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There’s even a surprise appearance by an apple-pen.

Since the release of Death Note and Death Note 2: The Last Name in 2006, Japanese fans have been treated to a TV drama series, a stage musical, and even an escape game featuring themes and characters from the original films. On 29 October this year, Death Note Light Up The World, the highly anticipated sequel to the movie series was released, and to celebrate the film’s arrival, the computer-generated star of the franchise, Ryuk, made a surprise appearance dancing to the “Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen” tune online. Just when we thought things couldn’t get any weirder, one of Japan’s most well-known female television personalities has made her own appearance as Ryuk the Shinigami “Death Spirit”, and this one is eerie, impressive, and shocking at the same time.

Take a look at the “Note Death” video below:

Hands up if you weren’t expecting that at the end! Not only does this clip reference Ryuk’s love of apples in the film, it also throws a pen into the mix, as a nod to the Shinigami’s hilarious “Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen” performance officially released by the Death Note Light Up The World official channel on YouTube.

In case you missed it, you can check that clip out here:

While the dancing Ryuk was created by computer graphics, the star of the “Note Death” clip was created with some impressive makeup wizardry. The man behind the look is a talented Japanese makeup artist known as “Amazing Jiro”, who spent four hours applying his mind-blowing makeup design on the model’s face and hands, creating a living, breathing replica of Ryuk for the short clip.

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New art work by Amazing JIRO. I met with a model, "LiLiCo" at one of the TV shows and we hit it off instantly! LiLiCo kindly told me, "let me know anytime if you need a model!" so I asked her and we created this! This work uses NO CG. "Note Death" Model : LiLiCo Face paint : #amazing_jiro Hair & makeup : Ryu Miyazaki(@lukemiyazaki) Magic : Tetsuo Photo : Youhei Kodama(@kodamax_photo) Movie : art design eND #facepaint #bodypaint #makeup #trickart #illusion #opticalillusion #magic #LiLiCo #art #deathnote #ryuk #riuk #shinigami #ppap #pikotaro #apple #penpineappleapplepen #フェイスペイント #ボディペイント #メイク #トリックアート #マジック #アート #デスノート #リューク #死神 #ピコ太郎 #りんご #ペンパイナッポーアッポーペン

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The woman underneath the paint is 46-year-old LiLiCo, a half-Japanese, half-Swedish TV personality known for her roles as a singer, actress, movie critic and the voice of Eric Cartman in the Japanese version of South Park.

LiLiCo first met Amazing Jiro on assignment as part of her work as a film commentator on popular Saturday morning TV show King’s Brunch. The two immediately hit it off, with LiLiCo asking the artist to keep her in mind for a future project.

▼ This was the result of their collaboration.

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New art work by Amazing JIRO. I met with a model, "LiLiCo" at one of the TV shows and we hit it off instantly! LiLiCo kindly told me, "let me know anytime if you need a model!" so I asked her and we created this! This work uses NO CG. "Note Death" Model : LiLiCo Face paint : #amazing_jiro Hair & makeup : Ryu Miyazaki(@lukemiyazaki) Magic : Tetsuo Photo : Youhei Kodama(@kodamax_photo) Movie : art design eND #facepaint #bodypaint #makeup #trickart #illusion #opticalillusion #magic #LiLiCo #art #deathnote #ryuk #riuk #shinigami #ppap #pikotaro #apple #penpineappleapplepen #フェイスペイント #ボディペイント #メイク #トリックアート #マジック #アート #デスノート #リューク #死神 #ピコ太郎 #りんご #ペンパイナッポーアッポーペン @_deathnote @the.death.note

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The stunning Ryuk design is just one of a number of mesmerising works by Amazing Jiro that include faces painted to resemble sketches, hollow-eyed masks, and even X-rays. To see more of his amazing projects, check out his collection of photos on his website, or give him a follow on Instagram to receive updates on his new designs.

Source: Net Lab
Featured Image: YouTube/Amazing Jiro