>>38458629>>38458648I watched Death Note dubbed on TV over 10 years ago. In preparation for the movie, I decided to give the manga a proper reading. Over the time I read it, I understood the characters far more than I originally did, and I noticed one major thing. The characters are completely static and do not experience any sort of character growth. Matsuda is the closest one going solely by his moment at the end, but he immediately returns to comic relief right after and isn't changed by the experience. Light is always the narcissist with the God complex. L is always the calculating detective. Soichiro is always the hardboiled police officer. Misa is always the dumb blonde. Matsuda is always the rookie buttmonkey. Near is always kid L.
And that's fine. Even if they don't change, they still make for interesting interactions. I remember I used to think that Light could have been a better person, but that's not true. He has very little about his past revealed and he only becomes a more friendly dude after losing his memories due to the situation he's in. If Light ever became police chief and didn't recover his memories, he definitely would have become corrupt over time. That's how his character reacts to power. He's basically asexual and all his relationships serve to stroke his massive ego. He cheats on Misa because it fuels his ego. Even if all crime was wiped out, he would continue to think of ways to keep himself on top.
The movie shouldn't have just been called Death Note, because it's not an adaptation, and that's also okay. I'm fine with it not doing the same old story that's been done by the manga, anime, recap movies, live action movies, and live action TV series (kinda). They should have called Light "Lucas" as an homage, but the characters in the movie actually developed and seemed like real people. The real Light adaptation was Mia, who treated movie Light as her Misa, and it was great. As a Death Note spin-off, I felt they really understood it.
