DEATH NOTE – THE MOVIE COLLECTION
June 17th 2009 02:26
Category: Videos
The human whose name is written in this note shall die
The human who uses this note cannot go to Heaven or Hell
Based on the Death Note manga by: Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata
Director: Shusuke Kaneko
Screenplay by: Tetsuya Oishi
Producers: Takahiro Salute, Toyoharu Fukuda & Takahiro Kobashi
Starring: Tatsuya Fujiwara (Light Yagami), Kenichi Matsuyama (L), Asaka Seto (Naomi Misora), Yu Kashii, Shigeki Hosokawa (FBI Agent Ray), Erika Toda (Misa Amane), Shunji Fujimura (Watari), Takeshi Kaga (Souichiro Yagami), Sota Aoyama, Ikuji Nakamura, Tatsuhito Okuda, Shin Shimizu, Miyuki Komatsu, Takeo Nakahara, Kaohiko Kaoda, Sarutoki Minigawa, Hikari Mitsushima, Michiko Godai & Masahiko Tsugawa
Produced by: Shueisha, Horipro, YTV, VAP, KDE-J, Shochiku & Nikkatsu
Released by: Madman Entertainment
Running Time: 256 minutes Rating: M
Having cast the vigilant viridian gaze of the Lantern upon the manga and anime incarnations of Death Note I knew that at some stage the live action version of this saga was eventually going to catch my attention. It would be only a matter of time, and soon the day arrived when this mysterious black package arrived on my doorstep and once the wrapping was swiftly removed and environmentally disposed of it was revealed to contain the Death Note movie collection, both live action Death Note movies in a double DVD set complete with all kinds of special feature goodness and a chunky 28 page booklet featuring profiles on key actors as well as notes on production. Interesting stuff, although I still haven’t got around to reading most of it, instead my attention was focused on the two feature length films which I watched over the recent long weekend. Nothing like watching some quality Japanese cinema when you need a bit of downtime from economics and business law.
Firstly there are a few differences from the live action versions of Death Note and its manga and anime incarnations, though thankfully these differences do not detract from the overall drama and story in any way; always a good thing in such a case. Our first introduction to the protagonist of this story, Light Yagami, we discover that he is not a budding genius level high school student just at the cusp of his adult life. No instead he is a genius level college student studying for his law degree at college, so here we have the first key difference in the story. Strangely I found the Light of these movies a more agreeable character than the Light of the anime/manga series, Tatsuya Fujiwara who plays the part gives him a certain charm and likeableness that seems to be absent in the character in the anime and manga.
It’s also interesting to discover that Misa Amane rather than just being a model and actress is in fact a television show star and host of MisaMisa which is a popular program watched by such luminaries as Light’s mother and sister, as well as being an idol know to all and sundry. Also Misa appears as a billboard on a bus that Light and his girlfriend Shiori catch whilst going out on a causal date. Girlfriend I hear you say, isn’t Misa meant to be Light’s girlfriend and ally? Here we have another of the differences between the live action movie and its manga/anime predecessors – the inclusions of a girlfriend right from the start. Of course the crew behind this production have put this role in for a very valid reason, with the character of Shiori they are laying the groundwork that will take place in the first film and provide motive for Light’s actions at the end and in the second.
The other big difference is that unlike the manga/anime there is no Near or Mello in the character cast – these two films are purely focused on the confrontation between the nascent god of the new world order; Kira and his antagonist the genius detective L. I have to admit I liked L in the anime/manga and even though Light is more agreeable in this particular incarnation I still have a soft spot for the rather unorthodox and clever detective L, he strikes me as being something of a very modern day Sherlock Holmes with Watari as his Watson. And naturally to round things out there is Souichiro Yagami, Light’s father and head of the NPA’s taskforce into the investigation of the mysterious killings and Kira. Takeshi Kaga, who most might know, if memory serves me correctly, as Chairman Kaga of the hit television series Iron Chef, plays the role of Souichiro and does it with aplomb. In fact one could almost believe that the character was specifically written for him so well does he fit into the role.
And what of the Shinigami? How do they fit into these features? Well it seems that the production team have done a tremendous job with creating the two key Shinigami who are involved in this story; Ryuk and Rem. From the looks of it they have employed a similar technique that George Lucas employed when creating the character of Jar Jar Binks in the Episode I movie – The Phantom Menace. Thus there is an actor on scene but when the movie is shown rather than seeing the actor we instead see the Shinigami they are portraying and its various antics, a similar thing was also done with the character of Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End. Regardless of the specifics involved the portrayal of the Shinigami was convincing and added just that extra dimension to the whole story – especially when you consider that only the possessor or someone who has touched a death note is the only individual who can see them. Thus when Light talks to Ryuk, a shot panning away from the two of them shows only Light and he looks like he’s talking to himself – no one else can see Ryuk.
Of course the characterisation and certain background elements to the characters are not the only differences within this telling of the Death Note story and the story that unfolds in the anime/manga. The anime remains fairly true to the manga in its conclusion, the live action movies take a far different slant to the way things pan out – although one thing does remain constant, Light himself dies in this telling of the tale as he does in the manga/anime version and in all three the cause of his death remains the same, although it’s a cause that comes as something of a surprise considering. Interestingly the ending of these two feature films is something of a sad one; it is an ending tinged with a bit of remorse which I suspect is not the case in the anime/manga.
The entire story, the fact that a mysterious individual called Kira is killing criminals all over the world without any qualms and able to do with relative impunity is the basis for the drama and story involved in the film. Naturally the top police operatives are baffled by what is going on around them, even criminals locked away in the confines of prison are seemingly able to be eliminated by the will of Kira; no where is safe from his brand of justice. Of course how he is able to do all this is that he possesses a death note, a black note book into which if a name is written the person will die usually of a heart attack if no cause of death is not specified. Currently Light Yagami is in possession of the death note and he is the one behind Kira. He is eager to create a new world order, a world where there is no crime or injustice, and a world where Kira is a benevolent god dispensing justice to those who would break his commandments. Of course there is term for this kind of world – can you say totalitarian dictatorship?
Naturally though Kira/Light is not going to have it all his way, this is not going to be a purely one sided affair. Into the fray enters first the Japanese police task force lead by Light’s own father and then the genius enigmatic detective L who sees this case as something of a personal challenge. Suddenly Light finds that he is in something of a confrontation as his mysterious foe swiftly proves himself up to the challenge of tackling Kira head on. The bell rings and the fight is swiftly on, round one covers the first movie with the second film encompassing the second round and various red herrings and opponents cropping up to muddy the water of who is really Kira and how are they killing criminals. Its all fascinating nail biting drama, I loved it.
Death Note – the Movie Collection is well worth the effort of tracking down and watching, its high quality cinema viewing and acting. Although I am puzzled by one thing, why is the Red Hot Chilli Peppers song ‘Dani California’ the theme music for both movies? It’s not imperative that I know, but it would be interesting to find out why they choose that group and that particular song. As Agent Mulder is often fond of saying “The Truth is out there.”
The human who uses this note cannot go to Heaven or Hell
Based on the Death Note manga by: Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata
Director: Shusuke Kaneko
Screenplay by: Tetsuya Oishi
Producers: Takahiro Salute, Toyoharu Fukuda & Takahiro Kobashi
Starring: Tatsuya Fujiwara (Light Yagami), Kenichi Matsuyama (L), Asaka Seto (Naomi Misora), Yu Kashii, Shigeki Hosokawa (FBI Agent Ray), Erika Toda (Misa Amane), Shunji Fujimura (Watari), Takeshi Kaga (Souichiro Yagami), Sota Aoyama, Ikuji Nakamura, Tatsuhito Okuda, Shin Shimizu, Miyuki Komatsu, Takeo Nakahara, Kaohiko Kaoda, Sarutoki Minigawa, Hikari Mitsushima, Michiko Godai & Masahiko Tsugawa
Released by: Madman Entertainment
Running Time: 256 minutes Rating: M
Having cast the vigilant viridian gaze of the Lantern upon the manga and anime incarnations of Death Note I knew that at some stage the live action version of this saga was eventually going to catch my attention. It would be only a matter of time, and soon the day arrived when this mysterious black package arrived on my doorstep and once the wrapping was swiftly removed and environmentally disposed of it was revealed to contain the Death Note movie collection, both live action Death Note movies in a double DVD set complete with all kinds of special feature goodness and a chunky 28 page booklet featuring profiles on key actors as well as notes on production. Interesting stuff, although I still haven’t got around to reading most of it, instead my attention was focused on the two feature length films which I watched over the recent long weekend. Nothing like watching some quality Japanese cinema when you need a bit of downtime from economics and business law.
It’s also interesting to discover that Misa Amane rather than just being a model and actress is in fact a television show star and host of MisaMisa which is a popular program watched by such luminaries as Light’s mother and sister, as well as being an idol know to all and sundry. Also Misa appears as a billboard on a bus that Light and his girlfriend Shiori catch whilst going out on a causal date. Girlfriend I hear you say, isn’t Misa meant to be Light’s girlfriend and ally? Here we have another of the differences between the live action movie and its manga/anime predecessors – the inclusions of a girlfriend right from the start. Of course the crew behind this production have put this role in for a very valid reason, with the character of Shiori they are laying the groundwork that will take place in the first film and provide motive for Light’s actions at the end and in the second.
The other big difference is that unlike the manga/anime there is no Near or Mello in the character cast – these two films are purely focused on the confrontation between the nascent god of the new world order; Kira and his antagonist the genius detective L. I have to admit I liked L in the anime/manga and even though Light is more agreeable in this particular incarnation I still have a soft spot for the rather unorthodox and clever detective L, he strikes me as being something of a very modern day Sherlock Holmes with Watari as his Watson. And naturally to round things out there is Souichiro Yagami, Light’s father and head of the NPA’s taskforce into the investigation of the mysterious killings and Kira. Takeshi Kaga, who most might know, if memory serves me correctly, as Chairman Kaga of the hit television series Iron Chef, plays the role of Souichiro and does it with aplomb. In fact one could almost believe that the character was specifically written for him so well does he fit into the role.
And what of the Shinigami? How do they fit into these features? Well it seems that the production team have done a tremendous job with creating the two key Shinigami who are involved in this story; Ryuk and Rem. From the looks of it they have employed a similar technique that George Lucas employed when creating the character of Jar Jar Binks in the Episode I movie – The Phantom Menace. Thus there is an actor on scene but when the movie is shown rather than seeing the actor we instead see the Shinigami they are portraying and its various antics, a similar thing was also done with the character of Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End. Regardless of the specifics involved the portrayal of the Shinigami was convincing and added just that extra dimension to the whole story – especially when you consider that only the possessor or someone who has touched a death note is the only individual who can see them. Thus when Light talks to Ryuk, a shot panning away from the two of them shows only Light and he looks like he’s talking to himself – no one else can see Ryuk.
Of course the characterisation and certain background elements to the characters are not the only differences within this telling of the Death Note story and the story that unfolds in the anime/manga. The anime remains fairly true to the manga in its conclusion, the live action movies take a far different slant to the way things pan out – although one thing does remain constant, Light himself dies in this telling of the tale as he does in the manga/anime version and in all three the cause of his death remains the same, although it’s a cause that comes as something of a surprise considering. Interestingly the ending of these two feature films is something of a sad one; it is an ending tinged with a bit of remorse which I suspect is not the case in the anime/manga.
The entire story, the fact that a mysterious individual called Kira is killing criminals all over the world without any qualms and able to do with relative impunity is the basis for the drama and story involved in the film. Naturally the top police operatives are baffled by what is going on around them, even criminals locked away in the confines of prison are seemingly able to be eliminated by the will of Kira; no where is safe from his brand of justice. Of course how he is able to do all this is that he possesses a death note, a black note book into which if a name is written the person will die usually of a heart attack if no cause of death is not specified. Currently Light Yagami is in possession of the death note and he is the one behind Kira. He is eager to create a new world order, a world where there is no crime or injustice, and a world where Kira is a benevolent god dispensing justice to those who would break his commandments. Of course there is term for this kind of world – can you say totalitarian dictatorship?
Naturally though Kira/Light is not going to have it all his way, this is not going to be a purely one sided affair. Into the fray enters first the Japanese police task force lead by Light’s own father and then the genius enigmatic detective L who sees this case as something of a personal challenge. Suddenly Light finds that he is in something of a confrontation as his mysterious foe swiftly proves himself up to the challenge of tackling Kira head on. The bell rings and the fight is swiftly on, round one covers the first movie with the second film encompassing the second round and various red herrings and opponents cropping up to muddy the water of who is really Kira and how are they killing criminals. Its all fascinating nail biting drama, I loved it.
Death Note – the Movie Collection is well worth the effort of tracking down and watching, its high quality cinema viewing and acting. Although I am puzzled by one thing, why is the Red Hot Chilli Peppers song ‘Dani California’ the theme music for both movies? It’s not imperative that I know, but it would be interesting to find out why they choose that group and that particular song. As Agent Mulder is often fond of saying “The Truth is out there.”
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