I watched the Death Note live action movie last night. The first part had good translation. The second part had better video quality but way lousy translation. Imagine, Light is called Moon, or sometimes monthly monarch, while when he’s called by his last name Yagami, it’s spirit of the night. But when it’s his dad, Yagami is trasnlated as supernatural of the night. Misa is sand of the sea, L is Long Qi, Ogi-san is gentleman of mould. The third Kira was high field. Oh yeah, Kira is translated as very happy. It was quite a laugh, hearing and then deciphering that those were actually their names. Talk about literal, haha. Sentence structure was also not in the best possible state. So I wasn’t able to get much of what happened in the second part, for example how things were figured out, etc. It’s good that I got to read the manga so at least, I had an idea what’s happening. There are lots of times when the characters were speaking but there’s nothing you can read. And I can’t understand much of Japanese either. Now, the story.
A lot of parts had been cut out. Although that’s not to say that the movie is not any better. There are lots of alterations although I think it is for a good purpose. There were only three people who used the Death Note whereas in the manga, there were four. The beginning was also quite clever in that it started with Light as already a university student and reports of Kira’s deeds making echoes in their society. Flashbacks gave insight as to how this came about. Although the manga was able to focus more on the quirks of their characters, especially those of Light’s and L’s, the movie was sufficiently able to give a coherent view of the relationship between the two and the challenges they posed onto one another (although I did not get to understand much of what went on between them since you can send the translation to hell). Light and L also seem more human here. Misa is also tolerable as a villain and as a wannabe-girlfriend of the former. Light’s reasons for becoming Kira seem more in touch with reality. Even though he was consumed by his thought, the live action was able to show that this stemmed from basic human goodness, although he still believed that anyone’s death can be used as a means to succeed in his purpose. His dad did not die here, although someone else close to him did. Light’s death did not make it seem as if he was insane. His parents and his sister even remember him and show grief (for their loss of him) at the end of the movie, reminding us that he was not just an intelligent kid who stumbled upon the Death Note and was controlled by its power, but he was also a gentle son, a loving brother. L is also somewhat a more endearing character, earning admiration from Chief Yagami, although his death by the Death Note was also necessary to unmask the original Kira. Watari is shown as someone who is quite dear to L, although he has shown no inclination towards such sentiments in the manga. The realizations of Ryuk and Rem in the movie are quite satisfactory. Too bad we didn’t get to see N here, but it’s alright or else, the live action would be much longer, but I’m positive they can turn it into a 10-episode live action series. The guy playing Light (also the lead male character in Battle Royale) was able to act his character well. I wanted to be more shocked, or at least, piqued by his eccentricities, when L was first revealed, but well, it seems the very first time would always be the best. So I thought L here was not really at par with L in the manga. All in all, the movie was able to satisfactorily adapt the original story, while being able to incorporate the human element in the characters. If you’re looking for story, well, here’s something you might want to look into.
After watching this, I was already sleepy so I slept for a bit. Then I woke up at around two. I prepared to go to sleep once more, but then I couldn’t (this happens every time – once I wake up from sleep, no matter how little I’ve slept, say from 10-12mn, I’ll only be sleepy come 5 o’clock). Well, right now, I’m not even sleepy. So I gave up on the sleeping around a quarter to 3. I ended up borrowing some of Ket’s DVDs (last Friday), one of which was a collection of Korean movies most of which I’ve watched (200 Pounds Beauty, My Sassy Girl, My Tutor Friend 2, He Was Cool) and the others I’ve only encountered now (She’s on Duty (Andrew from Coffee Prince is here, sporting a sort of semi-bald (semi-kalbo) cut looking really cute as an undercover yakuza underling who develops a romantic attachment with another undercover, but this time, a cop), So Cute (no energy, found it quite boring so didn’t bother finishing it), D-something Naughty Girls (the setting’s a school with everyone almost sleeping with everybody, a fact openly declared, with everyone singing with matching choreography; the movie had no single story line initially so I also didn’t bother with this) and Jenny and Juno). I had a sort of marathon yesterday, watching She’s on Duty, then My Tutor Friend 2. I didn’t really like MTF2 the first time I watched it (on crunchyroll.com, my dears), but I must be feeling too emotional and too vulnerable to love nowadays that I liked it. Originally, my objection had been that they just wanted to use the title even though there didn’t seem to be much tutoring going on. Well, now I see the love story and of course, the guy is still muy guapo. He’s also a downright goofy guy so I loved him again hehe. After this, I got curious with the series My Sassy Girl Choon-Hyang. There are 17 episodes of 17 episodes but I’m only on the 9th. Much has happened so I guess, there’ll be plenty more of struggle for Mong-Ryong and then for the both of them, since much of Choon-Hyang’s has already happened for the last eight episodes. It’s just that the disc is about used a lot so it’s been stopping every now and then, making it harder for me to finish watching it. Recently, I’ve become more easily moved to tears by what I watch. Just last week, I watched I Am Sam and cried a lot when Sam and Lucy were finally separated on court’s orders. The other romance dramas I’ve watched before only used to make me feel a pain in my breast, like I’m in the situation as the characters, but watching MSG Choon-Hyang made me cry for whatever the girl was going through. I’m currently wondering where my feeling all of these would lead to. Anyway, so this dawn, I was watching Jenny and Juno, a pair of cute high school couple on whom a lifetime of responsibility is bestowed on when the girl gets pregnant. The two looked like innocent high school kids, she – among the top five and the class president, and he – a champion cyber gamer. Her pregnancy turns their lives around, both of them determined to have the baby. Juno stays true to his word that he’ll take care of her and he was doing so wonderfully (waking up in the middle of night to answer to her whims, feeding her healthy food and both of them nourishing each other with happy thoughts). I thought I was also gonna give up on this some twenty minutes into the movie, but some scenes just make you want to go on watching, and eventually, there was no turning back. I’m glad I finished it. The movie just reminded me that there a lot of good things in life, not the least of them the people who care for you, and we just have to enjoy them. It also had a sort of sunny disposition so I feel good this sunny morning. It’s also like everything’s so clear. it was a sort of blessing that Winamp was playing the first soundtrack of Dawson’s Creek. I haven’t heard the lyrics as clearly as I had this morning (it may also be probably due to the fact that the volume is louder), reveled in their meanings and appreciated why shows such as Dawson’s Creek have soundtracks and the soundtrack itself. The movie left me hoping that I had something akin to what they have, although we can leave out the baby for now, thanks.
Well, it’s now a quarter past 7 (viertel nach sieben/las siete y quince minutos) , and the sun is so bright. I’ve got to do microbiological analysis on my beef samples all week, so gotta get ready.
Guten Morgen. Buenos dias. Magandang umaga. Masantos ya agew.
Ciao!
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