Netflix’s Death Note Trailer

“Shall we begin?”

The anime and manga phenomenon Death Note has spawned many adaptations from video games to comics to even a musical, but the most current adaptation is Netflix’s own movie. Death Note is all about a high school student who gains the access to kill anyone whose name he writes in the Death Note. The Death Note also comes with its owner, a god of death called a Shinigami, and Light’s is named Ryuk. It stars Nat Wolf as Light Turner, who is the same character as Light Yagami, but with an unnecessary name change. It also stars Willem Dafoe as Ryuk; Keith Stanfield as L; Margaret Qualley as Misa Amane; and Paul Nakauuchi as Watari. This remake takes place in modern day Seattle, and it looks as if it’s going to take place on a much larger physical scale than the original series, which took place over years following the introduction of Kira.

The movie obviously won’t be able to replicate that, but the movie looks like it’s trying to make up for that in a more intense and in-your-face style than the original story, which made you question your morals and had a certain feel of personal views on justice about it. The trailer has already gotten a fair amount of backlash for two main reasons. 1. Whitewashing. Many people are stating that characters like Light and Misa are being whitewashed, with Light’s name changing from Yagami to Turner, and both characters now being played by white actors/actresses along with other characters. One problem with that thought of mind is that this new adaptation takes place in Seattle. 2. Faithfulness to the original story. This new trailer shows the major destruction of a ferris wheel, which wasn’t close to anything from the original series. However, that could be one of the major points of the movie, and the trailer is using it to create hype. But I’m going ot hold my judgement back until the killer release date of August 25th