“If you love the manga and anime series, you’re going to enjoy the film version. Slightly different than the original series for its film adaption but the film yet manages to capture the thrilling spirit of the series. Brilliant, gripping, dark and literally made me crave for more! Awesome!”
DEATH NOTE images are copyright of (C) “DEATH NOTE” FILM PARTNERS, Tsugumi Ohba, Takeshi Obata
DVD TITLE: DEATH NOTE
DURATION: 120 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: NTSC, Region 1, 16×9 Anamorphic Widescreen, Dolby Digital, Region 1, Bilingual
COMPANY: Shonen Jump Home Video, VIZ Pictures
Directed by Shusuke Kaneko
Based on the Bestselling Japanese Comic by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
Screenplay by Tetsuya Oishii
Music by Kenji Kawai
Cinematography by Hiroshi Takase
Lighting by Koichi Watanabe
Production Design by Hajime Oikawa
Produced by Takahiro Salute, Toyoharu Fukuda, Takahiro Kobashi
Executive Produced by Seiji Okuda
Starring:
Tatsuya Fujiwara (Light Yagami)
Kenichi Matsuyama (L)
Shigeki Hosokawa (FBI Agenty Raye)
Erika Toda (Misa Amane)
Sujui Fujimura (Watari)
Takeshi Kaga (Soichiro Yagami)
The story begins when Light Yagami, an ace student with great prospects, finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god named Ryuk. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and Light vows to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But
when criminals mysteriously begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective “L “to investigate, and he is soon hot on the trail of Light, who must reevaluate his once-noble goal. Both Light and L believe themselves to be on the side of justice, and the two match wits trying to show exactly which of them is “good” and which of them is “evil.”
Based on the manga and anime series that has captured the attention of viewers worldwide, “Death Note” the live action film makes its way to the US on DVD.
“Death Note” is an adaption of the popular manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata and stars Tatsuya Fujiwara (known for his work in the popular “Battle Royale” films), directed by Shusuke Kaneko (known for the 2006 hit film “Gamera”) and the theme song “Dani California” by the popular band RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS.
The film focuses on Light Yagami (Fujiwara), an intelligent student who wants to work in criminal law and follow his father’s footsteps and catch criminals. But one day after hacking into the police department’s computer system, Fujiwara is just sickened to know that the police has released criminals who should be incarcerated. One night, Yagami discovers a notebook called “Death Note” that has specific rules:
-The human whose name is written in this note shall die.
-This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in their
mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will
not be affected.
-If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person’s name,
it will happen.
-If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart
attack.
-After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.
-This note shall become the property of the human world, once it touches the
ground of (arrives in) the human world.
-The owner of the note can recognize the image and voice of its original owner,
i.e. a god of death.
-The human who uses this note can neither go to Heaven nor Hell.
Anxious to test this book out, Light writes the name of a criminal, thinking that the book is a joke. That is until the person’s name that was written actually dies. Thus Light finds a way to get justice and does what he can to rid the world of all evil and become “the God of the new world”. He also meets the owner of the Death Note, a shinigami (God of Death) named Ryuk, who is fascinated by Light of his ways of killing the criminals but the way his mind works.
Light who uses the name “Kira” starts writing the names of criminals in the Death Note and each die by heart attack and thus causing a frenzy in the media and the police force who now need to go after the person killing the criminals. But Kira is not your average criminal, as he is quickly generating a large fandom of people who support Kira’s goal of eliminating criminals.
Of course, the police force led by Light’s father, Soichiro Yagami, has no idea of how to go after this criminal but unbeknownst to them is a mysterious person that goes by the name of L. An intelligent detective who has an unorthodox way of catching criminals and so far, has been very succesful with his cases worldwide.
The cat and mouse chase has begun as L goes after Kira and Kira realizes his greatest enemy is L and thus the battle begins.
The film stars an all-star cast with “Battle Royale” actor Tatsuya Fujiwara as Light Yagami, Kenichi Matsuyama who starred in films “Linda Linda Linda” and “NANA” as the mysterious detective L.
Joining the two is one of Japan’s most popular actress, Asaka Seto as Naomi Misora, a former FBI agent who’s fiance is killed by Kira. Model and actress Yu Kashii as Light’s girlfriend Shiori Akino. Shigeki Hosokawa as FBI Agent Raye who is hot on the trail of catching Kira, actress Erika Toda who plays the character of pop star Misa Amane and Takeshi Kaga, best known for the host of the original “Iron Chef”, who plays the role as Light’s father and head of police, Soichiro Yagami.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
The film is featured in 16×9 anamorphic widescreen and was originally shot in 35mm (1:85:1 ratio). My main interest was to see how the CGI would be for the shinagami Ryuk. And how that would translate on film and was quite pleased with the 3D character as it looks exactly like it does in the anime and manga series.
As for audio, the film is featured in both English and Japanese via digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo. I typically dislike English dubbing of Asian language films but what brought a smile to my face was that VIZ used the original voice actors of the anime series (which had great English dub work) on this series. So, for those who are fond of Brandon Swaile’s Light, Alessandro Juliani’s L, Brian Drummond’s Ryuk, Shannon Chan-Kent as Misa and the other English dub voice actors will be happy to know that they did the English dub for the live film. That surprised me and definitely major kudo points for Viz Media for keeping things consistent in the voice acting.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Special features include a director’s interview and the trailer to the film. Plus there is a trailer for the anime series and “Viz Pictures presents”. The features are quite short but it was great to see an interview with director Shusuke Kaneko addressing the challenge the staff had to adapt the manga series to a live action film and what changes that had to be made.
I would have liked to see all features together as one featurette and a “play all” command but that’s a minor quirp but nevertheless, I’m just happy there are special features on the DVD.
I was extremely pleased with the live version of the film. I expected that there would be slight deviations from the original manga and anime series because there is only so much you can pack into a two hour movie.
But even with the slight changes, everything worked out. The pacing was well done, the CGI of Ryuk was well done. But those changes from the original series is what gives the film it’s own life.
Unlike the manga and anime series, Naomi Misora (Seto) has a slightly different role, as does Shiori Akino (Kashii) that plays a major pivotal role early in the series of how demented Light has become, even with a followup comment by Ryuk. Fantastic!
But the plus for this film was the talent involved. Tatsuya Fujiwara is such an impressive actor that it was great to see him take on the role of Light Yagami. To see Fujiwara’s acting show the believable and caring Light Yagami evolve into the killer known as Kira was just fantastic. Kenichi Matsuyama as L was also well done.
But of course, the addition of other talents such as Asaka Seto. She’s such a popular TV drama and film star that it was great to see her as the vengeful Naomi Misora and it’s great to see Mr. “Iron Chef” Takeshi Kaga as Soichiro Yagami.
I was extremely pleased with the first live action film and the treatment it has received on DVD. I enjoyed watching it in Japanese but watching it again with the voice actors of the original anime series. Again, I’m not fond with English dubbing for a lot of Asian films but VIZ was smart in utilizing the voice actors for the anime series on this live film. Well done!
I highly recommended this DVD! Fantastic!