You tell me which sounds more interesting. While the original was mostly about two very smart people playing a game of wits not unlike that of Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty, the adaptation is more focused on the romantic drama between Light and Mia, as well as Ryuk’s manipulation of them both. Every character is a shadow of their original selves, and the story’s focus and direction is way off.

However, most of the choices they made are completely nonsensical. Anyone who wants to see a live-action verbatim adaptation can just see those, so it was in Netflix’s best interest to be more unique and make significant changes. Several Japanese movie and stage adaptations have already been made, and they all stick to the source material quite heavily. Having now watched the movie in its entirety, I am sorry to say that I believe it fails as an adaptation like so many others before it.īeing an adaptation, the Death Note movie by no means had to imitate the original. Dragon Ball Z, Ghost in the Shell, and many others have already had their moments on the chopping block, and it seemed like Death Note was next. I owe my current interest in animation and storytelling to Light and L’s 40-episode long game of chess, and I dreaded the Netflix adaptation from the second it was announced, as the West is notorious at this point for bastardising popular Japanese properties.

It was also the first animated property that showed me that complex, entertaining narratives were not limited to live action.

Why are the death note rules complex