Update 6/3/15

Hey guys! So it seems that you really liked the last update! I am actually happy that is the case. Now before I get started with this week's update, I want to talk about something. I actually recorded two podcasts. One is about Kuroko no Basuke while the other is a bit more emotional. I will let you know when I get them uploaded, but I hope you guys like them. They mean as much to me as these blog posts. Now I know what you are thinking...why didn't you post last week, well I have no excuse. I just didn't feel like it. This was how I was going to start it...

This week...I apparently wanted to kill myself with writing reviews. Let's get started.
Now, no I didn't kill myself to write reviews, I just wasn't feeling like writing last week. It was bound to hap

Review: Death Note

Anime vs. Movie

So as most of you know by now, Death Note is a favorite of mine. It always has been. Light Yagami is by far one of my favorite antagonists to ever be created.  Now this isn't going to be my typical review because I will technically be comparing two different "series" of Death Note. Plus I am amped up because a third form of the series will be released soon. It was announced recently that there will be a live action TV show for Death Note. But for now let's talk about what has already been released.

On October 3rd of 2006, Madhouse studios released a 37 episode anime series. Directed by Tetsuro Araki (highly known now for directing Attack on Titan). The anime series encapsulated the manga series perfectly. You actually don't even need to read the manga series to get the actual see the full story come to play. As someone who has read both series in completion I know for certain that this is true.

Not only is the anime series a good rebirth of the manga series, but the music that goes along with it is beautiful. The score was done by Yoshihisa Hirano and Hideki Taniuchi. Plus the opening and ending credits fit perfectly with the show.

Opening 1: "The World" by Nightmare
Ending 1: "Alumina" by Nightmare
Opening 2: "What's Up People" by Maximum the Hormone
Ending 2: "Zetsubo Billy" by Maximum the Hormone
Ending 3: "Code ~ Death Note" by Yoshihisa Hirano
Insert Song: "Misa's Song" by Aya Hirano 

The series officially ended on June 26th of 2007. Viz Media got the rights to release the series on Home Video and produced an English dub which later aired on Cartoon Network and again later on Neon Alley. The English dub is actually really amazing when comparing it to the Japanese dub. 

Cast
Light Yagami - Mamoru Miyano/Brad Swaile
L - Kappei Yamaguchi/Alessandro Juliani
Ryuk - Nakamura Shido/Brian Drummond
Misa Amane - Aya Hirano/Shannon Chan-Kent
Near - Noriko Hidaka/Cathy Weseluck
Mello - Nozomu Sasaki/David Hurwitz
Teru Mikami - Masaya Matsukaze/Kirby Morrow
Soichiro Yagami - Naoya Uchida/Chris Britton
Touta Matsuda - Ryo Naito/Vincent Tong
Shuichi Aizawa - Keiji Fujiwara/Trevor Devall
Kanzo Mogi - Kazuya Nakai/John Murphy
Hideki Ide - Hideo Ishikawa/Brian Dobson
Hirokazu Ukita - Hidenobu Kiuchi/Jeremy From
Watari - Kiyoshi Kobayashi/French Tickner
Aiber - Takuya Kirimoto/David Orth
Wedy - Miki Nagasawa/Venus Terzo
Matt - Tomohiro Nishimura/Drew Nelson
Roger Ruvie - Hiroshi Otake/Ron Halder
Kiyomi Takada - Maaya Sakamoto/Heather Doerksen
Hitoshi Demegawa - Chafurin/Ward Perry
Raye Penber - Hideo Ishikawa/Michael Adamthwaite
Naomi Misora - Asaka Seto/Nicole Oliver
Steve Mason - Mitsuru Ogata/John Novak
Kyosuke Higuchi - Issei Futamta/Andrew Kavadas

As far as everything else goes the series is pretty self explanatory. Now on the flip side, even though to anime TV films were released - Death Note: Relight: Visions of a God and Death Note: Relight 2: L's Successors - there were three live action movies released in 2006 and 2008. 

Death Note was released on June 17th of 2006. This first film tells the story of college student, Light Yagami, who is studying to become a lawyer, who finds the Death Note one night and decides to rid the world of evil. 

Death Note 2: The Last Name was released on October 28th of 2006. This second film takes off where the first left off in the journey of mass killer Light Yagami. 

L: Change the World was released on February 9th of 2008. This third film is a spin-off series loosely based on a short story written by the author of Death Note. It recounts L's last 23 days from the end of the second Death Note film. 

While the English voices stayed the same as the anime, the actors who portrayed the famous characters were different. 

Cast
Light Yagami - Tatsuya Fujiwara
L - Kenichi Matsuyama
Misa Amane - Erika Toda
Naomi Misora - Asaka Seto
Ryuk - Shidou Nakamura
Rem - Shinnosuke Ikehata
Raye Iwamatsu - Shigeki Hosokawa
Watari - Shunji Fujimura
Soichiro Yagami - Takeshi Kaga
Shiori Akino - Yuu Kashii
Sayu Yagami - Hikari Mitsushima
Kanzo Mogi - Shin Shimizu
Lind L. Taylor - Matt Lagan
Sachiko Yagami - Michiko Godai
Shuichi Aizawa - Tatsuhito Okuda
Touta Matsuda - Sota Aoyama
Hirokazu Ukita - Ikuji Nakamura
Kevin LeRoy - Ruben Chacon
Ryotaro Sakajo - Masanori Fujita

The odd thing about the movies is the opening and ending credits. With the exception of one song...the songs are all American...so very American. 

Opening 1: "Manatsu no Yoru no Yume" by Shikao Suga
Ending 1: "Dani California" by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Opening 2: "Dani California" by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Ending 2: "Snow, Hey Oh" by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Opening 3: "I'll Be Waiting" by Lenny Kravitz

Like I said...very strange. Overall, I really like both takes on the series (the anime more so than the movies) but they are both good portrayals of a well loved series. What are your thoughts on the anime and movie versions of Death Note? Let me know. 

Voice Actor Spotlight: Eric Vale

It feels like it has been SO long since I have done a VA Spotlight. This time around I am doing a HUGE favorite of mine. I first fell in love with his voice in D. Gray-Man, Fruits Basket, and Dance in the Vampire Bund. Eric Vale (known by Chelsie as the Vale of Vicky Vale - Vic Mignogna being the Vicky of the name) is a Voice Actor, Director, and Writer for US anime giant FUNimation. Let's go over his impressive resume of roles (roles according to Wikipedia). The shows that are in italics are shows that I have seen. 

1999

Dragon Ball - Trunks, World Tournament Announcer

2001

Blue Gender - Yuji Kaido

2002

Fruits Basket - Yuki Sohma
Yu Yu Hakusho - Sakyo, Rando, Shorin

2004

Case Closed - Inspector Santos
Fullmetal Alchemist - Solf J. Kimblee
Kiddy Grade - Sinistra

2005 

Gunslinger Girl - Jean

2006

Basilisk: The Koga Ninja Scrolls - Jimushi Jubei
Black Cat - Lacdoll
Desert Punk - Kanta "Desert Punk" Mizuno
Shin-Chan - Yoshirin
Speed Grapher - Itabashi
Trinity Blood - Meinz Alfred

2007

B't X - Teppei Takamiya
BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad - Ryusuke Minami
Hell Girl - Yukio Ujiie 
One Piece - Sanji
School Rumble - Oji Karasuma
SoltyRei - Larry Anderson
Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle - Toya

2008

Aquarion - Sirius de Alisia
Baldr Force EXE Resolution - Akira
Claymore - Sid
Darker than Black - Nick Hillman
Ghost Hunt - Osamu Yasuhara
Jyu Oh Sei - Zagi
One Piece Movie: The Desert Princess and the Pirates: Adventures in Alabasta - Sanji
Ouran High School Host Club - Tohru Suzushima
Sasami: Magical Girls Club - Tonobe

2009

Baccano! - Huey Laforet 
Big Windup! - Keisuke Umehara
Blassreiter - Alvin Lutz
D. Gray-Man - Arystar Krory III
Dragonaut: The Resonance - Ko Yonamine
El Cazador de la Bruja - Miguel
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Solf J. Kimblee
Kaze no Stigma - Lai, Shinji Yuki
Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple - Natsu "Hermit" Tanimoto
Nabari no Ou - Tobari Durandal Kumohira
Romeo x Juliet - Francisco
Save Me! Lollipop - Zero 
Sgt. Frog - Dance Master, Sally Viper
Spice and Wolf - Weiz
Strain: Strategic Armored Infantry - Dickon Sidnok

2010

Birdy the Mighty Decode:02 - Nataru Shinmyo
Casshern Sins - Casshern
Corpse Princess - Sadahiro Mibu
Hetalia: Axis Powers - America, Canada
Initial D - Koichiro Iketani
My Bride is a Mermaid - Kai Mikawa
Sands of Destruction - Agan Madoru
Sekirei - Kakizaki
Sengoku Basara - Maeda Keiji
Soul Eater - Justin Law

2011 

Chrome Shelled Regios - Sharnid Elipton
Dance in the Vampire Bund - Akira Kaburagi Regendorf
Fairy Tail - Loke/Leo
Heaven's Lost Property - Eishiro Suggata
Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ - Anton Claude
Rosario + Vampire - Tadashi Wanibuchi, Yeti

2012

Yamada's First Time: B Gata H Kei - Keiichi Kanejo
Deadman Wonderland - Tsunenaga Tamaki
Fractale - Dais
Is This a Zombie? - King of the Night
Mass Effect: Paragon Lost - Essex
The Legend of Legendary Heroes - Sion Astral 
Okami-san and Her Seven Companions - Red Shirt Onigashima Thug, Guy at the pool
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt - News Announcer
Shakugan no Shana - Shiro/Merihim
Steins;Gate - Yukitaka Akiha

2013

A Certain Scientific Railgun - Daigo
Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero - Akatsuki Ousawa
Aquarion Evol - Shrade Elan
Baka and Test 2 - Mr. Fuse
Fairy Tail the Movie: Phoenix Priestess - Loke/Leo
Future Diary - Kuro Amano
Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing - Victor
Michiko and Hatchin - Feliciano
One Piece Film: Strong World - Sanji
Toriko - Yuu
We Without Wings - Kurodo Hairu

2014

Attack on Titan - Cis
Code:Breaker - Yukihina
Ghost in the Shell: Arise - Tsumugi
Jormungand - Kasper Hekmatyar
Laughing Under the Clouds - Sousei Abeno
One Piece Film: Z - Sanji
Robotics;Notes - Kou Kimijima
Space Dandy - Prince

2015

Death Parade - Takashi
Tokyo Ghoul - Nishiki Nishio
Assassination Classroom - Ono
Seraph of the End - Ferid Bathory

Mr. Vale goes by two other names Eric Johnson and Alpha Lagrange. I am so excited to see future roles from him and fall in love with them. Catch him every week on Funimation's BroadcastDub of Assassination Classroom and Seraph of the End. 

Who is your favorite voice actor? Who would you like to see featured on the blog? Let me know and you may see your voice actor on here. 

Well guys thank you for being patient with me. I know this post took a while to get out but I was having a hard time with how I wanted to write my Death note Review. So before I leave you this week, I want to discuss to very exciting things. My little sister who is my go-to for the anime world graduated from high school on June 2nd, 2015. I am so proud of her and couldn't be happier to call her my sister. 


This wonderful kid is going to do amazing things. Now the second thing is, if you head over to my Facebook page - Kat's Anime Corner - you will see a video I shared on Tuesday. The Valedictorian from my little sister's school is known nationwide as the high school student who was accepted to all the Ivy League schools. No lies. His speech was so different and amazing that even I felt inspired and I wasn't even graduating. I hope you watch it and share it because it is a great speech and it is wonderfully crafted. 

So that is all for this week. I can't wait to see you next week. You guys all rock. 

That's all for now. See you next week! 

Ja ne! 

xx Kat
=^.^=

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