Death Note: Rewrite

When approached by a fellow death god tempted to visit the human realm, Ryuk recounts his own journey to the other side and the story of Light Yagami—a brilliant young man who impressed him there.

One day at school, Light stumbles upon Ryuk's lost Death Note and realizes it is not an ordinary notebook. He learns that it has the ability to kill every person whose name is written inside, provided that the user can visualize the victim's face. Having long deplored the decadence of current society, Light believes this sinister weapon offers him an unexpected opportunity: to eradicate all evil and bring about a new ideal world.

Following a string of fatal heart attacks, the authorities start to suspect that the alarming number of dead criminals is not coincidental. Determined to uncover the mysterious culprit, they join forces with L, an internationally renowned detective. As the death count escalates, Light and L clash in a breathtaking confrontation of wits and deception—a duel that will decide the future of humanity.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Lawliet, L Main

Yamaguchi, Kappei Japanese

Yagami, Light Main

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Ryuk Main

Nakamura, Shidou Japanese

Amane, Misa Supporting

Hirano, Aya Japanese

River, Nate Supporting

Hidaka, Noriko Japanese

Keehl, Mihael Supporting

Sasaki, Nozomu Japanese

Matsuda, Touta Supporting

Naitou, Ryou Japanese

Jeevas, Mail Supporting

Mikami, Teru Supporting

Matsukaze, Masaya Japanese

Rem Supporting

Saitou, Kimiko Japanese

Maruyama, Masao Producer

Tamura, Manabu Producer

Nakatani, Toshio Producer

Hashimoto, Kentarou Producer

Reviews

Mar 6, 2008

5hreddy

Recommended

[Since writing this review originally, the two specials of Death Note Rewrite have been merged, this review refers to the first episode: Genshisuru Kami]

For all those who've seen the main TV series, this special episode is essentially a summary of all the events leading up until the end of L's arc in the overall story.

Story (8): Nothing new really. It simply takes the events of the main TV series and compresses it into the space of a little over 2 hours. I gave it an eight simply because it is essentially the overall story line which I was already familiar with. At first, I was ... a little bored to some extent with the story as I felt it was simply a bit of a cheat from the makers as, although it is meant to be the story told from the point of view of Ryuk, it just seemed like a shortened version of the story and didn't have the Ryuk-oriented spin which I expected. It does have some new scenes in there but they probably only constitute for about 15mins of the 2 hour 10 min running time. Unavoidably also, is because of the inevitable shortening of length you sometimes miss out on some of the more comical aspects of the show (in particular, that related to Matsuda and Misa).
However, if you can get past those facts, you can actually start enjoying it. If you watch it as though it is a summary of L's arc, then you'll likely enjoy it more than if treat it as some new item.

Art (9): All the same kind of animation from the show (which was very good), since it uses mostly the clips from the show.

Sound (9): Again very good. Uses all the original music and has the same voice actors for all the new, added parts. What I did like was the way that they managed to creatively use some of the music from the series to enhance certain scenes (e.g. the use one of the themes in the scene when chasing down the Yotsuba Kira).

Character (7): I gave this only a seven as I didn't feel the characters developed as wholly as they did in the series. For example, you didn't really get to the 'cleverness' going on in the battle of wits between L and Kira.

Enjoyment (7): I would say I enjoyed it a fair bit, but as mentioned above, it was nothing much new that I hadn't already seen.

Overall (8): If you're a fan of the series then I would say that this is probably a good recap for those who want to watch the series again but perhaps don't have the time to watch it all. A few more new scenes and maybe told more from Ryuk's point of view and it would have been a 9, but otherwise still a relatively enjoyable couple of hours.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jul 12, 2019

Mega_Mega

Mixed Feelings

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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jan 23, 2013

nightwindzero

Not Recommended

If you watched the full Anime Series, watch the first and last 3 minutes of each volume. That is the extent of the newness in these volumes and I saved you at least 2 hours of your life. You are welcome.

If you didn't watch the full series, very calmly take these back to the store and get your money back then watch the full Deathnote series online or on netflix.
I promise that is a better investment of your time then watching these first or even at all.

I bought both volumes for $5 each and they look great on the DVD shelf, but that's really the ... best thing about them.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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