xGreyshock

"Death Note" is the popular live-action adaptation of the popular Japanese anime series. In a sense, the story follows true to the anime and the manga. Despite a lot of content covered in the anime and manga that cannot be covered in the live-action movie, Death Note definitely delivers a lot to audiences. There looks to be nothing cheesy or tacky about the live-action version of Death Note. The movie tends to follow the first half of the manga as there is no-time jump present. Its sequel "Death Note 2: The Last Name" picks up the other half of the manga.

The story behind the movie is very much the same in the manga. The main characters are Light Yagami, L, and Ryuk. Light Yagami is a very bright university student who despises crime and corruption around the world. His sense of justice was instilled by his father who is a high ranking police official. To follow in his father's footsteps, Light majors in law at his university. It follows the same plotline as it does in the manga. However, the locations on where Light finds the book are different.

In the anime, Light finds the Death Note lying on the campus grounds as nobody else had picked it up. In the live-action movie, Light finds it on the open street at night. The movie gives a more humanized perspective on the path Light takes after taking the Death Note. A few hours prior, Light watched the news on how this psychotic murder managed to get off free. Light follows the man to the bar and listens to him brag about it. The psychotic murderer threatens to kill Light.

Light storms out of the bar angry and frustrated. He's more frustrated at the legal system and he takes out the book he uses for school and tosses it aside. However, Light finds the Death Note. At first, Light thinks that this is some sort of joke. But, Light decides to test out the Death Note. Instead of a situation where children are taken hostage in the anime, people are taken hostage in a bank. Light isn't in his room but he's in the city square along with everybody else watching the news.