Ever since I saw L in the very first episode of Death Note I fell in love with his character. He’s been my favorite ever since!

He is such a cute potato😭🎀

What makes Ryuk so brilliant in Death Note is that he isn't driven by hatred, revenge or even a desire for power. He's simply bored.

Before I started watching the 2015 live-action drama, I was already aware that it would be more of a reboot than a faithful adaptation of the manga, with major changes to both the plot and the characters. In this show, we had a much more human, clumsy, and relatable version of Light, as well as a gorgeous L with the aura of a boy band member who constantly changes his shirt for “plot reasons.” However, absolutely nothing could have prepared me for the way they adapted Near and Mello.

I suppose the fact these characters are kinda controversial within the fandom encouraged the people behind the J-drama to completely rewrite them, but I must admit that I never would have expected them to come up with *this*.

For those who aren't familiar with this series, Near is the only one who physically exists in this universe, while Mello is their violent alternate personality, contrasting with Near's sweet and peaceful nature. One wants to catch Kira out of love for L, while the other wants to prove that they are better than him. For most of the series, Mello exists inside a puppet that Near always carries around. However, in the final two episodes, Mello takes complete control of their body in an extremely complicated operation to expose Light as Kira, dressing like the manga counterpart and even eating his signature chocolate bar.

Another major difference is that the series leaves Near/Mello’s gender ambiguous. They are played by an actress who, I have to say, does a really good job with both characters. I know Near was voiced by a woman in the Japanese dub, but since I watched the series in the Spanish dub (where Near was voiced by a man with a masculine-sounding voice), this casting choice came as quite a surprise to me. Even so, I personally see this version of Near much more as a girl than as a boy or a genderless character.

I honestly wonder how this version of Near/Mello would be received if the series had come out today and been released on a much more international platform, such as Netflix. While I'm sure it would have received plenty of criticism, I can also easily imagine it becoming quite popular within the fandom, inspiring hundreds of fanarts across social media. The recent viral Malfoid trend proves just how much fans love genderbent characters.

Personally, while I still prefer the canon versions from the manga and anime, I have to say that I absolutely love the direction they took with L’s successors here. Aside from the fact that I liked how they were introduced from the very beginning of the story and worked alongside L (they even replace Aiber as the detective hired by the Yotsuba Group to investigate L), I also loved how much L trusted Near and Mello to take care of Light, as evidenced by the videos he left behind as a sort of inheritance. I also never expected Mello to end up working all this time with Near and the Task Force instead of trying to take down Kira on his own terms.

And on top of that, I love how the series ends with Watari, who survives in this version, becoming Near’s new butler and right-hand man. The final scene shows Watari and Near visiting L’s grave and watching a deeply emotional, secret video that L recorded in the unlikely case that Light wasn’t Kira. I wish the manga and anime had given us an ending like this.

What did you think of this version of Near/Mello? Do you think they deserve more attention within the fandom?

The thing is, L isn't above breaking the law to solve a case. We saw this when he was willing to put illegal wiretaps and cameras in Light's home to see if he was Kira. As well as the multiple death row inmates he used to manipulate Kira. It's a little out there, but why doesn't L just arrange for Light to be hospitalized to see if the killings temporarily stop? Maybe that's not proof beyond a shadow of a doubt? Heck, run him over twice.

It's been forever (10 years) since I've drawn anything anime-related...upon rewatching the series I was inspired

I am a fan of the Death Note stage musical. It's a pretty well done adaptation. Great songs and performances. Whenever I read comments on YouTube or see posts about it on reddit, most the vast majority are complimentary, people like it. I'm just curious, of the people who've seen or listened to it online, does anyone here actually not like it for some reason?

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Would light get caught if misa was never there or there no 2nd death note. Light came under serious suspicion only after involving with misa.

OP got deleted cuz i had inserted an image ;-;

We know that the victims can be controlled before they die but what are the limits?

As far as the anime no limits are shown.

And if Light even had the slightest bit of intelligence that was expected from him, he would have clearly manipulated the President, Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of Japan and their lackeys to execute ALL on pending death row criminals and tighten bounds for other activities. Then kill them of and people will blame the underground network of criminals for it!

Heck he could have manipulated the defence forces to drop a bomb on the hotel where L was staying and he would have won no-diff.

I saw a question in here asking what would happen if you wrote in a Death Note that someone would be killed by you (the writer), and the asnwers were that you'd just die too cus your name is in the Death Note.

But WHAT IF you manipulated the situation like what Light did in the movie with Naomi Misora and Shiori?

Let's say you want to kill someone you know for whatever reason, and you write "they receive a call from a friend at 3.10, visit the friend's house at 3.30, gets locked inside accidentally and is strangled to death at 3.45"

Then you proceed to call them to make sure they come to YOUR place. And you're alone, just the two of you, meaning you're the only person capable of strangling them in that moment.

Would you actually end up strangling them under the control of the Death Note, or would they'd just die of a heart attack?

Cus Light never wrote that Shiori would be shot by Naomi. But it happened because he made sure Naomi was the only person present with a gun. All he wrote was that Shiori would be shot but he never specified who'd actually shoot her.

Or maybe there's a rule I'm missing?

There are two plot holes that I don't see get adressed online or in the show, is that why didn't the task force do a re watch of Light's footage while he was detained after they touched the death note ? cause they would've seen Ryuk there with light and that would've been case closed. Also, when they got their hands on the death note after they caught the CEO Kira, why didn't they do an investigative sweep looking for fingerprints, hair strands, any traces of DNA, surely with how much Light was using the death note they would've found something with the note itself that convicts him just like how they found DNA evidence of Amane Misa with the tapes she sent ? Death note is an amazingly written story, I would say the best written story of all time for me, but the task force really feels sometimes like a bunch of ametures winging it, like where are there standardized procedures and protocols ?

The film is basically a dance between Nathan Fielder and Elizabeth Holmes…

You have Fielder as L, the detective, trying to catch Holmes in “the act”. They’re both manipulators trying to push each other to fold—Nathan tries to gain her trust to see some authenticity, Elizabeth is trying to gain his trust and have the movie become propaganda in her favor. But (like the death note being something supernatural and entirely hidden) the truth is something that you can’t catch on camera, it’s entirely internal and hidden. The title is “you can see everything” because even when you observe someone down the tiniest detail, there’s always a tension when it comes to master manipulator, it comes down to mind games and pursuing your idea of the truth. I really liked how the film was basically a chase between the criminal and the detective, it all reminded me of death note.