Death Note: The Musical

Was anyone going to tell me there’s a Death Note musical? Or was I just supposed to find out because of this TikTok with a song that is ACTUALLY GOOD?

Death Note: The Musical has a score written by Frank Wildhorn and lyrics by Jack Murphy. Its development was initially announced in December 2013 and had its world premiere on April 6, 2015 at the Nissay Theatre in Tokyo, Japan.

Finding out about this musical adaption makes me wonder why Netflix bothered with their American adaption Death Note movie? Why not put your efforts towards producing a movie version of the Death Note musical? That would have been way more impressive and well-received.

Below are some of the more popular songs from the musical:

Where’s the Justice?

Secrets and Lies

They’re Only Human

Stalemate

Hurricane

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9 FACTS ABOUT CHARACTERS FROM DEATH NOTE

Why Italian version, why?

1. Light

   
   The important things to know about Light is that he is 179cm tall, weighs 54kg, his blood type is A and his birthday is the 28th February

2. L

   
   In the Italian version of Death Note, instead of using the letter ‘L’ to spell L’s name the phonetic spelling is used (‘Elle’). Though obviously L’s symbol was still the letter ‘L’ in Old English Text MT font

3. Misa

   
   Misa’s birthday is on Christmas, while her date of death is Valentine’s Day

4. Ryuk

   
   Takeshi Obata has said that he found it quite difficult to create Ryuk. Orginally, Ryuk’s design was that of a “young man similar to Light” with black hair and wings. He wanted to give the Shinigami almost a rock-star sort of appearance.
   However, Obata thought that if Ryuk was more attractive than Light that Ryuk would appear to be the main character. So in the end Obata settled upon designing Ryuk with his more monster-like appearance

5. Near

   
   Like L in the Italian version of Death Note, instead of spelling N’s name as ‘N’ the phonetic spelling of ‘Enne’ is used

6. Mello

   
   So, apparently Madonna has admitted before that she’s a pretty big fan of Death Note, and that her favourite character is Mello? (No-one seems to be able to find the links to the interview though…) But anyway, it’s pretty much agreed upon by the Death Note fandom that Madonna cosplayed as Mello back in her 2007 music video of her song ‘Jump.’ The video was shot in Japan and in it she’s wearing a blonde wig and a leather outfit…

7. Matsuda

   
   When Mikami uses his Shinigami eyes and sees everybody’s lifespans, Matsuda’s is shown to be 548192

8. Rem

   
   Obata has said that he was inspired by the mythological creature Medusa to draw Rem’s hair the way that it is

9. Watari

   
   Watari’s offical stats are as follows: intelligence – 7/10, creativity – 8/10, initiative – 10/10, emotional strength – 10/10, social skills – 8/10, versatility – 10/10

5 ANIME I (PROBABLY) CRIED TOO MUCH OVER WHILE WATCHING

Just rip my heart out why don’t you?

1. Grave of the Fireflies

   
   You have no heart if you don’t cry while watching this. It’s either that, or I’m too emotional and sensitive and get attached to characters too easily. But yeah, I didn’t recover until a couple of hours after this movie ended and cried the whole way through it – as in I started crying 2 minutes into it as soon as I realised that Seita was dead and that what we were seeing with the siblings and the fireflies stuff were actually them being dead too. This movie may have not been the best but it (for me at least) was definitely angst after sadness after despair after trauma with glimpses of some moments of peace in between.

2. Wolf Children

   
   When my mum found me an hour after this movie finished hiding under the kitchen bench in a ball crying she was quite concerned. Until she found out that I was crying over a movie and then promptly shook her head and walked away. But they make those characters that die within the first 10 minutes of a film purposefully amazing so that you love them and then when they then kill them off, you’ll sympathise with their loved ones that are left behind. And I know that this movie had a happy ending! But that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to get emotional over Hana trying to find Ame out in the woods while it’s storming and everything that goes down after that point.

3. Tokyo Ghoul

   
   This one is actually pretty embarrassing… So obviously I cried during the final episode of root A, expect the problem arose about 30 minutes after when I had already mostly calmed down. Because I was on the phone to my friend and out of the blue they asked me if I was feeling okay. And then I broke into a fresh batch of tears over the phone. It was awkward.

4. My Neighbour Totoro

   
   Here’s another fairly embarrassing one. I wasn’t so much the story that made me cry but more the possible events that were suggested that could have happened in the story. So when that shoe was found in the river and Satsuki was asked if it’s Mei’s I knew it obviously wasn’t – but the film placed the idea in my mind of what if Satsuki’s sister did drown in the river in a new town that the family had just moved to while they’re mother was suffering from tuberculosis. And it was too much for me to handle and sobbing was the result.

5. Death Note

   
   It was probably a mistake to binge watch the later episodes of Death Note from 9pm until after 4am. Because by the time that L died in the episode I was watching at 3am, the tears just started to roll down my face and I remained silent for over the next hour as I sat in the same position, unmoving until I feel asleep at my laptop.

6 ACTORS WHO’VE VOICED COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TYPES OF CHARACTERS

I think I’m just sitting here in a state of slight shock at the moment… But all these VAs are so talented! And they have so many other awesome roles that I could mention too!

1. Hiroshi Kamiya has voiced both Levi Ackerman and Mephisto Pheles!

   

   I think that I just find this kind of entertaining because Levi is obsessed with cleaning, while Mephisto loves chaos.

2. Natsuki Hanae has provided his voice for Ken Keneki and Inaho Kaizuka.

   

   An interesting character vs a cardboard personality?

3. Ono Daisuke is the voice of both Erwin Smith and Sebastian Michaelis!!!

   

   Well they’re both amazing… So I don’t really know why I’m surprised that they’re voiced by the same actor.

4. Mamoru Miyano has voiced Light Yagami and Rin Matsuoka.

   

   Wow. Just wow.

5. Megumi Ogata is the voice actress of both Yugi Muto and Sailor Uranus?!

   

   Okay, okay, I did not see that one coming at all!

6. Junichi Suwabe is the voice of both Victor Nikiforov and Juzo Sakakura.

   

   Victor can be a total airhead and is so excitable, while Juzo is… not.

8 ANIME SUPPORTING CHARACTERS WHO NEED SOME MORE LOVE

Or a spin off series. Either one works for me.

1. Moblit

   

   Essentially, this man in the epitome of a great human being.

   Moblit’s intelligent, responsible and clearly adaptable and patient enough to have become Hanje’s second-in-command (his contract probably states that the majority of his job is ensuring that Hange stays out of trouble). The guy is shown to be quite worried about Hange’s antics but handles everything very well, so he can clearly handle high amounts stress. However, he’s also shown to have a bit of a dangerous side as he’s helped Hange to torture and has even injured another person before without so much as blinking.

2. Sylvio

   

   He’s so dramatic. He could make an episode out of any little thing happens to him.

   He’s a sore loser, a crybaby and spoiled. He’s annoying as all hell, dramatic and arrogant. I love it.

3. Phichit

   

   This is the face Phichit makes as he threatens you with bodily harm… I’m sure of it.

   Give the boy his own show goddamnit! I want stalking, I want blackmail and I want a some excitement while he reaches for his staking dreams!

4. Clay

   

   The best boy.

   I love him. I just want to see more of him.

5. Matsuda

   

   He’s too pure and as you’ve all heard a million times before, I’m so proud of how far he comes throughout the series.

   Matsuda is my precious little baby. I’d definitely watch his adventures around the city and in the office and his take on helping solve the Kira case. He’d have a very different opinion on everything from the other characters in the Death Note series so I think it’d be interesting to watch.

6. Kisara

   

   She is beauty, grace and quiet confidence.

   We know so little about Kisara. What happened to her while she was a teenager? Where’s she been living? She’s probably travelled a bit and she’s definitely has been through a lot. Give me her story please!

7. Akamaru

   

   Not gonna lie… I would watch 100+ episodes of Akamaru doing literally nothing but existing.

   A day in the life of Akamaru? Yes! I’m here for it!

8. Kamaji

   

   This guy’s got dirt on every single employee at the bath house. You cannot change my mind.

   You can’t deny that Kamaji is an interesting character. He’s stuck down in the boiler room all day, but seems like the kind of guy who wouldn’t mind getting up to some mischief too… Or at least that he would get to witness a lot of drama unfold or stumble across other people’s secrets while he works!

DISCUSSING 8 SYMBOLS FOUND IN ‘DEATH NOTE’

“L, do you know Gods of Death love apples?”

So we all know Death Note. And we’re all more or less familiar with Christianity. Which is good because there is so much symbolism in this series that links in with Christianity, particularly Renaissance artwork. There’s so many references throughout Death Note, so I’m doing to go through some of them today!
(Also just a heads up that this post is mainly talking about the anime, not the manga, as I talk about the OP quite a bit)

1. Apples

   
   Let’s start off with this because Ryuk and his obsession with apples is just an iconic part of this series.
   In the Bible, apples are linked to temptation as they are the ‘forbidden fruit.’ They are the symbol of original sin and represent the Death Note throughout the series – such as how in the first OP, Light catches an apple and takes his first bite from it. At first Light thought the Death Note was just a joke, but then temptation got to him and he ended up using it. This is when he committed his first ultimate sin.
   Plus Ryuk really likes apples… Guess it isn’t really hard to tell why…

2. Doves and Crows

   
   Well, where do I even begin with this? So doves, are a big symbol in the Christian faith. They’re a symbol of hope, peace and are even considered to be messengers of God. But the doves don’t hang around with Light for long, quickly leaving him to be with crows. This could be interpreted as a reference to how Light believes that he is doing the right thing and believes he is ‘god’ – while the doves are just an image that leaves him, they aren’t real.
   Crows are also quite often associated with death. They’re scavengers so they tend to hang around things that are dead or about to die – such as Light, so this can be seen as a foreshadow to Light’s death. Ryuk’s wings are also shown to be quite crow-like, and Ryuk’s a god of death. So this can be argued to foreshadow how Ryuk is just hanging around Light, using him for entertainment as he waits for Light to die.

3. Bells

   
   The bells a clear foreshadow to what’s going to happen to L later in the episode, especially as they ring when L recounts his parents’ deaths and when L dies.
   The bells have a sombre tone to them to start with, but bells can also be considered a bad omen. It’s said that if bells ring for no reason, then death is close. Church bells specifically though are also rung at funerals – so really the whole bell thing was an obvious foreshadow to L’s immediate future.

4. Foot massage

   
   This scene can be considered a reference to when Jesus washed Judas’ feet the night before Jesus was betrayed by Judas – such as how Light betrays L.
   However, this scene can also be interpreted as L talking about how Kira has become the ‘god’ of the new world. The foot massage begins with L saying, “It’s the least I can do to atone for my sins” before proceeding to dry off Light’s feet. The drying off could be a reference to how L has been trying to stop Kira and this is the ‘sin’ that L’s committed.

5. God complex

   
   Where do I even begin with this? Light CLEARLY has a god complex. And practically everything in the series points to this. But for the sake of discussing symbolism, I’ll move on and actually attempt to say something interesting for once.
   In particularly the first OP, Light is seen in many shots to take a ‘god-like’ position. He extends his hand as Misa’s saviour, he stands on top of skyscrapers as the ‘god of the new world’ he perceives himself to be and during the first few shots is shown to be facing downwards from a ceiling (almost like he was looking down upon people from a Church roof). Light is also shown to be in Renaissance artwork parallels during the OP – such as how he and Ryuk and featured in a parody of Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam.

    

6. Colour

   
   Throughout the entirety of Death Note, Light and L are pretty much portrayed as opposites. And their colours are no exception to this. Light is shown in red, while L is shown in blue.
   Light’s red coloured hair and eyes can be symbolic of many (all negative) things such as killing and blood. L’s blue though is meant to be the opposite of Light’s colour.

7. Justice

   
   (Okay, so this doesn’t really have anything to do with symbolism or religion a ton but it’s a very large part of the series so I felt like mentioning it anyway)
   Justice is such a big theme throughout Death Note. And in Christianity, what is considered just is determined by a set of rules that God has given to his people to follow. So by breaking any of these rules, then a person has sinned. Light likes to break a lot of the rules though that are set in the 10 Commandments – he has a god complex, makes himself into a ‘god’ figure, definitely doesn’t honour his father, DEFINITELY doesn’t follow the rule about not killing others and tells soooooo many lies. Interestingly though, L seems to support the death penalty – though this may have something to do with the fact that this punishment is only determined after a trial has finished. L also talks a lot about how ‘childish’ Kira is – suggesting that Kira’s judgement isn’t exactly very wise.

8. Roses

   
   The roses aren’t featured all that often during the series, though they were placed into the OP. They are noticeably wilting, and are shown over a shot of Light’s face too. This could be a reference to the ‘crown of thorns’ with how much detail is placed on the thorns. Or the roses could represent something else entirely, as they were used frequently in Renaissance art to symbolise anything from triumph to love to sorrow to purity to blood to faith to charity. Based upon from what we know about Light though I’m going to say that either the martyrdom (as Light did view himself kind of like a martyr), blood (because of all the people he killed) or triumph (as he is a very arrogant character and does tend think of the whole thing with L a lot in the terms of a game – as he ‘wins’ some rounds, but plans to ‘win’ in the end).

Sources:
https://amiesparrow.wordpress.com/16th-century-england/sweet-bags/flowers-and-their-renaissance-symbolism/
https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Funeral_toll.html
http://deathnote.wikia.com/wiki/Symbolism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_THHWWbs-70
https://aminoapps.com/c/anime/page/blog/a-bite-of-a-delicious-apple-death-note-symbolism/3YtB_uwzz48eJ8jR0aL0KB6r3MX05

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5 FACTS ABOUT THE VOICE ACTORS FROM ‘DEATH NOTE’

Think that if I listen to their voices often enough I could absorb some of their talent?

1. Mamoru Miyano (voice of Light)

   
   Aside from awards for ‘best voice actor’ and the success music career Miyano has, he has voiced fro SO MANY characters. He’s lended his voices to characters from Death Note, Vampire Knight, Steins; Gage, Soul Eater, Ourain High School Host Club, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Tokyo Ghoul, Free!, Bungo Stray Dogs and many others…

2. Kappei Yamaguchi (voice of L)

   
   Kappei Yamaguchi  is actually a stage name. Yamaguchi’s birth name is Mitsuo Yamaguchi

3. Shido Nakamura (voice of Ryuk)

   
   Not only is Nakamura a voice actor, but he’s also a kabuki actor!

4. Aya Hirano (voice of Misa)

   
   Hirano’s big break was when was was casted as Haruhi Suzumiya from The Melancholy of Haruji Suzumiya. This role won her ‘Best Newcomer (female)’ and a nomination for ‘Best Main Character (female)’ in the first Seiyu Awards. At the same awards she was also nominated for ‘Best Supporting Character (female)’ and was nominated twice for ‘Best Single’ (for two of her solos Bōken Desho Desho? and Hare Hare Yukai

5. Noriko Hidaka (voice of Near)

   
   Hidaka has been give the affection name ‘Nonko’ by her fans (which Google Translate says means ‘nonchild.’ I don’t know if this is because she’s 55? I’m not sure?)