DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME
PLOT SUMMARY:
The series is about Light Yagami, a young man who resents the crime and corruption in the world. His life undergoes a drastic change when he discovers a mysterious notebook, known as the "Death Note", lying on the ground. The Death Note's instructions claim that if a human's name is written within it, that person shall die. Light is initially skeptical of the notebook's authenticity, but after experimenting with it, Light realizes that the Death Note is real. After meeting with the previous owner of the Death Note, a shinigami named Ryuk, Light seeks to become "the God of the New World" by passing his judgement on those he deems to be evil or who get in his way.
Soon, the number of inexplicable deaths of reported criminals catches the attention of the International Police Organization and a mysterious detective known only as "L". L quickly learns that the serial killer, dubbed by the public as "Kira", is located in Japan. L also concludes that Kira can kill people without laying a finger on them. Light realizes that L will be his greatest nemesis, and a game of psychological cat and mouse between the two begins.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MANGA AND FILM
* Light Yagami finds the Death Note during his final year in college, not high school.
* All events and characters in the manga after the Yotsuba arc are omitted.
* Instead of the Yotsuba Group executive Kyosuke Higuchi, the Death Note is passed to the anchorwoman Kiyomi Takada, who uses it to kill her predecessor and gain "exclusive" scoops (her use of the Death Note still fulfills the same purpose in Light's plan of deflecting suspicion from himself and her capture and subsequent disposal of by Light are almost the same as Higuchi's death in the manga).
* A movie-exclusive character, Shiori Akino, is introduced as Light's girlfriend. Her death comes as part of the final confrontation between Light and the detective Misora at the art museum at the end of the first film. Misora commits suicide following her accidental shooting of Shiori (both deaths being set by Light beforehand in the Death Note), rather than the single suicide assigned by Light in the manga after she stumbles across information that threatens to unmask him as Kira.
* Light learns Misora's name from a wedding registry, rather than from her own admission as in the manga.
* The Kira Investigative Team relies on one hotel headquarters, rather than the system of different locations employed by L in the manga as a means of secrecy.
* Sanami, another character exclusive to the film, is the only female member in the Kira Investigation Team, as opposed to the all-male team in the manga and anime.
* While Mogi survived in the entire course of the manga and anime series, he was killed off in the film (with his death in the fashion of another member of the investigation team in the manga and anime, Ukita).
* In the climax of the second film, L writes his own name in the Death Note, overriding the time Rem writes in hers by twenty days. L subsequently outlives Light. Soichiro Yagami also survives the events of the movie.
