Live Action Adaptation of Death Notice: Ikigami Manga

Genkina Hito

Genkina Hito

映画男！！！
MVM are preparing to release the live-action adaptation of Mase Motoro&rsquo;s Death Notice: Ikigami manga. Amazon have <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Notice-Ikigami-Tomoyuki-Takimoto/dp/B004EMS0C0/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298557648&sr=8-1-fkmr1">listed</a> its release&nbsp;for the 7th of March priced at &pound;11.99.
Synopsis
The film is set in a dystopian future where, due to the laziness and apathy of people, the Japanese government decided that every child should be injected with a lethal nano-capsule that will ensure death within 24 hours when activated. Who will die? People between the ages of 18 and 24&nbsp;are randomly selected but prior to their termination, the person chosen is warned within 24 hours&rsquo; by an Ikigami, &ldquo;death notice&rdquo; allowing them time to say goodbye and accept their fate and others to realise just how precious life is.
Kengo Fujimoto is a young civil-servant who delivers these notices but after getting involved in the lives of the recipients questions his role.
 
I've seen this. The best live action flick that MVM have released thus far. A top-notch anime adaptation, on a par with the Death Note and Twentieth Century Boys flicks in terms of production values, and depth of script, but with a really neat and well executed concept behind it.
 
I've always thought the concept was kind of silly (and the program seems to have no demonstrable benefit), which helped kill off any interest I had in the manga. And the melodrama... oh lord, the melodrama. I'd be interested in watching the film just to see how much the Japanese actors can ham it up :D
 
I would question how one can possibly question Ikigami's premise when North Korea exists and ruling with fear is, like, supposed to be super-effective--'would' being the key word here; Fabio lacking the mental sharpness that makes me... well, me.

And melodrama? Really, now: you're showing your lack of experience with shoujo. Ikigami is seinen and people deal with the news of their imminent death; reacting in numerous ways. In your typical shoujo offering, teen girls blush and/or cry because of eye contact alone. Someone needs a sense of perspective, says I...

...Brushing aside the usual dumbness before me and returning to the topic at hand, I just noticed HMV are selling it for £8. Since the maybe-sorta-kinda final volume has something like a year between its release and the previous release, ordered.

PS:
This v1 pre-order might be of interest to Ikigami-folk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Longer-Human ... 1935654195
 
And North Korea achieves its goal of controlling its people with a convoluted, expensive, and publicised capsule of death program? No, it's just a regular old dictatorship with some cult of personality business going on. Things that, incidentally, have resulted in serious economic sanctions from the United Nations and international isolation--something that Japan (or any first world nation) would not want.

And that's to say nothing of how seemingly nobody even thinks about the possibility of death until they receive an Ikigami (and why would they when the chances of dying from illness or in an accient are probably just as great), making the whole exercise pointless. Oh, and how about the "24-hour nutters with nothing to lose" it creates? Real smart move, that.

Also, full page shots of grown men crying their eyes out = melodrama.
 
Without wanting to be rude, or anything, you convince yourself whatever you dislike - or, as with Naruto, assume you'll dislike - is far too stupid for one as refined as yourself. Then, you find the nearest proverbial hole to situate yourself in and throw brown-coloured solids at anyone in range... Then, you go watch fake, 2D school girls interact; hand on penis. This is why you're such an annoying creature, from my perspective.

Remember when you tried to explain how Death Note was far too silly for you and, at best, a 6/10... before going on to 8/10 it; not complaining about the plot holes in the last stretch which my 10/10 eyes were irritated by? I do.

North Korea achieves its goal by isolating its citizens from the rest of the world completely; preventing the flow of information not controlled completely. Its a very basic but very effective brainwashing tactic. Its starving, uneducated people know nothing.

The tactic employed in Ikigami is far more sophisticated; Japan's fictional society having more access to information but the papers and internet still being controlled by the government. Instead of creating a nation of idiots, Ikigami's Japan is a nation where the fear of death is used to create a nation of sheep. Over the course of 50 years, the citizens were convinced the random death of one is for the greater good because it motivates those around them to act, and the results are shown in the school chapters, where no-one dares speak out against it and most now praise others for reporting those who speak out against the government; the death of 'traitors' being a good thing. No-one trusts each other out of the fear of being reported.

Nobody does think about death as a realistic possibility until they're confronted with it, head-on. No-one values life until there's a risk of it ending. As the saying goes, flames burn brightest when they're close to being extinguished. The idea of imminent death changing people drastically isn't new or unusual.

Does anyone think about winning the lottery seriously until they actually win it? Nein. When the odds are 1/1000, people would naturally assume themselves to be safe; assume themselves to be one of the 999.

And, no, melodrama isn't when people are crying for good reason--such as when the end is near and only despair remains. Melodrama is when there's drama over nothing; when it's created for the sake of it. Ikigami isn't an example of this. When people are shown expressing extreme emotions in it - and when detailed expressions get page-time - it's purely to convey the feelings of the characters.

"Melodrama" isn't melodrama when the drama is justified. Simples.

Like I said: you're clueless about melodrama because you complain about shoujo/whatever without experiencing it. Same old.

...Just give it up and go back to your lolis on Deathsmiles. Playing a game with an 11-year-old tween, where there's no back-story, is much more suited to you than the likes of Ikigami, to be frank with you. Type to me again when you mature.
 
Ah, the insults. Always good to know I've gotten under your skin. You really are a snide, aren't you?

Ikigami's Japan is a nation where the fear of death is used to create a nation of sheep.
Click to expand...
Nobody does think about death as a realistic possibility until they're confronted with it, head-on.
Click to expand...

So this fear of death (the capsules) that nobody is actually afraid of has created a nation of sheep? Or could it be that what they're actually afraid of is a totalitarian regime? What you talk about sounds very much what the Nazis achieved (or pre-war Japan; think the Kamikaze), and guess what? They did it without the death capsule nonsense.

And seeing as how Japan has few natural resources, the resulting imposition of economic sanctions would mean that the Japanese would have to wave goodbye the standard of living they currently enjoy. I wonder if they'd feel that 1/1000 death would be for the greater good then?

In short: the premise is ridiculous and nothing like it would ever happen. Go ahead and post another rambing, incoherent mass of words if you wish, but don't expect me to read it.
 
I prefer obnoxious, tbh...


...Justpa, do you know if any of the episodic manga content gets covered in the flick, and/or if Dr. Kubo makes an appearance? Curious about how much of an adaptation it is.

After the piss-poor live-action Death Note offerings, I tend to care not for Japanese movies, but I have a feeling Ikigami's movie will impress me far more.
 
Assuming you can still read this...

I've never read the manga, my only exposure has been the film, and I don't recall a character named Dr Kubo in the film.

It follows Fujimoto from his induction into the civil service, delivering Ikigami, and the first three cases that he handles, the musician, the hikkikomori, and the brother of the blind girl. The focus is on the stories, but there's a fair but of social comment going on in the background.

You see the seeds of disillusionment in the system start to be planted. It's a film that stands up brilliantly on its own, but you can see that it also leaves room for a sequel.
 
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