History Series / DeathNote

** L is actually shown interacting with Near, properly setting up the notion of Wammy's House.

* RedHerring: [[spoiler:The creepy guy with a camera evokes the creep who nearly killed Misa in the original, and Light even takes measures with one of her bodyguards to prevent her from being attacked after Ryuk tips him off... But then it turns out that same bodyguard was the real would-be killer.]]

* AdaptationExpansion: As opposed to how quickly the manga established Light as Kira, this first episode of this version spends a lot of time highlighting Light's life before he makes the decision to become Kira and his struggles with the morality of that decision.

* SparedByAdaptation: Namoni Misora doesn't appear to be here. Instead, it seems like she and Raye Penber will be fused together.

** Near is already involved in the story while L is still active.

A live action series and the latest incarnation of the ''Manga/DeathNote'' franchise. The story follows Light Yagami, an ordinary college student with no ambitions beyond living a quiet life working for the government. One day after dealing with an old classmate known for harassing other people, a Shinigami named Ryuk drops a notebook called the Death Note in front of Light, with the notebook possessing the power to kill someone by writing their name down in it. While Light intially dismiss the notebook as ridiculous, when he sees his classmate is dead after writing his name down, Light begins to acknowledge it's power is real. After being tempted to use the power of the notebook a second time in order to save his father, Light decides it's burden is too much to bear but when Ryuk convinces him that the notebook could end up in the hands of someone evil, and that Light can use it however he wants, Light decides to use the notebook to purge the world of criminals becoming a SerialKiller known as Kira. When his activities catch the attention of a world-famous detective named L, an all-out battle between the two begins to see who can find the other first.

* AdaptationalIntellegence: Raye Penber of all people. Unlike his manga and anime counterparts he [[spoiler: 1. doesn't actually give Light his real name during the busjacking and uses it deepen the suspicion that Light is Kira, 2. During Light's plan to kill him he has his conversation with Light wiretapped to figure out how he kills, 3. Catches on to Light's ploy with the FBI files and actually comes ridiculously close to killing him]] the only reason he doesn't outright manage to defeat Light is [[spoiler: Misa's intervention with her own Death Note]]

* TookALevelInDumbass: Light is noticeably less smart than his original counterpart. He yells at Ryuk to shut up while he's being pestered in class, he fails at trying to tell Misa that she will be killed without looking like a crazy fan, and it takes him a moment to realize that her security guard was supposed to be the one to kill Misa.

* DrivenToSuicide: Light nearly pulls this off after realizing the Death Note's powers are real and after meeting Ryuk.

* LighterAndSofter: Instead of Light's descent into madness being a complete bloodbath, he kills over fifty people within a month via heart attacks.

* MrFanservice: L briefly has a scene where he changes shirts because the one he wore had a button missing. This appears to have quite frequently.

** Raye Penber, FBI agent following Light, is this.

* AdaptationalHeroism: Our VillainProtagonist is brought down to AntiHero levels. He deeply cares about his family (even if he has a strained relationship with his father), actually returns Misa's feelings and was able to save people using the Death Note (getting rid of JerkJock Sakota and saving his father from his mother's murderer).

* StalkerWithACrush: Ryuk jokingly claims that Light has become this for Misa.

* TookALevelInJerkass: L surprisingly. While he wasn't exactly pleasant all of the time in the manga, here he comes off as much more smug and condescending, only bothered being compared to Kira when Soichiro calls him out on how hypocritical the Lind L. Tailor stunt was

** Ryuk isn't hovering over Light like in the manga and anime and instead just hangs around the house, waiting for Light to return.

* SparedByAdaptation: Namoni Misora doesn't appear to be here. Instead, her tragic death is fused with Raye Penber.

* MrFanservice: L briefly has a scene where he changes shirts because the one he wore had a button missing.

* AdaptationalHeroism: Our VillainProtagonist is brought down to AntiHero levels. He deeply cares about his family (even if he has a strained relationship with his father), actually returns Misa's feelings and was able to save people using the Death Note (getting rid of JerkJock Souta and saving his father from his mother's murderer).

* While Near was far from heroic in the original manga and anime, early promotional material describes this version of the character as "dangerous."

* AdaptationExpansion: As opposed to how quickly the manga established Light as Kira, this first episode of this version spends a lot of time highlighting Light's life before he makes the decision to become Kira and his struggles with the morality of that decision

* TookALevelInJerkass: L surprisingly. While he wasn't exactly pleasant all of the time in the manga, here he comes off as much more smug and condescending, only bothered being compared to Kira when Soichiro calls him out on how hypocritical the Lind L. Tailor stunt was

* AdaptationalVillainy: [[VillainProtagonist Surprisingly not who you'd think]] but actually Ryuk. As opposed to his AllPowerfulBystander counterpart in the manga who just dropped the notebook into the human world at random and then proceeded to kick back, here he specifically makes sure it falls into Light's hands and actively goads him into continuing to use it after Light becomes fearful of it's power

* LighterAndSofter: Instead of Light's decent into madness being a complete bloodbath, he kills over fifty people within a month via heart attacks.

* StalkerWithoutACrush: Ryuk follows Light around for a good chunk of the first episode and drops the notebook specifically behind him. This time, he meant for Light to pick it up.
* TheseHandsHaveKilled: As opposed to his more [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] manga counterpart, Light is much more bothered by the first two murders he commits and even attempts suicide before making the decision to become Kira

* TheCorrupter: Ryuk intentionally drops the Death Note near Light in this version, rather than Light randomly being the one to find the book, and influences his turn to evil.

* LightAndSofter: Instead of Light's decent into madness being a complete bloodbath, he kills over fifty people within a month via heart attacks.

** Light isn't a TVGenius and starts off as more of an everyman before becoming Kira
** [[MissingMom Light's mother is dead in this continuity]]
** Light seems to actually have a thing for Misa and consciously aided in eliminating the murderer of her parents
** Near is already involved in the story while L is still active
* DealWithTheDevil: While Light already believes he's dammed for having used the notebook, his partnership with Ryuk comes off more like this opposed to the manga as Ryuk goads him into using the notebook for his own purposes
* DramaticUnmask: More like dramatic hood flip when L shows his face to the audience after the Lind L. Tailor ploy and eggs Light on to try and kill him
* ItAmusedMe: Ryuk's motivation for dropping the notebook and giving it to Light remains the same
* MissingMom: Light's mother Sachiko is dead in this incarnation and her murder puts a bit of a strain on Light's relationship with his father

A live action series and the latest incarnation of the [[Manga/DeathNote Death Note]] franchise. The story follows Light Yagami, an ordinary college student with no ambitions beyond living a quiet life working for the government. One day after dealing with an old classmate known for harassing other people, a Shinigami named Ryuk drops a notebook called the Death Note in front of Light, with the notebook possessing the power to kill someone by writing their name down in it. While Light intially dismiss the notebook as ridiculous, when he sees his classmate is dead after writing his name down, Light begins to acknowledge it's power is real. After being tempted to use the power of the notebook a second time in order to save his father, Light decides it's burden is too much to bear but when Ryuk convinces him that the notebook could end up in the hands of someone evil, and that Light can use it however he wants, Light decides to use the notebook to purge the world of criminals becoming a SerialKiller known as Kira. When his activities catch the attention of a world-famous detective named L, an all-out battle between the two begins to see who can find the other first.

!! ''Series/DeathNote'' contains examples of the following tropes: