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Director of Netflix's Death Note Film Discusses Film's Violence

They will know that is based on a anime and they will think that all anime is ultra-violent, gore and full of nudity.

If this movie was more like what Death Note is (a psychological thriller) and not some adult horror movie, the mainstream audience maybe will look how intelligent the story is and how good anime can be.

Jonny Mendes wrote:

If this movie was more like what Death Note is (a psychological thriller) and not some adult horror movie, the mainstream audience maybe will look how intelligent the story is and how good anime can be.

You're wrongly assuming that anyone new to anime (or manga) can't find it good for reasons that don't necessarily have to do with "intelligent" writing not everyone cares for thought provoking dramas, with heavy handed elements, and insert your own interpretation of the characters or story here.

So... by all means change it to cater to people who don't care for the original content?

That argument goes both ways. There might not be people who like the elements of the source material. That's fine, but there are also people who do.

The difference is, if people don't like the source material, why would they watch the adaptation? Even if the creators of the adaptation have changed it dramatically to cater to the desires of the people who originally didn't like it, if you didn't like it, you're not going to give it a chance. Just common sense.

So that really is just a double whammy against yourself. Change the content to the dissatisfaction of the people who enjoyed it originally into content other people would prefer to see but would never watch regardless.

Jonny Mendes wrote:

They will know that is based on a anime and they will think that all anime is ultra-violent, gore and full of nudity.

Around half the people who watched the 1987 TMNT Cartoon and the Live Action Movie never new about the comic book both works were adapted from or that the books are decidedly more darker and violent than adaptations. They also don't really care.

In other words most casual fans watching this are going to view this movie (or whatever it is) as it's own thing and whatever viewpoint they have good or bad isn't going to be held against either the manga or anime industry as a whole.

Jonny Mendes wrote:

If this movie was more like what Death Note is (a psychological thriller) and not some adult horror movie, the mainstream audience maybe will look how intelligent the story is and how good anime can be.

You're wrongly assuming that anyone new to anime (or manga) can't find it good for reasons that don't necessarily have to do with "intelligent" writing not everyone cares for thought provoking dramas, with heavy handed elements, and insert your own interpretation of the characters or story here.

So... by all means change it to cater to people who don't care for the original content?

That argument goes both ways. There might not be people who like the elements of the source material. That's fine, but there are also people who do.

The difference is, if people don't like the source material, why would they watch the adaptation?

Anime fans can be so sensitive. "He obviously hasn't read the original source material, hmph!" "Uncultured swine!" You're not superior and more cultured just because you think you know exactly how adaptations should be made and enjoy jumping the gun on an unreleased end product because of a few lines from the director. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I rewatched the series relatively recently, but I think you guys are mis-remembering it if you genuinely believe it doesn't get pretty violent at times. Sure, I can see the adaptation blatantly depicting these scenes with less grace and subtlety, but that's also kind of predictable for a western remake too.

The Guest was actually a pretty good thriller, but the new Blair Witch wasn't very good (aside from the ending), so I suppose I'm cautiously looking forward to it. Assuming from those two films only, it seems the quality could go either way.

Anime fans can be so sensitive. "He obviously hasn't read the original source material, hmph!" "Uncultured swine!" You're not superior and more cultured just because you think you know exactly how adaptations should be made and enjoy jumping the gun on an unreleased end product because of a few lines from the director.

That´s what happens when your mind is so drowned in PURISM. Even with anime series, anime fans can be annoying. They don´t understand than an adaptation doesn´t have to be a panel-by-panel animation of the source material. Even in TV Series, Hollywood doesn´t do panel-by-panel adaptations(If you saw iZombie, compare its comics with the TV series), but this happens because most directors want to make a too faithful adaptation, even when things end up like Ace Attorney(first 4 episodes) or Sailor Moon Crystal.

Because anime fans are used to good adaptions. Anime is usually a panel for panel adaption. Unlike Hollywood adaptions which usually change things for stupid reasons., and people have become complacent about it. Fans of western media like comics and games just accept adaptions will be flawed and try to enjoy them regardless. Anime fans expect better because we're used to better, to put it simply.

I'd like to chime in that there have been at least two attempts from Hollywood to make as faithful an adaptation as possible. Watchmen got a mixed reception, and the remake of Psycho got slammed, bombed, and forgotten except to use as examples of why movie adaptations shouldn't be as faithful as possible.

If people want to make a live action crime drama with some supernatural elements and lots of violence, they should just make their own work instead of taking another country's work.

Is the live action Death Note going to cause the broader public to reconsider anime as an art form that is just as viable as American comics and fantasy novels or is it going to continue to add to the negative stigma that anime still has? So far frankly the creators of this are falling into the latter camp here.

Frankly to me, at this point, I don't really care about live action adaptation of anime anymore. To me, the whole appeal of anime is that it's telling these complex and unique narratives through the medium of animation and that's what makes anime so appealing to me. If people want to make a live action crime drama with some supernatural elements and lots of violence, they should just make their own work instead of taking another country's work. That's what Hollywood did with Inception and it turned out to be a really great film even though some anime nerds might call it a "rip off" of Satoshi Kon. But I would almost prefer they do something like that with Death Note at this point. It would be a lot more honest. My biggest concern with the live action Death Note isn't about if it will "ruin the original" or not but what this is going to do for the perception of anime as an art form. Anime already has this negative stigma that it's all either little kid's shows like Pokemon or it's all violent gory porn for "weeaboos." Is the live action Death Note going to cause the broader public to reconsider anime as an art form that is just as viable as American comics and fantasy novels or is it going to continue to add to the negative stigma that anime still has? So far frankly the creators of this are falling into the latter camp here.

Watchmen wasn't really singled out for being a one to one adaptation of the comic the general complaints was Snyder misunderstood Moore's narrative/message and some other nonsense. The 98 Psycho film on the other hand was taken to task for being a 1 to 1 adaptation though.

I imagine it is going to be even more difficult with anime, especially with all the big name popular titles everyone wants to grab, that are simply too complex to fit into the limited constraints of a film format that has to be tailored to suit Western tastes and values while also appealing to its core fanbase. It's easier for American comics because most American comics tend to have lots of reboots and alternate universes and lend themselves more to being flexible with their stories as long as they keep the basic spirit of the original. With anime most of the time you just have the one story to work with to try and compress into a two hour time limit while still making it both digestible for the masses and true to the spirit of the original.