One summer night, Kato Ken finally finished his work dinner and dragged his exhausted body home.
As he arrived at the station, a massive promotional poster caught his eye—an advertisement for the live-action Death Note drama series.
Kato Ken had heard of the Death Note animation, but only in passing; he'd never actually watched it. He wasn't particularly interested in animation. In his free time, he usually watched either the news or dramas on TV, and rarely even variety shows, let alone late-night anime.
With his early morning work schedule, he simply didn't have the time or energy to keep up with late-night anime.
Because it was a drama poster, it naturally drew his attention, but that was all. He had no intention of watching it.
To put it bluntly, live-action dramas adapted from anime were so bad, even dogs wouldn't watch them. He'd tried one before, but couldn't get past the second episode. Everything about it was awkward, and the quality was worse than even ordinary original dramas. He figured they just rushed it out while the animation's popularity was still high to squeeze a few more bucks from anime fans—it wasn't made for people like him who didn't normally watch animation.
He thought this, but when the live-action Death Note drama premiered in July, he happened to be free and found himself sitting in front of the TV watching it.
He couldn't have known that watching this drama would completely overturn his preconceived notions about live-action adaptations of anime.
Unlike other live-action dramas adapted from anime, this Death Note didn't feature characters with bizarre hairstyles or hair colors. The plot was brilliant, and the actors' performances were excellent.
With the exception of the Shinigami and the Death Note itself, all the other elements were realistic, making the drama feel neither awkward nor over-the-top.
In short, it was quite good. After binge-watching a few episodes, he even had an idea: to buy the anime's DVD and catch up on the original animation.
This idea grew stronger and stronger until he actually went and bought the anime's DVD.
In fact, Kato Ken wasn't the only one who thought the Death Note live-action drama was good. Fans of the anime also overwhelmingly praised the adaptation after watching it.
Viewers who hadn't seen the original anime before also thought the drama was quite well-made.
With the animation's popularity still running high, the live-action drama's first episode achieved a viewership rating of 17%. Although the ratings dipped slightly in the middle episodes, they steadily climbed toward the end, with the final two episodes even surpassing 20%.
The positive reception was so strong that many viewers who hadn't seen the animation before began purchasing the original animation's DVDs, leading to a steady increase in DVD sales.
This success was also due to the drama's high fidelity to the original animation. While the plot underwent some adaptation, it remained largely faithful to the source material. The character designs were identical to the anime's, and the cast selection was widely praised as fitting.
In another timeline, the [ Death Note ] live-action drama was released long after the manga, animation, and live-action films had faded from the spotlight. Despite its lukewarm reviews, it still managed respectable ratings. Now, with the animation's popularity at its peak, a well-received drama was guaranteed to draw a large audience.
The live-action drama concluded, and the live-action film followed shortly after.
The two live-action films, while differing from the live-action drama in casting and plot, were both critically acclaimed, attracting many new fans.
Combined with the fanbase cultivated by the animation and live-action drama, the two films grossed a total of 3.5 billion yen at the box office before leaving theaters.
The success of both the live-action drama and the films propelled Death Note from an niche hit to a mainstream phenomenon. DVD sales far exceeded Lin Zhiyan's initial expectations.
Originally, Lin Zhiyan had considered a first-press average of 25,000 units per volume for the 26-episode anime DVD to be quite successful, with a later re-release potentially exceeding 30,000.
However, due to the powerful promotional effect of the live-action drama and films, average sales per volume already surpassed 33,000 units before the re-release.
Once the re-release came out, with average sales per volume exceeding 37,000 units, breaking through the "masterpiece barrier" seemed certain.
Upon reflection, this made perfect sense. In this timeline, Death Note's original source material was the animation, not the manga.
In other timelines, the success of animated series, live-action films, and live-action dramas all drove sales of the original manga. In this timeline, however, the manga sales were slashed and the boost was redirected to the animation, naturally driving up DVD sales.
Regardless, the success of the live-action drama and film was a tremendous boon for Lin Zhiyan.
Profit was guaranteed. The surge in animated DVD sales alone would make him a fortune.
Beyond that, there was the matter of fame and influence. While viewers of the live-action adaptations who hadn't read the manga generally remembered the actors' names rather than the animation director or scriptwriter, the successful adaptation of the live-action versions would enhance the overall prestige of the work.
In the future, when he mentioned the project, claiming credit as the creator of the original animated series would carry more weight.
For the employees of L.S Production, this was also a positive development.
Previously, if someone who never watched anime or paid attention to the animation industry was asked what animation they had worked on, and they said "Death Note," people might have thought, "What the hell is that? The name alone sounds like it's some kind of trash."
Things were different now. When people learned that his company produced the Death Note animation, they would say with admiration, "Oh, so that's what it is! That's amazing!"
The difference between being a niche hit and a mainstream success was truly staggering.
Those who had followed Lin Zhiyan from IG to L.S at the beginning couldn't have been entirely without anxiety. That would be a lie. Only after seeing the storyboards and scripts for the first four episodes of Death Note did their unease gradually fade. By the time the animation became a hit, no one felt anxious anymore.
Now, many were immensely grateful for their initial decision. Mentioning that they worked for L.S Production filled them with a sense of honor. During the production of the second season, they worked with the energy of roosters on their morning rounds, their daily enthusiasm soaring as if their efforts alone could hasten the release of L.S's second season.
Of course, this was impossible. The second season would also be a half-year series, split into two parts. Nine months of preparation were definitely needed before its premiere, meaning it couldn't launch any earlier than January 2002.
Please Support me by becoming my patreon member and get 15+ chapters.
[email protected]/Ajal69
change @ with a
Thank You to Those who joined my Patreon