Death Note has become one of the best manga and anime worldwide. The concept overall was genius and thought-provoking to the point where we question our ideas of justice and crimes. The main character Light Yagami was just a simple high school student who was incredibly smart, but bored. Then one day, he found a notebook falling from the sky and saw that it had potential. Because of his newfound “power” he wanted to become the god of the world he wanted to create. However, he would face a challenge in the name of L.
With its huge success in Japan, live-action movies were created and while it had different stories, they were just as good as the manga and anime. After that, America thought, “How about we make our adaptation of Death Note?” The idea of that either ticked off a lot of faithful fans or made people worry about what the adaptation will bring.
Sure enough, Netflix ordered an American live-action adaptation of Death Note and it was released worldwide on August 25th, 2017. The trailers looked interesting despite having controversy behind them, and much to everyone’s expectations, it was received poorly. In all honesty, it is a better American adaptation compared to Dragonball: Evolution and Fist of the North Star. However, it still had a lot of problems.
Whether you love or hate Netflix’s live-action adaptation, there are a lot of interesting facts. Here are twenty-five mind-blowing things you didn’t know about the garbage Death Note movie!
25 Future Concerns For Whitewashing
Now, this one might not be entirely related to Death Note, but because of the film’s release, there are a lot of concerns for future American live-action adaptations. There is a certain beloved anime movie that was regarded as one of the best of all time, eventually becoming the highest grossing animated film of all time in Japan after Spirited Away, and that is Your Name.
Recently, J.J. Abrams is attached to the American live-action adaptation.
He will be the director of Your Name and people are freaking out. When it comes to American live-action adaptations, there will be a term commonly used known as whitewashing. Since the original source is from Japan, having American actors play Japanese characters makes it controversial and very concerning. Thanks to Netflix’s Death Note, we are worried about how films based on an anime will be like now.
24 What A Rotten Rating
Like with a lot of American live-action adaptations of anime films, they tend to be on the rotten ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. Netflix’s Death Note is one of them. The fans who oppose the film definitely had the last laugh, while movie critics only judge the film as a movie instead of comparing it to the original source material. Compared to Dragonball: Evolution, it is a better adaptation, but Ghost in the Shell ranks higher by four points on Rotten Tomatoes.
Death Note currently holds a 41% rating.
Movies based on video games also get this treatment, but that is because video games are a different type of media. When it comes to manga and anime, it is like adapting it from books and cartoons in America. Ratings do not matter all the time, but in this case, the critics and audience are fair for this movie.
23 Some Things Stayed The Same
When a movie is being made based on another property, it has to stray away from some ideas to keep the movie from being an exact copy of the original source. Some can be creative and work well, while others are downright terrible and annoying to sit through. Death Note is guilty of this, but there are some things that managed to stay the same.
What are those traits? Well, L still has his love for sweets while Ryuk still adores eating apples. If the film did not acknowledge this, then it would have made the characters L and Ryuk completely different from their original counterparts. And hey, at least L, Ryuk, Watari, and Light still have their names, even though the latter has a different last name.
22 The Director's Expertise
When it comes to filmmaking, the director has the toughest job of all. They would have to make everything perfect to create a scene that is either exciting, scary, romantic, or heartbreaking. Since Death Note is a psychological horror live-action movie, a director who has the qualities of making a film around that would do perfectly.
If anything, Adam Wingard is a decent choice to direct the film. His directorial roles in You’re Next and The Guest were critically acclaimed and very horrific to watch. In some parts of the Death Note film, there were some scary parts, but at the same time, there were some really cringe-worthy moments that were just strange. Wingard did a great job in capturing the horror in the film, but it was not enough to impress film-goers and fans alike sadly.
21 Interesting Origins
Let’s talk about the man who portrayed Light Turner. His name is Nat Wolff and he is an incredibly talented actor, even if some of his moments as Light are questionable at best. He got his big break in starring films based on John Green’s novels such as The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns. Here’s a real kicker from his resume:
This man was part of Nickelodeon's The Naked Brothers Band.
If that is not hilarious, then we do not know what is. Nat and his brother Alex still sing and make music to this day, but the idea of a kid who used to be on Nickelodeon and star in a film based on the manga is just crazy! Nat has quite the resume that will remain with him for all of his acting career.
20 That Sounds... Lazy
Ever since Light picked up the Death Note and used it for the first time, he was shocked to the point where he thought he was going insane. When he did it the second time, that was when he decided to use the notebook for justice. The live-action film follows the same route, but there was one thing that made us shook our heads in disappointment.
Light and Mia had to look up the name Kira.
In the anime and manga, loyalists to Kira made the name for Light. They created websites in tribute to him. It makes us question how the people even got Kira as a name in the American live-action adaptation. Did they just pick it out because it was Japanese or what?
19 These Two Are Somewhat Canon
Light and Misa are not what we call a perfect couple. Misa wanted to find the one who avenged her parents after their lives were taken away from them, and it just happened to be Light himself. She pretty much owed him her life for what he did. Ever since she got her own Death Note, she wanted to help Kira and rebuild the world. Unfortunately, Light did not feel the same way to her at all, which is heartbreaking for Misa.
In the live-action film, however, he actually has the hots for her. As the film progresses, they eventually ended up together and become the dangerous couple as they write down names of criminals in the Death Note. Together, they would make a new world.
18 Voice Actor's Blessing
Whenever casting is announced, people seem to either be okay with it or absolutely despise the choice of who would portray the character. Even though the movie was overall underwhelming, there were some really great choices in Death Note. Not all of the original English voice actors have their saying for the casting, but Brian Drummond, the voice actor for Ryuk, had something to say regarding Willem Dafoe as Ryuk.
He voiced his approval in the casting choice.
Brian tweeted that he was bummed about not being able to portray Ryuk, but Willem Dafoe was an excellent choice to play Ryuk, the apple-loving Shinigami who guided Light throughout his journey. If the original actor has nothing to say but praise, then that is considered a good thing.
17 Strong Performances
Netflix’s Death Note is a mixed bag, mostly consisting of negative reviews, but even bad movies have some strong highlights that help the movie a bit. If there is anything the critics pointed out, it would have to be performances of a couple characters. Willem Dafoe was the role everyone really looked forward to, and to everyone’s surprise, he was fantastic as Ryuk.
Another performance that shocked us was Lakeith Stanfield as L. Despite his race, he did an excellent job in portraying Light’s rival. There were some traits that did not exactly fit L, and that is being emotional, but for what Keith had to portray, he did a fantastic job. There is a saying that goes, “a diamond in the rough,” and these two actors are exactly those diamonds in the rough.
16 Social Media Shock
Advertisement for a movie comes in many forms. Trailers are the most important ones, but with social media becoming huge, there are different ways to advertise for a movie. Other than Facebook pages, there are sites like Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram. One of those sites will be talked about on this entry, and it is surprising.
Ryuk has his own Twitter.
If only it was a joke, but the Shinigami himself has a social media account. It is questionable for a god like him to have one, but it is kind of hilarious. It would be funny if he were to post his love for apples. However, a post has not been made since September, but then again, the account was only used for advertisement and nothing more. It was entertaining while it lasted.
15 Ugh, Another One?
Whenever a movie becomes popular, demands for a sequel are common. Unfortunately, most of them are bound to be inferior to the first movie due to it being unnecessary, not as strong as the first film, or to milk in the name for cash. Before it was even released worldwide, there were already talks of a sequel being made!
The Death Note fans are probably screaming at the idea.
Sure, the Japanese live-action movies had sequels, but that was because the first movie was so good that it deserved to extend the world of Death Note in live-action form. A sequel to an American adaptation would only make the same mistakes as the first one did. Especially for how the movie ended, how will it go?
14 Virtual-Reality Experience
Remember about movies being advertised in a number of different ways? Well, other than Ryuk having his own Twitter account, there is a YouTube video of the VR experience related to the film. And no shock from the thumbnail, Ryuk is in it. The way it was handled was well done and very entertaining as if you were in Light’s position instead.
The tension and the suspense were there. If you happen to have a VR headset, then go ahead and try it out! It looks really fun and entertaining. Just make sure that there is nothing in the way that can be broken. It might be short compared to the movie, but at least the VR experience was more entertaining than the live-action adaptation.
13 They Did Not Take It Well...
Whitewashing will always be a controversial subject whenever a foreign country adapts a movie based on the original source from another country. Ever since the filmmakers of Death Note revealed that American actors would only play the main leads, that left a lot of people upset. Even those with Asian ethnicities.
Meet Edward Zo and Arden Cho.
Edward admitted on a YouTube video that he tried to audition for the role of Light Yagami, but only white American actors would be able to audition instead. Hollywood is a business, but that is just wrong. Arden also called out the whitewashing with the tweet saying, “Great, another Hollywood feature film casting all white leads for a famous JAPANESE manga. I'm sure the fans are gonna love that. #DeathNote”
She has a point, because fans were definitely outraged once the trailer popped up.
12 The Fate Of These Two
The ending to the live-action version of Death Note left some interesting questions but somewhat made us feel unsatisfied. This will cover spoilers, so be careful! There was a lot of conflict of what Light will do after Mia passed away. He managed to plan everything that would lead up to it, but after L lost Watari, everything was going badly for these two. When the movie was drawing to a close, it left us wondering…
Who will be the first to go this time: Light or L?
Depending on whether or not a sequel will be made, though people will be relieved if it does not happen, there are a lot of ideas that can evolve the story of Netflix’s Death Note. But more importantly, what will Ryuk do?
11 What A Coincidence!
In order for there to be great acting, the actors have to have great chemistry, unless you are George Lucas. The Death Note film has its fair share of amazing acting coming from Ryuk and L, and probably Light and Mia. Speaking of the last two, the actors that portrayed them, Nat Wolff and Margaret Qualley, have actually dated.
It apparently worked out for them in this film.
Even though they are not an item anymore, it is interesting how actors can grow closer and bring out the romance whenever something related to that happens in a movie scene. Since Light and Mia are a couple, it makes the chemistry between the actors stronger. Then again, Light never really had the hots for Misa in the original, so it is contradictory.
10 Strange Choice Of Music
One of the weirdest parts of Netflix’s Death Note would have to be the choice of music playing in some scenes. Other than the decent original soundtrack, the idea of having 80s music is very odd. What do they have to do with Death Note and why are they so corny? It is a horror film and it includes cheesy and romantic 80s songs. Whoever had that idea should take notes on how to add in proper music in some of the scenes.
Some of the songs that were in the film include Chicago’s “I Don’t Wanna Live Without Your Love” and Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away.” When Chicago’s song played in a certain scene with a Ferris wheel, it probably made people very confused and facepalming themselves.
9 What Did They Do To Him?
One of the shocking parts of this disappointing film is that Watari was cast by an actual Asian actor named Paul Nakauchi. So, because of that, not all of the cast were whitewashed. We even thought that Watari would stay true to the original character and act as L’s father figure and assistant. It is kind of true, but there were some strange choices made to the character. Even so, Watari’s true ethnicity cannot save what the film did to him.
Appearance wise is the obvious one. Watari is supposed to be an elderly man, and the film gave him a buffed version of him with tattoos? He is also kind of a downgrade when it comes to common sense. By that, he easily fell into Light’s trap and eventually screwed him over in the end.
8 Surprisingly Harder To Watch
By the title of its name, the manga and anime version Death Note is surprisingly not that violent. Whenever Light writes down a name, they would only suffer from a heart attack. Those that would have worse fates are only kept to a minimum when it comes to how they pass away. The American version throws that out the window and makes the violence a million times more gruesome.
It was just over-the-top and not really needed. Violence is only shown for the sake of being violent and nothing more. The victims whose names were written in the Death Note should have been swift and simple, just how the original Light did it. Plus, the scenes were just too much. If someone was a fan of Death Note and they happened to have a weak stomach, then they would not enjoy those moments at all.
7 The Rules Are Messed Up
You know the rules of the Death Note. They are memorable, scary, and can bring quite the imagination of how to end a person’s life, realistically of course. You can be creative with it just as long as the rules are followed. Light definitely had his fun with it as he does it for justice. With the Netflix film, though…
More changes in the American version are coming your way! While they kept most of the rules the same, new rules that were created made absolute zero sense. For example, you can burn the page of a name you have written down if they are not offed yet. That logically does not sound right. If their name is written on the Death Note, then they should suffer the consequences.
6 Different Backstory
In the manga and anime, Light Yagami is an honor student and is one of the top students in Japan. He lived with his parents and younger sister and while he was bored, he still made his parents proud with his high grades and going to night school. In the Netflix version, any signs of Light’s sister were completely removed.
His mother was also out of the picture due to passing away. Light and his father were both devastated at this since they knew who took her life but could not find any evidence to back it up. Because of this change, it made Light’s character completely different from the original. He was not even that smart as well. Sure, Light’s mother and sister barely played a part in the original source material, but they at least help build Light’s backstory.