Death Note the Movie Vs Death Note the Anime

Death Note is a popular anime series on Netflix, in which I enjoyed and absolutely loved watching. Recently, there's been an uproar about the new American version that has reached Netflix and I decided to watch it. I must say, I am not satisfied with the movie version at all. While there may be a few things that were executed fairly well within the movie, the overall theme of the movie did not compare to the anime in any way.

One of the many things that the American version failed to incorporate was an enormous amount of Japanese characters. The characters chosen to be played in this movie were mostly American and did not give the movie a cultural vibe. The producer, Roy Lee claimed there was an extensive search for Asian actors but none spoke "perfect English" and the characters had been rewritten. Actor Masi Oka, also explains that being Asian-American doesn't mean you should get the role but the actor has to be good, talented, and actually fit the role of the director. While Masi Oka does make valid points, the movie as a consequence lacked diversity and a Japanese cultural atmosphere without Asian actors.

Another failure of the movie is that the story line progressed too quickly. The movie instantly begins with the death note falling out of the sky without the main character being introduced to the audience first. Within the first few minutes of the movie, a death occured before the rules of the Death Note were explained whereas in the anime, special scenes were panned out. The anime gave the audience time to understand how the book was used, while the movie continuously throws action at you the entire time. For instance, the character L, who is helping with the investigation of Kira, suspects the detectives son, Light, to be the killer. L then goes after him most of the movie without evidence. There is a fued between both Light and L in the movie, however, the anime has the two working closely together. The character L in the anime suspects Light as well but he did not physically attack him every opportunity he had because L was aware he needed more edvidence to prove his claim.

The characters in the movie are completely different than those in the anime. Light in the anime was in the top of his class and so was L. They were both very intelligent people, almost identical if it wasn't for L's peculiar traits. For example, L sits oddly in a chair and eats an excessive amount of candy, which was depicted in the show. However, the cleverness and critical thinking that both L and Light used during the anime was not present in the movie. Both characters in the movie acted reckless and did not portray the characters in the anime whatsoever.

On the contrary, the music selection used in the movie was outstanding. For example, the song "Take my Breath Away" plays when Light in the movie discovers that Mia, Light's girlfriend, wrote his name in the Death Note, meaning he would die. The song title speaks for itself, but changes when Mia continues to say that she plans to burn his page so he would live. Continuing with their love fest, "I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love" plays when both Mia and Light are dangling from a ferris wheel. Finally, Mia slips away and so does Light. For that reason, the song was great because it displayed how Light was willing to die along with Mia.

The movie had ideal music selections but besides that, it was completely different than the anime. The anime was more complex and followed a more specific and detailed story line, therefore, in my opinion, made it the better version of the two.