Honestly, the Netflix adaptation of Death Note appears to have so much wrong with it that we can’t even dissect it all, but we’ll try.
Apparently, March just won’t be a good month for fans of classic anime like Ghost in the Shell and Death Note, and August doesn’t look too bright either. Why August, you ask? Well, that’s when Netflix will release its movie adaptation of Death Note.
The teaser trailer came out today, and suffice it to say that it looks even less appealing than Ghost in the Shell, which went so far as to rename Motoko Kusanagi to Mira something-or-other but kept the general aesthetic of the anime.
Here it is:
Sometimes, there are simply no words, so let’s look at the Twitter reaction to this trailer:
He’s the same way in the manga, and yes, Light Yagami is, in fact, a great student. There’s a reason the upcoming Funko Pop! figure based on the original has him wearing a school uniform, tie and all.
As for suspecting him of being up to something, yours truly had the first impression of “He looks like a knockoff of Tate from American Horror Story: Murder House, just without any of Evan Peters’ charm.”
Light looks terrible. It appears as though they have cast Lakeith Stanfield as the great detective L, however, based on the production still above where he’s sitting in L’s signature fashion, so at least that’s safe. IMDb confirms this, though it’s IMDb, so make of that what you will.
Other Twitter users have pointed out that this looks a bit more like an action movie, with one user, @linhtropy, pointing out that the United States is “too obsessed with action and violence for a legit Death Note to work,” although they put it in all-caps, which, honestly, we can’t blame them for. Seriously, a collapsing Ferris wheel? Really, American Death Note? The most dramatic tennis match in the history of anime wasn’t enough for you? (No, really, L and Light play tennis once.)
At this point, I suppose we should be happy that we only see the gleam of Ryuk’s eyes in the above trailer, because it seems like he’ll be disappointing too.
Netflix will release Death Note on Aug. 25. In the meantime, you can watch the anime series in either English or Japanese on the same service.