Otaku Night

So, watched Death Note today with Dave and co. For all my dissatisfaction, I'm still happy that I've gone to watch it. Do I love you because you're beautiful, or are you beautiful because I love you? Maybe the otaku in me just doesn't want to dislike it. 6_6

Obsessed ramblings follow, so be warned. =) But before you leave... if you've watched this movie and decided that you didn't like it, don't be discouraged! Go get the anime or better still pick up the manga, I guarantee that's much much better!

Okay, now that that's out of the way. ^__^

Same scenes here and there, but to me it felt like everything was different. Just realized when Dave pointed it out, that they'd upgraded Raito from high school to college. Huehe. Speaking of which, how I wish they had released more than two episodes of the TV anime so I could've gone all otaku with Dave (he only followed the anime, which had not revealed much at this point). I think I've gone all otaku on him anyway. Huahauhau.

I still think the manga gave the best suspense for the introduction, the part of how Raito came into contact with the Death Note. The anime was very close but slightly different. The movie was not bad in that department actually, because the opening made you wonder what was going on (if you hadn't read anything about the plot or seen any trailers, that is...) but it felt rather all over the place for me. Come to think of it, it's probably a matter of flavour, ya? Manga-s do things in a certain way and movies another. And while I remember to mention -- they added a "How to Use It" rule that wasn't in the original story, didn't they? Can't remember what it was, though.

The romance bit was totally uncalled for... though it did provide a good twist. I mean, come on, this was not the Raito I know. Steady girlfriend? Basketball? He was supposed to be the intelligent type, but the way he was portrayed was more the popular type instead. I thought surely it was too much to make him good at basketball on top of everything else, but now I recall him being good at tennis in the manga. Um yeah, manga-s do get a bit dramatic too. ^^0 But he at least looked more like a tennis kinda guy than basketball! Huahuaha. I mean, you have guys like Kunimitsu Tezuka in Prince of Tennis! I remembered someone even parodied that tennis match between Raito and L, where Raito was cast as Fuji, PoT's in-house genius. Hilarious. =D But anyway, another story. ^^

Raito was much more of a villain in this movie. They did try to establish his motivation with the story about dropped criminal cases etc -- I don't know, it just didn't stick with me. Halfway through the story he became just a little more than an obsessed genius mass murderer. It was far better in the original story where he was more in touch (fed up, that is) with the "rotten world" around him. I don't mind the new version much; they were done quite well, I think. The resolution to Naomi's role was a twist good enough to replace the original full-of-tension encounter between her and Raito. The problem is that the original was already very good that you'd lament, "Why not have that?" =P

Also, this "first part" was apparently not the "first part" I drew the line on (the "L saga" in the manga), which covered a much longer story. At the pace the movie was going (i.e. pretty slow), they shouldn't have abbreviated things so much that they lost the purpose, for the sake of the unnecessary additions. But oh well, it's always easy to criticize. =D

To be fair, some points are better in this movie. Chief Yagami's personality stood out better, and he really delivered most of the whole story's morale.

The people at the theatre kept laughing whenever Ryuuku showed up. Ata said it was because of that dumb face, at least for people who wasn't used to it already from reading the manga. He was indeed entertaining, I guess. =D And I got to admire L's slim fingers. Huahah. He must be one happy actor, getting to eat all those delicious stuff for work. I heard his portrayal of L was praised, and I agreed that he did a very good job. Pity we didn't see enough of him here... yet. The modified plot development didn't quite give a punch on the wit exchange, somehow.

We stayed on after the credits to see if there'd be extra scenes. Indeed, there was... a trailer for Part 2. =D Part 2 of the L saga, that is. The "Second Kira arc", shall we call it. I don't think there'd be anything about M and N, and this second part is already titled The Last Name, as Dave said, so there probably won't be any more sequel. I'm not complaining though; the L saga is the most interesting part in my opinion. And if you know the manga ending to that part, maybe we all won't mind so much if they've changed the ending yet again. Which is what they'd probably do if they're not going to resolve the overall story with M and N. (Another The Departed case? But this is a Jap movie, so maybe they won't have qualms about not-so-happy endings ya? I haven't watched enough Jap non-anime movies to tell...)

Erm, do you think this whole writing is very obscure? Huehuehe. Trying to keep away from spoilers here.

Kay then. Work is still stormy so I'd better stop here now. ^^0