My Death Note audio adaptation is finally available for sale in Germany.
Already out in German are:
3: Frenemy Mine
Coming next month:
5: Deal Breaker
6: Gray Scale
And in 2019:
8: Live Feed
9: Legacy Code
10: Karma Police
11: Old Flames
12: Apex Predator
At the moment this is a German-only production. There are supposed to be English and French editions in the works, but I haven’t heard any details of those yet.
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Just listened to the last three CDs last week and I’m still somewhat flabbergasted because of the ending’s boldness, if I may put it that way. Fidelity is in my opinion never the only and highest criterium to judge adaptations, since the author can reinterpret the original work and thus give it a new meaning. And, golly, your ending certainly did that. You definitely managed to surprise those who are already familiar with the source material, both in animated and book form. Mission accomplished, I guess? 😀 You also did a very good job at adapting the Death Note series for the current time, i.e. portraying how the ficitionalized U.S. government deals with these events. 😉 In addition, I liked this little detail of Light’s technical preparation before the infamous potato chip scene, really had the feeling that some research went into this, despite it only being a brief event in the overall story. Moreover, some really interesting development regarding Misa took place in the last two episodes, that is only hinted at in the Anime and the Manga, however you made it a vital part of the story. And although you changed some other details and left some stuff out, it was fascinating to hear how the story always ended up with the same outcome of the source material. I sort of wonder about the challenges that one faces in adapting a work that relies so much on (mostly) hand drawn visuals for a medium that you can only listen to. I read about one fan who was a bit disappointed that L’s and Nears little quirks weren’t included, however I imagine that stuff like this is especially difficult to only convey via dialogue, without making it seem too forced, even though the series in itself is quite dia- and monologue heavy.
Thank you, Shiro. I knew I was taking a risk with the last three volumes, and I sent each script off to the licensors, biting my nails and half-expecting them to tell me not to do it. But they approved every word! I hate it when adaptors change important plot details for arbitrary reasons… it usually looks as if they just don’t get the original. But in this case I thought it was a justifiable and worthy use of the material.
Ah yes, the potato chip scene. Every now and then, I would be struck by just how much had changed in the 20 years since the original Death Note, and one of the recurring issues was the pervasiveness of social media. I thought I would have a little bit of fun with it.
Glad you liked the modernisation of the Americans. I feel rather fortunate that I was writing this adaptation today, if you know what I mean, considering the rich presidential material available.
Did my best with what Anime Feminist called “The Problem of Misa”. She is a very difficult character to write because she is so contradictory, but I realised that the effects of multiple retreads of her memory might help explain some of what was happening there. Even if she is a psychopath, she is a psychopath who has maybe *forgotten* what she is, which helps with her odd reversals and counter-reversals.
Your comments on the ending are the first that I have heard; I hope other reviewers are as kind.
Jonathan
/!\ SPOILERS /!\
I finished the audio drama yesterday and… wow! I was really impressed with the work that was done. I listened to the french version and the thing that drawn me to it was the same complete french voice cast from the french dub. I don’t know if that’s the same case for the german dub. The french voices were very convincing, especially for Misa Amane (I will talk about her later).
First, I liked the fact that the audiobook was “modernized” and it still looked believable, especially with the small TV in the potato chips packet. And as the previous comment, I like how the political situation with Interpol, USA is done. That finally answered my question on how it was the FBI that investigated Kira and not the CIA. Points given for the reference to Trump in there!
However, I was a little bit disappointed by the portrayal of Light at the beginning. Yes, he was introduced as very bright by getting first in a mock exam, but I think that the audiobook failed to show how intelligent Light is. In the anime and manga, the story about how he built a hidden compartment in his desk was very convincing. But I understand that it is hard to “show” in an audiobook. Same in the beginning where Light’s mom asks him to come down to eat felt like Light was just a disillusioned geek about life. Also for the fact that we cannot hear the thoughts of the characters, because in my case when Light tries to get the name of Naomi, it was hard to feel his stressed state even with Ryuk talking to Light. About the soundtrack, I think it would have been hard to get the original OST from the anime but I really think this would have been the cherry on top of the cake as a lot of scenes would fit.
And really, A LOT OF POINTS GIVEN for the ending AND for the characterisation of Misa Amane. For her, I really felt bad when she committed suicide. Even though she was forced to, I really could feel her pain for forgetting everything and especially after her argument with Kiyomi. Also with Light trying to persuade her out of suicide. Even though he can be evil, I was warmed by the fact that he was the only one who attended her funeral. Maybe she was a tool but in a way, he cared about her unlike in the Anime/Manga. Also, I liked the fact that you made me feel differently about her because in the Anime and Manga, we can only feel like she is dumb and useless, that is not the case here. And the ending… WOW. I was surprised that it was changed that much but I LOVED it! Ryuk was the only one not punished in the original material but he finally got what he deserved. And how Light managed to kill the others with Mikami shouting the names at him was well thought.
In summary, I loved the audiobook so well done you. I hope you will do more projects like this in the future. Good luck!
Wait, what…? The French version is out!? This is the first I am hearing about it, I have just this moment found it on Amazon.fr, along with a one-star review callign it a complete betrayal of the original, so business as usual, I suppose. I assumed that the French production wasn’t happening, as I heard nothing about it for months. Obviously, they were just getting on with it! That’s wonderful news, thank you for letting me know; I shall put a news item about it at the top of the blog!
Glad to have another thumbs-up for my treatment of Misa. She’s a real problem character, but I did my best to make those problems part of her character, if that makes sense.
There were discussions at Bastei Luebbe about me writing more audios for them, and in fact, I had been commissioned on a new multi-part project, and was two scripts in when I was told to stop work. The audio division was being shut down, and so all work was suspended.
It probably worth mentioning, though, that if you liked Death Note and don’t mind listening to my audio work in English, I did write 14 audio dramas for Big Finish:
https://www.bigfinish.com/search_results?search_value_selected=0&search_term=jonathan+clements
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