Death Note: Rewrite

Death Note Rewrite: The Visualizing God aired on Japanese TV on August 31st, 2007, and was produced and directed by Madhouse and Testuro Araki, respectively.

Death Note Rewrite is pretty much a recap of the first twenty-five new episodes compressed into two hours, with an alternate ending and a few minutes of new footage in the Shinigami realm added.

How much value you'll get out of it really depends on whether or not you've watched the series previously before going into this. If you're like me, and have seen the entire series leading up to this, then you'll find this pretty useless, ... except for maybe ten minutes out of the total two hours that's new footage, which is a pretty shit percentage. However, if you haven't seen the series at all, and are looking to get through the first half of the series in two hours instead of a half a day's worth of episodes, then this would be worth a watch, if you can figure out what's going on, as the recap doesn't really explain much.

Everything is pretty much the same as in the series, so I don't feel the need to reiterate what I said in my review of the series proper. Whether or not you get any value out of this "rewrite" really depends on if you've seen the show or not.

Hopefully, though, the next Rewrite will live up to its name and include more new footage.

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

Part 1 is the story of a boy who had delusions of creating a world of only good people (as if!) - that is why he used the Death Note to eradicate those that do not conform to his ideal. And guess how he judges good and bad? the TELLY! Brilliant eh?

When he got cornered and released from the clutches of the demon, he suddenly turned docile, doe-eyed, compassionate, eager... WTF! it lost me there.

At least L was a saving grace. Or maybe Part 2 will redeem the show.

Death Note is one of my favorite anime series of all time. That's why it pains me to give these specials such a low score.

Death Note: Rewrite suffers from many of the same problems as other similar adaptations. It's nearly impossible to take a 25 or 12 episode portion of a TV series and condense it into ~2 hours without having to sacrifice important elements. In Death Note: Rewrite's case, those core elements are character and pacing.

When rushing through the plot, important character moments often get cut down to a bare minimum in order to move onto the next plot point. When an audience isn't ... given a proper amount of time to get to know the characters, important emotional scenes will have far less impact.

Similar problems occur in the pacing of these specials. Death Note is masterful in its ability to make things like a seemingly normal tennis match or train ride into engaging and suspenseful events. Shortening things to such an extent deflates the tension and overall enjoyment of many once-interesting moments.

However, that's not to say that Rewrite is without value. The new scenes, especially L's speech, are a worthwhile watch for any Death Note fan. I also really enjoyed a couple of the music changes. Playing Zetsubou Billy during the car chase in part 1 really helped with the energy and pace of the recut scene. I personally wasn't the biggest fan of the ending of the original Death Note series, so the music choice in this version felt much more appropriate to me.

These specials are only really worthwhile to someone who wants a quick refresher on the plot of Death Note, or a fan wanting to see the new scenes/changes.