Watching: Death Note Ep 1-2
My son RE and I both loved reading Death Note. It has a great mix of mystery, thriller, moral wrestling, magic, conflict and character development. So when we needed a new show to watch together it seemed like an obvious choice.
First, where could we find it? We went to Hulu initially and found a subbed (voice over) version with commercials. Then we headed to Netflix which has an original live action movie! The lingering Airbender-incited mistrust gave us pause, but we dove in. Only to see that it was set in Seattle, where we live instead of in Japan where the manga is set. Ok, cool, sort of. Although parts of the plot involve are tied into the fact that it’s Japanese, we kept going. RE didn’t like the casting for Light, the main character, straight off the bat and we were confused who the other characters the intro montage lingered on. The plot progressed otherwise much like the manga, but after the 10th F-bomb we bailed for more tween friendly content.
Netflix also has a subbed (subtitles) version and we dove in and came up for air after 2 episodes thrilled. Even though we know the story, there is magic seeing it on the screen. Some of the voices aren’t what I imagined, but not enough to dampen our enthusiasm.
During adult only time I might venture back to the Netflix original one to see how they changed it to fit the new location and how it holds up to the original.
So the plot, and ahead there be spoilers!
Light Yagami is an exemplary student who is jaded and cynical about the state of the world. He’s going through his day with ennui when he notices a notebook fall from the sky. Between classes he investigates and finds what he assumes to be a prank or chain letter explaining that any human who’s name is written in the notebook will die. The rules as revealed are:
From Death Note Fandom wiki page:
- The human whose name is written in this note shall die.
- This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.
- If the cause of death is written within the next 40 seconds of writing the person’s name, it will happen.
- If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.
- After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.
Initially skeptical, he arranges a few test runs using criminals who are actively committing crimes, and who Light can observe to confirm the notebook’s powers. After fifty or so deaths, his actions are noted and he is embraced and reviled online as Kira.
We meet Ryuk the shinigami and original owner of the notebook and L the mysterious investigator who promises to catch the evil Kira.
Whether you catch it in print or screen form, it’s addictive!