10 Movies That Suffered Undeserved Fan Backlash

When a live action Death Note movie was announced for Netflix back in 2017, fans were anticipating a lot of different things. Death Note had been adapted into movies in the past (with mixed results) and since this was Netflix - who hadn't yet gotten their reputation when it comes to anime adaptations - but had been proven to be effective when the right team is together, most fans just waited to see what the movie had to say for itself.

Then it came out.

Considering that we're talking about anime fans, you can imagine how most of the changes to setting, tone, characters, and other aspects of Death Note lore, went over with the viewing public. While not a financial failure, it was panned by fans pretty much across the board. Even though taken by itself, the movie is actually pretty good. Not great, of course, but Willem Dafoe as Ryuk was a revelation, the story was adapted to the 2 hour format of a film better than the original Japanese live action movies, and it tells a complete story that still sets itself up for sequels.

Ultimately, it was the change in setting that was the big sticking point for fans. Some anime can be set in America, some can't. Luckily, Death Note can be a universal story when adapted correctly.

It's not like Akira, which is a Japanese story all the way down to its bone marrow, and setting it literally anywhere else would miss the whole point of everything about the story. But no one would dare do that, right? Cause that would be stupid.