Anime 2994 Death Note Rewrite Reviews Filter Check 3

Due to this being a review of the second of two specials which condensed the entire 37 episode TV series into roughly four hours, I'm going to skip describing the story and covering what all semi-decent reviews of the TV series should by default, such as art/animation and sound. If I covered those aspects, I might as well be typing a review for the TV series instead. As I type this, I'm assuming the readers will already by familiar with Death Note, though I will hold back in order to avoid revealing all to those not in the know.

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First of all, don't assume I hate ... Death Note because of my 5/10 score. The reverse is true - I love Death Note, it being one of very few titles to receive top marks from yours truly. Madhouse did a wonderful job of fitting 50+ chapters into 11.5 episodes with the last half of the story. The sappy 'original ending' marathon aside, it's the best manga adaptation I've seen to date, it actually improving on the manga by removing the content that slowed down the second half of the story needlessly. However, when they tried to fit the entire second half into 90 minutes - INCLUDING an introduction and two minutes of credits - the writing was already on the wall.

Right from the start, I had a feeling it wasn't going to be very good.. or, to be more precise, I had a feeling I'd be here, trying to express why I hated it. It started with L making a 'surprise' return, summarizing the first half, with new... animation. But there were only two shots of L - one with him standing at a distance and one from the side of his face - and only his lips moved. At that moment, I couldn't help but think of how little effort went into this special. And this turned out to true in the case of nearly all of the 'new' footage created in a failed attempt to connect a butchered version of the story, with a lot of awkward looking facial art and limited animation.

...Oh, yes, I mentioned 'sappy' above. If you happen to approve of the Madhouse ending and are in desperate need of something else to complain about, Madhouse delivered with one of the few truly new scenes added - one not added to simplify the story. The scene in question involves L, via a TV screen, explaining to the kids at Wammy's House how he's an idiot (I'm quoting him here) and, because he's an idiot, how he's afraid of being lied to. He rambles for awhile, pointing out how he loves the human race for their idiocy (the kids all pay attention because of this dramatic speech), and then it was over. I'm unsure if the Japanese > French > Engrish translation improved this scene or not, but it added nothing of value.

Anyway, moving away from sappy goings on and onto inconsistencies. Because of the huge amount of content that was cut (removal > rewrite), there are numerous inconsistencies present. The most bothersome inconsistency occurred towards the end, when Aizawa entered THE warehouse. In the full story, he goes in to confirm the identity of those inside, him having seen them all already beforehand... but the scene where he saw those people prior to that wasn't included in this special. How in the name of God could he have known if they were the real deal or not when he'd never seen them before? Was he upgraded to a psychic in order to further shorten the length? HOW!?

Maybe even worse yet, Near knew right from the start the identity of Kira. Death Note fans should be aware that Near, though suspicious, only became certain of the identity of Kira after interacting with him for awhile and nearly getting burned as a consequence. But in this woeful attempt at shortening the story, he just knew.

There are many other points I could mention, such as Light acquiring the services of Mikami and Takada before Near came into the picture - the special not even showing why Mikami or Takada were selected - but I won't to avoid going on forever. Just believe me when I say it's as much of a mess as you'd expect an attempt at condensing an already condensed last half of a story to be.

Fear not, though, as we aren't done yet. Not even close. I've saved the best for last.

Remember Light's dad? You know, that guy you never remember the name of and instead just refer as Light's dad? Yeah, him. Did you like the drama involving him in the TV series, where the climax of his story resulted in Light showing his true colours, and later played a key part in Matsuda's anger towards the end? Well, too bad - he isn't even mentioned in this... you know what, I'm tired of calling this a friggin' special. He isn't even a part of this SHIT. No shot of him, no explanation, no nothing. Madhouse remembered to get re-voiced Light dialogue to work around Matsuda's rage, but they couldn't be bothered to explain why Light's dad vanished into thin air. If it was me, and I wanted to butcher one my favourite things in existence, I'd at least have the decency to pull a sudden retirement out of my arse.

Linking into this wonderful omission is Mello, also known by the name of a certain Al Pacino movie in certain circles. But, clearly, Madhouse are not fond of his other name because, like with the poor old father of Light, they forgot to mention how he got his scar. He enters the picture without a scar, the ENTIRE mafia story is removed and then he re-emerges with a surprisingly more attractive face. Why even bother explaining such things? It isn't as if a Death Note newbie is going to be unlucky enough to watch only the... not-so-special-specials and wonder why such an illogical story is so loved. No siree bob!

...You know what, enough of this. All you really need to know is that this is garbage, with a high average rating only because of fanboyism beyond even my Death Note loving understanding. Even the music placement is off, Light's marathon being made worse as a result. If you like Death Note, stay the hell away or you'll more than likely end up imitating me, maybe with a slightly lower paragraph count. If you hate Death Note, by all means watch it - you'll find a lot to moan about and fulfillment. But, whatever you do, don't make the mistake of judging the manga and/or TV series based on this or its slightly less disappointing but by no means special prequel.

Rating: 5/10

If you watched the full Anime Series, watch the first and last 3 minutes of each volume. That is the extent of the newness in these volumes and I saved you at least 2 hours of your life. You are welcome.

If you didn't watch the full series, very calmly take these back to the store and get your money back then watch the full Deathnote series online or on netflix.
I promise that is a better investment of your time then watching these first or even at all.

I bought both volumes for $5 each and they look great on the DVD shelf, but that's really the ... best thing about them.

Spoiling a masterpiece by chopping it up into clips instead of watching it for real. It does have about 10 seconds of new footage, but it isn't worth re-watching the show in such an incomplete manner. You would be better off just waiting a while until you've forgotten some of the show and are ready to watch it again, and then just get the full experience.

Youtubing the ~20 seconds of new footage is probably a better approach than watching these, if you want to be able to see everything.

You could argue "well I don't have time to watch the complete Death Note, so I'm better ... off just watching this since it's better than nothing." That's just like saying you should read 70 pages of little selected readings from a Harry Potter book. The book would be ruined. The climax of Death Note is so good that you can probably still get excitement from watching it without really seeing everything before, but the excitement is going to be heavily nerfed from the real experience, and once you spoil it, you can never get back the opportunity to see it for the first time.

They aren't worth watching. The false narrative they suggest as a retelling from Ryouk's perspective is a lie. They're literally just condensed versions of the same story. And not done very well either. They end up just being a confusing vomit of scenes without everything properly connecting everything or explained like the original. If all someone were to watch was this, they would be confused out of their damn minds. Worse, the "new" scenes are basically nothing, and not relevant to the story. If you want to watch Death Note and haven't, watch the TV series. If you want to watch the new or different ... scenes (and there may be a total of ~3 minutes across both movies), just watch them on YouTube and save yourself 4 hours.

SPOILERS TO FOLLOW (for what little spoilers there possibly are)...





















































It starts out with some rando Shinigami going to Ryouk in the Shinigami Realm and asking him to tell the story of the interesting time he had in the human world and offering him a shinigami realm apple to tell it. Then the recap starts as confusing scene vomit that jumps too much and makes no sense. The next is the way Light & L meet, it's different in the recap and bizarre - some phone call then going to some weird hidden doors into some secret theater to meet with L and get shown the response the team sent to the second Kira. Just straight wtf stuff. Then after L's death there's a funeral scene.

The end of the second one is the worst. It just shows that Light wouldn't have died, that Ryouk killed him because he thought Light getting caught and going to prison would be boring and there's no telling how long it'd take for him to die. Which is all of about 30 seconds of him saying that. Which implies Light had a lot of life left and the bullet wounds wouldn't have finished him off, that he wasn't fated to die for a good long time.

Part 1 English
Part 2 Bahasa Indonesia

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Oh, Death Note: ReWrite, The story is so well-written, with its complex characters and intricate plot twists that keep you on the edge of your seat. The main character, Light Yagami, is a true genius and his battle of wits with the equally brilliant detective L is simply enthralling.

The music in so - so. but I especially loved the opening and ending themes, which were so catchy and memorable.
As for my enjoyment experience, well, let's just say that I couldn't get enough of Death Note: ReWrite. Every episode had me hooked, eagerly waiting to see what would happen next.

The story ... is so convoluted and confusing that it's hard to keep track of what's going on, and the characters are so flat and one-dimensional that you couldn't care less about their fates.

The music is equally forgettable, and I found myself checking the time every few minutes, just waiting for the episode to be over. So no, I wouldn't recommend Death Note: ReWrite to anyone, unless you enjoy being bored out of your mind.

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Oh, Death Note: ReWrite, ceritanya sangatlah baik ditulis, dengan karakter-karakter yang kompleks dan plot twist yang rumit yang membuat Anda terpaku di tempat duduk. Karakter utama, Light Yagami, adalah seorang jenius sejati dan pertarungannya dengan detektif yang sama briliannya, L, benar-benar memikat.

Musiknya biasa-biasa saja, tetapi saya terutama menyukai lagu pembuka dan penutupnya yang sangat mudah diingat.
Untuk pengalaman saya menikmati, mari kita katakan bahwa saya tidak bisa cukup dengan Death Note: ReWrite. Setiap episode membuat saya tergila-gila, dengan nafsu menunggu untuk melihat apa yang akan terjadi selanjutnya.

Ceritanya sangat rumit dan membingungkan sehingga sulit untuk mengikuti apa yang sedang terjadi, dan karakter-karakternya sangat datar dan satu dimensi sehingga Anda tidak peduli dengan nasib mereka.

Musiknya juga mudah terlupakan, dan saya sering mengecek waktu setiap beberapa menit, hanya menunggu episode selesai. Jadi tidak, saya tidak akan merekomendasikan Death Note: ReWrite kepada siapa pun, kecuali jika Anda menikmati merasa bosan.