My test for any live-action adaptation of an anime or manga is simple: Can I walk into this cold and not feel like I came to a stranger’s family reunion, where I have no idea why people are fighting or embracing? That was the problem I had with Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children—it wasn’t made for anyone who wasn’t a fan, and boy did the fans ever know it.
Thankfully, that hasn’t happened with the live-action adaptation of Death Note. I knew just enough about the series to get in the door but nothing beyond that, and in the end it scarcely mattered. By the one-third mark I was intrigued; by the halfway mark I was enthralled; and by the time it was over I was hankering for the follow-up. If you’ve been avoiding the series because it seems like a lot to swallow at once, the movie serves as a nice crash-course introduction to the goings-on.
Review written for AMN. Click here to read full text.
With the manga, I found myself like you, first interested in the concept, then amazed with how well it works with the rules established, then...well...if and when I get around to the two films, I really hope they reigned in the more outlandish whims of the plot that start boiling over in the final half of the story.