"Where's my apple?"
One night when the dark rain falls on Central Tokyo, a book flutters to the ground and the minute it hits, the area around it dries. It’s the Death Note. Killers, corrupt politicians, and all kinds of slime who have beaten the system are dropping dead in large numbers from heart attacks. Japan the youth have begun to follow the deaths almost like the latest fad. Law enforcers are at lost with the massive amount of deaths and the only lead they have is that the killer declares himself as Kira.



Two death gods!

The killer Kira, is none other than high school genius Light Yagami(played by “Battle Royale’s” Tatsuya Fujiwara) who happens to be the chosen one for the "Death Note". Light has plans for an ideal world: a world free of criminals and scums. By writing the name of the criminals on the Death Note, Light can eliminate each of them. Heart attack is his main signature killing although he can manipulate death in many other ways.



"L" hides his face from Kira.

The entire story is mostly an elaborate cat and mouse game. The overwhelmed police are approached by a sweets-crazy semi-recluse detective who goes by the name of "L" to hunt down the killer. With the help of the weird and mysterious "L", police has manage to narrow down the killer's place of origin and possible age. It's just a matter of time before "L" catches up with the killer.



"Checkmate!"

As far as manga adaptation goes, the Death Note movies is pretty spot-on and managed to get almost everything right. Even Ryuk the Death God looks very realistic in its CG form. Director Shusuke Kaneko didn't stray too far from the main storyline of the manga at all. Fans will see just how spot-on the similarities were when compared to the manga. A scene where "L" outsmarts and utterly frustrates Light is almost 100% exactly as it was done in the manga. The only biggest change of character is Light, who appears more sympathetic and less psychotic than the manga. Characters like "L", Misa and many others are identical to the manga. Running under two hours, you'll be surprised how much of the manga's storyline is still intact.



The world of Death.

Most important is that both movies stay true to the source and reaches the same conclusion as the manga, although just a tad faster. Rating: ****



Light and "L", battle of the witts.

To those who had watched the movies, Please give your opinions. :)

YES! It's AWESOME, I'll tell you that. Fantastic. :D They did a great job on it. I've heard that there's gonig to be a 3rd movie featuring L, and I can't wait!

P.S. I <3 your pictures and overview ^^

I like the weird vibe the Death Gods give off, but L looks like just a dumb cosplayer.

Nah, for me I feel L has the appeal of an intelligent genius :D

I like the concept of the bad guy looking like your average handsome guy:



.. while the good guy looks like a total psycho/freak:

I guess i'll check it out once the series is over. looks ok, CG isn't too bad either.

Still, that guy who play Light looks so smug. >:

Kenichi Matsuyama may look smuggish but he perfectly nails the character "L" ! <3

Kenichi Matsuyama may look smuggish but he perfectly nails the character "L" ! <3

I was talking about the guy that plays Light, not L. :P

Anyways, I hear they're making a prequel with L in America with Ray Penbars wife. Any truth to this?.

Ooops! ^^; Tatsuya Fujiwara's performance is very convincing as Light but his character is more sympathetic than the manga/anime character. You will actually feel for him at certain points of the film but he's still a bastard.

Also about the prequel/spin-off about L movie, it might be a rumour but keep your fingers crossed! :D

ps. "L" is also the best thing in both movies.

Death Note Fact 101 (1)


The Chief of Police aka Light's dad is played by none other than the chairman/host of Iron Chef, Takeshi Kaga!<3

Well, I'm not gonna bother you guys with a critique cause I'll just put you all to sleep. So I guess it's screenshots for me too then :)

ok, first this: OMG SHAROOOON! I can't believe you didn't post screens of Misa Amane sexpot <blink><3</blink>

hawt!


:impure thoughts: :-*


This is one of my favorite scenes. L outsmarting Light. Hello? Oh hi Light.:D


I love it how L always holds a phone in a eccentric way like this!




Maybe more, later on :)

How close is the Death Movies compared to the anime version? Just take a look:











Ebichu, i posted some Misa! ;)

ho ho ho, very nice. sexpot sexpot sexpot

(http://imageshack.us)

(http://imageshack.us)
Moar Misa Amane! :p

... and some posters:

(http://imageshack.us)

(http://imageshack.us)

Hideo Nakata wants to make more films back in Japan and so he's returning to direct "L" which is a spin off from the Death Note (Desu n�to) films.

Nakata is the man behind the original Ring (Ringu) and Dark Water (Honogurai mizu no soko kara), as well as creating a few other strong Japanese horror films. He directed The Ring Two, the US version, is working on Kaidan as well as The Ring 3. Some time ago he was rumoured to be directing The Entity remake as well as a list of other horror films. Now though he looks set to either return to Japanese cinema or just take a break there.

According to Variety Nakata has been in Hollywood for three years now and is heading off to make this film which will focus on the events before the two Death Note films.




We're still anxiously awaiting news regarding a U.S. release of Shusuke Kaneko's two amazing Death Note (review) films, which pumped some much needed life back into the J-horror scene last year.

Thankfully, foreign fright fans have even more to look forward to. Following the success of Kaneko's horror epic, it was announced that a prequel was in the works centering around the exploits of the story's quirky protaganist, known simply as "L" (which we told you about here). Word has been pretty quiet on the Eastern front, but today the folks at Nippon Television Network announced that they've found a director: none other than Ringu director Hideo Nakata.

"I was very pleased to receive the offer because I wanted to make more films in Japan," said Nakata in a press release. "I would like to depict how [L] lived his very fascinating and eventful life. I would like to show the other side of L. His childhood days, which were not shown in the previous titles, will be depicted and people will see that his character is more than just an eccentric. It's going to be full of showy, exciting action scenes. However, it won't be an imitation of Hollywood action films. Since it is not a sequel, I want audiences to go in fresh with a story totally different than Death Note."

The director of the original Ring tackling one of the craziest characters in horror history? Could this thing get any cooler?

For now, the project is being kept tightly under wraps, but we know that it's not adapted from any existing materials. In the meantime, Viz Media continues to air episodes of the equally stunning anime series online, which should be enough to hold over fans. We'll post more news as it develops! - Andrew Kasch

I got to see the first movie last summer -- I was lucky enough to be in Japan the week it was released. ^^ I loved the little spin they did on canon, though; it just highlighted Light's bastardishness.

I have yet to see the second film, though. Should really catch up on that...