Fangirl Monthly: August Box

Hello

안녕하세요 

(Annyeonghaseyo)

こんにちは 

(Konnichiwa)

你好

(Ni Hao)

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I'm finally back with a Fangirl Monthly post, June and July's boxes were series' that I wasn't familiar with so I skipped those boxes but August's box I knew I had to get as it's a series that I am really familiar with and even though I've only really sat and watched the live action movies, I know this is a good series.

Fangirl Monthly's August box theme is Death Note, lets see what goodies we got inside the August box.

First up we have a EXCLUSIVE LIGHT & RYUK POSTCARD PRINT, I love that we always get one of these postcard prints and I love that they still use the artwork from Mayu Matsumoto, but I have to say it's not one of my favourite postcard prints that I've received so far through Fangirl Monthly. I do like the colours used though as it makes the characters pop more from the background.

Next we have a CUSTOM L COTTON JEWELRY POUCH, I will continue to say that I love that we get a custom pouch's made by Fangirl Monthly for that months theme, I keep the jewelry and accessories for that theme in it's own pouch so it's easier to identify where to find the item I want. Whenever I think of Death Note I think of how L is designed and was even excited when a friend from work got me a mug with L on it and it was designed the same way.

Next we have a CUSTOM MISA COSPLAY NECKLACE, for people not familiar with Death Note, Misa is the main female character that devotes herself to Light Yagmai and falls in love with him after finding out he is Kira and is responsible for the death of the murderer that killed her family. She is often shown as a blonde with parts of her hair up in pigtails and dresses in a Gothic style. She is a Japanese Idol and becomes a 2nd Kira when she gets her hands on another Death Note. She has been seen wearing a cross necklace in the manga and a Fleurs-de-lis necklace in the anime, which is the necklace we received in our box. The necklace is easy to put on and take off and is a decent length when being worn, it's not a necklace I would purchase and wear myself but it is really pretty and well made to the point that I would wear it if it would suit my outfit, it would also come in handy if I ever decided to cosplay as Misa.

Next we have RYUK INSPIRED APPLE EARRINGS, Ryuk is a Shinigami. In Japanese mythology a Shinigami is what we would know as the Grim reaper, Ryuk is bored living in the Shinigami realm and wants entertainment in his life, so drops a Death Note into the human world, which Light Yagami finds and uses to write the names of criminals in order to kill them. Ryuk has a fondness of apples and describes that fondness as what humans would call an addiction to things like alcohol and cigarettes. To be honest I'm not surprised we got something apple related in this box as especially in the live action film apples are seen a lot floating about, as a sign of Ryuk eating them. I get a bit gutted when we get earrings as I'm not able to put them to use as my ears are no longer pierced, while the earrings do look pretty and colourful, they aren't something I would choose to wear.

Next we have a LIGHT & L DOUBLE INITIAL CHARM NECKLACE, Light Yagami and L are the main characters of Death Note and secretly each other enemy, L is brought in to find and stop Kira and suspects Light is him and attempts to stop him, Light wants to find out L's real name to write his name into his Death Note to stop him as he believes there really isn't any justice in Japan's justice system. This is my favourite jewelry item from the box, it's easy to put on and take off and is really well made, I like that it's not your usual chain necklace and I think the design and colour of it really adds to how pretty it is. I think it's a versatile necklace then both men and women can get away with wearing. I love that Light's initial has wording from the Death Note.

Lastly we have a DEATH NOTE NOTEBOOK KEYCHAIN, I can honestly say that this is my favourite item from the box and as soon as I took it out of the box I placed it on a locker key I have that I sometimes use at work. I love that on the front it says Death Note and then on the back we have a quote from the Death Note "The human whose name is written in this note shall die."

It's now time to get into all the business side of the Fangirl Monthly subscription box, whatever month you subscribe, as long as it's before the deadline you will get that months box, if it's after the deadline you will receive the next months box. Each box comes with 3-5 anime and manga inspired jewelry, accessories and goodies from a selected series each month. You get the choice of what term of what subscription plan you would like, there's a 6 month plan which is $102/£83.69 and renews every 6 months until you cancel, there is a 3 month plan which is $52.50/£43.08 and renews every 3 months until you cancel, and finally there is a monthly plan which is the plan I am on, which is $18/£14.77 and renews every month until you cancel. You are able to skip any of the months boxes if you need to for any reason. These boxes do not include shipping and each shipping price varies for where they are shipping to, I pay £24.81 a month which is including shipping. If you are interested in subscribing or fancy checking them out then you can head over to the Fangirl Monthly website.

As you know my last Fangirl Monthly box was the Fullmetal Alchemist box in May, one thing I like about this subscription is you can skip months if you're not really familiar or a fan of that months theme hence why I haven't had a box since May.
June's box was Madoka Magica which is a series I know of but not one I have read or watched, I do often eye up the manga whenever I see it in a book store.
July's box was Hatsune Miku and although I know of her and like her I wouldn't say that I'm a die hard fan that I felt I needed jewelry and accessories.
I really liked this box and I like that the items were versatile as Death Note is a popular series with both guys and girls. Death Note is a series I think gets people to really think about how they would react in this situation as I can see reasoning from both Light and L. I agree with Light in the way that the justice system doesn't always work and I strongly believe that it should be life for a life, but in L's shoes I can see that even though Light begins by only killing criminals, he's acting no different to any other murderer in the way he is planning to kill this people to the point he manipulates how they will die and even starts killing people that are innocent and getting in his way, this is where I believe Light deserves the life for a life consequence. 
I can't wait till my next box arrives as I will be receiving the the September box and I'm really excited as it's another series that I love both the show and the characters.
September box is Bleach.

If Kira gets caught, he is evil. If Kira rules the world, he is justice.
- Light Yagami -

See you soon!

안녕
(Annyeong)
さようなら
(Sayonara)
再见
(ZaiJian)
Bye

Death Note: Live-Action Movies!

Hello

An nyoung

Konnichiwa

Ni hao

Hello everyone, this week i'm mixing it up a bit with my Thursday and Friday posts, I'm going to be talking about some anime's that were made into live-action movies and vice versa and we're kicking it off with the Death Note movies.

In 2006 two live-action movies were created based on the manga of the same name, I say two because the films were created as a two-part series, with the first film released in June and the second film released a few months later. A spin off film was also released in february 2008. All three films star Kenichi Matsuyama as the reclusive world-famous detective L with Tatsuya Fujiwara playing the main character Light Yagami in both the main movies and a cameo role in the spin off movie. Both films were directed by Shūsuke Kaneko with the spin off movie directed by Hideo Nakata.

The Manga was created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, I've not read the manga but I do really want to as I really enjoyed the films and I do have the anime boxset but not really watched it yet, only seen a  few episodes hence why this post is more about the live-action film. You may be wondering how I even got into the film when I've neither watched the anime or read the manga, well Andrew had the manga bought (the 3-in-1's with the black pages) and he really enjoyed, we couldn't find the anime at the time so after research found out that these films existed. We went shopping and I found the films in HMV even though I had no idea what the films would entail (Andrew had told me snippets of what happened in the manga) i was just excited that my favorite Japanese actor was starring in the film: Tatsuya Fujiwara. He may be my favorite Japanese actor but I've only seen about 5 of his films and of those five i have to say both the Death Note films for me are his best from start to finish his acting is incredible.

If you don't know anything about the Death Note series let me give you some quick info.

*this info is based on the films and may differ from the manga*

The films follow a Japanese college student called Light Yagami, whose life undergoes a drastic change when he finds a mysterious notebook titled Death Note. The Death Note is full of rules and instructions, one of which the book claims that if a persons name is wrote in the death note while they picture that persons face in their mind they will die. To test the notebook Light rights names of criminals he see's on the news etc and as each of the them die he meets the notebook's previous owner a shinigami called Ryuk, he decides he will be the god of the new world by killing those that are evil and becomes known as the notorious serial killer Kira. As the bodies continue to drop at the hands of Kira the situation takes the interest of the detective L and once L discovers that Kira is a student in the Kanto region that also can get access to police information it then becomes a race between Light and L to discover each others identities. A second Death Note is discovered by an actress called Misa and she uses her new found power to kill who do not follow and disrespect Kira, when Light appears Misa quickly indentifies him as the original Kira with her shinigami eyes (she gets this power by making a deal with the shinigami and reduces her life span by half, a shinigami can see a persons name and when they will die). Misa agree's to help Light found out L's real name so that he can kill him. Will Misa find out his real indentity so that Light can become the god he so wants to be? well to find out you have to 1: read the manga, 2: watch the anime and 3: watch the live-action movies.

I was gripped by both Death Note and Death Note 2: The Last Name and i even shed a tear at the second films ending, first time watching these films L irritated me but Kenichi Matsuyama plays him incredibly well proving that he's an amazing actor. Both Light and L are incredibly clever and you're constantly surprised with the clever ways they get to the information they want and in Lights case incredibly smart of getting the heat off his back even if it means killing someone close to him.

The spin off movie L: Change The World well all i will say is it follows L but I cant give any more information than that as it could reveal a spoiler for the Death Note films. I have this film but I'm still yet to watch it but already feel it will be a good film as Kenichi Matsyama reprises his role as L so I know the acting is going to be incredible from him.

Both Death Note and Death Note 2 include two songs from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers on it's soundtrack with Dani California appearing in both films and Snow, Hey Oh appearing for the closing credits of the second film.

Dani California 

Snow, Hey Oh

Death Note topped the Japanese box office for two weeks pushing The Da Vinci Code off the top spot, the film has also been released in Hong Kong, Tawain, Singapore and Malaysia, with also North America and England also getting in on the action. The film was described as a delightfully suspenseful 126 minutes for anyone who likes suspense, pretty Japanese boys or bad-ass female detectives, by Wired's Lisa Katayama. In the end the film earned $41 million in Japan and $1.9 million in Hong Kong. Death Note 2 was released in Japan, Hong Kong, Tawain, Singapore and Malaysia, with a two night English Dub released in North America, like the first film Death Note 2 topped the box office but this time for four weeks bringing in 5.5 billion Yen in Japan by the end of the year and making it one of Japan's highest grossing Japanese films. Death Note was also the first Japanese film to premiere in Hong Kong.

These were the first live-action from anime films i'd seen and they won't be the last, they really piqued my interest in Death Note to the point i do want to read the manga and prompted me to buy the anime so i can see how they all differ, i do think it will be hard to beat the amazing acting that i witnessed, but surely the original will beat out it all.

One thing i love about this series is it makes you think what you would do if you possessed the Death Note, would you toss it to one side believing it a haox or follow Lights lead and remove the evil of the world, what if the justice system failed would you take it upon yourself to punish those that deserved it if the notebook existed.

I find myself torn in two for that I agree with Light punishing the criminals that the system missed but agree with Light that the system would always find a way. What do you think? Who would you back? if Kira was Tatsuya I'd follow him to the end but only if I got to be by his side *winks*

See you soon! 

An nyoung 

Sayonara 

Zai Jian 

Bye