Compelling, dark, twisted and awesome! Both “Death Note” films get the Blu-ray treatment in HD and lossless audio. If you love the manga and anime series, you’re going to enjoy both films. Slightly different than the original series but the films yet manage to capture the thrilling spirit of the series.
Images courtesy of © 2006 “DEATH NOTE” FILM PARTNERS © 2003 Tsugumi Ohba, Takeshi Obata . All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Death Note/Death Note: The Last Name – Double Feature
FILM RELEASE DATE: 2006
DURATION: 120 Minutes (Death Note), 140 Minutes (Death Note: The Last Name)
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Subtitles: English
COMPANY: Funimation
RATED: TV MA
RELEASE DATE: January 22, 2019
DEATH NOTE:
Directed by Shusuke Kaneko
Based on the Bestselling Japanese Comic by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
Screenplay by Tetsuya Oishii
Music by Kenji Kawai
Cinematography by Hiroshi Takase
Lighting by Koichi Watanabe
Production Design by Hajime Oikawa
Produced by Takahiro Salute, Toyoharu Fukuda, Takahiro Kobashi
Executive Produced by Seiji Okuda
DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME
Directed by Shusuke Kaneko
Based on the Bestselling Japanese Comic by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
Screenplay by Tetsuya Oishii
Music by Kenji Kawai
Cinematography by Kenji Takama
Lighting by Masamichi Uwabo
Production Design by Hajime Oikawa
Editor: Yusuke Yafume
Produced by Takahiro Salute, Toyoharu Fukuda, Takahiro Kobashi
Executive Produced by Seiji Okuda
Starring:
Tatsuya Fujiwara as Light Yagami
Kenichi Matsuyama as L
Asaka Seto as Naomi Misora
Shigeki Hosokawa as FBI Agenty Ray
Erika Toda as Misa Amane
Sujui Fujimura as Watari
Takeshi Kaga as Soichiro Yagami
Nana Katase as Kiyomi Takada
Michiko Godai as Sachiko Yagami
Hikari Mitsushima as Sayu Yagami
Yu Kashii as Shiori Kashino
Shido Nakamura as the voice of Ryuk
The Death Note, a mysterious notebook that allows the owner to write the name of anyone and thus…kill them. When law student Light Yagami becomes the newest owner, he finds himself with the power of god and calls himself Kira. To stop his reign, the police bring in a special agent—the eccentric yet brilliant L. Can this genius detective connect the dots between Light and Kira?
NOTE: The following review features first name, then last name.
Based on the popular manga and anime series that has captured the attention of viewers worldwide and the live action “Death Note” films have been popular among fans who have enjoyed this film featuring a battle of wits between Light Yagami and L.
“Death Note” is an adaption of the popular manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata and stars Tatsuya Fujiwara (known for his work in the popular “Battle Royale” films), directed by Shusuke Kaneko (known for the 2006 hit film “Gamera”) and the theme song “Dani California” (for “Death Note”) and “Snow (Hey Oh)” (for “Death Note: The Last Name”) by the popular rock band RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS.
The film focuses on Light Yagami (Fujiwara), an intelligent student who wants to work in criminal law and follow his father’s footsteps and catch criminals. But one day after hacking into the police department’s computer system, Fujiwara is just sickened to know that the police has released criminals who should be incarcerated. One night, Yagami discovers a notebook called “Death Note” that has specific rules:
-The human whose name is written in this note shall die.
-This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in their
mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will
not be affected.
-If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person’s name,
it will happen.
-If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart
attack.
-After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.
-This note shall become the property of the human world, once it touches the
ground of (arrives in) the human world.
-The owner of the note can recognize the image and voice of its original owner,
i.e. a god of death.
-The human who uses this note can neither go to Heaven nor Hell.
Anxious to test this book out, Light writes the name of a criminal, thinking that the book is a joke. That is until the person’s name that was written actually dies. Thus Light finds a way to get justice and does what he can to rid the world of all evil and become “the God of the new world”.
He also meets the owner of the Death Note, a shinigami (God of Death) named Ryuk, who is fascinated by Light of his ways of killing the criminals but the way his mind works.
Light who uses the name “Kira” starts writing the names of criminals in the Death Note and each die by heart attack and thus causing a frenzy in the media and the police force who now need to go after the person killing the criminals. But Kira is not your average criminal, as he is quickly generating a large fandom of people who support Kira’s goal of eliminating criminals.
Of course, the police force led by Light’s father, Soichiro Yagami, has no idea of how to go after this criminal but unbeknownst to them is a mysterious person that goes by the name of L. An intelligent detective who has an unorthodox way of catching criminals and so far, has been very succesful with his cases worldwide.
The cat and mouse chase has begun as L goes after Kira and Kira realizes his greatest enemy is L and thus the battle begins.
The film stars an all-star cast with “Battle Royale” actor Tatsuya Fujiwara as Light Yagami, Kenichi Matsuyama who starred in films “Linda Linda Linda” and “NANA” as the mysterious detective L.
Joining the two is one of Japan’s most popular actress, Asaka Seto as Naomi Misora, a former FBI agent who’s fiance is killed by Kira. Model and actress Yu Kashii as Light’s girlfriend Shiori Akino. Shigeki Hosokawa as FBI Agent Raye who is hot on the trail of catching Kira, actress Erika Toda who plays the character of pop star Misa Amane and Takeshi Kaga, best known for the host of the original “Iron Chef”, who plays the role as Light’s father and head of police, Soichiro Yagami.
In the second film, “Death Note: The Last Name”, we learn that another individual has the “Death Note”. Her name is Misa Amane, a pop star and TV talent who has shortened her life span for the eyes of the shinigami. This allows her to see the names of the individuals and thus easy to write them down on the Death Note. She is a follower of Kira and all she wants is to be with him. And thus, she murders innocent people in order to get the attention of Light.
Upon meeting Misa, Light realizes that with her “eyes”, he can use her to finally kill his nemesis L. But with L and the police suspecting Light as Kira and Misa as Kira II, Light devises a plan. With Misa Amane captured by the police force, he submits himself to being captured and being held by the police. But he has given Misa’s Death Note to another person. A newscaster named Kiyomi Takada who also idolizes Kira and his mission and is willing to further his plan of eliminating criminals.
Now the police force who has both Light and Misa in custody in order to find out if they are both Kira now have a new threat in the outside world. Who can outwit the other and who will become the victor – Kira or L?
The film is 140 minutes long, pacing was indeed well done and overall, despite being different from the manga and anime series, both Shusuke Kaneko and Tetsuya Oishii managed to come up with a thrilling, dark and gripping storyline that remains faithful to the overlying theme of the film.
VIDEO:
“Death Note” and “Death Note: The Last Name” are presented in 1080p High Definition.
You can see the detail for example on the wooden grain of Light’s bedroom doorway, the metallic finish of his cell phone to the pixels of the screen on his cell phone and the strands of Light’s hair much clearly.
The film features a fine layer of grain, Colors pop out much more especially during the day light sequences, blacks are nice and deep and I don’t recall seeing any major compression artifacts or DNR.
Probably only one scene where I felt there was a bit of low-light noise seen on the blacks and reds (a scene before the ending credits of “Death Note II”) but for the most part, the picture quality for both films are very good.
My main interest was to see how the CGI would be for the shinagami Ryuk and Rem. And how that would translate on film and the two shinigami look exactly like it does in the anime and manga series but Rem seems to look more less detailed than Ryuk. But overall, the CG works with the film. It’s important to note that the CG was created in 2005-2006, so one should not compare this to 2009 “Avatar” or Pixar-based animation with heavy detail.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Death Note” and “Death Note: The Last Name” are presented in Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1. As for the lossless audio, this is another highlight of the Blu-ray version as I found the dialogue and musical soundtrack to be crisp and clear through the front and center channels.
The gunshots and crowd and overall ambiance (doors latching, stairs being climbed, etc.) is well-featured throughout the film through the surround channels. I was pretty impressed of how much the audio stood out through the surround channels versus when I watched both films originally on DVD. Ryuk and Rem’s voice echoes through the surround channels, certain movements can be heard through the surround channels and also certain parts of the musical score are played through the surround channels as well.
I found that “Death Note: The Last Name” had a bit more surround sound usage with vehicles crashing, thunder, gun shots and a bit more destruction utilized in the sequel.
As for LFE, I didn’t really catch any major booms through my subwoofer during the more action-based scenes but mainly during the bass sequences of the music-filled sequences or during a sequence when Light had touched a Death Note.
It’s important to note that this Blu-ray release from Funimation is in Japanese with English subtitles and does not contain the English subtitles that were featured in the 2008 Viz Blu-ray release.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The “Death Note/Death Note: The Last Name – Double Feature” comes with no special features.
EXTRAS:
“Death Note/Death Note: The Last Name – Double Feature” comes with both films on Blu-ray and the included DVDs but also you can add the film via a Funimation Digital Copy code on Funimation’s website.
I enjoyed both “Death Note” films when they came out and although different from the manga and anime series (as you can only fit so much into two 2-hour films), the writers managed to craft two films that were fine on its own despite its difference from the original storyline.
But even with the slight changes, everything worked out. The pacing was well done, the CGI of Ryuk was well done. But those changes from the original series is what gives the film it’s own life.
Unlike the manga and anime series, Naomi Misora (Seto) has a slightly different role, as does Shiori Akino (Kashii) that plays a major pivotal role early in the series of how demented Light has become, even with a followup comment by Ryuk. Fantastic!
But the plus for this film was the talent involved. Tatsuya Fujiwara is such an impressive actor that it was great to see him take on the role of Light Yagami. To see Fujiwara’s acting show the believable and caring Light Yagami evolve into the killer known as Kira was just fantastic. Kenichi Matsuyama as L was also well done.
But of course, the addition of other talents such as Asaka Seto. She’s such a popular TV drama and film star that it was great to see her as the vengeful Naomi Misora and it’s great to see Mr. “Iron Chef” Takeshi Kaga as Soichiro Yagami.
“DEATH NOTE: The Last Name” was extremely popular in Japan. Having been #1 in the box office for five weeks and earning 5.5 Billion yen in Japan, the film was a major success.
I enjoyed the film a lot and the pacing was much better with the second film but if anything was amazing, it was Tetsuya Oishii’s screenplay.
It is challenging to get so much storyline from the manga and making a live action film. There is so much story in the “Death Note” manga that it would be difficult to translate all that in two films. So, there had to be major differences in the live film versus the manga and unfortunately, for many films based from a long manga series, they don’t succeed because they try to condense everything into one film.
As for “Death Note: The Last Name”, Oishii manages to create a new storyline that is so different from the manga series but yet manages to stay within the confines of the main focal point. Kira vs. L and finding a right conclusion. Having the storyline so different from the manga, I was pleasantly surprised by it but by the film’s end, I was rather pleased. Both Kaneko and Oishii pulled it off.
What I love about this film is that Kira and L are two individuals who are intelligent and the way they try to outdo each other, is always amazing.
In a way, it’s like a chess game between these two as they do what they can to outwit each other. Also, I enjoyed seeing how many other characters were integrated into the overall storyline. And knowing how different this film is from the manga and anime series, I was satisfied with the conclusion of the film and overall, I really enjoyed the sequel. Good storytelling by Oishii and managing to pull of a storyline that is just as satisfying as the manga but yet quite different.
If you enjoyed the first live film, then you will definitely want to pick up the sequel. “Death Note: The Last Name” is a thrilling, suspenseful and enjoyable film.
It’s important to note that the original Viz Media release in the “Death Note Collection” came with both films, came with both a Japanese and English dub and special features. This release only comes with the Japanese language version, no special features, but you do get a Funimation code to watch the film on digital HD.
Overall, “Death Note/Death Note: The Last Name” is a solid collection including the first two “Death Note films and primarily focuses on the psychological battle between Light Yagami versus L. And although not as heavy on the details like the manga or animated series, these two films turned out quite well on its own and is definitely recommended!
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