The whole Death Note story has been told from a Japanese perspective multiple times already. Four live action movies, one drama series, an anime, and of course the manga. I would have been let down more if Netflix’s Death Note followed the original the original too closely, even opting for Japanese names and a similar setting. To me, this adaptation feels more in line with films like The Ring than it does with Ghost in the Shell. The fact remains, a damn near faithful adaptation has been done before. For those outside of the “doki-doki-desu” crowd, Netflix’s Death Note will be the first introduction to the story, but as far as the outrage is concerned… those aren’t the people clinging to a notion of Death Note being a prime example of Japanese culture and mythology. If this is successful, it could actually be quite fantastic for the source material. Ideally, someone who has never heard of Death Note could watch this movie and wish to consume more media… prompting them to journey down a rabbit hole of anime and manga.

While I personally am looking forward to seeing it, I do have some reservations. My biggest being how they seem to have characterized Light and Misa in the trailers. In the original manga, Light Yagami is the quintessential over-achiever. Whether academics, athletics, or even socially… Light seems to excel at whatever he touches. Misa Amane on the other hand was naive to a fault, her love and adoration of Kira (and later Light) becomes another tool for Light to use in his fight against L. Nat Wolff’s Light Turner seems to be an awkward loner type and from an earlier synopsis Margaret Qualley’s Mia Sutton (this version’s Misa Amane) is the popular cheerleader. In one trailer Mia seems to be egging on Light with some scenes depicting Light to actually care about Mia… completely contrary to Light Yagami and how he seeks to only use Misa for further his goals. While basing a final judgement on a trailer is furthest from my intentions here, I am hoping that these quick slices won’t be indicative of the final product.