MRSJeevas's Mu Amongst Fools - Light Yagami Voiced by Samuel Ruiz [Note from Matti: SQQQUUUUEEEEE! zOMG! Samuel made a careless drabble of mine sound so good! There was much wooting here, when I heard that he would be using this. Then sat here squirming with honour, amazed to hear it happening. It's the first time I've had a professional voice act out my words. All the pride here! Thank you for such a fabulous gift; which was an absolute privilege to receive. My apologies once again that you were made to wait for the next available slot to post. Even through I wanted to jump up and down telling everyone, I sat on this for days. It would have been wrong to prioritize it over other people's contributions, just because it made me look good. However, I do feel like it acts as a bit of a finale nestled here near the end.]
Giving hope to all of us global audience types, that Death Note 2016 will quickly migrate from Japan to our own screens, is a rather random movie magazine cover from Great Britain. Dominated by a mostly monochromatic photograph, the front of Screen International's special February 11th 2016 edition features next generation L clone Ryuzaki (Sousuke Ikematsu), in what appears to be a pristine prison cell. He is slumped on a closed-lid toilet seat, wearing a hyottoko mask - as previously donned by his genetic forebear L in the first two Death Note movies, when the detective sought to conceal his own identity from Misa Amane. The legend slanted on the floor is in English and reads, 'The new saga begins.' Whilst a larger one, in the familiar Death Note font and a more than familiar first rule, floats alongside the actor telling us, 'Death Note. The human whose name is written in this note shall die.' The implication is clear. L's biologically cloned successor isn't going to make it to the closing credits either. Though none of us believe it. The danger point is too blatant and too premature.
This wasn't a British magazine found generally upon the shelves of newsagents. It was a private marketing magazine circulating at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival. Only 10k were ever printed and they were distributed to attendees of the opening day on February 11th 2016. The clue to why lies in the logo of Death Note 2016 copyright holders Nippon TV prominently displayed in the bottom right hand corner, alongside details for enquiring about world sales. Ryuzaki may look slumped, but that merely serves to turn his whole body towards the lower logo and its missives. His bulging hyottoko eyes are trained upon it. The floor legend leads the eye straight into said inquiry details for the international distribution of Death Note 2106. After all was is a marketing fly cover (wrapped around the film magazine's actual cover), which must have knocked NTV back a pretty penny! Therefore knowing that a representative was waiting - at booth 111 of the European Film Market in Martin Gropius Bau - was the actual point. Now all we need to know is whether anyone from our own respective countries nipped on over to stand 111, and if a deal was struck. Incidentally, Screen International has its Feb 11th 2016 Death Note Berlin Film Festival cover - plus contents - online for us all to read.  In other related news, new casting Rina Kawaei has been Tweeting herself (February 24th 2016) on set, during filming of Death Note. She was basically telling her fans that she was playing Sakura Aoi, and it had just been publicly announced by the studio. While four days previously, on February 20th, her actor colleague Masaki Suda celebrated his 23rd birthday. He was surprised at his desk, while performing his role as hacker and Kira worshipper Yūgi Shion, with something which obviously delighted him. Unfortunately we can't get a decent enough translation to find out what! Paper lanterns, perchance?  Death Note 2016 movie, official Twitter (Feb 20th 2016)
From LA to Tokyo: Everyone Loves All Singing, All Dancing Light Yagami Actor Miyano Mamoru - Particularly Men 'Newly Feminized' at Festivals by his Tunes There's a rather awkwardly written report in The Japan News this week, which seems to lose something in translation of the nuances needed for clarification. We think. Since wrapping up his stint as Kira, Miyano Mamoru has gone on to do more than merely voice most of the anime characters worth watching. He's also become a pop star, whose latest single release How Close You Are came out on January 27th 2016. It includes the closing credits song Ajin: Demi-Human, from the eponymous anime, wherein Miyano naturally plays the lead. He's rather proud of this latter recording, as it was written for him by film music composer Jim Nakamura and Hollywood music producer C.J.Vanston. Miyano's excitement is palpable, as he relates to reporters Makoto Tanaka and Yomiuri Shimbun, how he was invited to the duo's LA studios to receive and sing his song. His first recording session as a singer overseas. Miyano Mamoru seems more pleased with that track. Ajin: Demi-Human is lingered over for several paragraphs, and called a treasure. The CD's main track barely gets a mention in passing. However, this is all just cute and feel good update stuff, which has veered quite far from Death Note now. What did get our interest, becoming the cause of more than one puzzled look here this afternoon, is right back up the top in the article's second paragraph. To his surprise, Miyano was loudly cheered by male members of the audience when he performed in a large-scale music festival last year. “After the event, many men made such positive comments to me as, ‘I found myself shouting’ and ‘I feel like I’m a feminized man.’ I was very happy,” Miyano said. We're all dying to know how that was originally phrased in Japanese (assuming that the exchange didn't occur in English, as repeated for us.) The passage reads like it's ladden with subtle tells of the nudge-nudge-wink-wink kind, without really delivering on what's being implied. Or remains blatant, just as penned.
"I didn't know Miyano Mamoru was gay!" One unnamed columnist commented here. But her pseudo gaydar seems faulty on this occasion, according to another writer with his own instinct for the same very finely tuned indeed. He considered the wording to be quite blatantly stating that Miyano is your archetypal, highly fashionable Tokyo Metrosexual, and no-one should be reading anything past the 'cute' part. Maybe he's just in touch with his amina with nothing more to read into it, nor nudged between the lines. Just a Japanese statement missing its cultural anchor now it's drifted into English waters. It's not like anyone here cares who excites and enchants Miyano Mamoru - at home or in the press - as long as everyone's happy and consent is carried in the love. However, we do love a puzzle to ponder; even if its just an ambiguously worded sentiment, eliciting ever wilder interpretations from minds grown over-tired and silly. Bless him. We all love him too. Who wouldn't?
KPop heart-throb Junsu collected the top prize for Death Note the Musical's Korean staging,
at a star-studded awards gala held in Seoul's National Theater this week.
Death Note's stage adaptation came first in the 2016 eDaily Culture Awards Best Musical category. Kim Jun-Su accepted the award on behalf of the whole theatrical team behind Death Note, in his capacity as the actor who played L.
His speech was translated by Rilanna at JYJ3.net:
Kim Junsu began to speak with, “I would like convey words of thanks on behalf of the performance cast and production crew of 100 people”. Continuing, he also said, “‘Death Note’ had its first cultivation in Korea when it hit the stage last summer; and I am grateful that this award has more meaning, as much as it was C-JeS Culture’s first debut work,” and, “I am thankful to Baek Chang-joo who had helped the work go up, in the one word that I only want to do it, and to have been directed by Japan’s Kuriyama Tamiya who undertook the directing of its Korean version”.
This is only the third ever outing for the eDaily Daily Culture Awards - the Korean Oscars, if you will. At least a glittering, celebrity ridden event aiming to become the premier awards ceremony for performance art in Korea. Befitting such lofty intentions, big names provided much of the razzmatazz pouring into the gala beneath the flashes and glare of paparazzi, TV cameras and press.
Some of the country's most popular artists - from music, screen and stage - walked the red carpet into the Haeorum Theater, part of Korea's National Theater in Seoul, on February 19th 2016. They were in attendance then to witness Death Note the Musical grab its highest accolade yet. The top prize for a musical currently available in Korea.
Moreover, in accepting the trophy for Death Note, Kim Jun-Su's position as a theatrical actor - as opposed to a Korean pop idol courtesy of JYJ - is largely viewed as consolidated within the country. No wonder then that Korean news reports most widely quote Junsu in saying, 'I am honored to be given such a grand prize. I want to share this glory with all the staff members and actors who starred in Death Note.' It was a big moment for the L actor. Worthy of cake. 
Photograph courtesy of @Ac_dog  Described as 'the most terrible ever user of a Death Note' Sakura Aoi, as played by Rina Kawaei Warner Bros Japan has announced another new character for its live action movie Death Note 2016 (working title), currently being filmed in Japan.
Sakura Aoi is one of the six people set to possess a fallen Death Note. However, in complete contrast to Light Yagami, she uses it utterly indiscriminately with no attempt at all at justification. This makes her - we are warned - the 'most terrible Death Note user' that we've seen yet. Bringing her to life on the silver screen is Rina Kawaei, formerly a singer in the Japanese idol girl band AKB48. On Warner's official Death Note 2016 website, she proclaims herself excited because this isn't any kind of role that she's played before. She's looking forward to the challenge. Moreover, she's thrilled because this is Death Note! Though finding that a slightly strange feeling, on account of her excitement being about a story wherein lots of people die. Oh, Rina! Hang out with us. No-one will think you strange amongst this readership. You're amongst friends and kindred spirits here!  There's less than 24 hours left! Have you got your questions in yet for our three Kira voice actors? Brad Swaile, Sergio Zamora and Kim Hasper are waiting to receive them, so get in quick! Deadline is midnight today, though that's been set right over on the Pacific coast timeline, so Europeans and those over in the East, you have slightly extra time. Use it wisely. Once the countdown clock - on the right hand sidebar - hits zero, the question forms will close. The Spanish and German translators will rush into action; and three Death Note anime seiyuu will hear a ping from their inbox. Just eighteen hours and 42 mins remaining, at the time of writing. To read profiles on each Light Yagami anime voice actor and find the form to ask a question (or ten), check out the links below. Every question form is identical, and posts to the same place. It's just that the one on Kim's page has been translated into German; on Sergio's, the form is in Spanish; and on Brad's, it's in English. Just like the Death Note dubs that each man did. So go ask Kira! 18 hours and 38 mins now... NB You can ask questions of any Light Yagami seiyuu from any of the forms, regardless of whose profile or language the form was in. Questions in English, German or Spanish are being translated appropriately for each actor on your behalf.
Six of the twenty-two actors who have played Light Yagami share their birthday with another in their rarefied group. Had the Death Note anime's German dub Kira Kim Hasper been born a day later, he would have made it a triple whammy for one date. To the untutored mind it seems like magic, or the greatest, weirdest coincidence imaginable. But it isn't magic, it's mathematics according to Richard Mak, and he's a bit like Near when it comes to the old calculations. Death Note Light Yagami Actors' Shared Birthday Phenomenon Take a look at this list of birthdays for Death Note actors in the role of Kira across various adaptations. Something remarkable soon comes to light:
So what you've got here is a well-known 'birthday problem'. If you're in a room with significantly less than 366 people, it turns out it's already very likely to have two people with the same birthday. For the sake of simplicity let's assume that February 29th doesn't exist, which shouldn't affect calculations too much, but also that somebody is equally likely to be born on every day of the year. The latter is obviously not true because there are certain times of year where more babies are born than others for various reasons, but it still shouldn't take away the basic argument here. Let's first think about the probability that *nobody* shares a birthday - after all, if you know the probability that nobody shares a birthday, you know the probability that at least two people share a birthday! Consider this:
There is one important thing to consider here: it is probably fair to assume that these people are fairly unrelated. Because of this, one pair of birthdays doesn't make another pair more or less likely. Considering there are 7 billion people in the world and these actors were picked from that number, there is nothing to connect their birthdays unless their parents knew each other and agreed to have a baby on the same date (which would be impressive in and of itself!)
Actually working out specific numbers is quite difficult. I took a quick look at my university's digital library and couldn't find any research papers on anything beyond the canonical birthday problem (i.e. purely looking at the probability of two people sharing a birthday). Nevertheless, the Kira Actors Birthday Phenomenon pings against a known mathematical problem, and the probability pans out.  Flavio Aquilone in Action as Kira in the Death Note Italian Dub Anime Some immortal words are recited in a certain way, because that's how we first heard them spoken. Light Yagami brought to life through Takeshi Obata's artwork and dialogue in our own language dragging us through the speakers into this strange, new world. But somebody had to speak those words for the first time, to make that anime meaningful to us. Unless it was Miyano Mamoru interpreting cold, blank words in a manga, never officially before made audible, then it was an actor dubbing over the top. Telling us a story in our own language; making it magical; making it real. Death Note News wanted to arrange something special to mark our inaugural community Month of... event. We bought you three of the men who wove that spell and who wore for us the voice of Light Yagami. We will be interviewing Kira. Not once, not twice, but three times. We're not talking the team of researchers and writers here taking off with some questions on your behalf. By 'we', that's you too. This is a whole fandom event and we managed something extra special for all at our Month of... launch with Light Yagami. Just as planned.  What Will YOU Ask Light Yagami Voice Actors During Death Note Month of Kira? A trio of Raito actors are waiting to take questions submitted by readers here at Death Note News. From now until February 23rd 2016, you may mail in all your burning queries via our bespoke contact forms. Huge thanks and a hearty welcome to these kind gentlemen. Three Kira actors, who will be receiving the amassed collection of all your queries, then answering them - within reason - to form three separate interviews. To be published here at a later date. Though sooner rather than later.* Kim Hasper, Brad Swaile and Sergio Zamora are here to talk about their time playing Light Yagami in the Death Note anime. They are anticipating questions about that role; their impressions of Kira, and all else directly related to Death Note Month of Light Yagami, as their contribution to our event. Additionally, we've taken the liberty of dubbing - into three different tongues - the form whereby you ask them questions. See the buttons above. It doesn't matter one which you use. Linguistics aside, they are identical and land in the same inbox. You merely get the convenience of choosing between English, German and Spanish. Moreover we prepared mini-profiles on all three Kira voice actors, attaching video clips to remind you of their great work in the role of Light Yagami. Then tagged each page with that question form, dubbed into each actor's own language. Discover the Kira of other nations; explore their profiles; ask your question of any or all, in whichever of the three linguals best suits, from whatever form is closest at the time. But first, if you could just fill in your name in the blank spaces provided upon each acting Light Yagami's page... I mean, what could possibly go wrong... [* We do ask you to bear with us in patience. These questions have to be collated, sent to the relevant actor, answered, then formatted as interviews. A fair portion also will have to pass through the eager, willing, but likely to be inundated desks of our translators. On that note, huge thanks are due to Silvia Alvarez, Madelyn Banen, Robin Bax, Jo Coburn and Lua Cruz for volunteering to undertake all the switching between languages due to occur; to Ember Hilvers and Rene Hardigree for copywriting/researching/coding; and Nia for the banner above.] Things to Note When Dealing with Kira Actors and Questions  Notes written on a Light Yagami actor's page are unlikely to get you killed. Because he's an actor, not really Kira, even if he does sound like him. But being actors, unwise words aired publicly could get them sacked. Contractual obligations; clauses; NDA; things like that - too boring to contemplate until they're the bit that's used to sue you - bind the lives of actors around every role they play. It might mean that certain questions regretfully cannot be answered, thus will be quietly omitted from their response. Plus I've told them all to ignore any that are obviously trolling and/or bringing to mind scenes - probably involving L - that will never ever be unseen. This is a family friendly website. Don't hand me your plot bunnies on a plate, because I'll only nick them for my own fan-fiction. Now Kim, Brad and Sergio are here to talk about Kira - go ask them questions!
We have two Death Note films coming this year. The proof is in the Tweeting. (Incidentally the actual date for Japan's Death Note 2016 movie release is September 13th 2016, according to IMDb.)
The three stars of the forthcoming Japanese movie sequel in the Death Note series have just been announced. Following on from Death Note, Death Note: the Last Name and L: Change the World, this latest film outing is tentatively called Death Note 2016. It will feature three brand new characters to add to the canon dramatis personae:
Directed by Shinsuke Sato, the fourth in the Death Note trilogy (as was) is confirmed for theatrical release in Autumn 2016. It is currently being filmed in Kobe - with one or two sneaky night shoots in the middle of Tokyo and occasional suburbs. Moreover, there will be some international scenes, which will be filmed actually in the relevant foreign parts.
Any tremors of excitement building over this out there? We have been collecting here all of the actors who have played Light Yagami in Death Note adaptations throughout the world. Arranged here in roughly the order in which each actor took on the role of Kira. We may have messed up the chronology here and there. There are still a couple of blanks - at least - which should become obvious as you scroll through. Can anyone assist in filling them? Also please do shout up, if you believe that we've missed somebody along the way. As for the rest, whom for you wears the face of Light Yagami? Or, as the case may be for the majority of Kira actors here, carries the voice of God of this New World? And did they look anything like their vocal chords sounded?
Posted as part of 
When K-Pop singer Hani nipped backstage at the Death Note Musical, she thought it would amount to just a perk of her celebrity. Meeting the cast as a member of the rags to riches Korean girl band sensation EXID. It turned out to be much more than that. After exchanging a significant hello with L actor Kim Jun-su, the couple have just announced that they've been dating ever since. Roll over Light Yagami! This time it's L who gets the pop idol girlfriend!
She may come close to being L's intellectual equal as well. A recent Korean television programme revealed that Hani classes as genius status, with an IQ of 145. Though whether that holds true for L actor Junsu too is yet to be divulged. Hani's mom seems to be quite quick off the mark too. Having heard on the grapevine that Junsu quite fancied her celebrity daughter, Hani's mother bought tickets for the theatrical production of Death Note, and ensured that the couple met backstage through Hani's connections. Or as the singer put it, My Mom knew enough to tell me, '[Junsu] says he's a fan of you.'... I went to see the 'Death Note' musical with my mom. [Junsu] himself got us tickets to the show. My Mom came with me knowing that Junsu had an interest in me. And how did Mom know? Apparently she's a massive Junsu fan in her own right and sings his songs constantly. Hence keeping up with his press comments.
Korean pop gossip fans are currently ooohing over the news that it's been Junsu doing all the running, hunting her down after that first chance meeting at the Death Note Musical, enamoured of her 'beauty inside'. Though presumably Hani's beauty outside hasn't hurt her case much either. As Hani has spent the autumn busy with EXID promoting Hot Pink, Junsu has been turning up at various junctures on the schedule, picking his celebrity girlfriend up in his Aston Martin 007. The pair would then retire to his house - he's currently bunking up with his manager - where they could get to know each other without the glare of paparazzi and fans in their faces. Nevertheless, that's not always been a successful policy. Korean Media Despatch photographers caught the couple shopping in the run up to Christmas, and delighted in revealing the pairing in their January 1st 2016 edition. Since then, KPop Fighting and other media sources have also run with the story. Including now us. |
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Site Claim and Authorship Verification: All that follows is for me to prove my authorship of Death Note News in various places. Hoop jumping stuff for me; boring for everyone else.
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