Death Note Anime Volume 1.
April 29th 2008 02:46
Category: Videos, Television
Based on the Death Note manga by: Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata.
Director: Tetsuro Araki.
Screenplay by: Toshiki Inoue.
Starring: Brain Swaile (Light), Alessandro Juliani (L), Shannon Chan-Kent (Misa Amane), Chris Britton (SouichiroYagami), French Tickner (Watari) and Brian Drummond (Ryuk).
Produced by: Madhouse/NTV.
Released by: Madman Entertainment.
Running Time: 100 minutes. Rating: M.
According to my sources (the Madman Entertainment monthly newsletter) this particular anime is being screened ABC 2 here in Australia is actually screening this particular anime series on Monday evenings at 9:30 pm, kudos to the ABC for doing this. Looks like the national broadcaster is opting to jump the gun on other networks by showing some cutting edge anime on their digital channel, very forward thinking of them and it seems that Death Note is not the only anime that’s making its appearance on this channel., they’re also showing Ergo Proxy, a science fiction/detective anime.
But getting away from the forward thinking of the national broadcaster for the moment lets return to the real meat of this particular review, the anime series known as Death Note. This is not the first time that Death Note has made an appearance on the Green Lantern; a few months ago I reviewed two volumes of the cult classic manga on which this anime series is based. Selling copies in the millions, banned in China (isn’t everything?) and generally telling a very thoughtful and moral tale it’s no wonder that the manga is a cult classic and naturally it’s no surprise that it has become an anime. This particular volume is the beginning of the saga, it is where the action commences and frankly if this first volume is any indication of what is to take place further on in the series then it’s going to be as popular as the manga without a doubt.
On the surface it would seem that Death Note is the story of Light Yagami, a straight A student, in fact not just a straight A student in his high school but in the whole of Japan. He is the number one student, he regularly attends nightly cram school sessions in order to keep up his averages and maintain his position as numero uno. He is a genius who is completely bored out of his mind, a very dangerous thing indeed considering that Light has certain ideals in regard to how the world should be and organised. Until now he has never had the means to make his ideals achieve any kind of fruition, which all swiftly changes with a truly unexpected event. As he sits in class learning English he notices out of the corner of his eye a book, a black book slowly falling as if from a great height. It hits the ground in his high school and sits there, a temptation that he just cannot resist.
Concurrently as all this occurring in the Shinigami realm, the realm of Death Gods, Ryuk is sitting around being as bored out of his mind as Light is in the mortal realm. The Shinigami realm is a dark, brooding and somewhat very dull region that according to Ryuk is stagnant and decaying, nothing significant happens in this realm and most of the other death gods are just sitting around telling off colour jokes and gambling. They really do anything of any real significance and as a result Ryuk decides to take steps, steps to alleviate his boredom. He drops his Death Note, the book in which he writes the names of those about to die, into the mortal realm. This is the black book that Light sees from the corner of his eye slowly falling to the ground as he sits in class.
This is a pivotal moment in the story, if not the pivotal moment, and is so very innocuous, a book falling onto the ground and from this one incident the face of the world will swiftly and irrevocably change. Once the class is over Light shoulders his bag and calmly strides out into the schoolyard and walks over to where the book lies seemingly untouched and unnoticed on the ground. Emblazoned across the cover in silver letters with a grinning skull is the title: Death Note. Light picks it up and gives it a quick glance; the human whose name is written in this book will die, he chuckles at this and thinks it’s all some kind of prank. As if he thinks to himself, then drops the book onto the ground. Later on though we see that he has reconsidered the whole idea and as he walks home we see him with the Death Note stuck into his bag, the top slightly protruding as obviously Light has a load of texts, notebooks and various other school paraphernalia (pens, staplers etc) stuck in his bag.
As soon as he gets home he tests out this new find after reading the various rules that someone (Ryuk) has so conveniently included in the book. His first victim is a criminal who has taken several school children and teachers hostage; following the first rules in the book he swiftly pens the name of the hostage taker and waits to see the results. Light is able to get an accurate appraisal of the situation as it is all being broadcast on TV. Suddenly as he watches he sees the children and teachers emerge from the building and then the police immediately springing into action. It seems the hostage taker has just dropped dead of a major heart attack, Light is initially aghast but then he thinks to himself that the book needs further testing.
An opportunity arises the next night when he goes to a cram class after school, a gang of thugs attack a young woman and the ring leader’s name is mentioned. Light is standing in a shop watching the incident; he sees the gang leader and firmly fixes his face in his mind then scribes his name into his Death Note. This individual is going to die from an accident, suddenly the girl breaks free and the leader chases after her on his bike. It’s a bad decision by him as a truck takes him out as soon as he turns around and tries to follow the girl. Light has all the proof he needs to satisfy him that this book he has found is the real deal, from this points onwards he begins to embark on his crusade to forge a new world in which he visits righteous justice upon the wicked and through this all good and right minded people will be able to live a peaceful fulfilling life.
Certainly sounds like a great concept, unfortunately the old adage two wrongs do not make a right succinctly applies here. Light is focusing on riding the world of its criminal elements; all of his victims to date have been either prisoners convicted of various crimes or criminals actively engaged in a criminal activity. From a particular view it seems like this is just removing those no longer needed but even though these people are in many cases serving time or else likely to do what Light is engaged in is effectively murder. Light has made himself judge, jury and executioner from a purely self righteous stance, in reality he has no legal authority, no legitimacy for what he is doing. The authorities believe that in effect he is a murderer; or at least his ‘alter ego’ Kira, is a mass serial killer who are completely stumped at what course of action to take.
At this point you’d think that nothing can stop Light/Kira, especially as he can take out anyone who gets to close with the literal flick of a pen. Enter L; yes his name is actually a single letter, L. This particular individual is like Light a genius and has had a knack for solving crimes that many considered previously to have unsolvable. He is aided in his investigations by the equally enigmatic Watari, a figure clad in black trench coat and fedora hat and whose features seem to be hidden in shadow. L provokes a very public challenge to Kira and then tells him that he has narrowed down the precise area where Kira can possibly be as well as delineating just what kind of capabilities that Kira has. Essentially he knows that Kira is in the Kanto region of Japan and that he is capable of killing from a distance, he lays down his challenge that he will hunt Kira down and bring him to Justice. Light now knows he has a very significant foe, someone who is not going to be easy to fool and thus the fight is now on.
If you get a chance I highly recommend if you get a chance to watch this on ABC 2 then do so, it’s a great series and it’s only going to get better as the plot thickens, just like a delicious bowl of soup. If you can’t get it on television like me then the series is available on DVD for those unable to pick up Aunties (ABC 2) digital channel. Death Note is a well told story with convincing characters and a storyline that looks as if it’s got long term sustainability; I am looking forward to catching more of this series.
Director: Tetsuro Araki.
Screenplay by: Toshiki Inoue.
Starring: Brain Swaile (Light), Alessandro Juliani (L), Shannon Chan-Kent (Misa Amane), Chris Britton (SouichiroYagami), French Tickner (Watari) and Brian Drummond (Ryuk).
Produced by: Madhouse/NTV.
Released by: Madman Entertainment.
Running Time: 100 minutes. Rating: M.
According to my sources (the Madman Entertainment monthly newsletter) this particular anime is being screened ABC 2 here in Australia is actually screening this particular anime series on Monday evenings at 9:30 pm, kudos to the ABC for doing this. Looks like the national broadcaster is opting to jump the gun on other networks by showing some cutting edge anime on their digital channel, very forward thinking of them and it seems that Death Note is not the only anime that’s making its appearance on this channel., they’re also showing Ergo Proxy, a science fiction/detective anime.
Concurrently as all this occurring in the Shinigami realm, the realm of Death Gods, Ryuk is sitting around being as bored out of his mind as Light is in the mortal realm. The Shinigami realm is a dark, brooding and somewhat very dull region that according to Ryuk is stagnant and decaying, nothing significant happens in this realm and most of the other death gods are just sitting around telling off colour jokes and gambling. They really do anything of any real significance and as a result Ryuk decides to take steps, steps to alleviate his boredom. He drops his Death Note, the book in which he writes the names of those about to die, into the mortal realm. This is the black book that Light sees from the corner of his eye slowly falling to the ground as he sits in class.
This is a pivotal moment in the story, if not the pivotal moment, and is so very innocuous, a book falling onto the ground and from this one incident the face of the world will swiftly and irrevocably change. Once the class is over Light shoulders his bag and calmly strides out into the schoolyard and walks over to where the book lies seemingly untouched and unnoticed on the ground. Emblazoned across the cover in silver letters with a grinning skull is the title: Death Note. Light picks it up and gives it a quick glance; the human whose name is written in this book will die, he chuckles at this and thinks it’s all some kind of prank. As if he thinks to himself, then drops the book onto the ground. Later on though we see that he has reconsidered the whole idea and as he walks home we see him with the Death Note stuck into his bag, the top slightly protruding as obviously Light has a load of texts, notebooks and various other school paraphernalia (pens, staplers etc) stuck in his bag.
As soon as he gets home he tests out this new find after reading the various rules that someone (Ryuk) has so conveniently included in the book. His first victim is a criminal who has taken several school children and teachers hostage; following the first rules in the book he swiftly pens the name of the hostage taker and waits to see the results. Light is able to get an accurate appraisal of the situation as it is all being broadcast on TV. Suddenly as he watches he sees the children and teachers emerge from the building and then the police immediately springing into action. It seems the hostage taker has just dropped dead of a major heart attack, Light is initially aghast but then he thinks to himself that the book needs further testing.
An opportunity arises the next night when he goes to a cram class after school, a gang of thugs attack a young woman and the ring leader’s name is mentioned. Light is standing in a shop watching the incident; he sees the gang leader and firmly fixes his face in his mind then scribes his name into his Death Note. This individual is going to die from an accident, suddenly the girl breaks free and the leader chases after her on his bike. It’s a bad decision by him as a truck takes him out as soon as he turns around and tries to follow the girl. Light has all the proof he needs to satisfy him that this book he has found is the real deal, from this points onwards he begins to embark on his crusade to forge a new world in which he visits righteous justice upon the wicked and through this all good and right minded people will be able to live a peaceful fulfilling life.
Certainly sounds like a great concept, unfortunately the old adage two wrongs do not make a right succinctly applies here. Light is focusing on riding the world of its criminal elements; all of his victims to date have been either prisoners convicted of various crimes or criminals actively engaged in a criminal activity. From a particular view it seems like this is just removing those no longer needed but even though these people are in many cases serving time or else likely to do what Light is engaged in is effectively murder. Light has made himself judge, jury and executioner from a purely self righteous stance, in reality he has no legal authority, no legitimacy for what he is doing. The authorities believe that in effect he is a murderer; or at least his ‘alter ego’ Kira, is a mass serial killer who are completely stumped at what course of action to take.
At this point you’d think that nothing can stop Light/Kira, especially as he can take out anyone who gets to close with the literal flick of a pen. Enter L; yes his name is actually a single letter, L. This particular individual is like Light a genius and has had a knack for solving crimes that many considered previously to have unsolvable. He is aided in his investigations by the equally enigmatic Watari, a figure clad in black trench coat and fedora hat and whose features seem to be hidden in shadow. L provokes a very public challenge to Kira and then tells him that he has narrowed down the precise area where Kira can possibly be as well as delineating just what kind of capabilities that Kira has. Essentially he knows that Kira is in the Kanto region of Japan and that he is capable of killing from a distance, he lays down his challenge that he will hunt Kira down and bring him to Justice. Light now knows he has a very significant foe, someone who is not going to be easy to fool and thus the fight is now on.
If you get a chance I highly recommend if you get a chance to watch this on ABC 2 then do so, it’s a great series and it’s only going to get better as the plot thickens, just like a delicious bowl of soup. If you can’t get it on television like me then the series is available on DVD for those unable to pick up Aunties (ABC 2) digital channel. Death Note is a well told story with convincing characters and a storyline that looks as if it’s got long term sustainability; I am looking forward to catching more of this series.
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