I re-read the anime last year, and now I'm re-watching the anime, this time with the intention of watching the English dub the full way through. The series still fails to not entertain the hell out of me. I also thought that I'd bring up that most of the criticisms for this series are crap based on the fact that most of its criticism comes from stupid reasoning that doesn't even apply to this show.
First there are the people who call Death Note overly pretentious in that its trying to give off some deep messages about conflicting morality and utterly fails at it with its shallow and simply designed premise and story-line. Those people are idiots but are also half-right: it is very simplistic, but for me that's all for the better. The thing is, its NOT trying to be deep. Light and L are purposely written as 1-dimensional archetypes, and the story remains intense and interesting PURELY based on its cat-and-mouse type structure in the 1st arc, and the whole theme of arrogance and downfall in the 2nd arc. The author is CLEARLY aware of that, and has even referenced to and pointed out that fact at quite a few points in the run of Bakuman. The series knows what it is and doesn't attempt to be anything more or less, and for that it works out as a fast-paced thriller (and that's just what it is, a thriller). I like it because its still to this day one of the most entertaining manga/anime series for me. I don't care all that much about how deep or artistic a series is in comparison to just how much enjoyment I get out of it.
There is another group of people who hate the series solely on the 2nd arc. Now I can understand hating the 2nd arc. Fair enough. But there are people who go overboard and say that it also kills everything the first arc did right (which I wholeheartedly disagree with) and that the ending is stupid because Light should not have lost and they can't take the fact that he died so miserably (despite the fact that it was clearly foreshadowed since chapter 1 in that Ryuk actually SAID it would happen, just apparently no other person ever noticed this except for me).
As for me, though, people wouldn't like to hear it, but the truth is that a lot of people judge the 2nd arc unfairly. They compare it to the 1st arc and are upset because its not more of the same of that. Personally, while I would have rather the series ended with just 1 arc, I do think that the 1st arc needed to end before it dragged out, and thankfully it lasted the perfect length without feeling too long or short. Now, the author felt the need to continue the story for some proper closure, and for what its worth, while it could never be as good as the 1st arc was, it was certainly as good as it could probably get after that. The problem is that Near and Mello were weak new characters, but to me that didn't hold much relevance since the story was no longer about the cat and mouse mind games between detectives. Really, to me, it was about Light's downfall due to his arrogance and ever-growing ego, and I liked that the Task Force members actually got much bigger and more significant roles in the story, especially Aizawa. To me the 2nd arc was still highly interesting (and not just moderately entertaining, either) in 2 ways: one way was in how much more manipulative Light had become and how we got to see him bend more and more characters to his will, which leads to the other thing that made this arc interesting in that Light's risk of relying on others also slowly started to cause his luck to spiral downwards, in addition to his own arrogance.
Also, even for people who didn't enjoy the 2nd arc, I don't think that anyone in their right mind could deny that the ending for the series was perfect, as in its the only sort of ending for it which I could imagine. Aside from being foreshadowed since the very beginning of the series, it also tied everything together perfectly, IMO, and it really gave the series a sense of closure. In all honesty, I couldn't have imagined a better ending, in that it had everything going for it: It was intense, well-written, and wasn't dragged out or overplayed. The anime also added a bit of a nice emotional touch to it.
Anyways, those are my thoughts on this series. Admittedly it was my very first manga ever, but honestly after having re-read it several times, I can safely say that I don't personally overrate this series based on nostalgia, but I genuinely love it for what it is. I know its not NGE or something thought-provoking like a lot of other popular manga/anime, but really it excels in terms of entertainment value moreso than most other manga/anime that I have seen, and personally that counts a lot more than just being deep or thought-provoking does for me, personally.
I've never understood the depth criticism of Death Note. It's a noir, noir isn't about depth. It's about the mystery, the thrills, and the characters.
If you want to say there's a theme, it's that humans shouldn't try to play God. It's not deep or anything, but it's certainly there. Both as Light is given the power over life and death and is unable to become omnipotent, and how he essentially got away and still screwed himself over because he was deluded into thinking he was above everyone else. The ending (at least in the manga, since the anime ends with Light) implies that Light had it wrong. Kira in the end meant nothing, and the world still moves on. You can't change human nature and make the world a perfect place, all you can do is try your best to do the right thing and hope you can make the world just that bit better.
I'm not going to argue that it's deep, because it's not, but that's the point. Noir tends to have simple messages, and Death Note's was clear and concise.
Quote from: Desensitized on January 24, 2011, 10:51:55 PM
I've never understood the depth criticism of Death Note. It's a noir, noir isn't about depth. It's about the mystery, the thrills, and the characters.
If you want to say there's a theme, it's that humans shouldn't try to play God. It's not deep or anything, but it's certainly there. Both as Light is given the power over life and death and is unable to become omnipotent, and how he essentially got away and still screwed himself over because he was deluded into thinking he was above everyone else. The ending (at least in the manga, since the anime ends with Light) implies that Light had it wrong. Kira in the end meant nothing, and the world still moves on. You can't change human nature and make the world a perfect place, all you can do is try your best to do the right thing and hope you can make the world just that bit better.
I'm not going to argue that it's deep, because it's not, but that's the point. Noir tends to have simple messages, and Death Note's was clear and concise.
This is a brilliant post, truly. This is exactly what I have always thought, but you managed to actually put it down into better words than I ever did, so good job on that. ;)
Yeah, basically Death Note (to me) was always just a series with a very simple idea. I think a lot of its entertainment and flair comes from its combination of this simple idea (which you perfectly mentioned) combined with a more complex overlay of plot-devices.
Let me just say since I didn't really clearly elaborate this in my last post, but I do love a good, deep story-line with complex, multi-layered characters and a lot of artistic value and symbolism to it, when its done right. That said, I also enjoy a story that is completely shallow in comparison, but purposely so in favor of trying to excel with an entertaining premise and characters, just as much. To me, Death Note is definitely the latter. Light and L are certainly not 3-dimensional characters nor are either really very moral (though Light is clearly portrayed as evil whereas L is the good guy who relies on somewhat dirty methods to catch Kira), but they are highly interesting characters based on their chemistry between one another. This is a series that thrives off of its presentation of simple story mechanics, and while its certainly not paper-thin shallow, it is purposely written at the level of a simple-shonen story in terms of its level of depth (which of course means that its not a deep story).
As Desensitized perfectly describes it, its noir. The characters don't really develop all that much except for the key Task Force members, but the main characters do excellently serve as great archetypes, which is what one might expect from a noir. As Desensitized perfectly explained, if anyone were to look into any messages that this story had, its the simple "humans can't play god" story that a lot of other noir and other deeper stories in general have addressed for centuries. In the case of Death Note, it excels at being a good series because its interesting. Lets not forget that the very first chapter started out with Ryuk and Light admitting that they started doing what they did out of wanting to kill boredom. To me, the series certainly excelled at not letting me get bored by introducing interesting plot-lines and characters. ;)
Here's something I never get among both people who praise and criticize Death Note: Why does everyone try to evaluate Light's character as an anti-hero? He's clearly and without question portrayed as a villain. The author even stated in an interview that he's clearly evil with his own deluded God-complex. It pisses me off the most when people try to compare him to Lelouche and use Lelouche's slower development into corruption as to why he's a better written character. Now, normally I would agree with that, but Lelouche's development's execution is clearly overlooked by many people because its honestly a product of an amateurish level of writing, and at any rate, he shouldn't be compared to Light because they are 2 completely different type of characters. Light is a pure villain, plain and simple. He was intentionally written to have no remorse for his actions or sympathy for any of his victims, and he's made all the more cold-hearted by how easily he manipulates and uses people like Misa and Takada who are obviously in love with him, which he just completely uses to his advantage (once again, this is because when it comes down to it, he really doesn't give a shit about other people, but just has a demented Psyche reassuring himself that he is doing what he's doing for the greater good). People clearly forget that it was made abundantly clear at the beginning of the series that the real reason for why Light started doing what he did was out of sheer boredom (he really only gave himself a false sense of justice to what he was doing after his first couple of killings).
Honestly, if any character in Death Note could be labeled as an anti-hero, it would be L, because if you think about it, he's the guy who's doing the "right" thing, but not for the sake of doing the right thing, but only because it interests him. He clearly doesn't care too much about other people, and is easily willing to use and risk other people's lives only to further his investigation, yet he's still technically the good guy of this series by default, so really he's more fitting of the role of an anti-hero, since he isn't really a good guy but in the case of this series is still kind of doing the right thing in the wrong way.
I only bring this up because I feel like it leads to another unfair criticism of Death Note. People say that Light is a badly-written character because the author tries to make him an anti-hero but he gets corrupted ridiculously quick and is a completely selfish character. This would be a fine and fair criticism if the author actually intended him to be this type of character, but he's clearly just supposed to be "just a psychopathic serial killer who confuses himself with a God" as Near puts it, and in that regard the author did a brilliant job of writing for his character in that intended way.
I think the only heroes in Death Note are the cops that work with L. They are the only ones with clear and noble intentions in the story. Light is the villain (I don't even know why this debatable, he kills people for his own selfish reasons) and L is an anti-hero doing the right thing for questionable reasons.
Again, another aspect of Death Note that's overblown more than it should be.
A lot of aspects of Death Note are overblown, just because people like overanalyze things. Especially anime. Especially anime like Death Note.
Light and Lelouch have little in common because we're not supposed to sympathize with Light, or even like him all that much. That was present from the moment he appeared, when he was bitching about how bored he was. He's a jerk, to put it lightly, and that's how he should be interpreted as.
Exactly, the author pretty clearly wrote him as an unlikable douche-bag intentionally. Lelouche is completely different as a character because the audience is supposed to sympathize with him, but Light was written so that nobody would sympathize with him at all.
And Desensitized is right, I also felt that the only clear "good guys" in the story were the Task Force members. In chapter 109 (well, its not especially chapter 109, but it takes place after the epilogue of the story and was released as a bonus chapter), Near even recounts L admitting (in a flashback) that he doesn't stand for justice, but just takes on cases that personally perk his interest. He doesn't really care all that much about the people who get hurt in the process.
And yeah, as Avaitor said, people over analyze just about everything when it comes to anime like this. In some cases, you can analyze the hell out of some series, such as NGE, but Death Note is clearly not written to be a deep and highly-layered series like NGE or anything else on its level of depth. I just find it dumb when both fans and haters alike try to look at Death Note as more than what it really is: an extremely entertaining thriller, nothing more, and nothing less.
With all the main characters (people like Light, Ryuk, L, Misa, Near, Mello...), when comparing their sub voices to their dub voices, which voices do you guys prefer for each of them?
Having actually watched both the sub and dub in fill, and without any real pre-conceived bias (as opposed to someone who watched all of one and only a few episodes of the other), here's how I personally feel about the voicesl.
Light- Dub (I like his sub voice a lot, as well, but Brad Swaile actually makes Light sound casual when he is putting on his fake "nice guy" act in front of everyone, whereas his Japanese VA makes it so freaking obvious that he's, well....just acting)
L- About equal but for different reasons (the sub is better at portraying L's montone, cold, and serious detective voice, whereas his English voice gives him a ton of sarcasm which also makes for a really fun voice to listen to)
Ryuk- Sub (nothing against Brian Drummond, but I just love Ryuk sounding like a Trickster in Japanese, which is how I always imagined him sounding back when I was reading the manga before Death Note was animated)
Misa- Both are annoying as hell, really, but I guess that's the point with her character....
Near- Dub
Mello- Sub (Nozomu Sasaki = voice actor of Yusuke from YYH and Tetsuo from Akira)
Other supporting/minor characters- About equal, I suppose
Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on October 19, 2011, 06:46:31 PM
Having actually watched both the sub and dub in fill, and without any real pre-conceived bias (as opposed to someone who watched all of one and only a few episodes of the other), here's how I personally feel about the voicesl.
Light- Dub (I like his sub voice a lot, as well, but Brad Swaile actually makes Light sound casual when he is putting on his fake "nice guy" act in front of everyone, whereas his Japanese VA makes it so freaking obvious that he's, well....just acting)
L- About equal but for different reasons (the sub is better at portraying L's montone, cold, and serious detective voice, whereas his English voice gives him a ton of sarcasm which also makes for a really fun voice to listen to)
Ryuk- Sub (nothing against Brian Drummond, but I just love Ryuk sounding like a Trickster in Japanese, which is how I always imagined him sounding back when I was reading the manga before Death Note was animated)
Misa- Both are annoying as hell, really, but I guess that's the point with her character....
Near- Dub
Mello- Sub (Nozomu Sasaki = voice actor of Yusuke from YYH and Tetsuo from Akira)
Other supporting/minor characters- About equal, I suppose
About the same. But I think I'd go dub for Ryuk and sub for Near.
I might also lean toward the dub with L. I understand and appreciate what their intent was, but the completely monotone voice doesn't work for me as much.
Also Ensatsu-ken, I was reading the opening post. Can you explain this part? :)
Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on January 24, 2011, 10:38:00 PM
As for me, though, people wouldn't like to hear it, but the truth is that a lot of people judge the 2nd arc unfairly. They compare it to the 1st arc and are upset because its not more of the same of that. Personally, while I would have rather the series ended with just 1 arc, I do think that the 1st arc needed to end before it dragged out, and thankfully it lasted the perfect length without feeling too long or short. Now, the author felt the need to continue the story for some proper closure, and for what its worth, while it could never be as good as the 1st arc was, it was certainly as good as it could probably get after that.
You mention that you would of rather them end the series with one arc. But how could they have done that? I feel like the Near & Mello arc was needed.
Montone L in Japanese isn't boring at all, though, and his VA is actually very talented to keep him interesting for such long monologues. Its a type of montone that sounds fitting for the character rather than tedious to listen to (also, a fun fact is that its the same seiyuu that does the voice for Usopp in One Piece, and if you know anything about that character you'd realize what an odd contrast in vocal range those character have compared to one another). Also, his English voice tries to keep a montone too, but since that would have ended up sounding too boring in English the the English VA director cleverly had him add in more sarcasm to keep him sounding witty. That's why I like both voices.
Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on January 24, 2011, 10:38:00 PM
You mention that you would of rather them end the series with one arc. But how could they have done that? I feel like the Near & Mello arc was needed.
Yeah, I feel that after they killed off L the series could only naturally go downhill a little from there. I still say that the 2nd arc is as good as it could be without L opposing Light, but at the same time, the fact that the author couldn't come up with a character that could top L made it impossible for the 2nd arc to be as enjoyable as the first arc. The author seems to have realized this himself and even has Light comment on it (in how he's disappointed with Near's inferiority to L, since he actually saw L as a true rival). Simply put, no other character in the series on their own felt like a worthy foil to Light, nor could they even come close to having the same impact that L did by himself. While I don't hate Near or Mello like most other people do, neither of them really ever managed to impress me at all, and they simply just felt passable as detectives that could bring down Kira with what was quite honestly a lot of luck (which I can say looking back on the series, now). Personally, my ideal ending would have been L defeating Light, but the author decides to let Light win against L, so I can understand why a 2nd arc was needed to have Light experience his downfall, but at the same time if he had met his downfall at the hands of L it would have been a much more satisfying ending to me.
Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on October 19, 2011, 07:33:33 PM
Montone L in Japanese isn't boring at all, though, and his VA is actually very talented to keep him interesting for such long monologues. Its a type of montone that sounds fitting for the character rather than tedious to listen to (also, a fun fact is that its the same seiyuu that does the voice for Usopp in One Piece, and if you know anything about that character you'd realize what an odd contrast in vocal range those character have compared to one another). Also, his English voice tries to keep a montone too, but since that would have ended up sounding too boring in English the the English VA director cleverly had him add in more sarcasm to keep him sounding witty. That's why I like both voices.
My mistake. I didn't mean to say "boring". You're right that he does it well. I just prefer the dub's sarcasm over the sub's well done monotone. ;)
Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on October 19, 2011, 07:33:33 PM
Yeah, I feel that after they killed off L the series could only naturally go downhill a little from there. I still say that the 2nd arc is as good as it could be without L opposing Light, but at the same time, the fact that the author couldn't come up with a character that could top L made it impossible for the 2nd arc to be as enjoyable as the first arc. The author seems to have realized this himself and even has Light comment on it (in how he's disappointed with Near's inferiority to L, since he actually saw L as a true rival). Simply put, no other character in the series on their own felt like a worthy foil to Light, nor could they even come close to having the same impact that L did by himself. While I don't hate Near or Mello like most other people do, neither of them really ever managed to impress me at all, and they simply just felt passable as detectives that could bring down Kira with what was quite honestly a lot of luck (which I can say looking back on the series, now). Personally, my ideal ending would have been L defeating Light, but the author decides to let Light win against L, so I can understand why a 2nd arc was needed to have Light experience his downfall, but at the same time if he had met his downfall at the hands of L it would have been a much more satisfying ending to me.
I have to say, I think the live action film series had a great ending, even though the quality of the films themselves was arguable. If you remember, in the end, L wrote his own name down to prologue his life, faked his death, defeated Light, and died peacefully. I just found it to be a brilliant change and, had the series been one arc, I think that would have been good.
But as things are, I like that they made the second arc. I feel like Light was the only center character, and it was basically about his degeneration. He ruined himself moreso then Near and Mello did.
I was always waiting for someone to call L "Mr. Gaeta" in the English dub... :whuh:
Quote from: Foggle on October 19, 2011, 08:13:18 PM
I was always waiting for someone to call L "Mr. Gaeta" in the English dub... :whuh:
I guess the dub director never watched BSG before. ;)
Huh, today is an important date. As you can tell by the bump, important to Death Note in particular.
Spoiler
Today's the day that Light dies (in the anime)! Hooray! :happytime:
A joyous day indeed.
Its a shame that we all forgot about L's special day. :'(
Deeper than a swimming pool.
I'm having trouble deciding if breaking out the champagne and apples would be taking it to far.
Quote from: Graywulf on January 28, 2013, 05:34:07 PM
I'm having trouble deciding if breaking out the champagne and apples would be taking it to far.
No room for potato chips in there, huh?
Has Death Note been re-airing or something?
Seems Death Note has a tenth anniversary project in the works. (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-02-07/death-note-has-10th-anniversary-project-in-the-works) It's hard to believe the series is already a decade old, isn't it? I don't know whether this thing will be an anime or manga special, but whatever it is will be revealed on March 3rd.
Color me intrigued.
Countdown site launched (http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2014/02/19/death-note-10th-anniversary-countdown-site-launched).
Whatever the 10th anniversary project is, it'll be revealed on March 2nd at 7pm (pst).
Zombie Note.
Light rises.
Vlord brought it to my attention that Viz has put up all of the dub of Death Note up on Hulu. (http://www.hulu.com/death-note) That's neat. I might give it a watch sometime.
Oh hey its the most overrrated anime NOT titled Code Geass of all time!
This thread has been around for ages and it took you that long to say anything about it? You just pulled a GSF. :>
I can think of a few anime more overrated than Death Note.
The most overrated anime of all time is actually Clannad After Story.
Please get it right.
Quote from: Souther on May 13, 2014, 10:10:53 PM
The most overrated anime of all time is actually Clannad After Story.
I can probably agree with this.
Welcome to the forum!
Quote from: Souther on May 13, 2014, 10:10:53 PM
The most overrated anime of all time is actually Clannad After Story.
Please get it right.
Somebody please give this man a medal! :thumbup:
The show is now available to instant-stream on Netflix (sub-only, though).
Interesting that Viz is starting to put their stuff back on Netflix after all this time.
Well, I am years late to watching this, but I finished Death Note tonight having started it only about a week or so ago. I really loved this series.
It's definitely not as good after L dies and L's death really could have been the ending to the series, but it still managed to keep me entertained and wondering what was going to happen next. The real problem was that Near and Mello just never seemed that interesting to me. They tried to give them little quirks to make them "the next L" but it never really worked. That said, I still wanted to see where they went with their plans and wanted to see Kira finally get caught.
I'm not sure how anyone could see Light as some kind of anti-hero. When the series started you could say he had the best intentions in mind but as he grew more and more of a God complex he became more and more evil. And considering what he does to those FBI agents and Naomi, how he uses and manipulates the emotions of Misa, and manipulated Rem into killing Watari and L, there's really no other way to look at it. He even sent his own father to his death. Light was disgusting.
I loved the final episode. Anything the second arc was lacking I think can be forgiven with that final episode. It was satisfying to see Light die in such a pathetic way. It's what he had coming to him from the very beginning. Also, I loved how Matsuda just unloaded his weapon on him.
Glad you liked it. Death Note is a really entertaining series. It's most major problem is a fan-base that treats it like something it's not. Back when it came out, people were claiming it was deep and philosophical, baiting haters to call it pretentious drivel. It is neither of those things, and even the author has stated that the series was meant to be nothing more than an interesting read. He also said that Light was evil pretty early on in the series, and it wasn't his intention to portray him as anything other than a villain. Once again, it's fans who painted that picture of him, which is hilarious because the anime goes as far as to make his eyes go read and give him the most psychotic laugh ever just to demonstrate how evil he is. My point being that, the manga and show are great, but 95% of the fan-base is comprised of idiots.
As for Near and Mello, neither are as interesting as L, and Near especially is a shameless copy-cat to try and remind people of L, but I actually still kind of enjoyed Mello for being different. He had his quirks, but he was a more hardcore character, and over the top in a way that was still pretty entertaining. Near only came out on top because he pretty much played it safe the whole way through.
As for the 2nd arc in general, while nothing was ever officially said by the author in regard to it, his other famous manga, Bakuman, had an arc at the end where the 2 main characters create a manga that felt tonally reminiscent of Death Note, but once it becomes popular WSJ wants them to keep it running for longer than they intended, and they fight to keep to the ending that they envisioned rather than continuing it on when they know they can't make it as good again. While this is all just presumption on my part, I feel like that was the author's commentary of sorts to fans regarding DN, and I could totally believe that he was forced to keep the series going past the L arc, but since it's me, I'm probably just reading too much into stuff. :P
Anyways, for how bad it could have gone, I still relatively enjoyed the 2nd arc for what it was.
I remember hearing that Death Note's run was stretched because the author just really wanted it to last 108 chapters, since 108 is supposed to be a symbolic number in Japan.
^The 108 stars of destiny.
The deepest Death Note goes is the theme of absolute power corrupting. Other than that it's just a really tight thriller. And as it is, there's nothing wrong with that.
Better than trying to be deep and failing, anyway.
Something I did like about the Near arc is that it showed just how much respect and admiration Light had for L. He's constantly comparing Near to L, saying how inferior he is to him. And at the end he's disgusted at the fact that Near is wearing a mask in L's likeness, feeling he is nowhere near worthy to be comparing himself with L, let alone wearing a mask of him.
Light really hated L and considered him his worst enemy but at the same time greatly respected and admired him. L's death made Light over confident to the point where he got careless, thus leading in him finally getting caught.
(https://animationrevelation.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FtB6XB55.png&hash=1a9f5ca3e3da7970f564c8b57678f82feae145a6)
(https://animationrevelation.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FpN2SF5D.png&hash=e931ba3e161d1749ead5265e2230335b2bf5f0fe)
Netflix picks up new Death Note adaptation. (http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/674513-death-note-movie-shifts-from-warner-bros-to-netflix)
QuoteAdam Wingard (You're Next, The Guest) will begin production on Death Note this June from a screenplay by Fantastic Four's Jeremy Slater.
So, in the best case scenario, this could be the greatest unintentional comedy in a long time....again, that's the BEST case scenario....
I hope he makes Light win in the end.
That would be the cherry on top of the stupid.
You'd think if any anime or manga could get an actually good Hollywood adaption, Death Note would be it. So much for that.
Quote from: LumRanmaYasha on April 07, 2016, 10:30:50 PMYou'd think if any anime or manga could get an actually good Hollywood adaption, Death Note would be it.
Under the Hollywood system? Eheh... No.
I'm glad Netflix picked up the slack. They've shown they have the talent. I think it's in more capable hands now.
They can also probably get it done faster. It's been in Development Hell for nearly a decade.
A few minutes ago I completed Death Note. I started the series due to the Greatest Anime Episode Ever contest. I could already tell it was a series you do not want to watch a late episode of without seeing the rest...because spoilers. I had a great to pretty good time watching it :)
Misa's cancer. The show wasn't the same once she got introduced. Right before she did I was like, "This show is a sausage fest." Be careful what you ask for because you might get an annoying loli.
So my favorite arc is everything before she came. I loved seeing Light kill out of his bedroom and Ryuk had much more screen time. My favorite episodes are probably the two when Light fucked up that married FBI couple and episode 36. My favorite characters are Light, Ryuk, L, Rem, Mikami and maybe Matsuda. Sucks that Rem got paired with such a bore. He deserved better.
I liked how L was always suspicious of Light, even up to the end when he asked if Light has even told the truth in his life.
I did not care for Near. He has no personality and got too many lucky breaks, like when he found out who Mikami was...by watching tv. Wish he did more detective work like when he figured out that Chief Yagami faked a parent-son murder suicide. Speaking of the Chief, it sucks that he didn't get as much as a funeral scene. He died and everyone acted like nothing happened the next episode. He was the biggest hero in the show, he deserved better. Also, the rest of Light's family just disappeared.
The anime actually cuts out quite a bit from the second half of the manga, which is why the last 11 episodes feel rather rushed in nature.
Makes sense.
It was also that the second half of the manga is not favored well to most fans.
But as much as the second half is not as good as the first half, I still think the ending is brilliant. What did you think of it?
Also, now that you finished Death Note, read Bakuman. And I specifically mean read. Don't watch. Fuck the anime.
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on July 28, 2016, 09:56:41 PM
Also, now that you finished Death Note, read Bakuman. And I specifically mean read. Don't watch. Fuck the anime.
I concur with this.
You also won't like the anime because they change the focal point of the story. They make it about the romance subplot instead of the main storytelling plot. The pacing is also glacial.
It's still one of the most disappointing anime I've ever watched. There was so much potential to do tribute to manga and anime of all eras and ages like in the manga, and they completely skim it all over to focus and add filler to a romance plot that only comes into focus every now and then. It turns a shonen into a shoujo.
Oh, and the OP is complete miss. Bakuman is a series about two teenagers striving to be manga superstars. So, why is the first opening this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_TSrHTR5cw)? Let's open G Gundam with a dubstep track about eating fried chicken on the toilet while we're at it.
That's a long way to say skip the anime. But seriously, skip it. It's not worth it.
Well jeez, I had strict orders to ignore the Bakuman anime after hearing y'all in the past and I've been interested and thinking about the manga, especially while watching this but the anime sounds worse than I thought.
Run on sentences beside, I thought it was passable and while I am in the camp that really likes Light and wanted him to win, I liked the ending. Also, not to say I wanted him to win despite everything, like say those people who whine about Spike's "death". But anyway, I thought everything was worse but seeing how things would wrap up was interesting. The last 10 or so minutes of 36 was well worth it too.
Live-action Netflix movie teaser. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS9UW2xjdqE)
The real question on everyone's mind: Will this live up to how hilariously bad the live-action Japanese movies were, or will it just be generic bad like the live-action TV adaptation?
Either way, it'll be fun to watch the anime community rage to hell and back over this. :sly:
How do you make an American Death Note movie work when people who look average on the surface but are depraved serial killers deep down and super detectives with tons of odd quirks have been so overdone? The idea of a high school student obtaining a god complex and actually murdering countless people is something shocking in Japan, but all too familiar in the United States. Plus, Light's supposed to look like a handsome upstanding teen genius, not sleep-deprived Nat Wolff from the Naked Brothers Band with badly bleached hair. I guess they're taking a few liberties with this, like how that J-Drama from a couple years back made L younger than Light and gave him his own L-Cave.
None of that stopped Death Note from being popular over here before, so regardless of familiarity the concept is still enticing and fertile ground. We should hope they take a few liberties with it to make it work as an adaptation set in the U.S. and a western mindset. That said, if they stray from the fact that Light is the clear-cut villain of the story and try to make him some sort of tragic hero instead, they'll have completely missed the point and it'll all fall apart. Which is what I'm expecting. Lots of people love Death Note, but so many of them laughably don't understand why it's good. And a version of Death Note that aims to show lots of sex and violence and totally not be for kids is probably not going to either.
QuoteNone of that stopped Death Note from being popular over here before,
I meant in terms of all the media that's come since Death Note finished its run in manga and anime form. I'm sure the American movie will be very popular (the youtube trailer is already at 4 million views), I'm just wondering how you make it stand out and work as a good story in 2017 after a long run of adaptations and other detective stories like Sherlock or Dexter being familiar in the casual viewers' eyes.
I think a lot of the appeal of Death Note lies in the fantasy of having a book in which you can magically kill someone by writing their name in, contemplating whether you would use it the way Light does, whether you'd use it for good or evil or if you could even use it for good in the first place. That, and the battle of wits between Light and L as they constantly try to one-up and outsmart each other and discover each other's true identities. There have been a lot of crime dramas and detective stories in tv and film since Death Note first came out, but few have those two elements that make it stand out as a concept, especially not presented in the over-the-top, simultaneously ridiculous and awesome way that it was executed in the manga and anime. For the Netflix film to stand out against the manga and other crime/detective stuff, it needs to embrace what's interesting and fun about the original while changing the relevancy of it's message to better fit it's audience, in this case adapting it to be relevant to the political and social climate of the U.S. in 2017. Not that I think it should be an overly political film, but just changing the environment and mindset of the original work to a western social climate will fundamentally influence how it's presented, and if they can still retain the elements that make Death Note inherently what it is, then they might have something that's still unique and relevant within the context of the franchise as well as other media.
To be fair, neither Dexter nor Sherlock have Ryuk. He's the stand-out anomaly here. The trailer confirms his existence by having him speak to Light off-screen, but I'm wondering if they'll keep his ridiculous design. Part of me is hoping that they do just to make fun of it like in the live-action Japanese films, but to be fair they'll probably at least be sensible enough to tone it down to something that looks better in live-action.
Trailer looked kind of good, but hearing about it having sex and even more violence for the sake of it makes me weary. Was L confirmed to be in this?
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on March 22, 2017, 08:52:20 PM
The real question on everyone's mind: Will this live up to how hilariously bad the live-action Japanese movies were, or will it just be generic bad like the live-action TV adaptation?
Either way, it'll be fun to watch the anime community rage to hell and back over this. :sly:
I'm looking forward more to the SJWs whining just because its a full U.S. based adaptation. :D Nevermind that this isn't any different than Breaking Bad being fully adapted in Mexico as Metastasis.
Man, I can't wait to see if Light kills L in this adaptation & then people going on Twitter/Tumblr tirades about how a black man had to died to a white man. Maybe they'll use the 2006 movie adaptations where L died after Light was brought to justice for his murdering spree.
Still, I'll probably give it a watch just to see how well they do it.
Really, Dave? :-\
Longer Netflix trailer. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvxNaSIB_WI)
Frankly, I don't see what all the hate is about. This actually looks quite good.
I haven't found the trailers bad myself. But I'm watching with no expectations. It's going to either really suck hard or be another Netflix gem. Either way, I'm planning to watch it goes live.
Welp, the Netflix film was pretty dumb. The game of wits between Light and L was replaced by Light outright admitting he's Kira to L in their first meeting, L ransacking Light's house in an emotional fit, a ten-minute chase scene complete with slapstick hijinks, and an exploding ferris wheel. They really captured the spirit of Death Note, didn't they?
So glad this whitewashed nightmare failed.
The critical reception is bad, but I fear that if streaming numbers are good enough they might go ahead with a sequel. The writers apparently envisioned doing a trilogy...
Best comedy of the year right here, guys. Haven't laughed my ass off this hard in a while. :humhumhum:
Hanzo didn't die for this. He didn't die for this!
The only good parts I liked about this film were Ryuk, Watari & Mia, fite me. :^) But nah, this was pretty much just Death Note in name.
Quote from: LumRanmaYasha on August 25, 2017, 09:37:49 PM
Welp, the Netflix film was pretty dumb. The game of wits between Light and L was replaced by Light outright admitting he's Kira to L in their first meeting, L ransacking Light's house in an emotional fit, a ten-minute chase scene complete with slapstick hijinks, and an exploding ferris wheel. They really captured the spirit of Death Note, didn't they?
I also loved that part where Light threatened that kid about how he'd be hitting a minor and he would go to jail. Truly the best adaptation ever! Don't forget the parts where he opened that book RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF GYM CLASS, while Yagami protected that thing like he got a winning lotto ticket and needed to collect his winnings. That and outright admitting to Mia that he is Kira while Light treated that like he was Batman. If anything Mia felt more like Original Light than this movie Light, considering how cunning she was compared to her manga counterpart who was kinda of a ditz.
As much as I probably regret saying this, I think I'm better off watching that J-Drama that was released a few years back than this thing.
I heard that the writer's idea was too split up the personality traits of the original Light between the film's Light and Mia, with Mia adopting his more conniving and manipulative nature and Light taking on the idealist and childish traits of his namesake. This could've been interesting in theory, but both characters make such stupid decisions and are such wannabe edgy try-hard emo shits that everything that made Light a compelling and interesting antagonist in the original is completely washed away.
Review's up. (http://animationrevelation.com/readables/?p=6591)
I kinda wish that "keikaku" joke was in the actual movie. That made me laugh. You hit the nail on the head about everything wrong with the movie with hilarious sarcasm. Reviews like yours and Mumkey's almost justify sitting through that garbage.
But did it have potato chips?
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIMpaQAXgAIvwEc.jpg)(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIMpawPXgAE07DR.jpg)
I keep on seeing that. Are those panels real? :D
Yes, I know they're from the Viz Translation of the manga. I think the context was that Light knew he was being wire tapped/video taped or something and was trying to ignore Ryuk to catch them off guard.
(https://animationrevelation.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FH0WIYLQ.jpg&hash=1fa1b1179ac265c69139a7d41328ef849b8f4145)
This is the entire movie in one image: Light with slanty-eyes and a top hat flipping off somebody.
(https://animationrevelation.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi0.kym-cdn.com%2Fphotos%2Fimages%2Foriginal%2F001%2F288%2F783%2Fae1.gif&hash=fe9c674f8d90bf4142eb0e7ce0d7d49156fa6bd1)
Running in the 90s...
Your Movie Sucks shares his opinions on the film: https://youtu.be/ez-neYAjMOM
I am so glad to see someone else call out Adam Wingard on being an overrated hack. I watched You're Next, The Guest, and Blair Witch, and couldn't for the life of me understand how people praised this guy, and watching YMS take him down as not making cheesy movies to be ironic but because he literally just thought that was good filmmaking was very cathartic for me.
As he puts it himself: "To take 9/10 source material and turn it into a 1/10 piece of shit takes a special kind of talent."
Mother's Basement finally reviews the movie. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awfo0oGn_qM)
Yeah, I saw that earlier....
You know, I'm perfectly fine with someone enjoying the movie for what it is if that's how they feel about it, but man I can't help but feel that MB is really stretching here in order to save face somewhat for sticking up for this movie even though the trailers were pretty tell-tale of how bad it would be.
I've been annoyed with Mother's Basement lately due to his clickbait titles (like that one where he calls Kakegurui a bad gambling anime) and moments where it seems like he's only making arguments for contrarianism's sake. He still makes some interesting videos, but he's been more off than usual ever since he moved out of his literal mother's basement.
Speaking of Death Note movies, has anyone heard of that recent one (http://deathnote.wikia.com/wiki/Death_Note:_Light_Up_the_NEW_World) from Japan, that's a sequel to the ones from a decade ago? Because I read the synopsis, and it sounds almost as bizarre and dumb as the Netflix film.
...I assumed he was being sarcastic. Might want to not actually watch that review later.
Quote from: Dr. Insomniac on September 05, 2017, 05:42:29 AM
I've been annoyed with Mother's Basement lately due to his clickbait titles (like that one where he calls Kakegurui a bad gambling anime) and moments where it seems like he's only making arguments for contrarianism's sake. He still makes some interesting videos, but he's been more off than usual ever since he moved out of his literal mother's basement.
Speaking of Death Note movies, has anyone heard of that recent one (http://deathnote.wikia.com/wiki/Death_Note:_Light_Up_the_NEW_World) from Japan, that's a sequel to the ones from a decade ago? Because I read the synopsis, and it sounds almost as bizarre and dumb as the Netflix film.
I find it funny in MB's Kakegurui video how he claims to be a big fan of gambling anime/manga when the only series he seems to have watched is Kaiji. Like he mentions One Outs, but the fact that he doesn't show any footage from it or name a specific example is a clear sign that he hasn't seen it. From what I've watched/read of it, Kaiji is great, but can you really say that Kakegurui is a bad representation of a genre you've only seen one series from? I enjoy MB's content for the most part, but I wish he wouldn't make half-assed videos like that one.
(https://animationrevelation.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FbkzZI2I.jpg&hash=e3fb563eab62511ffdaf3ae27940847d7f3f4b66)
Japanese people reacted to the Death Note movie. (https://youtu.be/7my4Dl-CYeI) Most of the shared criticism is that the movie didn't have the mind-game aspect of the source material.
"Light and L are stupid" No complaints here.
Netflix is giving their movie a sequel. (https://metro.co.uk/2018/08/24/deaht-note-fans-may-be-outraged-to-learn-that-netflix-are-planning-a-sequel-to-their-2017-adaption-of-the-anime-7877826)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EP3Ti1jX0AEavbV.jpg)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EP4ObgJVUAA_VhZ.jpg)
Here we go again! (https://twitter.com/netflix/status/1544731701108084737) :happytime:
I guess it'll have to be a period piece to retain some of the more important bits. L's initial deduction of where Light lived wouldn't make sense in an age when livestreams can be found worldwide, and his clue that Kira had to be a student because he didn't write names during school hours wouldn't work when Light could kill people thanks to a smartphone and an inattentive teacher. While Light looking across the internet for criminals and accidentally leaking his IP address on websites Watari or L tampered with would solve the case too quickly.
The Simpsons will have a Death Note parody in this year's Treehouse of Horror. (https://twitter.com/thecartooncrave/status/1550932045223927808)
Quote from: Dr. Insomniac on July 07, 2022, 05:44:51 AM
I guess it'll have to be a period piece to retain some of the more important bits. L's initial deduction of where Light lived wouldn't make sense in an age when livestreams can be found worldwide, and his clue that Kira had to be a student because he didn't write names during school hours wouldn't work when Light could kill people thanks to a smartphone and an inattentive teacher. While Light looking across the internet for criminals and accidentally leaking his IP address on websites Watari or L tampered with would solve the case too quickly.
I remember that being a point of discussion in the actual One-Shot where Minoru Tanaka said to Ryuk that he probably couldn't get away with most of the stuff Kira/Light could have due to the technological advancements made in Cyber Security during the original Death Note's timeframe/release. I do wonder if they'll go the period piece route or try to make it modern day to say why someone's plan with the Death Note will fall apart quicker than Light's.
Quote from: Daikun on July 23, 2022, 03:43:05 PM
The Simpsons will have a Death Note parody in this year's Treehouse of Horror. (https://twitter.com/thecartooncrave/status/1550932045223927808)
I know they did that once in the Bongo comics, to the point they tried emulating the manga's art style. So I wonder what new stuff they'll come up with in this.
I just finished rewatching this show for the first time since... honestly, maybe since it ended its Cartoon Network run. And man, that was a nice trip back in time.
Part of it was that I wanted a fairly short show to watch. And Death Note might not be a horror, but the visuals and music do have a creepy vibe at times, so maybe I wanted something easy to watch for Halloween. And when it aired on Cartoon Network, I had introduced it to my brother for his first time watching it, and since he recently got married, I'm sure I was feeling nostalgic for something we enjoyed together.
Anyway, it does hold up really well, at least up until the end of L. Light vs L still makes for an endlessly entertaining cat and mouse war. It can be easy to knock on the elaborate "Just as planned" moments, but they fit well. From the animation style to the music, Death Note generally has an over the top, almost operatic style, so I can just accept the idea that the two smartest people in the world can come to these incredible conclusions and concoct the most overly thought out plans. Not to mention... they all feel earned. It never feels like the characters are just taking random guesses.
Death Note is also a rare anime where, at least in my opinion, the Japanese and English versions are nearly equal. In fact, if this were someone's first anime (and I think this show is a great gateway) I might recommend the English version, if only because the story is so wordy and a newcomer will want to make sure they catch everything that's said.
Once L is out of the picture, there's no one who's really a worthy rival to Light. It's certainly not boring though, and the final few episodes are as good as any of L's.