Death Note movie (2006)

[oyceter]

Soon, I will spam all of you with posts on books read during vacation, so be warned! Also, hopefully there will be a more detailed food post (or two, or three) to come.

Anyway, I watched the first Death Note movie on my last day there, as I fortuitously had a day to myself after flight mishaps.

First: was Light a college student in the manga? I so don't remember that. Also, I was a little iffy about the change for his motivation; I completely don't buy Light from the manga being righteously angry about the sorry state of the judicial system. But then, maybe he was in the manga?

I fear my writeup is going to have a lot of these questions, as I don't particularly remember the first few volumes of the manga very clearly.

I similarly didn't buy Light's affection for Shiori, who Wikipedia helpfully tells me was a movie addition.

The part I missed most was watching Light figure out all the rules of the Death Note, since that insane logic was what attracted me to the series in the first place. On the other hand, watching someone sit and think really isn't great movie fodder.

Other changes: Naomi and Raye are Japanese, not white. Probably other stuff I don't remember.

I feel that if one hadn't read the manga, the addition of Misa and Misa's assault would be confusing, as it doesn't really go anywhere in this movie.

All in all, I wasn't too satisfied with the movie, though I will note that CG Ryuk is awesome. And the final twist in the end was rather nifty and justified some things. But in general, the movie removed my favorite parts about the manga, which are the largely unfilmable thinky bits.

Comments

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

If I remember rightly, Ray was half-Japanese and Naomi of full Japanese descent. It was said in the manga that she was visiting her family in Japan so as to introduce Ray to them. Speaking of Naomi, I didn't like how her character was handled (in the manga at least), though it must have been a difference between Japanese and American gender norms. I just don't buy a female *FBI agent* quitting her job just because she got *engaged*. I can see an American professional woman quitting when she got pregnant because she has strong feelings about raising her own children, but not until then.

[oyceter]

Wow, I completely forgot the quitting part from the manga! But yes, that does seem rather strange for an American woman, though possibly not for a Japanese one? Not really sure...

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

I can understand the narrative logic behind it. Ohba needed a detective who wouldn't be on the FBI list who would be motivated by revenge for Ray Penber's death, but the character logic didn't work for me. I kept having visions of Dana Scully and Clarice Starling and ranting about how women like them wouldn't quit the bureau just to get married. Ohba should have made her a criminologist or a detective with a metropolitan force instead.