Hey folks, Valkor here. I don’t mind live action adaptations of cartoon or anime series, so long as everything is kept true to the source, then I’m all in. So recently I picked up the live-action version of Death Note, which is based on the anime and manga series alike. I’ve watched some eps and I will say this, Death Note parts 1 and 2 both kick serious ass.

In part one, we are introduced to Light. (Tatsuya Fujiwara famed for his role in Battle Royale w00t!!). Light finds the Death Note when he leaves a bar after confronting a thug who basically brags about the things he has done. What is the Death Note? It’s a notebook that if you write a person’s name, they will die of a heart attack 40 seconds later unless the person specifies how and where the person dies. So Light, with the use of the Death Note decides to kill off all the criminals to make Japan a safer place. This also causes conflict in the people. On one side, he is praised and is called “Kira”. People think Kira is doing everyone a favor by ridding the world of criminals. But on the other side you have those who think Kira is a bigger murderer then the ones he’s killed. With this group you have law enforcement who want to find Kira and put a stop to his murderous ways. Leading the Police is a young man simply known as “L”. L thinks he sees a pattern and uses this info to find Kira. On Light’s side, he is joined by Ryuk, a twisted looking death god with a grin bigger than The Joker’s. Ryuk is the owner of the Death Note. He is there to help Light in the use of the book, because he thinks “humans are interesting and fun”. So L has deduced that Light is possibly Kira and he is set on proving it. However Light always stays one step ahead of L, even going to the extreme. I won’t spoil it here. Part one ends with Light and L teaming up.

Part two continues where part one leaves off. Light is part of the taskforce to help find Kira, because he doesn’t want anyone to suspect that he is Kira. Also there is the appearance of a second Death Note. This one is found by Misa Amane, a TV personality who’s family was murdered, but she was avenged when Kira killed the Murder. Misa does the one thing Light refuses to do and that’s give the death god half her life in exchange for Death God’s eyes. That is the ability to see the name of the person and see how much time they have to live. The owner of this Death Note calls himself Rem and he acts differently than Ryuk as he wants to protect Misa more than having fun like Ryuk. From the start of part two till the very end, it plays out like…. Well like a game of Chess between Light and L until we get the climatic ending.

Death Note parts 1 and 2 rock hard. It’s such a solid story with nothing too complex, but enough twist that won’t make it seem too predictable. Even without the Death Gods, this would still be a great tale. And it’s also great that the Death Gods do play a subtle role. They don’t offer much to begin with, they are simply… There. Oh ya speaking of the Death Gods, freakin amazing CGI was done on them as they look like their anime and manga counterparts. Ryuk looks awesome with his wide, sick grin. But Rem looks the coolest, nuff said.

The acting is a mixed bag Tatsuya does a freakin awesome job and never gets cheesy. Ken’ichi Matsuyama is also another favorite as the sweets loving L. Hell the way he gobbles down sugary snacks I thought maybe L was a death god in some kind of disguise. Only to find out he’s a bit mental. The special effects are none too heavy, mostly it was kept to the Death Gods and when you seem from their perspective. That’s it.

There isn’t too much negative to say about Death Note, the story is so fluid and consistent, because it looks like the film was shot back to back rather than a year or two apart so there is no extreme character change. And the characters themselves are all well acted and developed. This is the best transition from an anime to live action or anything to live action I have ever watched. Death Note parts 1 & 2 is available only in Japan or in your local import shop. I give it 5 stars, its been Valkor tested and TOV approved.

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Email: valkor@the-other-view.com