Death Note TV Drama

Hello again everyone, and hello to first readers. Here I am with another unscheduled entry. Thing is, I finally got time to aquire the Death Note TV Drama that aired this summer to check if it is any good. Since I began watching last night and I am already done I am sure you can all make an educated guess.

It goes withouth saying that heavy spoilers are comming, not only for every adaptation of Death Note, but this one as well. You have been warned.

Let's get the obvious out of the way. It is not a complete word to word adaptation of the manga, like the anime. Sure, the anime was only about 99.9%, but still we can consider that complete. Of course this can't be helped as while the TV Drama episodes are twice as long as those of the anime, the latter has three times as many episodes. A lot of stuff is let on the cutting floor. But, considerably less than in the Live Action movies. For example the Yotsuba arc is back, Teru Mikami is back and so is Near and Mello. However Kiyomi Takada and Naomi Misora both fail to appear and the task force hunting Kira is missing quite a few people.
Also while it takes the entire pilot for Light Yagami to become Kira the series quickly picks up the pace and story arcs are given one episode each.

One of the more interesting and welcome changes to the narrative necessitated by the lack of time is the introduction of characters much earlier in the story. Teru Mikami is a public prosecutor interacting with Misa and investigating the Kira case independently since the very first episode, Light is regularly attending Misa's concerts even when he is the only Kira. And most importantly, Near is actively assisting L during the Yotsuba arc. This way it doesn't appear that characters are pulled out of rectums at late points of the story.

Speaking of Near. Although the subtitles would have you believe otherwise, he is a she in this version. A sweet little androgynous girl. On the surface at least. Truth is she is a superb hacker and an even better actress. She makes use of these skills when cornering Light. Sadly her detective skills are downplayed since L left her video messages with clues and very specific intrustions, but her character is still fantastic. She even managed to fake her evil alternate personality taking over her. Oh yes, big spoiler...

Mello is the alternate personality of Near in this version. Earlier she used a creepy ventriloquist doll resembling anime Mello when conversing with her, but later she just carried the doll around. She still dresses up in the same leather dress and picks up a chocolate bar as Mello when she kidnaps Light's sister. I can understand how this would annoy or anger huge Mello fans, but honestly I loved this version of the character. Mio Yuuki did an amazing job portraying her and I hope I can watch my newest celebrity crush in several high profile roles in the comming years.


Now on to the criticism. As there is plenty of things I didn't like. Sadly, all of my concerns are with main characters.
First there is Misa. While she remains an ally of Kira longer than in other versions and effectively replaces Takada, nothing much happens to her. She never meets L face to face untill after she looses her memories, she isn't pickpocketet for her mobile phone, she doesn't try to commit suicide during interrogation, her audition at Yotsuba HQ is just a diversion for Light to get evidence aaand in the very short time she spends as Kira she doesn't kill a single member of the task force. Of course she survives and avoids prosecution, but she is even dumber than the original and all her important or memorable scenes are cut. She's also just one of three singers in her band.
Second is L. Generally they nailed his character. Again. But while his jerkyness increased, many of his quirks were donwplayed. He is rarely seen eating and mostly just drinks juices. His iconic sitting position is only seen once. Aaaaand he takes of Light's handcuffs before they get a chance to do capoeira. As a compensation we see him without a shirt. A lot. And I mean a lot. So if you are attracted to men, you can have beefcake for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Ryuk's quirkiness wasn't downplayed at all. On the contrary they went overboard with it. He comes off as an embarrassing parent desperately trying to show his kids best friends how hip he can be. The results are of course being irritating as hell. Add a high pitched voice and you have the perfect ingredients for a disaster. A shame really.
And sadly, there is Light Yagami himself. He is a very interesting character here, but he isn't Light Yagami. He is not the multy talented genius he is in every other version. In fact he needs a dictionary to translate the death note's rules. His plans fail more often than usual and even when he is not in danger he stutters like Shia LaBeouf. He almost never wears a suit and his god complex kicks in so late I didn't expect it to appear at all. He is more human and relatable, but I personally think that Light Yagami is, much like Hannibal Lecter, not meant to be relatable. Genius psychopaths are pretty far from everyday humans.

So, yes. The TV series is far from perfect, but it is a superbly acted, and nicely scored little series that familiarises viewers with Death Note far better than the Movie trilogy. Definitely recommended for fans and for those curious of DN but too scared of being branded an otaku to watch the anime.