The Netflix Death Note adaptation was quite…questionable. Let’s find out why.
The Netflix adaptation came out in 2017, and it was met with a huge wave of criticism and even outrage from fans. It’s not the first time a live-action adaptation receives hostility, but what is the problem with this particular one?
The first thing that got everyone feeling quite unhappy was the show being set in the USA instead of Japan. There were no Japanese actors in the cast, which made fans raise a question of cultural appropriation and even whitewashing. People were feeling disappointed due to the absence of Japanese culture representation.
As it often happens, when creators try to fit 20+ episodes of a series into one movie, the pacing suffers. The Netflix movie felt rushed and shallow compared to the original source.
However, the main problem of the movie seems to be the plot execution and story changes. Yagami Light (https://letsweaboo.com/news/philosophy-of-yagami-light-from-a-bright-student-to-a-cold-murderer_a145 ) is a brilliant genius. He is calm, calculating and extremely intelligent. When he finds the death note, he comes up with a clever plan to keep it safe, he thinks it through up to the tiniest detail so that even if someone is ever to find the note, they will still not have it since the mechanism Light has created will destroy the evidence. In the movie, though, the main character brings the note to school and reads it in public without any second thought. Anime Light would never do that!
Light never truly trusts anyone. He understands that Misa is in love with him and pretends to reciprocate while using her feelings to his advantage and manipulating the girl, so that she will do dirty work for him. The movie turns their relationship upside down and sometimes makes Light the pawn to Misa. If we were talking about the plot of a standalone project, it wouldn’t matter who the real manipulator was, but knowing the original source and Light’s personality, this feels like a slap in the face to anime fans. Light is what makes Death Note so compelling, so turning him into a lovesick teenager just doesn’t feel right.
Another extremely important character is L. He is the only one who can compete with Light when it comes to the level of intelligence. The movie portrays him as a genius, too, but this is a case of “tell, don’t show” as the Netflix adaptation doesn’t really explain to us why L is so clever, we just have to take this for granted.
One more thing worth mentioning is the atmosphere. Death Note has always been about the battle of minds, not about physical action, so seeing a chase scene in the Netflix movie feels kind of bizarre. The anime could build suspense and stay entertaining just by showing people talking and thinking, and unfortunately the movie fails to do so.
The Netflix Death Note adaptation was quite…questionable. Let’s find out why.
The Netflix adaptation came out in 2017, and it was met with a huge wave of criticism and even outrage from fans. It’s not the first time a live-action adaptation receives hostility, but what is the problem with this particular one?
The first thing that got everyone feeling quite unhappy was the show being set in the USA instead of Japan. There were no Japanese actors in the cast, which made fans raise a question of cultural appropriation and even whitewashing. People were feeling disappointed due to the absence of Japanese culture representation.
As it often happens, when creators try to fit 20+ episodes of a series into one movie, the pacing suffers. The Netflix movie felt rushed and shallow compared to the original source.
However, the main problem of the movie seems to be the plot execution and story changes. Yagami Light (https://letsweaboo.com/news/philosophy-of-yagami-light-from-a-bright-student-to-a-cold-murderer_a145 ) is a brilliant genius. He is calm, calculating and extremely intelligent. When he finds the death note, he comes up with a clever plan to keep it safe, he thinks it through up to the tiniest detail so that even if someone is ever to find the note, they will still not have it since the mechanism Light has created will destroy the evidence. In the movie, though, the main character brings the note to school and reads it in public without any second thought. Anime Light would never do that!
Light never truly trusts anyone. He understands that Misa is in love with him and pretends to reciprocate while using her feelings to his advantage and manipulating the girl, so that she will do dirty work for him. The movie turns their relationship upside down and sometimes makes Light the pawn to Misa. If we were talking about the plot of a standalone project, it wouldn’t matter who the real manipulator was, but knowing the original source and Light’s personality, this feels like a slap in the face to anime fans. Light is what makes Death Note so compelling, so turning him into a lovesick teenager just doesn’t feel right.
Another extremely important character is L. He is the only one who can compete with Light when it comes to the level of intelligence. The movie portrays him as a genius, too, but this is a case of “tell, don’t show” as the Netflix adaptation doesn’t really explain to us why L is so clever, we just have to take this for granted.
One more thing worth mentioning is the atmosphere. Death Note has always been about the battle of minds, not about physical action, so seeing a chase scene in the Netflix movie feels kind of bizarre. The anime could build suspense and stay entertaining just by showing people talking and thinking, and unfortunately the movie fails to do so.
