What do the characters we hate say about us?
November 23, 2009
This week we look at the characters we hate and once again ask you the readers decide if that it means anything about Narutaki and I. It is often said that what we hate the most in others in what we hate about ourselves. Does the fact extend to anime characters we hate? Do the characters that get under our skin the most provide some insight into our psyche? Does it tell us something different then what the characters we like or are they merely opposite sides of the same coin?
If there is one thing the internet has enough of, it is hate. Hate for shows, hate for people, and plenty of hate for characters. Unfortunately, we will be spreading such ire today. What would our former post be without its companion piece? However, I would like to point out this post isn’t about bad characters or poorly written development, it is about characters we dislike for inherent flaws in their personalities. I would even argue, if I can passionately oppose a character that means they are actually written rather fully. Once again we are trying to explore what, if anything, it means to dislike a character with such fervor. This, much differently from the previous post, can get a bit hairy and quite intense at times. But we will do our best to be respectful. Maybe.
SPOILERS, SPOILERS. TRUST ME YOU DON’T CARE.
Since it went over so well last time, we saw the film at the same place we watched the second Death Note movie. Once again not too crowded, though more so than when we went the other time. I didn’t go into this movie with many expectations, I had heard and read a bit about it before hand. Though frankly it would be hard for me NOT to go see a movie all about L. So with only mild hopes I braced myself for this film. Somehow the reviews didn’t do the movie justice. It was much worse than I could have imagined, it may have physically injured me at points. The only thing that prevented me from plain giving up on it was that I committed myself to writing this review! How dare you film, how dare you make me write a word against L!
W.C. Fields said, “Never work with animals or children.” L, or should I say Kenichi Matsuyama, should have listened to him. The fact an L movie was being made was hardly a surprise to anyone. He was clearly the most popular character hands down. They had the prefect place to add in one last hurrah before his ultimate end. When I first heard about the movie I was cautiously optimistic. L has to solve his last case against terrorists with a super plague having only a few days left to live. Sounds fine. Then I heard it was a stupid action movie. I was fine with that. Although L was almost always playing mental games in the manga, they also made a big deal that he was amazingly physically fit and even a martial arts master. I thought that people went into the movie expecting another mind game but got a cheesy action movie and were overly harsh. No they were overly generous. Everything that could make a movie bad was bad in this lemon of a movie. When my favorite original character was a vehicle you know you are in trouble. And before you ask it was not a cool talking car.
Special Screening: Death Note the Last Name, aka The True Ending
November 17, 2008
With the love-love that is nigh palpable from Narutaki, there was no way were going to miss the big screen showing of the second Death Note movie. Instead of going to the theater in Union Square we went to Clearview’s Chelsea which was significantly less crowded. If they continue to get anime movies at that theater, I think I will go there from now on. It was a nice place and they had an awesome waffle shop across the street. I myself had some good chai bubble tea. There was a closed shop called Burgers and Cupcakes which I am sure could have been saved by Narutaki if only he knew of its existence before.
Wow, what a big difference between two theaters that are just a few blocks from each other. Our experience at Union Square, while not sold out, was still packed and we were stuck with crummy seats. This was a whole other story, sadly there were only about 10 to 15 people besides us at the screening. However, compared to the number of people in total at this theater that night, that doesn’t seem like bad numbers. The theater was really nice and clean, I will definitely be picking this place over Union Square.
The first Death Note movie ended with L and Light meeting face to face for the first time. The second movie then takes the remaining books and and combines them into 1 movie. This means a whole bunch of extraneous characters, plot lines, and one very controversial plot point got the ax. We get a greater disparity between the movies and the manga than the first movie. I know this leads to some rather strong opinions towards either the manga or the movies.
While the first movie was different from the manga, it still kept some of the major plot lines and interwove them just a bit differently. The second movie starts pushing it in a very different direction. Where the manga stumbles through some of its shifting plot, the movie removes altogether. Afterall, there is only this one movie to wrap up the story so inevitably a lot of things will go missing. To create a solid ending for a series like this in just 2 hours was a challenge that was handled really well.
The movie begins with Misa Misa gaining her own Death Note and becoming the second Kira. L tries to prove that Light is in fact Kira while also trying to catch the second Kira. Light is as always trying to kill L and mold the world to his vision. The plot then follows the manga in a condensed manner up until the Yotsuba Arc. We get a thankfully short version of the arc and deals with one other new Kira. Of course, no Death Note adaptation would be complete without the most infamous line in the series, “exactly as planned.”
The cast carries over from the first film and that is much to its credit. These actors, especially Kenichi Matsuyama, really brought great things to these characters in the first film and continue at the same pace here. You read an in-depth view in our review of the first movie. But we have a few new additions to discuss, namely Misa Amane, Rem, and Kiyomi Takada. Misa starts off our tale and follows rather closesly to her path. Light proves how easily he can manipulate women though never to the misogynistic extent of the manga. Kiyomi is sort of a mish-mash of characters from the manga. She helps exhibit that desire for power present in Light but not seen in Misa. I thought she did an excellent job portraying how easily one can fall into it. The character also solidified my feelings that Light, while a genius, doesn’t have ideals that are new or even unique.
The original Kiyomi Takada from the manga was Light’s girlfriend in college that eventually becomes Kira’s mouth piece as a news announcer. In the movie she is an aspiring news anchor who is a closet Kira supporter. She eventually becomes more involved with the Death Note due to Light’s schemes. Kiyomi Takada works fine in her role. I can’t say that she was extraordinarily gripping but I don’t think she was supposed to be. She is supposed to be a person who feels she has grand designs but really just has very petty schemes especially compared to the machinations of Light and L. Misa Misa is now is now fully integrated into the movie so her full force of annoying is apparent but thankfully has a shortened appearance. Less Misa Misa is always better. Rem is generally the same as she was in the manga but they never make note that Rem is in fact female.
The dub as per the first film makes people giggle at inopportune times. Though Ryuk didn’t seem nearly as out of control. Once again we talked a bit about this in the first film review. Everyone basically stays on target. Though I always miss not hearing Kenichi’s voice just because I like him so much.
I don’t really think about dubs anymore being a subtitle person. I don’t hate them but I just don’t think I pay attention. Therefore someone has to stand out as being really good or really bad for me to notice. The Death Note dub did not have anyone standing out for better or worse. I, like Narutaki, did notice that people were sometimes laughing at the wrong times but it was not anything that negatively effected my viewing experience. Then again I wonder if I really notice anyone being anything other than extraordinary for better or worse in Japanese.
Well, thank goodness someone realized how crappy the extras for the first movie were. They certainly stepped it up a notch with this release and had the actors talking about their roles and working together. It also had some fun scenes of each one performing their final lines for the film and then being given flowers!
I also think the directors insights into the movie were a little more interesting because he was doing more than simply adapting the manga. He was making it his own. It was interesting to see what all the principal actors thought of their roles.
A lot of things about this shorter version appealed to me. Biggest of which was the intensity, the manga became so enormous that it couldn’t hold on to that edge. It started to become too sensational, but with the movie you stayed glued exactly as long as a person can. L also always stays a focus, as he should. He is the perfect foil to Kira and the only one suitable for this life or death game with Light. Plus, strangely, I don’t have enough time to hate Misa in the movie because she is never there for any exorbitant amount of time bumbling things. And if you couldn’t guess it has the ending as I always wanted it.
The Death Note movies are the definitive version of Death Note for me. The second movie takes the best of the middle and end of the manga and condenses it into a climatic ending. The director has the ability to use 20/20 hindsight and take the best while tossing away the chaff. I felt the manga went on for far too long due to its popularity and lost much of its focus in the middle. The movies also have the ending that I feel a majority of fans wanted from the start. I know it has the ending I much prefer. You could say they basically ended up in the same place but I feel both conclusions leave a different taste in your mouth.
Top 5 L quirks
5. No shoes
4. Great tennis player
3. How he holds a phone
2. Making pastry shish-kebabs
1. Crouched sitting position
So, all around the country, for two special nights, Death Note the live-action movie was playing in theaters. I was not about to miss this as I quite enjoyed this movie and its sequel. I love the chance to see movies on the big screen, I always wish I could do it more often. But in NYC you pay 10-11 dollars to see a movie…I swear. So I only bust out that hard earned cash for special moments, this was one of them.
I too like to see anime movies in the theaters as well. I would really like to see a good comedy, as good comedies are only enhanced by an audience. Though I don’t know of any comedy anime that would be popular enough for their movies to be playing in American theaters. I suppose that I will take what I can get. I know they are going to be showing the Bleach movie soon as well. The dub alone will keep Narutaki away but I might just go out of random curiosity, since I’m one of the few people who has not seen it. No amount of loyalty to anime fandom will make me pay money to watch a Naruto movie though. I would not so secretly like to see the Kara no Kyoukai movies in theaters but there are going to seven of them and that it’s not popular in the U.S. so that makes it almost impossible. I am also sure that the Evangelion movies would be simply amazing on the big screen but someone has to shell out some serious cash before that will ever happen.
We saw the film, along with other friends, at the Regal Cinema at Union Square. We pre-ordered our tickets but I didn’t see any big line for the event. Also, I noted before we went up (maybe 15 minutes before show time) that the event had yet to sell out. The theater was pretty crowded though and our seats were forced to near the front. I have some friends in Indianapolis and they said their theater was pretty crowded, too. So I’ll assume it was pretty much the same all over.
It was crowded enough that they will hopefully do something like this again. It was not enough to have it to play for several weeks but I think it’s enough to get two showing for those who want them.
Unlike the manga and anime Death Note the movie starts slightly in medias res. The movie begins with criminals all over the word suddenly dying of heart attacks. Law enforcement agents around the world are baffled as to who is doing the killing and how exactly they are doing it. It turns out that they are being performed by Light Yagami a young college student you uses a Shinigami’s magical note book to kill people. When Light writes anyones’ name in the book, while think about their face, the person who’s name he writes dies. As the Japanese police force start their investigations, they are approached by L the world’s greatest detective who has some theories about these murders. The Japanese form a task force with L at the helm to try and solve the mystery of the deaths.
I quite liked the pacing of the movie. It kept the wonderful cat and mouse that drew me into the original manga. We got a lot of the defining moments from the beginning of the story, like: the L TV broadcast, the bus scene, all the Raye scenes really, and the chips. There were new additions as well, especially the twist at the end which is completely new and you really see the director moving things to his own needs at that point. But I liked that, I am happy with the way he is telling this lengthy story in a just a few short hours. Also the Death Note manga is extremely word heavy and I was glad to see they didn’t bring that to the movie, not tons of internal monologues or any such thing. You were really able to read the characters emotions form the actors.
I think you just like the fact that Misa Misa was kept to a minimum in this movie. When you only have two movies to adapt a 12 book series, I suppose it helps that several arcs in the manga are weaker than others and can mostly be axed out with no problem. The director certainly knew how to show and not tell which helped cut down on the need for lengthy mental dialogues, while still showing the back and forth between people trying to outwit each other. I also like that Naomi Misora was given a little more time in the movie. I had always wished she stuck around longer in the manga.
Fujiwara Tatsuya comes out of the gate being the charming and intelligent, young man with a god complex, Light Yagami. It is always engrossing to know what Light is up to unbeknownst to the rest of the characters (except possibly L) and realize how cunning his interactions with them are. After Light falls into L’s first trap, he wises up and starts to push the envelope of how far one can think ahead. Fujiwara takes acting with his CG partner, Ryuk, in stride and never over acts to compensate. However, Ryuk comes off as much more comic like than I felt in the original story. Which added some downright laugh out loud audience moments.
I think everyone noticed that really odd scene where they used a cardboard cutout instead of CG to make Ryuk’s shadow. It was an interesting bit on unintentional comedy. I don’t think they played up Ryuk’s comedic aspects as much as minimized the creepy/scary moments. Oh and I think you have forgotten a most important fact: Light’s father is played by none of than Chairman Kaga from Iron Chef. I admit it’s not easy to see, especially when at no point in the movie does he dramatically bite into a pepper or wear a flashy suit.
I was quite amused and couldn’t help getting caught up with the crowd when L appeared on the screen; the theater went into applause. Kenichi Matsuyama really looks the part of L and once he opens his mouth he solidifies his rendition of the eccentric, but brilliant, detective. L’s character is very much in tune with his manga counter-part, he thinks like no one else and is able to get results, albeit not always by ethical means. And as he sat on the couch making pastry-kebabs I knew the character was spot on.
From what I can tell, L seems to be the most popular character in Death Note so they better have picked a good actor for him. I was happy with L as well. I think Kenichi put in the right combination of playful, creepy, eccentric, and amazingly brilliant to his portrayal of the world famous detective.
I was really surprised it was dubbed, really wasn’t expecting that. Because as most people can attest, possibly from watching some swanky kung-fu movies, dubbing real people is a whole different ball game than dubbing animation. It is just plain more difficult. This was probably done due to its popularity on Adult Swim. However, the most important ones were decently done. Though I’d be lying by saying it was great and preferable. Light and L’s voicing was close to their characters’ original sound at least and most of the time they didn’t speak like William Shatner. I can’t say the same for the rest of the cast. I can also blame the major amount of chuckling to the dub, too. I am glad to have seen it fan-subbed first. And what I couldn’t understand was the lack of subtitles for cell phone messages, newspapers, etc it was just plain lazy.
Odd that you mention swanky kung-fu movies because the dub really does come off as an old Shaw Brothers movie dub at times. I half expected Light to comment on the weakness of L’s crane style investigation-fu at the end of the movie. All the live action Japanese movies and TV dramas we have watched together have been subbed so I wonder if it’s just the way most live action movies come off or is this movie weaker than others? I have noticed for some reason when they play Japanese movies, be it live action or anime, they tend to play them without the option for subtitled signs in theaters. Most of the time you can get away with it but there are far too many scenes where plot was being conveyed by text for it to be anything less than very silly.
The bonus, a making-of featurette after the movie, was mundane at best. There were no real insights, a very brief interview with the director, and mostly us seeing scenes from the movie but with all the equipment in the shots. The only nice thing was the preview for Death Note: The Last Name. I would guess that Viz plans to release that theatrically in a similar manner. When is yet to be determined.
Other than getting a laugh out of a few of the directors odd comments I don’t think we got any grand insight into the movies though the featurette. It was nice to have a little extra that you did not get with the fan-sub but I’m sure Narutaki just wanted more Kenichi Matsuyama running around as L. I suppose that explains why L: Change the WorLd and Death Note: Another Note got made in the first place. The world just needs more L.
