On to business! Here is my comparison between Death Note, the animated series and Death Note, movies 1 & 2.
Let's get a few essentials out of the way. The CG is cheesy when it's not in bright daylight, Misa doesn't have blonde hair, and the actor playing the guy who murdered Misa's parents was hysterically over-the-top. My husband and I kind of wish that L would have been American or British (which would make him the odd foreigner, cause friction in the police force, and explain the addiction to unhealthy foods, and explain why his eyes are buggy compared to everyone else). Now that we've covered the supernatural things, I'm going to focus on the structure of the series and how changes in plot and characters for the live action film, either serve or detract from the themes.
At the start of the first movie, we're made to feel sympathy for Light and his motivations. That is a big change from the anime, where Light is set up as this callous, perfect young man. Scenes are added showing how Light becomes personally disillusioned with the Japanese justice system. While I'm not sure I like this, I will say that it is easier for a movie audience, who has less time to get to know the character, to find some investment in his success. The beauty of Death Note as a series, is that it makes the majority of its audience simultaneously root for both Light and L. Without Light's internal monologue to show his superior intellect and cool logic, we need emotions to rope us in.
Another major change to the character of Light is that he has a girlfriend. In the anime, Light isn't very interested in dating, but soon starts going on dates with a variety of girls to avoid suspicion. Super-smart boy who holes himself up in his room and shows no interest in sex waves all sorts of red flags. Light has one particular girlfriend in the movie, Shiori, but if you're worried that he's going to get romantic mushy, never fear. That's all a very good ruse. By the end of the first movie, Light's use of Shiori proves that no matter what he was at the start, he has evolved into the Light Yagami we all love, the compassionless bastard with a strong sense of justice and unwavering ambition.
For the most part, the first movie is loyal to the plot of the anime. We go through how Light takes care of the FBI agents and how L narrows down his profile of Kira. We even get Light's potato-chip cam (though I will say, it was not as epic without the narration "I will take a potato chip... and EAT IT!")
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| I pwned that Potato Chip at AWA last year. |
The second film starts with Light joining L's team in the wake of his girlfriend's death and introduces Misa Amane as more than just a background character. Misa sends the tapes to Sakura TV, just like she did in the series, and gets Light to come where she can see him and discover that he is Kira. Misa is kidnapped by L's team and Light promises Rem that he will save her.
Here comes a major divergence from the series plot. It was undoubtedly changed to save a few HOURS of plot. We meet a lone woman who works for Sakura TV, approves of Kira, and wants to oust the slutty anchor and take her job. She is the replacement for that entire council of businessmen who, in the anime, use the Death Note to kill off business competitors.
Anime fans will remember that pinning down who was on this council and tracking them was a large plot that took up quite a few episodes. It was the key to recovering Misa's Death Note and to clearing their names, but it took a LONG TIME. For the purposes of an already long movie (2 hrs, 20 mins), they were streamlined into one hot lady.
After killing Sakura TV lady to reclaim her Death Note, the plot takes a fast track. L immediately doubts the 13-days rule and sets out to test it. He declares his suspicion of Misa, sends Mr. Yagami and all of the police away, with the second Death Note, to test his theory in California (because they need American criminals as lab rats, apparently), and tells Light that he plans to let Misa try to kill him so that he can stop her and prove that she is Kira.
SUPER SPOILER TIME. Rem decides to kill L and Watari to protect Misa. As L is on the ground in his dying throws, instead of just LOOKING at Light like he creepily did in the TV series, he has words. L collapses, Light runs off to sift through Rem's ashes and then gets out the Death Note to clean up the rest.
Misa looks on horrified as Light write's his own Dad's name in the Death Note, with the stipulation that he would bring back the second Death Note, first. We know this is accurate because Light let his Dad half his life and sacrifice his right to go to heaven in the series, just to get the second Death Note back and to try and kill Mello.
Mr. Yagami shows up, opens the case, and BAM! It's empty! How did he deny the will of the Death Note? It was a fake! L shows up, miraculously alive, and explains that he swapped Light's Death Note and that he didn't die when Rem wrote his name because he already wrote his own name and was already fated to die peacefully in 23 days. Bam!
Okay, so in my opinion, L getting out of it with a win is not cool. I don't like that change. But they wanted to cut out a whole slew of episodes and the Kira representatives, Kira-X, Near and Mello. Concessions had to be made. As Light is going all hysterical crazy pants and trying to write people's names on scraps of Death Note paper, Matsuda, true to his epic moment in the show, shoots the pen out of his hand.
This is where the two diverge again. In the series, Light runs off and slows down on a stairwell. He lays, bleeding, defeated, and unwilling to wait until he should bleed out, Ryuk writes his name in the Death Note. Watching Light die slowly would be boring and Ryuk has better sh!t to do, but he has to be the one to write Light's name because he brought the Death Note in the first place.
In the movie, in a more darkly comedic but not as Shakespearean moment, Light demands that Ryuk writes a name, any name. Ryuk write's Light's name and shows it to him. Light dies. Ryuk proves that he is a heartless God of Death. He doesn't care about Light!
I enjoyed seeing Light using Takada, toying with her emotions to communicate with Kira-X in the anime series. I don't think, like some, that Mello and Near were nearly derivative of L. I do agree with some, though, that the time between Light and Misa being "cleared" and capturing the corporate jack-off that Rem gave the Death Note too was a little long and would have been better abbreviated.
What the movie did was abbreviate the series. It trimmed down a lot of the parts that were just too drawn out. The Light/L friendship isn't as close in the movie, which is probably the most unfortunate missing element. Their mutual respect and rivalry is what made the L/Light dynamic so fun to watch. They were friends, but they had to kill one-another to win the epic chess match.
L's survival takes something else away. L's defeat is what drives Light to a new level of boredom and arrogance and allows him to be caught. If L simply wins, it's just not as satisfying.
The live-action movies are fun for fans who have already seen the series, but I would never start anyone off on them. As for the idea of an L movie that takes place in the 23 days before he dies, where he solves a bioterrorism case... no thanks.
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