The American adaptation was a travesty, an embarrassment of colossal proportions which missed the entire point of the series and I was concerned about the Japanese version purely because I can't imagine telling that epic a story in 90 minutes. 9.I admit it I'm a Death Note fanboy, the anime was a masterpiece and truly one of the most intelligent well written pieces of television ever made. Fans of the manga should enjoy as long as they don't expect an exactreplica of the manga, and fans of thrillers should enjoy this as well. Misa, despite her shortscreen time, acted the part of Misa perfectly, down to the voice. It wasn't conveyed the complexstory involving a genius highschool student who's use of a notebookthat kills people that get's him involved in a proverbial chess matchwith the detective L, but they did a fine job. All the important parts are there and the ending, whichstrays far from the manga, is actually even better then what actuallyhappened in that instance in the story. Now obviously the plot needed to be condensed and changed but they didvery well. Ryuk is also impressive, the CGI effects do himjustice and his voice is much better then the one for the subbed animewhich was horrendous. L is an honest togod incarnation of his manga and anime counter part down to thesmallest detail. The actors portray their characters perfectly.The calm menace of Light is portrayed perfectly, with a cleardistinction between Light and "Kira" Light, which is impressiveconsidering anime would allow stronger visual cues. Throughout the film, I kept expecting him to whip out ayellow pepper and eat it, but unfortunately he did not!ĭespite what some may say, this is as great as adaptation of the mangaas one could ask for. One final note is that the guy playing Light's father is Chairman Kagafrom Iron Chef. In light of this, I really think this live-action film is goodentertainment for all. And, my insane "sold my soul to anime" teen loved the film aswell. My wife generally hates anime and loved thefilm. I am much more of a casual fan of the genre andenjoyed the film immensely. However, for the uninitiated, pleasetry to suspend judgment-the film can be enjoyed by anyone-not justanime/manga fans. If you are already an anime/manga freak, then youprobably will not be scared away by the odd plot line and storyelements about the supernatural. As for the story itself, it's a pretty hard film to describe forWestern audiences. But as for the rest of the film, it istrue to the original-Light is an evil piggie and L looks and acts muchlike a cockroach (like in the anime). Early on, she's about assuperfluous as a vestigial tail, but later she becomes an importantpart of the plot-you'll see. However, Iadvise you to relax and give the film a chance-I actually LOVED whatthey did with the lady in the film. In the anime and manga, there was no girlfriend and so my puristdaughter complained loudly when she appeared in the film.
This is the live-action version of the TV anime series, DEATH NOTE.They are both relatively similar, though the plot lines have been movedaround a bit and a girlfriend was created for the main character,Light.