Last week, director Adam Wingard revealed a new poster of Ryuk for the upcoming (and controversial) Death Note movie, which will air on Netflix later this year. Soon after I decided to write this article, a full length trailer was released, giving fans a better look at the adaptation and a feel for it’s tone. Though I am excited to see one of my favorite anime series brought to life, I am also worried that the cast and crew will miss the point of what makes Death Note such a meaningful and enjoyable story around the world.
If you are reading this article expecting me to talk about the whitewashing controversy, I suggest you refer to this article, “In Defense of Death Note,” to understand my opinions on that topic. In this article, I want to talk about what I believe the cast and crew of Death Note need to accomplish, or need to have accomplished, to create a satisfying adaptation.
According to a dictionary definition, “adapt” means “to make suitable to requirements or conditions”, which means that a movie adaptation of a manga does not necessarily have to be all of the original panels put into motion with identical dialogue and plot. In order to be a satisfying movie, Wingard needs to be sure that the elements of Death Note that fans loved and hold dear carry through to his adaptation.
This goal is especially challenging because not only is Wingard translating something like a comic into a live action movie, but he is also taking a story with Japanese roots and changing it to appeal to an American audience. Already, this has meant changing the names of characters like Light Yagami and Misa Amane to Light Turner and Mia Sutton, respectively.
However, in this latest trailer, it seems like the genre of Wingard’s Death Note is different than the source material. The manga and anime were psychological mystery thrillers with some horror elements, while this movie seems to be more action packed. Perhaps Wingard thinks that American audiences would be more interested in an action-oriented Death Note, or the trailer is just misleading and does not represent the final product. Personally, I would have no problem with a shift in genre, since it could provide a breath of fresh air to the franchise that has already had several adaptations in Japan, including a couple movies and a live action drama.
In a filmmaker featurette for Death Note, producer Masi Oka said “We had a little more creative license to follow Adam’s true vision and make it more of a dark edgier Death Note,” and this comment also excites and worries me. Director Adam Wingard sounds like a fan of the original anime and manga, so I would hope that he is putting his all into this movie. However, a “dark edgier” film is worrying because it seems to me that a lot of filmmakers and writers will compensate a poor story with shocking and edgy elements that don’t add anything to the plot.
Suicide Squad is a recent example of using edge and shock to make up for a poor story. In Suicide Squad, the plot is full of holes and some characters seem to be in the movie just because they look cool and they have a large fanbase-- such as Jared Leto’s Joker, for example. Even though it has some awesome characters, incredible actions scenes, and a nice soundtrack, Suicide Squad was still a poorly received movie.
Returning to Death Note, one of the things that director Adam Wingard has to do is ensure that the movie respects the source material. Over the past few years, anime adaptations in Hollywood have been critically bashed and become jokes in the anime community. Meanwhile, films like The Matrix and Inception, which were inspired by anime like Ghost in the Shell and Paprika, respectively, are critically acclaimed. Not only are these good films, but they pay respect to their source material and get at the core of what makes each story so adored.
So, is Death Note doomed? No one will know until the movie is released, but with Adam Wingard being a fan of Death Note, I hope that his adaptation shows his love and respect for Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ohba’s original manga. I hope that Wingard can tell a story about morally ambiguous characters and a battle of the minds between Light and L that does the manga and anime justice. And I really really want to see the potato chip scene brought to life.
