Oh, the excitement! The Simpsons is gearing up to release their annual Halloween special, just over 32 years after the original “Treehouse of Horror” episode aired on Oct. 25, 1990.
The next chapter, Treehouse of Horror XXXIII, has garnered a renewed interest for the show with their upcoming parody of super-popular Japanese manga series Death Note currently trending on Twitter.
“Death Tome” / The Simpsons
The episode isn’t actually airing until Oct. 30 (on FOX), but earlier today fans got a first look at what The Simpsons parody—dubbed “Death Tome”—would look like. So far, the reaction on social media has been largely positive and anticipation is building.
In a handful of stills and a slick 41 second clip, you can get a glimpse of what Lisa, Marge, and Homer look like in the Death Note universe. Recurring characters Sherri and Terri, Disco Stu and Ned Flanders can be seen in the leaked footage, and you can see signs for Krusty Burger, The Android’s Dungeon & Baseball Card Shop, Bowlarama, and Duff Beer as Lisa walks through Springfield.
“Death Tome” / The Simpsons
According to The Simpsons’ creators, there are a ton of other Easter eggs to be found in the episode, and during the live broadcast show writer Carolyn Omine is going to be tweeting about them. Omine is also taking the time to correct some bad takes. People have been understandably convinced that Bart can be seen in one of the screenshots as the Ryuk character from Death Note, but that is apparently not the case. As Omine tweeted earlier, “I don’t want to give too much away — but I do want you to know… that’s not Bart.”
Arguably the most exciting news about the announcement is the fact that the parody is being animated by DR Movie, a South Korean studio that helped out on the original Death Note. The studio was established in Seoul in 1990 and frequently works with Japanese companies on anime titles.
“Death Tome” / The Simpsons
The original Death Note was written by Tsugumi Ohba, illustrated by Takeshi Obata, and published between 2003 and 2006 in manga magazine, Weekly Shōnen Jump. Overall, it was 108 chapters which are broken down into 12 tankōbon volumes (a tankōbon is a Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus).
Treehouse of Horror XXXIII is the sixth episode of season 34 of The Simpsons. The “Death Tome” segment is just one of three that is expected to be featured in the half-hour episode.
According to the episode’s official synopsis: “In a book-themed trilogy, Marge’s resentment takes monstrous form, Lisa tries to save the planet through murder and Homer learns he’s not the man he thought he was.”
