Death Note Fans Create Petition To Boycott Netflix's Adaptation

Image credit: Netflix

When you thought you're done hearing about the white-washing controversy following the release of Hollywood's Ghost in the Shell, here goes another petition against a live-action adaptation of a Japanese anime/manga. This time it's Netflix's take on Death Note.

When the teaser for the upcoming Death Note film was released last month, fans were outraged at the whitewashing of the franchise's characters, especially Light, who was Japanese in the graphic novel it's based from. Fans took it to social media to voice their complaints, and even started a petition to boycott the Netfflix film.

The petition posted by Sarah Rose on Care2petition points out: "White actors have been cast to play the main characters in this adaptation. Death Note shouldn't be cast with all white actors as it goes against the very soul of the story."

So far, there are over 16,000 people who signed the petition with a 17,000 goal.

It's another missed opportunity to bring an Asian actor in Netflix's spotlight but at least there's the Japanese live-action Death Note films that I actually enjoyed more than the anime series. While many Japanese fans seem to be receptive to the casting of American actors for this film, many on Twitter have expressed their complaint about how L being black doesn't seem to fit his character. I'm still interested to see how the actor depicts L in this version.

Death Note will debut on Netflix on August 25, 2017.

If you're interested in signing the petition, you can go to the petition page here.

Related: Elementary Student Suspended After Putting Schoolmate In "Death Note"