12/1(Tue)Death Note (Host: Jason)

[JASON123]

Hello everyone. I am the host of 12/1. This time we will discuss a Japanese movie called Death Note.
I prepared some questions. Hope you will like it.

Below is the link of drama:
http://jp.jplovetv.com/2015/07/death-note-list.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Note
Death Note
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Death Note (Japanese: デスノート Hepburn: Desu Nōto?) is a Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. The story follows Light Yagami, a high school student who discovers a supernatural notebook from a shinigami named Ryuk that grants its user the ability to kill anyone whose name and face they know. The series centers around Light's subsequent attempts to create and rule a world "cleansed of evil" as "God" using the notebook, and the efforts of a detective known as L to stop him.

Death Note was first serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 2003 to May 2006. The 108 chapters were collected and published into 12 tankōbon volumes between May 2004 and October 2006. A television anime adaptation aired in Japan from October 3, 2006, to June 26, 2007. Composed of 37 episodes, the anime was developed by Madhouse and directed by Tetsuro Araki. A light novel based on the series, written by Nisio Isin, was also released in 2006. Additionally, various video games have been published by Konami for the Nintendo DS. The series was adapted into three live-action films released in Japan on June 17, 2006, November 3, 2006, and February 2, 2008.

Death Note media is licensed and released in North America by Viz Media, with the exception of the video games and soundtracks. The episodes from the anime first appeared in North America as downloadable from IGN, before Viz Media licensed it and it aired on Bionix in Canada and on Cartoon Network in the United States with a DVD release following. The live-action films briefly played in certain North American theaters in 2008, before receiving home video releases. In 2015, the collected volumes of the Death Note manga had over 30 million copies in circulation.


Plot summary[edit]
See also: List of Death Note characters
Light Yagami is a bored young genius who resents all things evil. His life undergoes a drastic change when he discovers the "Death Note", a notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it. After experimenting with the notebook, Light confirms its authenticity and is joined by an unexpected house guest – the notebook's previous owner, a shinigami called Ryuk. Light tells Ryuk of his plan to exterminate all the people he considers immoral and unjust from the world, until only people whom he has deemed kind and honest remain. Once he finishes creating this utopia, he means to rule over it as the self proclaimed "God of the new world".

Soon, the inexplicable deaths of criminals catch the attention of Interpol and the world-famous detective, "L". L stages a fake public appearance and quickly deduces that the serial killer, publicly known as "Kira" (キラ?, derived from the Japanese pronunciation of the word "killer"), is located in the Kanto region and can kill people without direct contact. Light realizes that L will be his greatest hindrance, and begins a cat and mouse game with him, in the attempts of learning his identity and ending his life.

Light attempts to create an alibi by helping L and his task force track down Kira. His plan is impeded by a lovestruck second Kira, famous model Misa Amane, and her shinigami Rem. Misa identifies Light as the first Kira and tracks him to his home, where he agrees to be her boyfriend in exchange for her obedience and compliance. However, Misa's infatuation with Light soon drives her to make several strategic errors and L starts to find the two increasingly more suspicious by the minute. Misa is soon arrested and interrogated and Light turns himself in voluntarily soon after. They both then relinquish ownership of their Death Notes, erasing their memories of everything they did involved with the book.

During their detention, a third Kira appears. When it becomes clear that Light and Misa cannot be carrying out the third Kira's murders, L releases them and they are placed under house arrest in L's headquarters. The task force identify the third Kira as Yotsuba Group executive Kyosuke Higuchi and capture him. Upon touching the notebook, Light regains his memories as Kira and kills Higuchi, regaining ownership of the Death Note "exactly as planned." The task force learns of the Death Notes and confirm the existence of shinigami. Light then completes his complex plan by manipulating Rem into killing L and his guardian Watari to save Misa's life. Because purposefully killing to prolong the lifespan of human violates shinigami law, Rem dies herself. Upon L's death, Light becomes the second "L" and continues his charade of searching for Kira while carrying out the crimes himself.

The narrative picks up four years later, with Kira attracting a large network of contacts and a swell of public support. Two young men, raised as potential successors to L, are revealed - Near, a detective associated with the United States Government, and Mello, a member of the Mafia. As his first act against Kira, Mello attempts to obtain the Death Note held by the Kira task force, by kidnapping the director of Japan's National Police Agency. This plan is briefly stymied when Light murders the director out of hand. Refocusing on the families of the task force, Mello kidnaps Light's sister Sayu as a replacement; she is quickly rescued, but the task force's notebook is lost to Mello. To regain it, Light's father Soichiro trades half of his remaining life to Ryuk for the "Shinigami Eyes" - the ability to see people's names on sight. During an assault on Mello's headquarters, Soichiro learns Mello's name but does not kill him. He is shot several times during the attack, and dies shortly afterward in hospital.

After this, Near and several members of the task force begin to suspect Light of being Kira. In response, Light persuades Misa to give up her notebook and raises another "Kira", Teru Mikami, a prosecutor and fervent supporter of Kira. Mikami kills Kira's former spokesman for being greedy and recruits Kiyomi Takada, a newscaster and Light's former girlfriend, to replace him. Light reveals himself to Takada as the original Kira, and knowing that he and the other Kiras are under Near's surveillance, constructs a decoy plan to conceal the whereabouts of the genuine Death Note.

Mello returns and kidnaps Takada, who kills him with a hidden notebook piece. Light then makes Takada commit suicide to keep her from implicating him, but Mikami, unaware of Light's actions, attempts to kill her as well. This exposes the genuine Death Note Mikami has concealed, revealing Light's plan at the last minute. At the story's climax, the two investigation teams meet in the "Yellow Box Warehouse". They are shortly joined by Mikami, who writes down the names of everyone in the warehouse except Light. Near then reveals that he replaced Mikami's notebook with a fake and that the names written implicate Light as Kira. In desperation, Light tries to use the last notebook piece in his watch to kill Near, but task force member Matsuda, who is enraged at the way Light called his own father a fool, shoots him several times. Ryuk realises Light has lost and uses his personal Death Note to kill Light with a heart attack, as he promised to do at the beginning of the story.

Session 1.
1. Did you ever watch the Death Note? How do you feel about it?
2. Do you support the main character to use Death Note to kill criminal? Do you think it is justice?
3. What is the difference between court judge and Death Note user?
Session 2.
4. What is the difference between Obama when he ordered to kill Bin Laden and Death Note user?
5. If you own the Death Note, would you use it? How will you use it?
6. Do you agree to let government to use Death Note? What is the best way for you to dispose Death Note?

Agenda:
6:45 ~ 7:00pm Greetings & Free Talk / Ordering Beverage or Meal / Getting Newcomer’s Information
7:00 ~ 7:10pm Opening Remarks / Newcomer’s Self-introduction / Grouping
(Session I)
7:10 ~ 7:50pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
7:50 ~ 8:10pm Summarization (20 mins)
8:10 ~ 8:25pm Regrouping / Instruction Giving / Taking a 10 Minutes Break (Intermission)
(Session II)
8:25 ~ 9:05pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
9:05 ~ 9:25pm Summarization (20 mins)
9:25 ~ 9:30pm Concluding Remarks / Announcements

聚會日期：列於該貼文主題內
聚會時間：當天請準時於 6:45 pm 到達 ~ 約 9:30 pm 左右結束
星期二聚會地點：丹堤濟南店
地址、電話：台北市濟南路三段25號 地圖 (02) 2740-2350
捷運站：板南線 忠孝新生站 3 號出口
走法：出忠孝新生站 3 號出口後，沿著巷子(忠孝東路三段10巷)走約 2 分鐘，到了濟南路口，左轉走約 2 分鐘即可看到。
最低消費： 80 元

注意事項：
1. 文章是否需要列印請自行斟酌，但與會者請務必自行列印 Questions for discussion。
2. 與會者請先閱讀過文章，並仔細想過所有的問題，謝謝合作！

給新朋友的話：
1. 請事先準備 2~3 分鐘的英語自我介紹；會議結束前可能會請你發表 1~2 分鐘的感想。
2. 請事先閱讀文章以及主持人所提的討論問題，並事先寫下自己所欲發表意見的英文。
3. 全程以英語進行，參加者應具備中等英語會話能力，對任一討論問題，能夠以 5 到 10 句英文表達個人見解。
4. 在正式加入之前，可以先來觀摩三次，觀摩者亦須參與討論。正式加入需繳交終身會費 NT$1,000。

[Tina Sun]

I had assumed that the topic is simple since it's a movie topic, but I was wrong after reading Jason's questions.... pretty deep, tricky or debatable to answer, to talk about. >///<
I need to think more and deeper..... 呼呼~~

[Iris Wu]

After studying the synopsis of the movie, you did get the main idea of the film, "the god of death was trying to test how a human being would use the power of death note", which is somewhat interesting. But reading the detailed plot summary described in the Wiki page, it seems that this film is just like all the other TV series, once they became popular, the plots were just expended into long and tedious storyline and it became a drag. (Well, that is how I feel about the plot summary from the Wiki page, the first half of the story was clear, but the second half was a mess, hard to follow what exactly the relationships between those kiras and Light and others.)

I guess you can imagine once a human owns the right/privilege to determine other people's life, what he/she would exercise their power, but I would not compare this kind of extrajudicial punishment power to judicial rights. The difference is as simple as “Rule of Man” vs. “Rule of Law” (人治與法治) . “Rule of Law” doesn't mean we will have perfect world, “Rule of Man” is not necessarily bad because we could encounter a very intelligent and kind ruler. But which one is more reliable?

People might argue that who has the right to kill Bin Laden, but do you think any of the 3000+ victims in the World Trade Center twin tower deserved to die from Bin Laden's attack? George W. Bush's Iraq war was a huge mistake, but Obama's manhunt for Bin Laden, I believe it was under international agreement, and it focused on one person and they tried their best to minimize the damage. Personally, I think it is humanitarian.

“Rule of Man”, you will need to pray for a good leader, as for “Death Note”, you will need to pray a good person owns it, and you will have to make sure the person would not be corrupted by money and power which is almost impossible. “Obama or Court Judge” do not represent an individual, they represent a system, a legal system or judicial system. “Law” is created and maintained by people, it may not be perfect at any point of time, but it is something people can strive for.

[Kat C]

I haven't watched the TV version, but absolutely LOVED the movie! Plus the sequel.

It's a fascinating premise, but perhaps a recurring one found often in the vigilante superhero genre. In real life it's an impossible moral question (幾近無解的道德難題), one of those "if you have to kill one to save a hundred..." dilemmas. Sure makes for a fascinating debate, though. Looking forward to it!

[Rock]

Law is written by human beings, based on the needs and the abilities of human beings, dealing with the problems of the human world only.

If a god did show up, then it'd be meaningless to enforce the human law 'cause this life would be nothing comparing with heaven or hell, not to mention karma and reincarnation.

If God, or Allah, does exist, dare Obama do anything to Bin Laden?

Yeah, shinigami is smirking at Light's struggling, and L is even more ridiculous!!!