The hit manga and anime series Death Note's last adaptation was a movie done shortly after its 2006 release. With the latest iteration of the series coming in TV drama form, it allows the show to follow the original anime series at about the same pace, though with real actors. The series aired last July 5, 2015 and was completed September 13, 2015. Re-runs are still ongoing and you'll probably be able to spot a few episodes at NTV.
The show mostly follows the plot of the anime, staying true to the essence of the original story. Characters like Light Yagami, Misa Amane, L Lawliet and Near all make an appearance, but a lot of parts have been mixed or changed to conform to the episode limit the TV series had (11 episodes). It's also a way to deliver something fresh so that people won't get the feeling that they're just watching a re-run.
Casting
Masataka Kubota plays the mad Light Yagami. This is one of his first main character roles in a TV show, and it also garnered him an award for best actor in a series. On the other side of the coin, we have the brilliant investigator L played by Kento Yamazaki who's also a veteran in the TV industry. Actress and model Hinako Sano plays Misa Amane. She's been doing a lot of adaptations in recent years like last year's Hell Teacher Nube. Aside from these three we also have Mio Yuki as Near/Mello, Jun Fukushima as the voice of Ryuk, Yutaka Matsushige as Light's father Soichiro, and Shugo Oshinari as Teru Mikami.
Reception
There have been a lot of mixed reviews since the TV drama aired. For one, a lot of fans didn't like the fact that they portrayed Light as just a regular college student instead of the confident Light from the manga. This also is the same for a lot of the other characters like Soichiro Yagami, who was very authoritative in the anime. There also the issue of characters being introduced in a different way, like how Near appears early on in the series. Others liked the change and felt that Death Note needed to be portrayed differently to catch people's attention. Generally, reception of the series was good and it was considered successful both from a popularity and financial standpoint. The movie adaptation however, seemed to have better reviews overall.
Having gained a lot of popularity and a few awards has definitely set the series on the radar of both fans of the anime and TV enthusiasts. Death Note promises good performances and a different look to the otherwise extremely popular series that is Death Note. If you have access to this series then you should definitely try to relive all the intricacies and madness that is Death Note.
