Me when I realize I can watch the movie now but do I want to?

I'm just gonna go ahead and assume that Death Note Joke I left in the previous journal went largely ignored and people assumed I watched the real Death Note. And I'm going to say yes, that's my fault, but how can I amend that? Well, easy, I actually watch the live action death note movie that is made in US.

Yes I'm still busy.

Yes I'm still trying to work on my various DBs.

Yes I'm still working on Gaming King.

Yes I have school and work now.

Yes I still rp in a general way.

Anyway, back to topic....

You know what let's push away the Americanization. Because honestly, it wasn't that bad. Alright, it's fine it's fine. The beginning setting made me raise my brow but this is a live action movie so naturally they have to compress some stuff. Light doesn't have a mom but he gets a bonus of getting a reason to have a reason to test out his Death Note on a killer later on. His dad is still a police thankfully. Mia is a thot but an interesting character. L isn't too bad I actually really like his representation and style in the beginning. Watari is a fairly cool looking guy too. Everything is fine, the set-ups are nice. It follows the quickness and development of how Kira became popular, and frankly I love the concept of Light Turner making FBI search everything on the other side of the world.

The bullying issue is annoying but I guess it fits what's needed. It does set up Light is a bit smart and raises the idea that people turn away from 'sins' as I like to explain them for now. But hey I do question the idea of using the Death Note in such a public place like a Gymnasium. I mean Death Note already sends out warning bells to people since the word DEATH is kinda there. But I guess people can assume that it's some chuunbiyou/weirdo/goth doing something with a strange book like some sort of poem related to deaths. I'm not that triggered by him showing it to the girl he crushes on although I wished it was in better circumstances. If I can be honest it felt like they split Light into Light and Mia here. Which honestly is something I liked.

Yes.

I liked it.

They split off Light Yagami into Light Turner (Slightly more naive, but idealistic and hopeful and I want to help kill bad guys) and Mia (I want to kill all the bad guys on the world! Even if it means I have to kill those close to me!). Which is the reason why I see Mia became so hated. She was basically manipulating Light later on but in the same way she was a necessary evil. I'll be more detailed on that later but that is what happens and frankly, I don't hate her as much. It's like hating Nui, you hate someone who is made to be hated because hey, they're right there. Kinda like that girl from the Mist. But the performance of the actors are all pretty solid. Initially. I enjoyed L's cockiness and they kept his sweets loving. Light is a new take but I don't hate it, it makes me actually think that "Hey, this is probably what a normal guy might do. Maybe." And Mia did her part quite well.

See this girl? She ain't Misa by the way. Now be sad

However as things progressed I realized something.

Wow.

This is really compressed as I expected it to be.

It begins to get noticeable but this is kinda the same issue with adapting a video game into live action or a very short series. Sometimes you compress and push away everything. You push away character development, you push away the required mental cat and mouse, you push away those plot twists and just use them with a wave of the hand. Am I saying Death Note's mental game is stupid? no. not at all. But it's rather simplified. It's simple enough but it's not like everything is spelled out to you. It's not as if things are simply laid out for you as if they treat you like a kid but it's certainly doesn't make you go "Woah. Holy shit that was genius". So the middle part was still good. Was I disappointed they didn't include Death Note Episode 2's scene of L tricking Light into attacking him and revealing what region he lives in? Yes, kinda, alongside the fact that they use Watari's name as literally just that.

But it was okay. Did it degrade on quailty? No. It did not. It didn't have bad quality early on if you accept the inevitability of Americanization since it's a necessary thing to do. And if you look past it and separate the original source, Light's not too bad. If anything it stayed consistent. Quality was okay.

For the first half.

and then it begins to show.

People are gonna be triggered by Mia. That's natural. That's like implementing a female OC in a Death Note fanfiction where the Main character is OOC and is controllable. That's what you're gonna assume if you're a fan of Death Note beforehand. If not, you just think Light is stupid and you hate that bitch anyway. Of course you're gonna hate the girl anyway. L on the other hand begins to look more like a loser and feels like he's failing a lot.

Dad might say it's rude to sit like that but I love it.

Let me explain. Let's use Death Battles or any sort of conflict for a moment.

In order to have a good fight or good conflict between two characters and that you don't bore your audience, you can make it so that both sides are represented fully and their motivations are something you both root for. You also make it so that one side isn't just necessarily beating up the other side like a man held back in high school beating up a kid. What you're showing is a one sided beatdown. Naturally that can be entertaining if it wasn’t for the fact the entire franchise is famous for its philosophical approach to life and death, justice and evil, what’s good or wrong, and the mental battle of cat and mouse with L and Light. It’s what I noticed in some Death Battles honestly with sometimes the writer not being able to accurately have the dominance of power on both. Sometimes it’s just on one character ripping again and again on the other guy. Like a portrayal of a hero against a villain. That's fine. Oh, L does not always win? That's fine, some of us root for Kira. I guess Kira fans will be happy while L fans are happy.

But....

See... the issue becomes kinda huge when your antagonist, or at least archnemesis to the main character loses his cool and charm. That charm that L had disintegrated the moment he talked ot Kira. See L's revelation to Kira early on was great because it was so sudden and so swift, and no one saw it coming. There's also a psychological attack on it since it was done in order to shake Light's mind. But you see, if you combine that with the fact that L is losing a lot, coupled with the lack of any sort of clever mental battles in the level of Death Note that made it so popular..... It kinda feels like you're being squeezed on the nuts by a wrestler while you're upside down. Each separate it wouldn't be really a big deal. Put them all together, it's kinda towering over you. The more the movie progresses, the more I began to hate L's representation. To compare it it wasn't as if he needed to be some sort of emotionless guy who does everything in perfection. But I at least want to make it so that he's not in a situation where he always loses and looks like he's ready to break down with Watari as if he's his daddy or something harder than Sora and Shiro in NGNL being separated. His acting is still exellent but you get to hate his character the more it continues.

I also both hate and love the time when he finally grabs the gun and shoots, but mostly hate it because of the fact that it's an even more gigantic gravestone on him that says I lost. On the other hand Light's loss of having his identity revealed was done so quickly and swiftly that it's really just.... ugh... grating... That's the word. It's like Mia dargs the two down. No matter what sort of execution you do it's gonna drag the two down because... everything is already compressed and introducing a foreign character makes things even more annoying.... Then there's also the part that Light doesn't even seem like the anti-hero thus negating the sheer determination L has for chasing down Kira. That's the issue with splitting them apart. Frankly it's what made me love the ending. If they made Light the slightest bit more evil or corrupted maybe it would've changed something, maybe if Mia was the good girl instead of a bad girl. Maybe if the roles were reversed it could get into something interesting or maybe if she just freaking acted like Misa it would've made for an interesting cat and mouse and dog but that's not the case here since everything needs to be compressed.

Now where was I going?

Oh right. By the end of the movie, which frankly I was just being triggered by grating comments and interpretations.... I actually began to enjoy it again. I am not happy but I enjoyed the sight of the chase scene and the characteristics of the two, but great L becomes even more of a scumbag now with everything he did. And by close to the end I was ready to give up and just sigh and say, looks like I'm gonna have to wait for Jojo, Gintama, Saiki, and Ajinn to save anime..... Almost.

Drop the thot. Bros before Hoes. Oh wait you don't even have a Bro.

But that ending....

It's....

It made me realize it.

It made me both happy and sad.

There was so much potential.

That was the level of mind games you needed. That was the things you needed to do Death Note. Light Yagami's method of surviving his name being written and actually outwitting L. And L actually figuring it out. The conversation actually showed the possible charm between the two if they focused on that instead of trying to make Light a middle between Idealistic Hero and I'm ingenious and perfect Yagami. The freaking.... Frankly it's what could've saved the show if they kept going with it. This is what I needed and then I came to a conclusion.

If this was a series.

It would be better.

Why? Cause the main issue for this was pacing and lack of any capability to stretch out its wings. With it being so compressed on the cage of 2 hours it couldn't do what the old series does, and suffers from the many issues of having something large and wide spanning being compressed. (WOAH BIG DISCOVERY THERE BOB, WE WOULDN'T HAVE FIGURED THAT ONE OUT WITHOUT YOU). But no, I really do mean it. Alternater character interpretation aside, pacing aside, and even with the vast changes here.... This could've been a good show. Why? Cause when you think about it the only other real big issue is...

The lack of any sort of Mental Battles

The need for more details and development for characters

Extending the cat and mouse game between Light and L

The possible more expanded details and antagonistic nature of Mia

Me after the movie

Was Americanization a bad thing?

Not really. Only if it's jam packed into something so compressed like this. This story could've been saved if you just freaking, let its wings out. The movie clearly has the capacity to become better considering it does have the capacity to play mind games with its characters. Light getting through the effects of the Death Note was one of the most ingenious things that could've happened and frankly that was a karmic death for Mia. We all loved that. But everything in that... Oh my god. why couldn't they have spread you out? This is like putting all the limited jam in a sandwhich on the crust.

Is alternate character representation a bad thing? No. Not really. It will trigger some of the original fans like I did initially but then you'll realize it also is a necessary step. Since not everything in America will be in Japan and Vice Versa. Racial differences, personality changes, necessary evil thot Mia, are all okay once you treat this... as something separate from Death Note. The issue of L losing a lot and crying still triggers me and maybe this would be better handled by me and many more fans if it was instead spanning over a series because we can actually see the pace of everyone's relationship.

So I really am saddened by this.

I didn't see a piece of shit.

I didn't see garbage.

I didn't see a dead donkey that needs to be kicked around.

I didn't see Avatar Live action or Dragon Ball Evolution.

What I saw, was something that could've been, but was broken by being compressed and had that faint glimmer of hope that it could be something.

Oh hell I'm not even a massive fan of Death Note though I respect its legacy and was one of my childhood animes (wait isn't that paradoxical Bob- Shut up you) but this... I guess is just another showcase of how sometimes a series would be better for somethign that was a series before.

So... what's my verdict with Death Note?

It could've been something greater. But fails. If only you used more of that ending mental game, which L even discovers you could've been something amazing. Maybe. Pushing aside bias as a fan and accepting the Americanization?

Still one of the best plans one can have and Light is still the moral hero here

It's a 5. Maybe a 6. Out of 10. Not out of 100. Just 5 - 6   out of 10.

Counting No Potato chip eating scene nor L's trick to find where Kira is located in the continent? 1/10

There we go

Notes

+ Actually legitimately laughed at Light's "Child abuse and held back" joke

+ Oh shit that first death is something out of Final Destination. What if Kira was the one in charge of Final Destination?

+ The agents really should've been shown more but I like it enough. What kind of an agent gets ambushed by a girl though

+ That guy tossing out the trash being a follower of Lord Kira was an amusing one

+ William DaFoe’s amazing here at least

You could've been something amazing.

See you around Ryuk