Adapting Death Note: Why No Version Gets It Completely Right

hey everyone I'm Kelowna and welcome back to another episode of screenshots so remember last year when the Netflix version of Death Note came out yeah everyone was pretty sure it was going to be a bad movie not just a bad adaptation of the original manga but I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt so I watched it it is not good it is kind of like a Cliff Notes version of the story with a bunch of final destination like deaths and a whole bunch of mixed-up personalities it's a mess so it got me thinking about the previous adaptations that came before it of course the anime is really good since it sticks pretty close to the manga and has the luxury of doing so being a TV series versus a movie with a two-hour run time limit I watched the 2006 films around the time they came out and while they're kind of goofy and over-the-top at times there are parts of it I really enjoyed and was surprised when it managed to stick closer to the manga than the anime did in some instances as a result I looked through the various adaptations of Death Note and found that no longer gin sticks absolutely solidly to the original story discounting normal adaptation features like merging characters together shortening the timeline or only focusing on the section of light versus L I was fascinated by the small changes being made in each version and how it slightly changes our perspective of the characters so I'm going to be focusing on the following adaptations the original manga the anime series the Nippon television films the first two the TV drama series and the Netflix movie the purpose of this video is to discuss the variations on certain key moments in the deathnote franchise how they are changed or adapted in each one and how those changes subsequently affect how we view the characters and the story there are four pivotal moments in Death Note that I will be discussing that each of these adaptations changes in some way these four moments play a huge role and how effective each version is in staying true to the themes of the original manga even if they are changed or adjusted to fit the medium if it stays true to the original themes then they are all the better here's what I'll be discussing number one setting up Light Yagami number two what causes light to use the Death Note number three when is it clear that light is beyond redemption number four what happens to light at the end of the story I am focusing primarily on the character of light because honestly if you don't get this character right then the rest of the story really won't work perhaps at a later date I will do a separate video covering the rest of the cast so if that is something you would like to see comment below alright let's get started of course this will contain spoilers for all of the Death Note series I will be covering so you have been warned number one setting up Light Yagami the original manga starts with a split page showing ryuk bored in the Shinigami world and light bored in his class in the human world the way that their dialogue is laid out with ryuk saying same old thing day after day what a bore seamlessly flowing into lights script this world is a rotten mess shows how both characters feel the same about each of their respective worlds looking at just light scene all we see is a typical high school student in class without really anything to show us why he believes the world is rotten but by placing it with rooks panel above it a literal decaying world we are getting a visual of how light views the world the manga is more subtle overall in setting up life that is taste for the world since besides this opening page the next time we cut to light is when he sees the notebook and goes to pick it up he goes to investigate it read some of the rules and though he deems it a prank takes it home with him presumably to kill time it time skips to five days later with Ryu showing up impressed with the number of names written like admits that the notebook has a power that makes anybody want to try using it at least once and we go back to the first time he uses the notebook showing his thought processes of picking a potential person to kill and choosing a criminal holding children hostage being shown on the news this base setup presented in the manga doesn't give us a ton of details about lights personality or view of the world before acquiring the notebook there are inferences here and there but nothing aside from the initial this world is a rotten mess gives you much indication about lights views on justice the law or criminals general and with lights confession that the book tempts him into using it it lends a lot of credence to the idea that the Death Note changes and corrupts people we see this change most clearly when he temporarily loses his memories of being Kira light acts like a good decent person working well with L to try and figure out who Kira could be light also refuses to take advantage of Misa something he's been doing with Misa from the start we see just how absolutely the power of the Death Note corrupts the user however this comes in a good chunk of the way through the story rumor has it that the writer did this to show that light was in fact a good dude before finding the notebook since it's almost immediately that we see him find it each adaptation even the mostly faithful anime adjust the amount we know about life before he receives the Death Note at the beginning of the story the anime adds additional atmosphere to the scene you don't get with reading the manga we hear almost angelic but creepy choir music in both the Shinigami world and the human world already setting the tone for us light is listening to a lecture from his teacher the first line we can hear being listen for the voice of God then follow it and know that in time you will find your salvation a bit on the nose yeah the next few shots show that life follows a routine going to school being bored hearing news stories about homicides murders arrests and other criminal news stories day-in day-out the same news on permanent repeat cut too Ryu kin the Shinigami world aboard himself as each of them say this world is rotten after this is when he sees the notebook falling and one last added change is that he puts the book down at first but then ends up taking it with him after contemplating it well mostly the same there's a bit going on here that slightly changes our viewpoint a little bit more that we see of like here doesn't really show a lot of the innocence that we see in memory lost light later light is very jaded by the world around him but doesn't have the means to change it until he comes across the notebook although the anime is trying to bring in a little more depth with light here I think it would have worked without it being included it makes the memory loss seen even more contrasting to what we've come to the light in this opening sequence yeah I can definitely see how this guy becomes Kira over although this small change doesn't completely change the story for me it's just providing more obvious foreshadowing to light using the Death Note and viewing himself as a God leading people to salvation next is the 2006 Japanese live-action movie the movie sets up Kira's killings at the beginning of the story and we see light using the Death Note to kill off a criminal who has taken hostages while watching the broadcast in Shibuya afterwards we cut to light yagami talking with his girlfriend Shiori on whether or not kira is just light recounts how he agrees with kira because not too long ago he hacked into the police database you know for kicks and he finds that a disturbing amount of criminals are going free and not being punished by the law for their crimes due to legal loopholes he tries to confront one murderer who got out on an insanity plea only if he can't do anything to him we see him throw away a book of laws showing his frustration and how he can't do anything to stop this obviously evil person the guy gloats that he got away with murder it is after these events that he ends up finding the Death Note here we begin to see a common change made to lights beginnings making him more sympathetic as a protagonist before becoming Kira while the manga and anime show lights jaded attitude toward being unable to stop crimes more as boredom or reluctant acceptance of that's the way the world is here we see a much more emotionally frustrated version of light we see his motivations more clearly here so when he gets the Death Note it's pretty easy to see what he's gonna do with it light using the Death Note to kill those the law camp becomes his mantra and how he justifies using it the 2015 tini drama also shows a vulnerable side to life before he gets the notebook we see him and his friend Komodo attending Mises Idol concert and later going to work at a restaurant he's presented as much more normal and average at the start rather than a genius he gets decent grades but doesn't apply himself and doesn't appear to have any strong ambitions he and his best friend are being harassed and threatened by a former classmate socata who is out of prison light tries to stand up for his friend but the guy pulls a knife on him and steals his cell phone demanding a huge amount of money by the next day this whole sequence like the 2006 film version is showing how powerless light is without the death No he wants to do the right thing but is unable to do so light is presented as more of an average Joe anyone if given the power of the Death Note will fall to its temptation then there's the Netflix version this takes a lot of the same cues from the TV drama and how light is adjusted but even more so he tries to stand up for a kid getting bullied only to get knocked out by the bully and found by a teacher who reports him to the principal when she sees that light has been copying his homework for fifteen other students the principal choose him out saying that just because light's mom died doesn't mean he gets to get away with his behavior and is given detention so what we get here is that light is smart but not applying himself he's very analytically smart but very dumb when it comes to confronting bullies and he really has it out for those who he feels are abusing their authority though sinsemilla told the teacher that light hit his head on a beam the principal not caring about the injury is a little more forgivable like the previous two adaptations lights characterization is being shifted away from reluctance to act since nothing ever changes to feeling powerless and frustrated until the convenient death note makes its appearance this type of change in and of itself does not make the other versions bad however the 2006 live-action films characterization of light in the beginning of the film works in its favor when considering later events in the movie which I will discuss further however decisions that are made in changing lights characterization do set up a potential problem to solve later on that not all versions managed to fix number two what causes light to use the Death Note in the manga even though light thinks the book is a prank he's very methodical and thinks about the consequences on the off chance it might be real when considering who he could kill if he's going to murder someone he thinks it should be someone who deserves to die someone with no relation to him at all and there needs to be a way to know if they died right away he turns on the news to see a breaking story about a killer who is holding children hostage in a nursery school the news provides the criminals name and picture so light writes his name in the book the criminal dies and the news reports that he suddenly collapsed but light is still not sure if it's just a coincidence he decides that he needs a more conclusive test and again light is very methodical trying to figure out what types of criminals would be worth going after he figures no one to major since the cops might keep it a secret and again he reiterates that it can't be anyone he knows after seeing a classmate bullying another classmate at cram school on the way home he sees a young woman being harassed by several punks on motorcycles one of them mentions his full name aloud so he writes the guy's name in the death note specifying the death by traffic accident the girl runs off the guy chasing after her on his bike only to be hit by a truck light is a bit shocked by the deaths and his involvement in them the first guy was a murderer and holding children hostage so that's one thing but this second guy didn't necessarily deserve to die however he changes his mind almost instantly saying he thought this world was rotten and he can use the power of the Death Note to clean up the world he fights his fear of using the Death Note again by claiming that only someone like him has the guts to do this only he is capable of changing the world through this once people noticed that all the criminals in the world are dying of heart attacks it won't take long to piece together that someone is responsible people will be afraid to commit crimes for fear of lights wrath and the world will be a better place of course light will be the righteous leader of this new world and thus he begins to kill criminals using the Death Note using heart attacks as the method of death in order to create this godlike persona once again the anime is closed but changes just enough to have something to talk about it keeps the timeline chronological rather than the manga that skips ahead and details back to show how light got to writing all the names in the book in five days life does consider that if someone does die that would make him a murderer but shuts it off is completely impossible it immediately cuts to the news broadcast already on showing the criminal holding the children hostage in the nursery after the show the man's face a named light writes down the name of the man in the Death Note just as he thinks it doesn't work and he didn't expect it to anyway the news reports that the suspect collapsed and is dead light shaken believes it could be a coincidence and needs to test it again to prove its power he says it can't be a too well-known criminal in case the death is covered up and he wants results right away like the manga he decides against killing people who he knows the anime keeps close to the manga with the way that the punks harassed the young woman while light is on his way home however in the manga we only get a few glimpses of the punks and while they are verbally harassing the woman they never touch her in the anime though they make the assault much more apparent several members hold her down while the main guy who gave his name starts to strip off her clothing with the intent of raping her the young woman calls out for help and we cut to light writing down the guy's name in the book specifying traffic accident the events then play out as they did in the manga with the girl running off and the punk following her on his bike only to get hit by a truck however the anime doesn't include the scene of light immediately after the second death where he must justify the death to himself and reaffirm his belief that he is cleaning up the world the second guy was actually doing a crime besides being an [ __ ] and the girl was calling out for help light feels more justified in this second killing so he doesn't have that momentary in her crisis about killing an innocent person I really wish it could have been included because it's a fascinating turning point for his personality I think it would have been another good indication of how the Death Note warps his personality the anime just makes him accept it without too much fanfare interestingly though the 2006 live-action film changes up the first deaths a bit instead of the hostage situation as his first test kill light writes the name of a random child killer whose face and name are mentioned in the news with no real introspection on whether or not to use it and nothing about who he should kill in fact it doesn't look like he even read all the way through the various rules before writing the name down unlike the very methodical and overcautious manga and anime versions the next morning light reads the newspaper only to see the article about the man whose name he wrote in the death no we then cut to light across the railway from the criminal he followed before finding the Death Note the criminal recognizes light and he writes the guy's name in the Death Note the guy dies of a heart attack right in front of him confirming the death notes power without too much time consider his actions Ryuga reveals himself to light and explains how he dropped the notebook the hostage situation is used in the beginning of the film but not explained properly until after these events occur here light is less methodical mostly because he doesn't seem to believe that the Death Note could ever do something like that he also has more of a personal vendetta against one of his first kills something that manga and anime light wanted to avoid entirely not that the criminal had specific connections to light but like personally confronted him and knew he was really a killer light skills are more sympathetic in nature compared to the manga the first one is less of a test and more just light taking down the name then choosing a specific person to kill both kills are confirmed killers and criminals unlike the manga where the second guy probably didn't deserve to die the movie is more subtle when it comes to lights inner monologue keeping it sparse in the beginning to set up more of a mystery or thriller mood as we get more adaptations down the line the way in which light tests the Death Note becomes more emotionally involved and more sympathetic the TV drama like the 2006 movie sets up a person for light to kill who has some sort of personal connection to him only even more so this time a bully who is threatening his best friend and who he knows has violent tendencies instead of a test kill and then someone he knows this version has light choose the bully first again thinking the book won't work but as soon as he writes the guy's name he tries to erase it and it won't come off we see as he is writing it down it's a very emotional and sudden move and when he considers the possibility of it being real then he tries to remove the name again a less methodical and more emotional version of light acting on impulse and an attempt to save his friend the next morning a police officer comes to lights house to deliver his cellphone to him telling him they found it on sakata after he died in an accident light over here sakata's friends mention how weird it was how he suddenly collapsed and then the accident occurred making him realize the Death Note is real he panics and hyperventilates terrified at what he's done his panic leaves when he overhears several people who had been bullied by socrata who are glad he's dead saying stuff like dying is the nicest thing you could have done the second death is a bit of a mix on the one hand it is hostage situation but the hostage ends up being lights father he traded himself to save a little girl who was being held hostage since the criminal was arrested by lights father and holds a grudge against him light in his sister sigh you see the broadcast of the hostage and after saw you yells for someone to kill the guy to save their dad light runs home to use the deaf no lake is emotional and begs for it to work writing down the criminals name in time to save his dad like does deal with the terror of killing two people and apologizes to his father when ryuk shows up asking if flight feels like dying light is terrified and runs from her uke running to a rooftop and throwing the death no off the roof intending to commit suicide himself reek returns the note to him and when light says he doesn't want it where you could go to him telling him he can use it to do whatever he wants to know this is also one of the few versions where we uke deliberately drops the note specifically the light rather than by chance it's also Ryu who brings up the idea that someone bad could pick up the book and use it for evil light eventually gives in and decides to use the Death Note to rid the world of evil people so Ryu can this version is starting to be less neutral and more of a physical manifestation of the temptation that the Death Note brings he purposefully drops at near light after witnessing the fight with sakata though it is ultimately lights choice to use the notebook to kill it is when light tries to commit suicide for his actions that ryuk intervenes and presents the arguments once seen as lights inner thoughts in the previous adaptations lights actions therefore cannot be attributed to just his own Drive lights play to sympathetic and more of a typical story of a deal with the devil he has good intentions from the start and does genuinely believe he has done something bad when he kills ryuk acting as the temptation of the Death Note leads light to the path he walks as Kira rather than entirely lights own choice or corruption via the death notes power it's one thing if it's the influence of the Death Note bringing out lights worst qualities like in the manga or the anime it's another when Ryu blackmails light into using it this segues great into the Netflix version if you thought ryu Kantor feared too much in the TV drama then wow are you in for a treat with Willem Dafoe Ryu at least tini drama reacquainted until light had used the Death Note before trying to force him to keep using it Netflix RIA cares the crap out of light when he's in detention and kind of tricks him into using it by saying this is a dream like some of the later adaptations lights first kill is impulsive and someone who has either hurt him or someone he's close to in this case it's the school bully who not only has believed him but has been seen harassing several other students like doesn't at first but after more goading from ryuk he writes the bully's name down light also writes decapitation probably because he doesn't believe it will work and doesn't seem like the situation could call for that then we get our weird final destination style death andrea tells light if he doesn't want the notebook to leave it for seven days to pass it to the next person later after ryu explains a few more specifics to the death notes rules light writes down the name of the man who killed his mom but got out of jail scot-free the next day light tears from his dad about the death of the criminal and light after seeing the happy look on his father's face feels confident that he made the right decision light then goes to school openly reading the Death Note when Mia this film's version of Misa sees him reading it after talking happily about the death of the bully eventually light tells Mia without too much asking on her part about how the Death Note works and how he used it to kill the bully and his mom's murderer to prove the Death Note is real he looks up a live crime scene being broadcasted a hostage situation and kills the criminal Mia and light team up together to become Kira saying they will change the world for the better by killing off those who would try to do evil okay lots of stuff to unpack here in general about why this version doesn't work but strictly speaking to how it's changed from the manga it does have like kill someone because he doesn't believe it's actually going to happen but the fact that light believes it's a dream at first does kind of take away a bit of agency in the matter that in the fact that ryu points out a specific person for light rather than light choosing a criminal at random the second kill on the guy who killed his mom harkens back to a lot of the first kills being tests and previous adaptations since it feels like light is more in control of himself now without Ryoka fecking him entirely the hostage situation feels the closest to the mom his debts though there are still parts of it that show light isn't as intelligent as his manga counterpart he chooses a live broadcast in his home city like manga light but makes it much more obvious that the criminal is being controlled he does this to prove to me that he absolutely was responsible for the death however rather than a straight heart attack being something that could be explained it ends up being a big clue for Elle to find later to piece together also light picks me and to tell this to someone who he knows nothing about the only thing that they had in common was a weird love for the death of this bully light hardly ever acts without someone being an influence whether it is Ryu kiting him or him trying to show off for Mia a lot of the deaths just feel off now just because this version of light is so radically different from the manga doesn't automatically make him bad I kind of got the feeling they were going for a Bonnie and Clyde sort of scenario with him and Mia however what I don't like is just how much agency is lost on light and how little his own actions fully contribute to the use of the death know some of the other adaptations make light more sympathetic and emotional but still keep a lot of the core stories similarly structured but so much has changed and adjusted here that it makes it feel awkward number three what is the moment when light has gone too far okay some of these will be a bit subjective as of course everyone has their own opinion on whether lights motivations are justified up to a variety of points but here's the closest to what I think works as the point of no return in this modern Faustian tale what works with light is seeing how far he's willing to go to achieve his goals early on in the manga and anime we see that his motivations are pretty self-serving but to a lot of people victimized by the criminals he's killed lights actions are seen as heroic light can use that as a justification for his killings to a point eventually there comes a time when it's no longer just people who are in danger or criminals who he's killing at some point in the story it changes to a game of survival of keeping himself from being caught by L and the police when Lind L tailor proclaims himself L and calls out Kira for his murders light becomes [ __ ] and kills him both to show off and as a bit of a reaction to his views on justice being challenged it's one of those times when lights methodical nature is ignored and he acts on impulse and pride when L reveals the trap he set light is angered but at the same time intrigued by the detective and the game of each of them trying to figure out the other's identity begins this moment is undermined slightly when we realized that Lind L tailor was a death row inmate like did intend to kill L though mostly out of impulse however the true moment that showed light was no longer acting for any justice but his own self-preservation was when he manages to get Rea penber to write down all the names of the FBI agents who've been pulled in to investigate Kira none of these people have committed crimes as we know of and they are working for the law lights plan is complex Ameth audible showing that he knows what he's doing it is at this point that I felt light was fully corrupted by the death notes power and it's only a matter of time before he falls the anime pretty much follows this aspect to a tee though there are a few minor changes in how light acquires the information the wiki gets rid of the agents in penber follows with the same results with light confident that he's not only gotten rid of the ones following him but hopefully scaring off other potential agents it's this moment in addition to Naomi me Sora's death that truly cemented light as a villain in my mind there's really no way he can come back from this the 2006 movie does include the death of the FBI agents but honestly that is overshadowed by the ending light manages to kill Naomi me Sarah by sacrificing the life of his girlfriend Shiori by controlling their actions with the death note this serves two purposes it makes him look innocent and then he's given a motivation to join the task force to meet up with L to kill him as this is the end of the first movie of - it helps to show the difference light has gone through since acquiring the Death Note we see how he has gone from someone so invested in helping others to a villain who was willing to throw away his loved ones just to save his own skin it's why I don't mind the change - lights character that much in this particular adaptation it serves a narrative purpose without ruining the story or justifying all of lights' actions unlike the 2006 movie which shows a decent progression of how light becomes soaked did the TV drama continues again and again to make light looks super sympathetic he needs to eliminate the agents so they won't stop Kira and therefore the death of the criminals would stop light goes out of his way to try and save Misa which ends up getting him and her caught by L as suspects of being Kira there's always a justifiable purpose - lights actions a person for him to save which is honestly not as interesting again it's taking away lights agency and giving him more of a vigilante persona after losing his memories by giving up the Death Note links personality honestly didn't really change but now he's motivated to find Kira to save his dad which well was the purpose of using the Death Note at the beginning of the series when he touches it again and regains his memories suddenly he gets all cackling and more like the light of the original manga but it's very disjointed compared to the emotional eater moiled character we've been following so far it's kind of like the writers could no longer find enough justification and he just becomes evil and self motivating the moment then that shows that he's gone too far is when light kills his father to save himself but it feels a little forced for the character the way that the memories returning moment was filmed it kind of felt like that was supposed to be the turning point rather than the death of so Ichiro I think it was a bit clunky and if the writing had been a little stronger it could have worked much better in making light step too far have more significance but at the very least he does have a moment where he really has crossed the line from potentially heroic to self-serving and then there's the Netflix version light and Mia worked together to write down the names of criminals eventually gaining the notice of Elle and his team L never sets up a fake person for light to kill to prove that he can kill on the spot and like doesn't intend to kill the FBI agents instead wanting to lay low and let it blow over Mia ends up stealing the book and killing off the other FBI agents instead Mike's father ends up baiting Kira to kill him by showing his face and real name Mia wants to kill him but light refuses telling her they can't do that if they do they're not the good guys anymore in a way this is the most sympathetic version of light and it kind of makes the story feel flat he's been forced into using the note he's only tried to use it to help people and he didn't want to kill innocent people to save himself he even controls watery with the Death Note but doesn't tend to burn the page to save his life once he gets what he wants it's only due to Mia's interference that watery is killed even at the end every single person that light kills off has something bad about them Mia of course was willing to kill innocent people and the randos who saved him from the ferris wheel accident all have shady pasts to let him not feel bad about killing them off and using them the movie does everything it can to never make light cross a line without some justification part of what makes a deal with the devil story work is when you have the character needing to make those hard choices that eventually leads to either his demise or the death of his selflessness you can have a sympathetic start to light work so long as the act of him falling to the dark side actually is his choice this is one of the strongest reasons why the Netflix Lite character didn't do it for me they set up his path based on the original manga but take away his agency Drive and willingness to save himself no matter what number four what happens to light in the end the ending to the Death Note manga was one of the best endings to a story I had ever read lights successfully killed L but managed to get cornered by his successor near surrounded by the task force and out of options light calls to react for help his last desperate plea Ryo says sure and let glutes tenir telling them how stupid they were to not kill light immediately REO conforms him actually know it's lights name he wrote down if light needed to rely on Rios help then that meant there was no way he was getting out of this and he's not interested anymore after all Ryo did tell him in the beginning that he would be the one to write down lights name in the notebook light dies and we see pages in the death notes say all humans will without exception eventually die after they die the place they go to is mu nothingness the manga ends a year later with the world returning to normal crime rates and the task force continuing to work with Neron cases every once in a while however there is an underground cult of worshipers who pray for Kira's return and with that the story ends the story leaves it to the audience to decide if lights actions were just and hinting that someone else might take up the cause eventually lights death at the hands of ryuk is wonderful when he goes from feeling desperate to laughing at his enemy's stupidity to realising his own demise there's no more tricks left up his sleeve and light finally gets served the same punishment he dealt to criminals as Ryu says death makes us all equal the mostly faithful anime changes the endings slightly while late is cornered he managed to get away and run thinking back over his choices and wondering where he went wrong ryuk does write his name in the death no and he dies of a heart attack in the warehouse the last thing he sees is the ghostly image of L I was sad we don't get to see light in his most vulnerable and desperate state begging Ryu to not kill him the anime adds an additional imagery to add to the idea of gods and devils throughout the show with that angelic choir music we've heard so many times being played as light dies the Sun is setting just as lights life is coming to a close while it is visually symbolic it lasts the punch to the gut that the ending of the manga has seeing how far light has fallen makes his fate all the more satisfying he doesn't try to justify himself he doesn't accept it with grace he dies begging and screaming the anime leaves that more for the audience to infer and while pretty I think it needed light to actually talk to her you one last time rather than just doing it in voiceover we also don't see the aftermath of lights deeds seeing how society returns back to normal it makes for a nice conclusion to the story but I can see why they wanted to end with the strong image of lights dead body scene in the light I just wish we could have seen more complexity with the original manga ending the 2006 anime makes a lot of changes to the ending of the story though it still keeps the confrontation between light and Ryu l wrote his own name in the Death Note but for a longer period of time believing light was going to try to kill him with it so when light has REM write Elle's name down the first death that L provided cancels out the second Death Note he sets up light with a fake Death Note and writes down instructions to make his father return to him and help him get free intending to kill him - so Ichiro is fully in control though and Elle is still alive when Ellen so Ichiro revealed the trap light is wounded by Matsuda and confesses that he is Kira his ending monologue is similar to his feelings in the beginning about the law not convicting those who would do harm but with more of his Kira personality affecting his beliefs saying he's a God in this world bringing salvation like calls for Ryu revealing himself he asked for Reeves help bargaining with him by promising he will show him something interesting write down a name he says and Ryu Crites downlights name to his shock he tells light to remember he said he would never ask for Rios direct help and that Ryu could be the one to kill him Ryuga reveals that anyone who uses the Death Note doesn't go to heaven or hell but to nothingness light died telling his father all he wanted was justice so Ichiro has to lie to his wife and daughter saying that Kira killed light but they managed to stop him he visits L in his remaining days as he kind of became a father figure to him during the investigation L dies and a year later Tsai you talks with so Ichiro talking about how cries have returned after Kira's disappearance SIA hates Kira since her father told her that light was killed by him and we see the look of sadness on so Ichiro's face as he knows the truth of the situation but can never tell her just like the ending of the manga we're supposed to be a bit sad at lights death despite everything he's done it's a conflicting emotion he did kill people yes but there was a time when er he did have good intentions since the movie does end with the mangas ending mostly I don't mind the way that light was more sympathetic in the beginning it isn't a perfect adaptation but it's an interesting one because it takes pieces from the manga and changes it to see a new perspective on how light could have been a good person if he hadn't found the Death Note in the TV drama although L dies he sets up a situation for after his death in capturing light with help from near and the task force near shows a video L left before his death confronting light about being Kira and his plan to stop him surrounding him without allies with him like calmly tries to explain reasoning and make the others see that his form of justice is helping to rid the world of evil however as near challenges him light becomes more emotional and erratic saying only he was capable of creating this path for the sake of others asking what near would have done had he gotten the Death Note we see late explained that he killed the hostage who would have killed his dad acting to save someone he loved however when confronted on then how he killed his own father he says because he was in my way his form of justice needed to continue on even if it meant killing his own father he tries writing down names in the death note before being shot by Matsuda and Mika me knocks over some oil barrels and lights it on fire in an attempt to save light everyone else escapes while light is trapped inside severely injured he tries to reach the death note before it burns up begging and screaming that it can't end this way he mentions that if he dies here his father's death is meaningless he grabbed the still on fire note and asks ryuk to trade for the Shinigami eyes whatever it takes whoever light is set on fire and ryu tells him it's too late and light dies the series ends with near being shown a second video l recorded but it's opposite to the one seen before L apologizing to light for believing he is Kira and saying he is suited to becoming a detective who could work with NIR even though it was highly unlikely he recorded it just to be safe but also because a part of him really did want light to be innocent the series ends with a shot of else grave and NIR walking away from it the moon can be seen in the sky as a possible illusion to light since the kanji for his name is moon so we are seeing the way in which light has been corrupted by the power of the Death Note in the end even contradicting himself when it comes to why he used the note to save his father originally only to kill him later for his own self-preservation we also see light at his most desperate crawling towards the burning death note saying he cannot die or everything he has done will be meaningless although Ryu doesn't write down lights named light sort of still asks for help however it's less of a comeuppance for lights last-minute desperation and more just that there was no way he was getting out of this city alive he's bleeding out on fire and the Death Note is burning Ryoka knows his time is up whereas manga Rukh knows that late still has years left but if he is in jail he won't do anything interesting and he cuts it off now before having to wait around for light to die it has some elements from the manga in it but still is changed enough where it does affect some of the story we do see this version as very tragic as he didn't want to use the Death Note at first but was goaded into it by reuse logic rather than his own his transformation into this psychopath was also really sudden and didn't make as much sense dramatically since he really only becomes the psychopath after regaining his memories and he becomes more concerned about self-preservation this version is definitely touching upon light as a tragic figure more than a lot of the others like a Greek tragedy you see it in his utter confusion and lack of understanding when the task force doesn't agree with his views of justice it is destroying him as he has become consumed by the death notes hold this version shifts the balance a bit more in light's favor to at least feeling sorry for his death rather than be it can go either way vibe that I get from other adaptations and then there's the Netflix version Leigh is blackmailed by Mia who has stolen the Death Note and ridden lights name in it to save himself and stop her he sets up a complicated plan after falling from a ferris wheel he is rescued by a doctor who puts him in a medically induced coma a criminal finds the death note and uses it to commit crimes until two days later returning it to life he manages to get the page his name is on burned in the fall saving his life through the weird final destination rules that work in this version the doctor the criminal and Mia were all manipulated by lights convoluted plan all dying in the process likes dad manages to figure out that light is Kira and when he confronts him about it lates he's made mistakes he wanted to kill just the bad guys but it got more complicated than that meanwhile Elle manages to find pages of The Death Note in lights room and considers writing lights name in it light says he was choosing the lesser of two evils light sees ryu cackling who says as humans are so interesting ending the film they left it kind of open-ended since they probably wanted to have a sequel which is why there isn't really a conclusive ending with either L or Ryu cry ting a name down the lesson that light learns at the end is that sometimes you have to make hard choices for survival like killing Mia he's not really showing much remorse for his choices though since he honestly believes he's done good lights character changes mostly due to Mia she is the one who set the serious consequences in motion by killing the FBI agents and threatening to kill life's dad this version of light refuses to kill his father the biggest change from all the previous adaptations it's still kind of early in the story so it makes sense that it wouldn't happen right away however if there is a sequel happening I'm curious to see what lights relationship with him is going forward he's admitted to his father that he's Kira will he then need to silence his father to keep his secret judging by just what we have here though light really hasn't fallen to the dark side enough for his death to be a satisfactory ending so it's no real surprise he wasn't killed off in this first movie we haven't even really seen life do that much to be considered evil for the sake of self-preservation he kills off Mia because he's afraid of what she will do with the note once she is the owner and we've seen before she is willing to sacrifice anyone so his wanting to stop her could be justified he forces criminals to do his dirty work at the end this feels more like what the deaths of the FBI agents was in the manga light isn't particularly devious here he isn't killing completely innocent people he's still doing what he feels is justified sacrifice he also confesses to his father something the previous lights would never have done in less under extreme situations the arca that light is supposed to go through in this version just doesn't flow the same way as the others which is why it's so bad as an adaptation I'm aware this is supposed to be kind of a new take on light but just by the order of these four events of his setup first couple of murders the worst crimes and the ending it just falls flat conclusion there's a lot to like in these adaptations and it makes sense as to why they make changes to the story if it was completely this and really it's no different from the manga it's one thing for the anime to stick so close but for the movies yeah I can see why they changed some stuff the anime is the most faithful in general though I think some of the setup and the ending should have stuck to the original book rather than using a lot of biblical imagery and audio but in terms of sticking closest to the source material it wins by a long shot if nothing else because it was allowed to have the most time and ease of working with the material for the live-action versions what they change about the story has to make sense for the adaptation they are going with after the anime I'd say the 2006 movie is the closest in terms of adapting the most significant moments in the series and yes it changes quite a bit in the middle but I forgive a lot of it since it's only two movies trying to cover quite a number of manga chapters light in the 2006 version is made more sympathetic in the beginning in order to show the progression of the death notes influenced by the end of the first movie he's willing to sacrifice his loved ones that is an interesting tape compared to the anime and manga which didn't really give much time to setting up lights behavior before receiving the Death Note the movie doesn't excuse lights behavior and as a result of his hubris he's killed by Ryu the consequences of the mangas original ending still works in context with the changes made by the movie to lights beginnings the TV drama falters a bit with this because like the 2006 movie we see a sympathetic start to light but it takes a really long time for him to become the monster Kira it presents an interesting idea by having him willing to throw the note away and die in the beginning when he is still sorry for his actions despite the good he's done however his memories returning was handled incredibly poorly and he just switches on a dime it doesn't have a natural feel to it and kind of suffers as a result it does still go through a lot of the major moments mentioned but due to the large amount of sympathy towards lights motivations as well as rooks more direct involvement in keeping the note it ends up affecting each subsequent moment down the line for an example it's kind of like what they did with Shea from Game of Thrones book Shea is conniving and we aren't really surprised when she betrays Tyrion but show Shea is made much more complex and emotional and truly does love Tyrion so when the show like forces her back on her book path to betray Tyrion it doesn't gel well light still chooses to kill his father which is the point in which his death fell inevitable to me however some of his actions and motivations dictated by the manga story are a little more disjointed compared to the 2006 films and then there's the Netflix version it sort of serves as the culmination of how the adaptations over the years begin to add more and more stuff to an already strong story light is super sympathetic and doesn't want to kill innocent people and doesn't really have a moment where he needs to make a hard choice ryuk stroll as a devil on the shoulder is much like the TV drama and how little agency light has Ryoka needs to be a neutral party in this situation for it to work you can't blame lights decisions entirely on his own due to both three u k-- and mia light was stupid enough to immediately blab to a girl he barely knows about a super-awesome death book so you kinda don't feel too bad for most of the stuff happening to him he isn't making a Faustian deal it's a lot more pressured and pushed on to him becoming Kira he fights me on the idea of self-preservation sticking to his guns even at the very end for this story to work you need light to go through an arc and he doesn't really change at all even with all the goading from ryuk and the TV drama lake does change I'll be it abruptly basically the Netflix version suffers from being the bad ending to some of the choices made by previous adaptations make light sympathetic at the start this makes him less interesting have him use the note on a person he knows it's less of a hard choice for him to make have react forced him into using the note he eventually gets a taste for power and suffers for it as a result light doesn't beg for help from ryu k-- we never see him at a low point he never trusts where you get all and therefore won't do that so yeah even the most faithful adaptations of Death Note still make changes here and there that changed how I viewed the story the anime gets it so close but makes a bit of a misstep at the very end the 2006 version gave me a more sympathetic light and it was a refreshing take on it since let more to L than light when I first read the story the TV drama tries to have each character faced tough questions like L not being a hundred percent sure about light being Kira due to their friendship and even the Netflix version had some merit the Death Note story on paper can work in an American setting however due to how much they changed the events and the personalities in the story its presented as more of a what-if scenario than a full proper adaptation what if Misa had acquired the death note first then light lei has given the dead parents backstory Misa had he's more emotional and stupid at times and isn't willing to do everything it takes to keep his identity as Kira safe mia instead is more willing to kill innocent people to keep using the note and once the light shows her how it works she weasels her way into his life by using her romantic wiles when you look at more that way it feels less frustrating but inevitably if you've seen any previous versions before of course comparisons are gonna happen I applaud the Netflix version for trying to be a really different take on the story but due to just how much they change or didn't change in some plot cases it really could have benefited if it had just been an original story or possibly a future after the events of the first Death Note story that can work for a movie right right okay maybe not so what did you guys think about these various versions of Death Note which felt like the strongest live-action adaptation to you and kept true to the themes and feel of the manga also which light was your favorite for me I adore tatsuya fujiwara z-- performance and not just cuz he was also in Battle Royale post your thoughts and comments below since as we know these will help to stave off the inevitable presence of the YouTube algorithm and if you're feeling generous please hit that like button or subscribe if you haven't already this was a patreon requested so if you'd like to request a future episode feel free to head over to my patreon page and become a patron today links to that along with all my other social media bar down below thank you all so much and I look forward to seeing you in the next episode bye [Music] [Music] hey everyone as this is a patreon sponsored episode I wanted to take this opportunity to give a quick reminder about how patreon works it's a website that allows you to pledge a certain amount of money per month to your favorite content creators allowing us to actually make a career out of this depending on how much you pledge you get a variety of rewards in exchange some of my rewards for you include having your name in the credits joining Mike discord chat room and getting early access to my videos or at the highest tier you can even choose something for me to review such as with this episode every little bit counts so even if you can only do one dollar that really builds up over time and helps me to make this show even better thanks for your support and I'll see you in the next video and more of a physical there's it does have and he didn't want to kill innocent people to save him there's the script bye bye

Channel: Calluna Reviews

Views: 124,183

Rating: 4.8947563 out of 5

Keywords: Adaptations, Death Note, Screen Shots, Calluna, Review, Analysis, Light Yagami

Id: FAYhCFFQGXM

Length: 49min 43sec (2983 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 22 2019