Any Death Note fans here?

[zakkrusz]

^Oh that's all well and good. That's what I wanted to see. It's just it should have been L to do it. Not that silly L wannabe.

Then I suggest the live action films, no Near or Mello to be seen.

Exactly. It's as if near the end of the wrath of kahn, kirk died and then some nobody cocky young commander warped in, and suddenly started making kahn his bitch with no buildup.

That's what's good about anime though. You never know if the "good guy" will win or not, sometimes they do, other times they don't and the villain kills everyone, sometimes some of people you believe to be saints are actually evil bastards. It's the abillity to throw a monkey wrench into things that adds a certain aspect of unpredictability. Which is offen a pro rather than a Khan...err Con.

The best series in my opinion are those where they "remove the safety net" and create an atnosphere where no character is "safe" from harm or death and nobody has plot armour. Ala Elfen Lied, Blue Gender, When They Cry (Higurashi no Naku Koroni), etc.

If it were a movie I'd agree with you whole-heartedly, however, I'd say the rule for series is different and I wouldn't call foul due to it being lengthier. Sometimes it works for me and sometimes it doesn't though. It's more of case by case basis.

 

[melancholymecha]

It's just it should have been L to do it. Not that silly L wannabe.

yeah I agree. Though I did like Mello.

 

[Dream]

I just watched the second Death note movie last night which was be shown in a theater close to me and it was great. It was a little annoying though with fangirls in my audience squealing everytime L did something funny. I much prefer the movie's ending to that of the manga and anime. It felt much more satisfying. The manga's second half really lost a sense of direction after losing L. I also want to say that it's always cool to see people from comics/manga appear in live action when it's done well. Really looking forward to getting the dvd when it's released over here.

The ending between the manga and movie were the same for the most part but there were key differences.

Spoiler: Death Note second movie

L beat Light! While reading the manga I always expected that to happen but to my great disappointment L went out like a punk. The manga's ending twist seem to go on forever with Near's explanation while the movie's twist with L was way handled better. Also Light's dad got a better ending in the movie since he was there when Light died. The director in the interview that was shown after the movie stated that he wanted to make it more about the father and son. All the actors both dub and japanese actors were very good.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

I saw it last night too, and have pretty much the same thoughts. I like the ending of the movie a whole lot more than the manga/anime ending. It always should have been L that beat Light. I'm glad Mello and Near weren't even in it.

I do have one little gripe, though. Why did they make Rem a male?

 

[Dream]

I saw it last night too, and have pretty much the same thoughts. I like the ending of the movie a whole lot more than the manga/anime ending. It always should have been L that beat Light. I'm glad Mello and Near weren't even in it.

Glad I wasn't the only here that saw it last night. It was pretty neat how they got back pretty much the entire anime dub voice cast to do the movie.

Did you stay for the behind the scenes interviews that was shown right after the movie? They had lots of interesting tibits from the directors and actors.

I do have one little gripe, though. Why did they make Rem a male?

I heard that it was like that way in the original Japanese version of the movie too. Maybe they thought it was better that Rem was male as to not confuse audiences? I guess the Shinigami were all supposed to be male in the movies. I didn't bother me that much to be honest since Rem's gender really wasn't that big of a deal in the original story.

I REALLY loved that the showed the Shinigami world at the start of the movie even if it only lasted a few seconds. Seeing Gelus looking down on the human world was really cool.

 

[FALCONX0N]

^
I'll agree with you about Rem, but I still like the Manga ending the best. The movie ending is more or less just the compressed version- -but it makes L out to be incredibly noble. The Anime also gives L the Funky Gay Jesus scene, but that's okay, symbolism can be fun- -but L's ruthlessness is so much more fun when there's that depth of "Is he doing this for justice...or is he doing this because he wants to solve the case as he would any other mystery?" that's inherent in the manga (and a major, major issue if you take into account the interviews in Vol 13!).

In the movie, he's just so...ruthless and then also so incredibly selfless that it seems a bit contradictory. The actor was great and the dub was spot on, though. Maybe I've just been Over-L'd after watching the "L" Spin-Off movie they made. Good god, was that film a fucking travesty. Of all the interesting storylines they could do with a character as neat as L, they chose...a ridiculously generic plot. Plus, I kind of felt that at some points, L boarders on psychic rather than ridiculously smart...

 

[Dream]

Yay. Death Note II: The Last Name was finally released on dvd yesterday so I bought it. For some reason the Best Buy that I went to had put the dvds somewhere besides the anime section and they only five copies. It's as good as the first time I saw it in a movie theater last year. I really like the new sets like the tv station and L's building. The first movie was all set up but with the second movie the plot finally got going. I'm kind of glad they took the Kill Bill approach and split the story into two parts.

The insert that came with the dvd announced that L: Change The World was coming out Summer 2009 whatever that means. So I hope it's released in theaters like they did with the first two Death Note movies. I heard it's mainly written for fanboy/fangirls but the movie sounds fun. The poster looks nice.

 

[zakkrusz]

I marithoned both movies yesterday on DVD for a rewatch, when The Last Name came in the mail.

 

[Gryffindorian]

I watched the entirety of the anime when it was on the Cartoon Network and thought it was pretty interesting and gritty (the cat-and-mouse game they were playing). I was actually surprised it was over too soon.

 

[Meredith]

Send me your picture and your name!

 

[Dream]

I marithoned both movies yesterday on DVD for a rewatch, when The Last Name came in the mail.

I thought about doing that too but I was too busy (maybe I'll marathon the movies in a week or two) so I rewatched the first movie the night before getting the second movie. I noticed that both movies hold up well.

It's really cool seeing the story done as live action films.

I can finally take screencaps from both movies now that I have the dvds.