Death Note 2: The Last Name

 

Cast:

Erika Toda  - as Misa Amane

A girl with an immense crush on Kira, Misa is a popular idol in Japan, and tends to wear clothing in many different styles, depending on what she is doing. She is immature and tends to refer to herself in the third person in an attempt to be cute. Misa is completely devoted to Light, and she once said that she loved him at first sight. Light, however, only views her as an asset to his plans because of her Death Note and her Shinigami eyes (that she obtained at the cost of half of her remaining life span, twice). The murderer of Misa's parents had been punished by Kira, explaining her later devotion to him

 

Ken'ichi Matsuyama - as L / Ryuuzaki

L is the world's three top-rated detectives (through two additional aliases), tasked with tracking down and arresting Kira. As such, he is Light's arch-enemy. His disheveled appearance masks his great powers of deduction and insight. L has many quirks, such as sitting in an odd manner (he squats on the edge of his seat, with his knees up by his chin), snacking on sweets in the middle of meetings, and holding his cellphone and other objects in a peculiar manner. He often takes drastic strategies to confuse and force his opponents, and on several occasions he has willingly disclosed several of his weaknesses to Kira at the risk of his own life in the hopes that he would lure him into a trap.

 

Tatsuya Fujiwara - as Light Yagami

The protagonist of Death Note, Light is an extremely intelligent but bored 17-year old student. When he finds the Death Note, dropped in the human world by Ryuk, he decides to use it to kill all criminals and earns the title Kira. His ultimate goal is to cleanse the world of evil to create a utopia and then reign over this new world as its God. He calls himself Justice.

 

Shidou Nakamura - as voice of Ryuk

The original shinigami who dropped the Death Note in the human world, which Light would pick up. Acting out of pure boredom, Ryuk begins the story of Death Note on a whim. It is stated that Ryuk found the second Death Note in the shinigami world. Ryuk is not Light's ally, and in fact declares in their first meeting that some day he (Ryuk) would write Light's name into his own Death Note, killing him. Ryuk often refuses to aid Light and instead enjoys watching him struggle for his goal. He acts for his own interests and entertainment, and often fails to tell Light key details about the Death Note. However, Ryuk will aid Light if it serves his own goals, such as providing amusement or obtaining apples, without which he suffers a form of withdrawal symptoms.

 

Rem

The female shinigami who first gives Misa her Death Note and Shinigami eyes. Similar to Ryuk, Rem possesses two Death Notes; however, she purposely gives one of them to Misa Amane. Rem inherited her second Death Note from Jealous, another shinigami who died when he saved Misa's life, and thought it only right to pass it on to Misa. Oddly enough, Rem inherits Jealous' love for Misa as well and is prompt to defend Misa even at the cost of her life. She shows this when she openly shows her lack of trust for Light, stating that she will kill him if Misa dies before her time.

 

Shunji Fujiwara - as Watari

L’s devoted assistant.

 

Takeshi Kaga - as Souichirou Yagami

Light’s father, a police detective assigned to investigate Kira.

 

Summary:

The second film continues the events from the first movie, and uses plot elements from the Yotsuba arc as well as the series' ending. The role of Higuchi is replaced by Takada, who is eventually captured as Higuchi is in the manga. Light kills Takada to regain ownership of his Death Note. Light then manipulates the investigation towards Misa, forcing Rem to kill L and Watari. As L is dying, Light admits to him that he is Kira. However, it is revealed later that L faked his death. L had already written his own name in Misa's Death Note (replacing the Note with a fake copy), setting his death for the maximum of 23 days, thus overriding Rem's Death Note. The investigation team surrounds Light, shooting him when he attempts to write on the hidden piece of Death Note in his watch. In a final gambit, Light asks Ryuk to kill the investigation team, but Ryuk writes down Light's name instead. Light dies in his father's arms. L obtains possession of both the Death Notes and burns them. Twenty days later, he dies a peaceful death after being congratulated by Soichiro. Soichiro agrees to not tell his family that Light was really Kira.

Credits: wikipedia

 

 

What I Think:

Ever since I started watching part 1, I cannot stop my Death Note mania. This sequel is better, more intriguing, more gripping than the first one. My fave scene and probably one of the highlights of the movie was when all three, Misa, L and Light met each other face to face. I swear to god, I thought L was already a fried dead tempura after that! But in Death Note, you never know what’s going to happen, it is very gripping, and once you tell yourself that this might happen or this is what Light will do, he just starts something new and it makes you crazy!

The thought of having 2 shingami gods almost made me go nuts…so that means 2 death notes...jeez! Plus Misa has the shingami eyes too, which means she can kill a person just by mere looking at him! Unlike Light who needs to see the person’s face and get his REAL name before he can write down and kill that person.

Having 2 geniuses meet each other and play a good game of chess was fantastic. I love the crystal chess piece set, L! They are just outwitting and outplaying each other. And Misa for the love of Buddha, she was just crazy over Light that she follows him blindly, god! Erika Toda played the annoying Umi in Hana Yori Dango 2, she just kills me!

The soundtrack, songs were okay if you are into the whole Red Hot Chili Peppers thing than you would be happy to know they sang the opening and the closing credits.

Direction is just awesome, very truthful to the manga, cinematography is crisp, and the special effects (working on the graphics of the shingami gods of death) were good too. Watch Death Note and you are in for the most terrifying and the craziest time of your jap-movie watching life! I love Kenichi!!

 

Rating: 10 Japanese Tempura out of 10

 

 

Other Stuff:

Opening Theme:

"Dani California" by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Ending Theme:

"Snow (Hey Oh)" by Red Hot Chili Peppers

 

Misa giving her death note...

 

And then there were 3...

 

Never leave your cellphones...

 

Bargaining...

picture credits: yahoo singapore