It’s been almost 10 years since Netflix’s live-actionDeath Notemovie, and it remains as unpopular as ever. Nearly every fear people had about it in the lead-up to its release was proven right, and to this day, it’s still hailed as one of the prime examples of a terrible live-action anime adaptation.
Fewlive-action anime adaptationsare as infamous as Netflix’sDeath Note, and it’s easy to see why. The biggest thing people ask for from adaptations of any story is faithfulness and respect for the source material, and overall,the biggest failing of Netflix’sDeath Notestems from how it made little attempt to remain faithful to the anime and manga and instead told a vastly inferior story. Even after all this time, there’s very little reason to give Netflix’sDeath Notethe time of day, and there are a few major reasons as to why that is.
8Netflix’s Death Note Makes Its Main Gimmick Too Simple
The Eponymous Death Note Loses Everything That Made It Cool
Both theDeath Noteanime and the live-action movie revolve around the eponymous Death Note, a magic book that can kill anyone whose name is written inside. Originally, what made the Death Note special was that it had a series of intricate rules Light had to follow when using it, something that often forced him to act more creatively than just writing someone’s name down. That’s not the case for the movie, however, asNetflix’sDeath Noteremoves or simplifies most of the Death Note’s rules while also changing major ones, such as the rule preventing physically impossible deaths.
One of the major draws toDeath Notehas always been the psychological elements of its plot; whether it’s characters playing mind games with each other or coming up with clever solutions to problems, the intellectual aspect ofDeath Note’s writing has always made it stand out, even after so many years. By comparison,the way Netflix’sDeath Notesimplifies how the Death Note works is one of many ways it makes the story feel far less clever than the anime, and because of that, it’s far less interesting to watch at every turn.
7Netflix’s Death Note Doesn’t Understand Why Light Killed The Way He Did
Why Netflix’s New Take On Light’s Killing Doesn’t Work
Continuing with how the Death Note was used, in the anime and manga, while a person could choose to have someone die in specific ways, so long as it was physically possible for them to make it happen, Light often opted to have people die by heart attacks, although even those would often have a twist worked into them. By comparison,Netflix’sDeath Notetypically had Light kill people through complicated and gory means, giving the story a presentation that felt reminiscent ofFinal Destination.
Technically speaking, there was nothing stopping Light from making people die violent deaths in the anime and manga, but the reason he mostly killed people with heart attacks was that it let everyone know the deaths were being conducted by the same person, thus allowing the idea of Kira to take root in society. By comparison,Netflix’sDeath Notegiving everyone random deaths fails both because of the superfluous gore and for not providing a proper reason to fear Kira, and it comes off as another example of the movie simply trying too hard.
Why Death Note’s Main Romance Is Still Bad
As great a story asDeath Noteis, most people agree that it had a terrible handle on romance. Granted, romance was never a major part of the story, and Light only ever engaged with it whenever it would benefit a new plan of his, butanytime Light was involved with someone romantically, even superficially, the other person would be written in a way that made them utterly insufferable, so any scenes focused on romance were typically the ones people just wanted to get over with as soon as possible.
Netflix’sDeath Noteattempted to fix the anime’s romance problem by giving Light Turner and Mia Sutton’s relationship more focus than Light Yagami and Misa Amane’s, but not only did they get together far too quickly to make their relationship worth caring about, but the heavy focus on their relationship only highlighted how little chemistry they had and used up time that should have been spent developing the main narrative.Netflix’sDeath Note’s attempts at fixing the anime’s problem with romance only ended up making it worse than it already was, and that’s all but impossible to defend.
5Netflix’s Take On Ryuk Misses The Point Of The Character
Why Netflix’s Version Of Ryuk Doesn’t Work
On a surface level, Netflix’s take onRyuk the Shinigamiis largely the same as in the source material, but there are some major differences. Not only is Ryuk’s presence as a terrifying figure given more emphasis, but he’s no longer the neutral figure he was in the anime and manga, as he spends most of the story directly pushing people into using the Death Note as opposed to not particularly caring, and it’s to the point thatNetflix’sDeath Notehad Ryuk deliberately set Light on the path to becoming Kira as opposed to it happening by chance.
While Ryuk wasn’t usually an active player inDeath Note’s story, his neutrality was vital to the plot as it emphasized not only that Light’s choices were his own, but that Ryuk’s killing of Light in the end was purely transactional and not based on any feelings Ryuk had, positive or negative. Because of that,Ryuk was terribly adapted into Netflix’sDeath Notebecause the film didn’t understand what made him work as a character, and aside from a stellar performance from Willem Dafoe, there’s nothing redeemable about it.
4Netflix’s Attempt To Fix Misa’s Character Made Her Even Worse
Why Mia Sutton Is Still A Terrible Character
No character inDeath Note’s extensive cast is more contentious thanDeath Note’s female lead, Misa Amane. Despite also having a Death Note and having even more powers than Light, Misa has little to no agency beyond whatever Light manipulates her into doing, which always works due to her being a vapid ditz who only cares about her one-sided romance with Light.Misa Amane has always been the worst-written character inDeath Note, and it’s to the point that she feels completely at odds with the story as a whole.
In an attempt to fix Misa’s shortcomings, Netflix’sDeath Notereworked her into Mia Sutton, a girl with more independence and agency within the story whose romance with Light isn’t treated as a joke. On a surface level, the change was a welcome one, but unfortunately,Netflix’sDeath Note’s take on Misa still fails because Mia Sutton is annoyingly antagonistic and constantly escalating things for no reason, and she never gets the proper development to justify it. Misa was no one’s favorite character, but she was at least fun to watch, and unfortunately, the same can’t be said about Mia.
3Netflix’s Death Note Completely Forgot What Made L A Fun Character
Everything Wrong With Netflix’s Take On L
Both theDeath Noteanime and live-action movie have master detective L as their primary antagonist, but their portrayals could not be any different. While L is typically a reserved and eccentric person who rarely shows emotion, even while randomly eating large amounts of sweets,L in Netflix’sDeath Noteis a more aggressive and outgoing person who willingly goes out in public and even carries a gun, and his obsession with sweets is reworked to be for brain power as opposed to just being a quirk.
Much of the psychological drama that attracted people toDeath Notestems from the cat-and-mouse mind games Light and L play with each other, but because the movie stripped away most of L’s personality to make him a more generic character, that doesn’t work, as he never convincingly positions himself as an intellectual threat to Light.L, as depicted in Netflix’sDeath Note, is someone who bears no resemblance to the original version aside from the name, and he’s a far worse character because of it.
2Netflix’s Take On Light Completely Ruined One Of Anime’s Best Characters
Why Netflix’s Take On Light Is So Bad
When Netflix adaptedDeath Noteinto live-action, to go along with the new American setting,series protagonist Light Yagamiwas reworked into Light Turner, and their differences go well beyond their names. While Light was a levelheaded genius whose claims of wanting to save the world were a cover for his God complex,Light Turner is just a normal kid who gets through most situations through luck instead of intelligence and is mostly genuine in his desire to do good, and anything that upsets him is likely to make him scared in notably exaggerated ways.
Light Yagami was a great character both because of how well his scheming personality complementedDeath Note’s psychological thriller elements and because the series never shied away from making him a villain, but by comparison,Light Turner being so passive, unintelligent, and objectively less evil makes him not only a worse version of Light Yagami but a character who exists in direct conflict toDeath Note’s central appeal. It’s an utterly abysmal take on an iconic character, and it’s a big part of why the film didn’t work.
1Netflix’s Death Note Race-Swapped The Story And Did Nothing With It
Death Note Fell Victim To The Biggest Problem With Live-Action Anime Adaptations
A major problem with live-action anime adaptations is how frequently they race-swap the original stories, and Netflix’sDeath Notewas no exception. The setting was changed from Tokyo to Seattle, and rather than just make it a new story set within the universe, which has happened plenty of times in the manga,Netflix’sDeath Notedoes what many live-action anime adaptations do and turns the predominantly Asian cast into a cast of mostly white actors, all of which perpetuates the racist elements that are often impossible to ignore with those sorts of adaptations.
What makes it even worse is that nothing was even done with the whitewashing. Much ofDeath Note’s story was rooted in the politics of the Japanese justice system, so an American setting could have worked by exploring how the American justice system handled someone like Kira, butNetflix’sDeath Notepays little attention to the inner workings of the American justice system, thus making the race-swap of the cast and overall story completely pointless. It’s probably the biggest reasonwhy Netflix’sDeath Notemissed the mark with anime fans, and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon.
