When popular Japanese anime and manga series Death Note peaked in popularity, it wasn't uncommon to see students lugging around notepads modeled after the mysterious book with the power to kill by simply writing a name down in it, and there were certainly gag websites where one could submit a name in very morbid humor. One Japanese website, however, is applying the appeal of those fatal tomes to those in disgruntled marriages. More particularly, those who want their husbands to drop dead.

"Danna Shinne" ("Die, Husband") is a Japanese website with a simple premise. Make a post detailing your grievances with your husband, and wish for him to pass away. Where it differs from the actual Death Note is quite understandable--the website admonishes that if you write any actual names or addresses, you'll see no results (clearly for the sake of anonymity) and says your wish will also fail if you write a name other than your husband's. Most of the other rules outlined are in sync with the manga, saying that leaving out a cause of death will result in your husband having a heart attack. The "spell" is said to take effect within 23 days, and can be edited. (It's essentially a blog post, after all)

Some posts on the site detail very serious and sometimes disturbing behavior, such as grieving over abusive husbands, husbands who neglect their wives and become absorbed in pachinko and alcohol, cheating husbands, and even one who made the couple's daughter work as a prostitute. Others are borderline comedic, wishing death upon a husband so stinky he made the bed reek, as well as made sex an impossibly foul-smelling labor.

Reaction to the site, as well as posts on it, are likely not far from what you might expect in your own country. Several on social media have decried the fact that the site is so often visited it experiences connection issues and crashes, and hypothesized that if there were a "Die, Wife", it would be considered too cruel, but general comments indicate that many feel it's a scary concept and far from the healthiest way of dealing with a struggling marriage.

While it's clearly being used as an outlet for those beyond the point of simply being dissatisfied with their marriage and suffering from broken households, the site's understandable dependence on anonymity is sure to attract an army of twisted trolls from 2ch who simply want to provide disturbing content, if it hasn't already. In it's current state, users seem to be a combination of legitimately suffering wives looking for somewhere to reach out to and those with a very dark sense of humor.


By - grape Japan editorial staff.