| "The human whose name is written in this note shall die." |
| |||||
Death Note: Vol. 1
DVD/APPROX. 100 MINS/2006/JAPAN M
DVD/APPROX. 100 MINS/2006/JAPAN M
7.5
| All written material is © from 2006 to Present at DVD Resurrections. This website is for informational and entertainment purposes only. The opinions which are expressed within these pages are solely those of DVD Resurrections. No copyright infringement is intended or implied. |
| ||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Well, I've raved over the two live action Death Note films, so now the first four episodes of the original anime are up for review. On release from
our friends at Madman on a region 4 disc this is the first of nine that hold the whole series, (which is available as a box set). Is it as good as the
movies? that is the question.
For those not familiar with the plot, Death Note concerns a notebook left here on Earth by Ryuk, one of the Shinigami or Death Gods. It's found by
a young student who decides to create a paradise on earth by killing off all the criminals. Of course this doesn't sit well with the powers that be
and a massive manhunt is on for the person behind the killings. Led by the mysterious and brilliant L the task force is soon on the trail leading to a
cat and mouse game with far reaching results.
These four episodes cover the events at the start of the first film, although with its much longer running time the show can go into much greater
depth and develop things at a slower pace. In the four episodes on the disc it was used to very good effect, giving us a deeper insight into the
characters and what drives them. Chief beneficiary of this is the Death God Ryuk himself. Not only do we get to find out his full motivations, and
much more of his personality, we also get a look at the world of the Shinigami themselves. This adds a nice bit of depth to the events to follow.
Light Yagami/Kira, the human protagonist also is much better fleshed out. His dedication to his goals is better defined, but the darker aspects of
his personality are also brought out. This sets the stage for things to come and would, I imagine, make some things seem less out of the blue than
they did in the movies.
Being an anime, the question everyone wants answered is, “How good is the animation?”. Well, you have to remember, this was a weekly
television show not a feature film so they didn't have years to do as extravagant and lavish job as some of you may be used to seeing. But it's still
miles ahead of what you can expect from anything produced for TV in the US or Europe at the moment. It also means the skin and violence
quotient is next to nothing. No Overfeind tentacle rape here.
There's not a lot in the way of special features here, which is kind of a letdown, especially compared to the lavish treatment the films got. But it's
still a good buy for the money and if you like it, the box set would be of even better value.
our friends at Madman on a region 4 disc this is the first of nine that hold the whole series, (which is available as a box set). Is it as good as the
movies? that is the question.
For those not familiar with the plot, Death Note concerns a notebook left here on Earth by Ryuk, one of the Shinigami or Death Gods. It's found by
a young student who decides to create a paradise on earth by killing off all the criminals. Of course this doesn't sit well with the powers that be
and a massive manhunt is on for the person behind the killings. Led by the mysterious and brilliant L the task force is soon on the trail leading to a
cat and mouse game with far reaching results.
These four episodes cover the events at the start of the first film, although with its much longer running time the show can go into much greater
depth and develop things at a slower pace. In the four episodes on the disc it was used to very good effect, giving us a deeper insight into the
characters and what drives them. Chief beneficiary of this is the Death God Ryuk himself. Not only do we get to find out his full motivations, and
much more of his personality, we also get a look at the world of the Shinigami themselves. This adds a nice bit of depth to the events to follow.
Light Yagami/Kira, the human protagonist also is much better fleshed out. His dedication to his goals is better defined, but the darker aspects of
his personality are also brought out. This sets the stage for things to come and would, I imagine, make some things seem less out of the blue than
they did in the movies.
Being an anime, the question everyone wants answered is, “How good is the animation?”. Well, you have to remember, this was a weekly
television show not a feature film so they didn't have years to do as extravagant and lavish job as some of you may be used to seeing. But it's still
miles ahead of what you can expect from anything produced for TV in the US or Europe at the moment. It also means the skin and violence
quotient is next to nothing. No Overfeind tentacle rape here.
There's not a lot in the way of special features here, which is kind of a letdown, especially compared to the lavish treatment the films got. But it's
still a good buy for the money and if you like it, the box set would be of even better value.
| BUY DVD @ MADMAN.COM.AU |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Search Review Database: |