Summary:
While investigating the disappearance of a teen girl in a tight-knit Galician town, a Civil Guard officer uncovers secrets linked to a loss of her own.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Spain
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, psychological, suspense, suspenseful, detective
Similar in 87%
Van der Valk (2020)
Plot Summary:
Set against the backdrop of the city of Amsterdam, Piet Van der Valk and his team investigate a series of high-profile cases immersed in the worlds of art, politics, addiction, mysticism and the fashion industry.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, intellectual, captivating, disturbing, detective
Similar in 80%
Signal (2018)
Plot Summary:
Two detectives communicate through a walkie-talkie to solve a cold case. One detective exists in the present day and the other detective exists 15 years in the past.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 266
Genere: Crime, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: detective, tense, intellectual, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, contemplative
Similar in 86%
Death Note: New Generation (2016)
Plot Summary:
The miniseries focuses on the three new lead characters of the film Death Note: Light Up the NEW World: Tsukuru Mishima, Ryuzaki, and Yuki Shien. Each episode provides backstory for one of the characters and bridges the 10-year gap between the previous films, which canonically took place in 2005-2006, and the new film taking place in 2016.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 389
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 20 min
Plot tags: psychological thriller, intellectual, bleak, exciting, disturbing, thought provoking, anime, psychological
Similar in 81%
Respect (2020)
Plot Summary:
The protagonist of the story, Ercüment Çözer rebels against disrespect and rudeness that we tend to avoid, ignore and eventually forget. Ercüment Çözer is a sociopath obsessed with the idea of respect. However, this time, he is not alone on his obsessive journey. The young lovers Helen and Savas, who have just stepped foot into the real world, find themselves in the middle of difficult situations after being mistreated by a group of people and end up being responsible for a chain of murders that take place in Istanbul. The concept of disrespect instantly turns into a social and mediatic struggle between the two generations. As for the mediatic follow up, Turkey’s most famous morning show host, Hasret will undertake it, however, nobody knows that she is also about to take part in this journey on another level. By getting to the core of this obsession, we will be witnessing the reflection it has on society.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Turkey
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 85%
Evil's Wave (2019)
Plot Summary:
In 2014, a series of murders targeting women takes place in Kawasaki City. All the victims have been killed as if they had hanged and these are dubbed the “Hanging Murders” in public. The police investigation runs into difficulties without clues on the murderer. However, Detective Iguchi from the First Investigation Division has his eye on a man whom he suspects to kill for pleasure. This man is Nogi Naoya. He lies about his identity, erases his traces in public and lives as if he is holding his breath. Nogi is actually Yaginuma Masato, the victim in the sensational Akishima mother and son kidnapping case. He gets his neighbor Yoshika involved as he tries to escape the police dragnet but comes to realize some facts. What is his true motive?.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 29
Genere: Crime, Fantasy
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, tense, suspense, suspenseful, detective, contemplative
Similar in 86%
Sea of Plastic (2015)
Plot Summary:
Mar de plástico (Spanish: Sea of Plastic) is a Spanish crime drama television series produced by Boomerang TV for Atresmedia. It airs on Atresmedia's main channel Antena 3. The series focuses on the investigation of a murder in the fictional town of Campoamargo, set in an area of the province of Almería known as the "sea of plastic" due to the numerous greenhouses that cover it, and the interracial conflicts that arise in the greenhouses. The pilot episode aired on 22 September 2015 on simulcast in Antena 3, Neox, Nova and Mega.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Spain
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: tense, suspense, enigmatic, captivating, disturbing, multicultural, detective
Similar in 86%
We Hunt Together (2020)
Plot Summary:
Explore the intoxication of sexual attraction, the dangerous power of emotional manipulation, and how finding a volatile form of solace in another can have dire consequences as two conflicted coppers track down a pair of deadly killers.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: captivating, suspense, detective, psychological thriller, hardboiled detective, crime thriller, detective series
Similar in 77%
Bloodlands (2021)
Plot Summary:
Northern Irish police officer DCI Tom Brannick connects a suicide note with an infamous cold case with enormous personal significance.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, detective, crime drama, thrilling, intellectual, contemplative
Similar in 90%
Dublin Murders (2019)
Plot Summary:
Two detectives are dispatched to investigate the murder of a young girl on the outskirts of Dublin, but as the case of the missing children intensifies, both are forced to confront the darkness that lies in their past.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, detective, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, tense, crime drama, enigmatic, disturbing, psychological thriller
Similar in 77%
The Game: Towards Zero (2020)
Plot Summary:
Tae Pyeong is a prophet. When he looks into someone's eye, he can see the moment right before they die. Tae Pyeong is smart, rich and handsome. Despite his special ability, he is a bright person. A mysterious serial murder case draws Tae Pyeong's attention. He partners with Detective Joon Young to solve the string of murders.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 331
Genere: Crime, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 35 min
Plot tags: detective, tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, contemplative
Similar in 75%
Dark Side of the Moon (2012)
Plot Summary:
Inspired by "Life on Mars", this Russian adaptation (which translates as "The Dark Side of the Moon) follows the story of police officer Mikhail Soloviev Jr. After being hit by a car- Soloviev embodies the firm of his father in 1979 and attempts to find a way home.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 405
Genere: Crime, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
Country: Russia
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: detective, exciting, suspenseful, tense, enigmatic, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 85%
Partners for Justice (2018)
Plot Summary:
Baek Beom has worked as a forensic doctor for 10 years. He has a bad personality, but he is excellent with his work. Baek Beom does not open his mind to other people. Eun Sol is a rookie prosecutor with a warm heart. She has a bright personality and she comes from wealth family background. The forensic doctor and prosecutor work together to solve cases.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 35 min
Plot tags: suspense, tense, psychological, captivating, detective
Similar in 76%
Death Note (2006)
Plot Summary:
Light Yagami finds the "Death Note," a notebook with the power to kill, and decides to create a Utopia by killing the world's criminals, and soon the world's greatest detective, "L," is hired to find the mysterious murderer. An all out battle between the two greatest minds on earth begins and the winner will control the world.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: anime, rough, serious, suspenseful, atmospheric, exciting, suspense, dark, clever, manga
Similar in 90%
Death Note: Light Up the New World (2016)
Plot Summary:
10 years has passed since the confrontation between Kira and L. Again, Shinigami sends death notes to the ground and due to this, the world soon falls into chaos. Tsukuru (Masahiro Higashide) is a member of the Death Note special task force team with 6 other investigators including Matsuda who experienced the Kira case of 10 years ago. Mass murders caused by the death note takes place on Wall Street in the U.S., Shibuya in Japan and other places. World famous private investigator Ryuzaki (Sosuke Ikematsu), who is the rightful successor of L, also investigates the mass murders. They discover that 6 death notes exists in the world. A computer virus called Kira spreads in the world. A message in the Kira virus says to turn in 6 death notes. A person who has 6 death notes overwhelm the world. The confrontation begins between the person who wants Kira’s revival and the people who want to stop it.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: intellectual, anime, psychological, bleak, serious, neo noir, suspenseful, disturbing, detective
Similar in 81%
Death Note: L Change the World (2008)
Plot Summary:
"The human whose name is written in the Death Note shall die." After making the hardest decision ever, another serious case confronts L. There are only 23 days left and without his best partner Watari (Shunji Fujimura), L has to solve the case all by himself for the very first time.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: bleak, serious, suspenseful, captivating, anime, mind bending, psychedelic, suspense, surreal, exciting
Similar in 80%
The Other Me (2019)
Plot Summary:
A series of murders alarm the police authorities, as strange symbolisms are traced to every crime scene. The eccentric professor of criminology Dimitris Lainis is asked to shed some light on the mystery.
IMDB Rating: 9.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Greece
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: tense, intellectual, suspense, slasher, suspenseful, disturbing, serious, detective, contemplative
Similar in 75%
The Evidence (2006)
Plot Summary:
Inspectors Cayman Bishop and Sean Cole investigate crimes in San Francisco Police Department. How does all of the pieces to the puzzle all fit together?.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 163
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: captivating, serious, realistic, psychological, tense, suspense, detective
Similar in 80%
Less than Evil (2018)
Plot Summary:
Woo Tae Suk is an experienced and well-established detective with a long professional career, but in spite of everything he is a lonely and bitter human being. It all has to do with him only focusing on solving cases, while his actions are completely controversial because it crosses the line between good and evil. Woo Tae Suk crosses paths with a psychopath, but he cannot arrest her because of lack of evidence. The woman eventually decides to help Woo Tae Suk solve other cases.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 139
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 35 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, detective
Similar in 86%
Erased (2017)
Plot Summary:
After finding his mom killed, Satoru's time-traveling ability takes him back 18 years for a chance to prevent her death and those of three classmates.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: anime, captivating, suspense, exciting, sad, manga, sitcom, psychological thriller
Similar in 75%
Alice in Borderland (2020)
Plot Summary:
With his two friends, a video-game-obsessed young man finds himself in a strange version of Tokyo where they must compete in dangerous games to survive.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 92000
Genere: Action, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: suspense, psychological thriller, psychological, dorama, witty, psychotronic, disturbing, dark fantasy, manga, shounen