The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror is as much of a Halloween tradition as bobbing for apples or checking for razor blades in candy bars. This year, The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XXXIII offers a tribute to the mega-popular anime series Death Note, giving the Simpson family an anime makeover you’ll need to see to believe. The episode airs Sunday, October 30, with the Death Note tribute being the second of three installments of spooky shenanigans.
Other chapters in The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XXXIII include spins on one of my favorite horror films, Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook, and a tribute to HBO’s Westworld. The Death Note tribute, in which Lisa discovers a power book called the Death Tome, began in 2008 when Nina “SpaceCoyote” Matsumoto posted crossover art featuring The Simpsons and Death Note to Deviantart. Matsumoto’s post was so popular that Simpsons Comic publisher Bongo Comics invited the artist to draw a complete Death Note tribute in its Treehouse of Horror issue. A Kotaku commenter named Turbotastic brought this detail to our attention.
The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror is an annual anthology presentation that imagines popular horror films and tropes in the Simpsons’ signature style. In the past, Treehouse of Horror has parodied horror properties, including The Shining, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Amityville, The Twilight Zone, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, and more. While the quality of each installment of the series differs from one year to the next, this year promises to offer something unique thanks to the show’s anime makeover.
I haven’t tuned in for The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror in ages, but The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XXXIII is screaming for my attention. I’m not even a big Death Note fan. However, I love the anime style used here, and I need to see that segment based on The Babadook.
What do you think of The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XXXIII? Are you interested in tuning in this year or catching it online? What are some of your favorite Treehouse episodes from the past? Please let us know in the comments below.