Backlogged in everything

[petronia]

Death Note I & II: an improvement on the original series, actually. Stuck to the manga storyline when it was good, removed the parts that were boring/superfluous, and made changes to tighten the dramatic arc as necessary. Well-cast and acted. Watching these reignited my love for the series somewhat, or at least reminded me of why I liked it so much in the first place. ^^; If the manga had ended the way the movies did it would probably still stand among my favorite series. This does happen sometimes with screen adaptations - mangaka on a deadline follows his/her nose all over the map, anime writers sort it out in retrospect - but for some reason I wasn't expecting it in this case.

Even so the second movie was 2 1/2 hours long and convoluted as heck. The audience kept thinking it was going to end and making false starts at applause and/or getting up to leave. It was a very enthusiastic crowd, though: Fantasia usually is, but I got the impression most of the people were there on the strength of a couple of episodes of the anime, or of the director's resume (Godzilla, Gamera), i.e. came into it spoiler-free. I suppose if one were a real DN manga fan, one would've downloaded and watched the films ages ago. XD;;

There was a Q&A session at the end with the director (dressed memorably in a colorful alphabet-patterned shirt and lemon-yellow trousers), his translator, and a fanboyish actor who played one of the American FBI agents. The questions were haphazard as these things tend to be but the guests loved to talk and spouted on-set anecdotes with no lead-in. From this we learnt that Godzilla's teeth were recycled for Ryuk's model, that Fujiwara Tatsuya was indistinguishable from nice!Light even when nominally "off", and that Matsuyama Kenichi insisted on Japanese sweets in the second movie (there was a directorial decision to have L consume Western imports only in the first film - come to think it must be a difficult role in that respect, if it were me I'd never want to see a chocolate bar ever again).

I'm reading Wikipedia and it says Nakata Hideo is making a movie about L's backstory. Was going to ask if this was a figment of some crazed fan's imagination but research indicates it's not. ^^; (Funnily enough I was idly pondering L's past as meitantei, in a "I would cross it over with PSoH just to see L and D do dessert and discuss life as an initial" way.)

Comments

[bravecows.livejournal.com]

an improvement on the original series, actually

I am relieved to see you say that about the DN movies, as it a) validates my decision not to bother getting into the anime or manga and b) bodes well for the second movie, which I was worried was gonna suck. *g*

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

http://www.deviantart.com/view/12115738/

FANDOM HIVE-MIND AT WORK.

I saw the first five minutes of the first live action movie and I really didn't like it. ^^; Seemed like they were taking out the more questionable parts of Light's initial transformation so they could ask serious questions about the morality of Kira's actions, which I don't believe should be up for debate. (He's the villain. The villain!!)

On the other hand I really liked the Death Note anime.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

The first five minutes were kind of eh but it gets better after! I don't think the movies try to justify Kira or gloss over his insanity (if anything they made him more obviously morally reprehensible), but there seemed to be more emphasis on the social impact of the Kira killings? 60% of Japanese actually agree, etc. But this is presented as something that's supposed to disturb the viewer.

Thinking about it, they draw the parallel between Kira and L by pointing out how questionable L's methods are as well. Which is something I don't remember happening so much, in the manga.

It's a fangirl-obvious train of thought once you get down to it. XD

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Well, if you decide to check out the fandom at any point you'd be confused, I think, if you only watch the movies. The second movie especially cuts a lot (and isn't as good as the first, mostly as a function of how much plot had to be squeezed in). But FWIW I prefer this version of the story. XD

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

But this is presented as something that's supposed to disturb the viewer.

As long as it's presented that way. I was seriously worried the movie was gonna come down on Kira's side. (As in, "there are definitely benefits to this guy's philosophy, but what he's doing is against the rules, so unfortunately the narrative must punish him.")

Thinking about it, they draw the parallel between Kira and L by pointing out how questionable L's methods are as well.

...That does sound interesting.

(The anime takes a different approach -- L "loses" because he's constrained in his methods where Kira is not. (Though it's not due to personal ethics that he's constrained, but because he has to maintain his relationship with the other investigators.))

[kuroraka.livejournal.com]

Hmm, i'm not really into live action adaptions of manga/anime, so i haven't seen any of the movies...but to me, the neutral (for lack of a better word) attitude of the manga (and to a lesser extend of the anime) towards all characters was exactly what appealed to me.

Everyone who reads the manga should be able to realize that L's methods are sometimes questionable, there's no need to especially point it out, no? Just as there's no need to write mad serial killer across Light's face every time he appears...from all i've heard,the movies sound a lot like a mixture between simplification of the plot and fanservice (not killing off L etc.) to me. Would you recommend them to someone who actually liked the manga and the anime?

[flamebyrd]

I would cross it over with PSoH just to see L and D do dessert and discuss life as an initial

*snickers* Brilliant!

I kind of lost interest in Death Note at the same point I lost any sympathy for Light. *shrugs*

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Well, I liked the manga a lot at first (I started reading it one tankoubon into the serialization, I think), but lost interest after a while because it felt increasingly poorly planned - the Yotsuba arc, L getting killed and all the new characters introduced afterward drained the dramatic punch of the original setup, I think. And for a series that's nominally about morality, justice, abuse of power and the effect of all these things on society, it didn't end up saying much that it didn't already say by chapter 10.

With regard to L's methods, several of the people I know who started reading the manga at the very beginning were offended when they realized that he was morally questionable as well. That is to say, the setup was interesting if you thought of it as a conflict between two characters who represent opposing ideals of justice (though the narration adopts a "neutral" stance or even makes Light, the protagonist, the more "evil" one), but if it turns out both characters are willing to put ends before means, where's the fundamental conflict really? It becomes an intellectual game between varying degrees of sociopathy. Personally, this didn't disturb me from a moral perspective, but I do think it's one of the things that made the manga less interesting further on than it was at first.

I haven't watched the anime but from the comments above it seems like both the anime and the movies chose to differentiate L's moral stance and methods somewhat from that of the other investigators, to underline that the game L and Light engage in is a degree removed from human decision-making on the part of both players. It's pretty subtle and you wouldn't notice it unless you were really thinking about narrative intent in the series, IMO.

It's not so much that they didn't kill L, it's that they killed him somewhat differently. XD;; And I wouldn't say it was fanservicey either as they cut most of what I thought of as fanservice in the manga (like that whole part where Light and L go around handcuffed to each other...). Basically all they did was shorten or cut the parts of the manga that IMHO are unnecessary, and probably wouldn't have been written if the mangaka had been planning well in advance and/or Shounen Jump didn't insist on their money-makers being dragged on as long as possible. I feel the change is for the better, but YMMV of course.

[kuroraka.livejournal.com]

the Yotsuba arc, L getting killed and all the new characters introduced afterward drained the dramatic punch of the original setup

I know that a lot of people share your opinion, but i have to say that i liked the second part of the manga (ok, the Yotsuba arc dragged a bit) and i believe that killing L was crucial for the plot.

Personally, this didn't disturb me from a moral perspective, but I do think it's one of the things that made the manga less interesting further on than it was at first.

Hmm, it's the complete opposite for me. Wouldn't it have been just another good vs. evil battle like we've seen countless times before otherwise?

And I wouldn't say it was fanservicey either as they cut most of what I thought of as fanservice in the manga

I was referring to not killing L as 'fanservice' since i kow a lot of people were really pissed off when that happened and even stopped reading, but since you say that he did die in the end, i take that back. If we are talking about fanservice of the handcuffing type, i'd have to say that the anime topped the manga in that department...XD

I feel the change is for the better, but YMMV of course.

Exactly.^^

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Hmm, it's the complete opposite for me. Wouldn't it have been just another good vs. evil battle like we've seen countless times before otherwise?

I think the point of interest of DN was precisely that it wasn't presented as "good protagonist vs. evil antagonist", but "similiar personalities / opposing ideals". But if they're not really all that opposing, then where's the beef. XD

If you really enjoyed and wanted to see the second half of the manga in the movies you won't like them, because for all intents and purposes none of that exists. OTOH apparently they're making a third movie which will have Near and Mello etc., but I don't know how it's going to work. ^^;

[petronia.livejournal.com]

An addendum to what I said above - except for the ending. The movies are actually more faithful to the manga ending than the anime was. ^^;

[celestriad.livejournal.com]

i still haven't seen the second movie yet. D: i keep hearing about how good the ending is, but... yeah. haven't seen it yet. D:

poor l. ^^; i bet he really did get sick of all those sweets in the first movie. ^^;