Editorials
‘Death Note’ Continues to Deliver Intrigue and Commentary in Its New One-Shot [Anime Horrors]
Welcome to a new installment of Anime Horrors! For this month, I’m going to review the new one-shot Death Note story. It probably goes without saying, but this article will be full of spoilers concerning the one-shot and that of the original series. I’ll also be speaking about Death Note assuming everyone is caught up to date. If you somehow have yet to read the manga or watch the anime, I cannot stress how incredible Death Note is and how much it is worth your time.
With the manga’s release back in 2003, Death Note took the world by storm. Its story and characters elevated the thriller genre, cementing Death Note as one of the most compelling works of our time. Along with all its twists and turns, the series stands as a fascinating work of philosophy – what would any of us do with a notebook that could kill someone by simply by writing their name? What would a country do if they owned such a weapon? And funny I should mention the latter, because that has quite a bit to do with the new Death Note one-shot.
Excluding the cover, this one-shot manga is 87 pages long and free to read via the Viz website. Set in 2019 and taking place 12 years after the events of Death Note, the manga follows our favorite Shinigami (death god) Ryuk and a new human protagonist named Minoru Tanaka. The manga opens with Ryuk bored and itching for more apples; he decides to return to the human world, looking to drop a notebook onto someone and nourish his hunger. When he comes across Minoru, he taps him on the head with said notebook. Memories flash through Minoru’s mind, and once the shock settles, he is not surprised by seeing Ryuk.
The manga then flashes back two years earlier. As a middle schooler, Minoru sits on a swing set when Ryuk appears and touches him with the notebook (this time he’s quite shocked by the Shinigami’s appearance). Ryuk approaches Minoru in the hopes that he is as intellectually interesting as Light; while Minoru expresses some sense of intellect for his age, he is more reserved and nowhere near as narcissistic as Light. What is really intriguing about this meeting is that when Ryuk tells Minoru that the notebook belonged to the original Kira, Minoru displays excitement – given that Kira is now studied in school. Appearing in textbooks throughout Ethics and History classes, Minoru says that Kira is not only responsible for ending war and helping to drastically drop the crime rate, but has also been labeled a mass murderer and evil.
Ryuk attempts to hand off the notebook to Minoru, but the latter has two questions – who else can see Ryuk and how far away can the two be from one another (since the Shinigami has to be near the human obtaining the notebook). After thinking for sometime, Minoru says he will deny ownership of the notebook for now, but wants Ryuk to return in two years, in which time he will then take ownership. Coming out of the flashback and returning to the present time, Minoru states to Ryuk that his goal is to sell the notebook.
Considering that this is not a series and just a short story, the one-shot does a solid job in setting up its main focus. Since Ryuk is invisible to those who have not touched the notebook, Minoru asks him to hold up a piece of paper on live TV that reads how the power of Kira will be auctioned off. It’s worth noting that the paper states that anyone who is interested should go on Twitter and mention their bid with the hashtag #POWEROFKIRA. I thought the story acknowledging modern technology was smart; the original series was careful in how it handled Light working around the police and utilizing the internet and TV to perform his killings. In Minoru’s time, however, the world is a much different place. Like our current 2020, surveillance is on a different scale; it’s easier to track information through the internet, and some of the tactics Light used in the past would not be as effective today. With this in mind, it’s brilliant when Minoru tells Ryuk to travel to the TV station by moving underground. Given that some of the police officers have touched the notebook in the past, moving underground stops them from tracking Ryuk’s movements.
In comparison to Light, Minoru is a more likeable character – when it comes to morality. Now of course one of the great appeals to Death Note was whether you sided with the philosophical approach of Light or L, but Minoru has none of the maniacal god complex issues that Light displayed. But even though he may have more chill than Light, Minoru is still quite the smarty; his plan to auction the notebook displays careful depth, keeping in mind the ways his actions could be traced. As the story progresses, so too does the bidding; what starts out in the millions eventually climbs to that of the quadrillions. With this amount, the main dilemma that comes to mind is how Minoru will be able to get his money without being caught – and his strategy is super neat (more on that in a bit).
Other than Minoru’s point-of-view, the reader also experiences the story through the eyes of L – otherwise known as Near. Other familiar characters from Death Note are also present, but don’t make much of an appearance. While keeping an eye on the bidding, L displays somewhat of an indifference when it comes to Minoru’s actions; he can sense that this “A-Kira” is not like the old one and not looking to murder. Instead of making a great effort to track the seller, L is more interested in pursuing the buyer. But while it’s cool to see someone like Near again and get a sense of his methodical thinking, he’s not as interesting or deep as he was when the manga and anime were around. And that pretty much goes for the cast as a whole. Minoru shows some promise as a potential character in a long running series, but in 87 pages, there isn’t a lot to grasp onto personality-wise.
That said, the story itself is fascinating, especially when you consider the contemporary angle it takes. As the bidding intensifies, it also becomes much more national. Rather than individuals attempting to buy the notebook, countries begin to bid; both China and America start mentioning insane numbers. Eventually America buys the notebook and Minoru lets go of his ownership and tells Ryuk to hand it to the American President. Before this, Ryuk shares one more message on TV, one stating that the money is to be deposited and divided among everyone who has an account with a certain Japanese bank (specifically accounts belonging to anyone under the age of 60). Because of this, numerous accounts have been given the equivalent of $10,000,000, making it impossible for L to determine just which individual was the original seller.
Regarding the manga’s depiction of our “real world,” there is quite the surprise cameo. You may notice that the American President in the manga shares a striking resemblance to that of Trump – and the one-shot makes sure to throw a couple jabs his way. Just before Ryuk delivers the notebook to the President, he is visited by another Shinigami; this Shinigami informs Ryuk that the Shinigami god is upset that Ryuk allowed the notebook to be sold among the humans. Because of this information, when Ryuk visits the American President, he informs him that he has added some new rules – anyone who sells or buys the notebook will die. There’s also the additional detail that upon picking up their money, the person who sold the notebook will die as well. Because of this detail, the President hesitates taking the notebook. Ryuk says that if he decides to not take it, then he won’t die; but if he does take it, then even though he’ll die, the notebook will belong to his nation. The President then decides that he won’t take it, prompting Ryuk to say, “Got it. You value your life over your country.”
The President then says that even though he won’t take it, he’ll still tell the public he has taken it, but will not use it – allowing him to look like a saint. Ryuk, a god of death mind you, responds with, “Very shrewd, Mr. President.” The exchange between the two is as comical as it is on point with displaying Trump’s moral compass.
It’s interesting to see the manga explore how such a powerful and dangerous weapon could entice countries around the world. The Death Note manga and anime also pondered similar notions, but by setting this one-shot in a more contemporary time, there’s an added element of eeriness to the material. What is initially portrayed as a supernatural weapon, comes across more as just another weapon of mass destruction countries strive to control.
As far as Minoru’s ending, well things don’t pan out so perfectly. Having asked Ryuk to never show up again, Ryuk decides he will not return to tell Minoru about the new rules; so when Minoru goes to finally pick up his portion of the money, he dies (specifically taking place when Ryuk writes Minoru’s name in his notebook). The manga concludes with Ryuk sitting atop a building, noting how short the excitement was and wondering if he can find another human to prolong his entertainment.
At the time of this writing, there is no telling whether there will be more stories to come from the world of Death Note. In my own opinion, Death Note stands as a completed journey. Sometimes when a series does well, a company will try to push more of that story in the hopes of making more money – but this new Death Note manga isn’t like that. This is a self-contained, 87 page short story. While there is certainly the potential to get new fans on board and have them read/watch Death Note, this feels more directed towards folks who have been with the series since its inception. And this one-shot is worthy of Death Note fans.
If you’ve yet to check out the original work, I heavily encourage you to give it a go. Thanks for tuning into Anime Horrors and I’ll see you all next month!
Editorials
‘A Haunted House’ and the Death of the Horror Spoof Movie
Due to a complex series of anthropological mishaps, the Wayans Brothers are a huge deal in Brazil. Around these parts, White Chicks is considered a national treasure by a lot of people, so it stands to reason that Brazilian audiences would continue to accompany the Wayans’ comedic output long after North America had stopped taking them seriously as comedic titans.
This is the only reason why I originally watched Michael Tiddes and Marlon Wayans’ 2013 horror spoof A Haunted House – appropriately known as “Paranormal Inactivity” in South America – despite having abandoned this kind of movie shortly after the excellent Scary Movie 3. However, to my complete and utter amazement, I found myself mostly enjoying this unhinged parody of Found Footage films almost as much as the iconic spoofs that spear-headed the genre during the 2000s. And with Paramount having recently announced a reboot of the Scary Movie franchise, I think this is the perfect time to revisit the divisive humor of A Haunted House and maybe figure out why this kind of film hasn’t been popular in a long time.
Before we had memes and internet personalities to make fun of movie tropes for free on the internet, parody movies had been entertaining audiences with meta-humor since the very dawn of cinema. And since the genre attracted large audiences without the need for a serious budget, it made sense for studios to encourage parodies of their own productions – which is precisely what happened with Miramax when they commissioned a parody of the Scream franchise, the original Scary Movie.
The unprecedented success of the spoof (especially overseas) led to a series of sequels, spin-offs and rip-offs that came along throughout the 2000s. While some of these were still quite funny (I have a soft spot for 2008’s Superhero Movie), they ended up flooding the market much like the Guitar Hero games that plagued video game stores during that same timeframe.
Of course, that didn’t stop Tiddes and Marlon Wayans from wanting to make another spoof meant to lampoon a sub-genre that had been mostly overlooked by the Scary Movie series – namely the second wave of Found Footage films inspired by Paranormal Activity. Wayans actually had an easier time than usual funding the picture due to the project’s Found Footage presentation, with the format allowing for a lower budget without compromising box office appeal.
In the finished film, we’re presented with supposedly real footage recovered from the home of Malcom Johnson (Wayans). The recordings themselves depict a series of unexplainable events that begin to plague his home when Kisha Davis (Essence Atkins) decides to move in, with the couple slowly realizing that the difficulties of a shared life are no match for demonic shenanigans.
In practice, this means that viewers are subjected to a series of familiar scares subverted by wacky hijinks, with the flick featuring everything from a humorous recreation of the iconic fan-camera from Paranormal Activity 3 to bizarre dance numbers replacing Katy’s late-night trances from Oren Peli’s original movie.
Your enjoyment of these antics will obviously depend on how accepting you are of Wayans’ patented brand of crass comedy. From advanced potty humor to some exaggerated racial commentary – including a clever moment where Malcom actually attempts to move out of the titular haunted house because he’s not white enough to deal with the haunting – it’s not all that surprising that the flick wound up with a 10% rating on Rotten Tomatoes despite making a killing at the box office.
However, while this isn’t my preferred kind of humor, I think the inherent limitations of Found Footage ended up curtailing the usual excesses present in this kind of parody, with the filmmakers being forced to focus on character-based comedy and a smaller scale story. This is why I mostly appreciate the love-hate rapport between Kisha and Malcom even if it wouldn’t translate to a healthy relationship in real life.
Of course, the jokes themselves can also be pretty entertaining on their own, with cartoony gags like the ghost getting high with the protagonists (complete with smoke-filled invisible lungs) and a series of silly The Exorcist homages towards the end of the movie. The major issue here is that these legitimately funny and genre-specific jokes are often accompanied by repetitive attempts at low-brow humor that you could find in any other cheap comedy.
Not only are some of these painfully drawn out “jokes” incredibly unfunny, but they can also be remarkably offensive in some cases. There are some pretty insensitive allusions to sexual assault here, as well as a collection of secondary characters defined by negative racial stereotypes (even though I chuckled heartily when the Latina maid was revealed to have been faking her poor English the entire time).
Cinephiles often claim that increasingly sloppy writing led to audiences giving up on spoof movies, but the fact is that many of the more beloved examples of the genre contain some of the same issues as later films like A Haunted House – it’s just that we as an audience have (mostly) grown up and are now demanding more from our comedy. However, this isn’t the case everywhere, as – much like the Elves from Lord of the Rings – spoof movies never really died, they simply diminished.
A Haunted House made so much money that they immediately started working on a second one that released the following year (to even worse reviews), and the same team would later collaborate once again on yet another spoof, 50 Shades of Black. This kind of film clearly still exists and still makes a lot of money (especially here in Brazil), they just don’t have the same cultural impact that they used to in a pre-social-media-humor world.
At the end of the day, A Haunted House is no comedic masterpiece, failing to live up to the laugh-out-loud thrills of films like Scary Movie 3, but it’s also not the trainwreck that most critics made it out to be back in 2013. Comedy is extremely subjective, and while the raunchy humor behind this flick definitely isn’t for everyone, I still think that this satirical romp is mostly harmless fun that might entertain Found Footage fans that don’t take themselves too seriously.
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