The Simpsons vs Death Note
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- Опубліковано 3 лис 2022
- The Simpsons has done two totally different homages to Death Note, one animated and one on paper. So let's take a look at both and see what changed.
(Also, in this video, TheRealJims finally watches a whole anime series.)
Music Credits:
1:09 “Ground Zero” (Final Fantasy IX) by halc
• OC ReMix #3209: Final ...
3:54 "Mercenary Boxing" (Street Fighter II) by Malcos
• Blood on the Asphalt: ...
8:06 "Chasing Waterfalls" (Donkey Kong Country 3) by Blue Magic
• OC ReMix #3199: Donkey...
10:16 “Serenity” (Final Fantasy VII) by Mustin
• OC ReMix #1618: Final ...
15:30 “In Bayshire” (Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: Duel Transer) by Radiowar
• Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: Duel T...
18:24 “Like a Dream” (Dark Souls II) by RoeTaKa
• OC ReMix #3119: Dark S...
#TheSimpsons - Розваги
I don't usually go over the pop culture references in much detail in videos, I've always kinda taken the stance that they're more fun for the viewer to notice on their own. But with The Simpsons doing two separate parodies of Death Note, I thought it would be fun to look at how they're constructed and how close they stick to the source material. Plus, it was fun watching Death Note for the first time and take a look at something totally new to me.
(Also, am starting on the Season 15 stuff next. I went on vacation recently which ended up getting in the way of the re-watch, so expect a quick bonus video and then the official Season 15 proper after that. Thanks for your patience during these past two chaotic months.) 😉
Love your videos keep up the good night and are you planning to Do another episode of Talking simpons podcast I only reason I saw it was to see you there sorry for me sounding like a annoying fanboy but keep up the good work.
Hey Neil, I would guess they would have me on again, as they had mentioned doing so after my first appearance. We don't have anything scheduled or planned yet, but if they need another guest, I'll hop on again 👍
@@TheRealJims hey Jim are you aslo planning to do an special review or topic like with final space or are you more comfortable with simpsons because of your lore and knowledge of matt greoning and other simpsons topics
Tbh i would love some anime videos from you
something of note. the comic's bit about a book that brings the dead back to life is probably a coincidence but in the original Pilot chapter made to sell the idea of death note there was an item called the "Death Eraser that was literally an eraser that, when used to erase a name from the death note, would bring people killed by the death note back to life but only if they still had a body to bring back (explicitly they state that if the body is cremated it will not work)
At first I was just “oh this is a good parody” but the very ending with the popular fan theory for Light’s fate literally happening on screen made me confident a fan wrote this
Could you elaborate on that?
@@rubyy.7374 becoming the next death got shinigami upon death.
For me it was the name joke. The names in Death Note are so goofy for a series that otherwise plays itself mostly straight (Quillish Wammy sounds like a Pokémon), especially for the combination of that with the Sleve Mcdichael baseball joke.
A real fan would have made a potato chip reference
@@Fomantistoboggan the potato chip scene was burned to hell and back already. It's low hanging fruit
The “Not killing the same way twice” rule was so natural and intriguing, that I thought it was in the original series. I kind Of wish it was
I agree, like how harry potter would have been more interesting if the bad guys didn't resort to the killing curse ad nauseum.
Yes! I decided to watch the anime after the THOH segment. I was waiting for the “can’t kill same way” rule to come into play. I was a little disappointed basically everyone dies the same way
@@rdoino2210 It's fun for a six minute bit but ultimately a little impractical for an extended series where the focus is less on the death and more on the "getting away with it" part. Also Light has a death count easily in the tens or even hundreds of thousands by the end of the series, Lisa was running out of steam coming up with new deaths after a few dozen.
Though it's actually an interesting detail that the fact that the Death Note can kill in other ways besides Heart Attacks at all is actually one of the last things that Light's antagonists discover about it. Which also plays into both the more ideological and mental chess match aspects of the story. When all these criminals are dying of heart attacks the public starts attributing it as an intentional act, which unlike Lisa, who gets frustrated that the deaths are being assumed as anything other than a rash of bizarre accidents, is exactly what L wants since he wants to ultimately have people worshipping him as a God for all this. And of course the other side effect is that when you primarily only kill people with heart attacks, it's easier to overlook anything that doesn't fit that MO. If Light had to kill a different way every time, it might ironically make him easier to track since L and the task force would have to start assuming that any particularly bizarre death was his doing and he couldn't as easily cause more discrete murders on the side.
@@evansageser6943 oh yeah absolutely, once I realized where the story was going, I didn’t even think about it anymore.
Just for the first episode or two I was just assuming that the “must kill differently” rule was going to be introduced. It’s more a testament on how good the Simpsons segment was done that if felt like a natural part of the lore of the original story.
@rdoino2210 Agreed. Plus, Simpson's writers (current) have teamed up with the original team who was working on DN.
In another universe, RealJims is a gigantic anime fan and finds it difficult to talk about The Simpsons.
So he's glad he lives here. There's nothing more pathetic and sad that a so called grown up adults jerking off to japanese children cartoons, wanting the world to believe that they secretly are for adults and oh so advanced, intelligent and whatnot.
Weebs usually have some mental disorders and i think it's because of that shit, to the point were i think Anime is Japan's revenge for the Nukes
I'm actually really happy L ended up being El Barto. Not only because it's a fun joke but it's also a reminder that Bart actually CAN be smart at deductions. Keep in mind, he's matched wits and outsmarted Sideshow Bob on many occasions.
Agreed. What I think is neccesary to note is while Lisa is academically smart (much like Light), Bart is street smart, thus he has an advantage when it comes to stopping criminals like Sideshow Bob.
Well three occassions. They really stopped writing Bart actually being able to outsmart Bob after "Cape Feare" for the most part (maybe you can argue a bit for "The Bob Next Door" but most other episodes either have Lisar or some outside force saving the day not really Bart at all) which yeah does take away from as a character but that's a whole other tangent but yeah he could actually work as a foil to Lisa in this kind of parody... if it had the space to go on longer then 7 minutes.
@@DianaGohan I always felt like Bob was beaten more by Lisa, so I was surprised to notice that it actually *was* Bart who beat him the first few times- less "Bart beat him on his own?" and more "that was an actual pattern?"
@@phineas81707 The thing is though that Bob SHOULD mostly be beaten by Bart or through his planning and quick thinking because that's the whole point of their rivarly and Bob's hatred of Bart; that he always stops him and gets in the way of his scheming. It feels like the team has forgotten that due to forgetting how to make Bart witty enough to think of ways to take Bob down a peg in their episodes together which okay I know it would get boring and repetitive if Bart kept doing the same thing to stop him but either have Bob's hatred come to someone else or don't make the Bart comparisons anymore if Bart can't do anything to the guy and someone else has to stop him or what not.
Yeah. Bart doesn't like school, but that doesn't mean he's stupid. He lacks book smarts, but is also a great tactician and problem-solver.
Bart's version works well as a parody, Lisa's version works well as a homage. If they'll ever do something else that parodies anime in the future, doing something with a more "battle shonen" story would work well for Bart, as the "troublemaker who wants attention but isn't actually bad" is Bart's thing (at least when the writers don't feel like Flanderizing him into the spawn of the devil like they do sometimes) and it matches up with several protagonists
I really like this distinction between the two.
@@evilyoshimaster Nah. Yu Yu Hakusho.
Bartkira. End of discussion.
@@girkenschniza9691 it's like the Shinning where the show is already set up perfectly for the adaptation. Milhouse as Tetsuo especially. Ideally it'd be six episodes long, one for each volume of the manga.
@@evilyoshimaster So that'd make their father... Homerheim?
That fact that the original Death Note series has it's own absurd, over the top moments ("I'll take a potato chip and eat it" "Matsuda, you idiot!" the freaking hand cuff fight etc) , makes it perfect for a parody in the Simpsons. Like the way Lisa monologues in her head is exactly like how Light was in the og anime dub.
Don't forget the 4koma. Death note parodies itself with those. There's a whole series of em about L and light speculating what colour of underwear misha wears, they plan to go to the beach and find out there, and she sinks that plan by going commando
One of the things I found most interesting about this adaptation is that I'm pretty sure the voice actors for the Simpsons voiced all of their lines after the animation was done. This is how anime typically does it (especially for English dubs), but the Simpsons is usually animated to the voices that are done first. It results in some stilted deliveries from Yeardly and the rest because they need to slow their speech in some places to match the timing. It may have been unintentional, but kind of adds to the charm, almost feeling like it's subtly poking fun at English-dubbed animes
That's cool
Especially when Lisa said she killed someone It sounded so AI generated and funny
Oh so that's why burns sounds like he's straight from the dub of death note. I loved it
I was low key hoping they’d have the voice actors do their lines in Japanese
The voice actors recorded their parts the way they usually do -- before the animation. As always, there were a few lines changed after the color. But very few of Lisa's lines changed after the color.
Going from toilet gator to toilet lion is one of the hardest hitting jokes they've done on Treehouse of Horror in ages. Apparently that bit riffs on something that happened in the live action adaptation of Death Note.
This got the biggest laugh out of me in the entire segment. I didn’t think they’d immediately go back to that well!
@Balmug
HEY, toilet sharks are not impossible - technically.
@CyberDragon10K
Are you kidding me? Dang this was loaded with more Death Note references than I thought.
@@Alias_Anybody yeah if you grow them in there it’s like way easier
I remember the artist (Nina Matsumoto, also known as "Space Coyote", a PHENOMENALLY talented artist) who got the gig to draw the Death Note parody in the comics was a big DeviantArt user. She had done an AMAZING Simpsons anime style poster that, from what I recall, got Matt Groenings or Bill Morrisons attention at Bongo Comics (from memory, Bongo Comics was something I think Groening cared more about that than the series at one point). She got the job offer and got to draw the comic which was in a far more thick line style than her own, but her anime style was closer to Rumiko Takahashi (of Invader Lum fame) with Eichiro Oda's zaniness than the original Death Note art. Check her out folks!
Niiice
I remember Space Coyote's Simpsons and Futurama anime parodies from years ago! I recognized the style immediately.
She's also married to Bob Mackey, cohost of the excellent Talking Simpsons podcast, which TheRealJims recently gueststarred on!
Oh yeah, I remember that anime Simpsons art! Glad to see she went onto bigger and better things!
The art style of the comic looks fantastic
My main hot take based on Death Tome is...
Wow a jacket really makes Lisa's design pop a lot more, it should become standard tbh it's good.
You did better on the pronunciations than half the people who actually make anime videos
I love how the Death Note parody actually looks like it could be an anime on its own, not the half-baked designs you'd see in any other western animated show or movie that makes fun of anime.
I wish it was, especially considering Japan *adores* Lisa more than Bart and it just fits.
Yeah, its one of the few anime parodies that actually gets what anime is, post 90s. It isnt just a mash up of Power Rangers, Dragonball Z, and Pokemon dubbed as Speed Racer.
I dont necessarily think you need to go so all in to do a parody or mockery, the thing that usually sinks such attempts is that most western satire/mockery/parody tries to take a swing at, well, anime. As in all of anime. They treat anime as a genre or a style, when its literally just japanese cartoons.
This is why i think they often don't land. Because dragonball and berserk are as different as simpsons and the owl house but these attempts at parody treat em as interchange and identical
This is also why you don't need to devote so much to making your designs similar, but the designs used often fall flat. Its not that there's no effort or that they look too "western". Its that anime don't have a specific identical look so while the subject of a design, like a parody of narotu lets say, might be recognisable, its designed as if aping dragonball which immediately renders the design way less effective
@@GeteMachine I'm happy for you, but Dexter's Lab MOCK 5 was the best anime parody of all time!
@@eatatjoes6751 Wait! In Japan, Lisa is the popular character?!
An interesting thing with the comic version of the parody is that it seems to be closer to the Death Note pilot : In this pilot a young boy found the Death Note and kill people only by accident after finding out too late the power of the note book, there is also an item called the Death Eraser which allow to revive people you killed
L would 100% have had himself planned to be killed to be revived later if the death eraser was a thing
I was looking for this comment! The Death Note Pilot is great and it's funny how it matches up so well.
It's also a more interesting premise for fans of both shows,
As a lot of these concepts go largely unused in Deathnote.
Which is quite fitting for a show like the Simpsons.
I went looking for this comment!
I think Bart's just such an American character, it's hard to map him onto a Japanese one. Lisa on the other hand you could imagine moving to Toyko and embracing the culture. She fits better.
3:29 I absolutely LOOOOVE the subtle visual reference you added. Using this scene where Homer tells Bart and Lisa "As far as daddy's concerned, you're both potential murderers"
Well played, TheRealJims. That was genius XDDDDD
I think Lisa works better as a Light character, as there's definitely a more vindictive streak about her even in some non-Treehouse episodes. Bart as L kind of works too, as he does have a taste for law enforcement with stuff like Sideshow Bob and Separate Vocations. Plus he's also childish and hates to lose. It's kind of funny looking at the comic's deaths and how over the top they are. If the comic hadn't predated it, it almost seems like a reference to the Netflix movie (which we don't talk about).
The main difference is whether you prefer a Simpsons episode with Deathnote characters or a Deathnote Episode with Simpsons characters.
I personally prefer the idea that the book itself is the main character rather than Lisa taking up Light's role,
But obviously the latter fits the original much more directly.
You talked about preferring Krusty in the role if Ryu and I agree.
In fact the Shinigamis turquoise hair makes me think that he was originally supposed to be Krusty until they decided against it and slightly changed the design.
Also the Ralph twist is genius.
When they first showed the teaser for the Death Tome segment I was largely unaware of the first comic, but while speculating who they would cast as L I had actually speculated they might have Ralph somehow bumble into it to subvert the whole battle of wits aspect of the original story. Guess the comic writer had a similar thought process as well.
There's a scene in the ToH segment where there's a Krusty sign in the background behind Steve.
Yeah the whole colour scheme definitely makes you think Krusty took the role if you just look at a screencap. Green hair, pale skin, even noticable red lipstick, it's the character obviously "clownified" the same way.
The “there’s another book that’ll revive everyone” is pretty similar to the original Death Note conception, where the book came with an eraser, where if you use it to erase a name you wrote in the note, they’ll just Come back.
Lisa works too well for this. The voice combined with animation is just wonderful.
Okay, that r/l joke with Ralph is genius. XD
I've seen every episode of the Simpsons and not a single episode of Death Note. My kids are in the same camp. Being the same ages at Bart and Lisa right now, they like anime geared towards kids. When this segment started, my 10yo went "Whoa. It's Anime!". We all enjoyed it and I thought it was a cool story. I wouldn't have been mad if it had gotten a full 22 minute treatment like "Not It" did. I'll add Death Note to my increasingly growing list of shows to watch.
Death Note was a smash hit anime in the early-mid 2000s, anyone who was into anime around that time watched it.
I haven't re-watched it since then, but I remember really enjoying it at the time.
I wanted to see a Junji Ito parody in a treehouse of horror special, but the death note parody was spectacular; especially with the original studio behind the anime working on it.
We might after the Uzumaki anime adaptation comes out. His Western popularity is currently higher than ever, but it's still not quite up to where I'd expect The Simpsons to parody it. The adaptation might cause him to break out even more. To that sort of Hot Topic running it into the ground level of notability.
Oh god
Funnily enough, the life note may actually be a deep cut. The pilot manga for Deathnote featured a death eraser that could bring back anyone killed by a deathnote by erasing their name from the pages. This was scrapped for the final story as Ohba figured out what kind of story they wanted to tell with the series, though.
The concept of a "Life Note" was an idea the original creators thought about for the story but went against it. I think the comic parody may have been inspired by that, but it could be parallel thinking
The comic seems to take all the ideas the original creators scrapped,
Like Light Yagami or someone he knows accidentally killing people.
It feels a lot more Simpsons to me than Lisa literally being Light Yagami,
But at least they chose an angle and stuck with it,
So it ended up good either way.
If I recall correctly, they didn't consider a Life Note, but the original pilot chapter had a Death Eraser.
@@RavenStarMedia that's basically the same
@@RavenStarMedia Ahhh, that was in, my mistake. Thank you
@@BramLastname I feel like they're actually quite different. With a Life Note I feel you could bring anyone back to life. With a Death Eraser you can just reverse deaths caused by the Death Note.
I do not know if this was intentional or just a happy accident, but the name of the book in the TV parody, "Death Tome" could also be broken down into "Death to me," which is fitting considering Lisa turns into Shin Magami at the end.
I really liked the homage of Alligator appearing out of the toilet. Either Light or Ryuk said that kind of death isn't possible in the anime.
The thing about bringing characters back to life may not be in the death note series but it actually was a part of the original one shot that led to the series. There's a good reason it was dropped.
One side note: The exploding cigar death had the most amazing explosion sound! It was a great example of Excellent Simpson's foley, but man, pairing it with the anime art style made my heart swoon. I wish anime had that same level of fun sound design.
Yes this was an excellent parody I like to see The Simpsons in anime form. And this parody was better than the American version of the movie.
Thank u for ur service dude
@@JonathanQShrimpling 👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿
I forgot that willem Dafoe literally voiced fucking ryuk
It helps that there are writers that like the source material
I really appreciate that a lot of western animation seems to have moved beyond just, "big hair, fast talking, and bad lip sync" when doing anime parodies. There are absolutely still things to lampoon and have fun with, but those jokes have painfully stock. Cracking about Death Note by showing the Simpsons cast in its beautiful art style, poking fun at its overdramatic flourishes, and all that makes for a really good time.
The fast talking is kind of an outdated dub only joke. Back in the day they had to sync lines to the animation and couldn't edit it really, so they had to talk real fast. It's super noticeable in Speed Racer lol
I still can't beleve this is actually a real thing
They made it ten thousand times better than that awful Netflix adaptation
What a great video, especially so quickly after the episode released! I'd love to see you do more analysis and comparisons of Simpsons parodies to their source material since you obviously are going more in depth than just pointing out who fits into what role.
For anyone interested in something Tangential, the creator of Death Note "Takeshi Obata" did the illustration work for the manga "ALL YOU NEED IS KILL" which is the direct source of the movie "Edge of Tomorrow" you know the "Ground Hog day but with War" time loop movie and man was he a good fit for showcasing how dehumanizing war is, even when that war has Power suits, giant battle Axes, and a actually creepy version of those things from "The Langoliers"
Yes, I vote for The Real Jims to do a review of Death Note.
I’m so glad you covered this, I loved the episode, even the 3rd segment was great too
I've been looking forward to this video ever since you tweeted about it. Great work as always!
It's interesting that you cover this concept because the Not IT concept has also been done in the comics as well, featuring the Losers Club as young Homer Marge Lenny and Carl, and Krusty as IT.
Also, with the latest batch of episodes it really makes me think the writing team has some new blood which really understands what has gone wrong with the Simpsons characters and writing. The meta commentary has been top notch.
I haven't watched the It parody at all yet and that definitely makes sense to be a full-length parody but man I genuniely wonder if this would be better or worse if it had the full run time to work with. The thing goes SO HARD in that short time span that it makes me wish it lasted longer. I'm also an anime nerd so my bias is definitely showing here but the character designs feel so sleek to me done like an anime. Still glad this era of Simpsons is just going insane with experimentation.
This episode was just so beautiful i wish there was an entire episode in this style
I was pretty perplexed by twitter lamenting that Lisa was only good for this role as a Light Yagami because they “ruined” the character over the years and changing up her characterization.
Like Is it that much of a stretch for golden age Simpsons Lisa to fit the character? I didn’t get the arguments.
Shame we didn't see more of Bart as L in the short
I was IN LOVE with the episode personally. Death Note is already one of my top 5 favourite Anime, and the homage was just superb. Even though it didn't end the same way, even the ending had a ton of references to the original, it's just great. Seriously in awe with it, I can't believe modern Simpsons would create one of my favourite episodes in the series.
Also, now I want that Simpsons comic too.
Well that’s someone i’d never expect to find here.
I remembered reading this and a few other treehouses of horrors as a kid. This one always stuck out to me. The art really stuck out to me. Glad you're talking about it.
Wild how strong all three segments were this year. It felt like a huge bump up from ToH 32.
I read the comic version without even knowing what Death Note was and still liked how the style on characters looked
Well researched. Great vid
When they first announced they were doing a Death Note parody for this years Treehouse of Horror, my mind immediately went to the comic adaptation. It's such an interesting situation for the Simpsons - or any series for that matter - to be in. Having two completely different parodies of the exact same source material in two different mediums with two different protagonists, and it makes for such a fascinating comparison.
The Simpsons Comics version holds a special place in my heart - I first read it as a kid, and it was a story that was always extremely memorable to me. At the time I had no idea what Death Note was; I just thought the Simpsons doing a manga-style story was the coolest thing ever, and was utterly obsessed with the art - hell, I still think the art is amazing. When I learnt that the TV staff where going to do their own take on it, I was worried it wouldn't be able to live up the original, but frankly, I ended up preferring the TV version despite my nostalgia bias, and it's for mostly the same reasons that you listed, i.e. that Lisa works much better in the Light Yagami role than Bart does, and also that I just prefer seeing a more faithful adaptation.
It's interesting to me that the version I read when I was kid who was completely unfamiliar with the source material is also the one that adapted the source material a lot more loosely, meaning that the faithfulness of the adaptation would have had zero bearing on my opinion back then - and I still enjoy the comics version a great deal. It's just that, on the whole, I think the TV version is stronger as a parody, and that Lisa is stronger as a central protagonist; she feels much more proactive, whereas Bart in the comic feels a bit hapless - which works for the more comedic bent the comic version has, but again, I simply preferred seeing a more faithful parody that plays into what makes Light entertaining a as a character. I do know that if the TV version had came out when I was a kid, I would've been just as obsessed with it as I was with the comic, if not more so; bringing in an actual anime studio who worked on the original Death Note to do the animation was such a genius move, and it lead to a segment that's a very accurate visual parody, as well as just looking really good in its own right.
Ultimately though I just think it's awesomely unique that we have these two completely separate Death Note parodies that are extremely different from each other in terms of their approach; neither one is obviously 'weaker' than the other, and it just comes down to personal taste and what you want out of a parody like this, and they both stand on their own without one feeling like it's in the shadow of the other.
Funny thing, they also had a comic book version of an It parody as well. Wish I bought it when I had the chance, though.
This was just a great THOH overall that actually did something with the subject matter they parodied rather than just doing parody for parody sake. You tuned in for Death Note, you stayed for Babadook and West World. They even managed their segments' short run time so even though they felt like they should have been longer, they didn't feel rushed. That said, I'm glad the writing was strong enough that the special guest animatiors weren't just windowdressing. Everything meshed completely perfect, even the pacing, fast as it had to be, still felt like an authentic anime. I've noticed a lot of cartoons recently employ anime studios for special episodes, usually for Cartoon Network series (Adventure Time, Gumball, and Steven Universe). A funny turn as most American cartoons were outsourced to anime studios back in the 80's and 90's. Seeing this episode, I kind of want another guest anime studio do a segment or couch gag or something, but with the regular Simpsons style to them.
I've heard nothing but good things about this but I was unaware of the comic version ahead of time so always enjoy your videos as a Simpsons expert xD
Definitely wouldn't mind death Note for being further reviewed if you wish to do so it was definitely interesting when I first encountered it c:
The notebook that brings people back isn't in Death Note obviously, but the one-shot manga that Obata and Ohba made before the actual series DID include a "Death Eraser", which let you erase a name from the Death Note and brought the person back to life.
Thank you so much Simpsons crew, for showing how much passion you have for the source material and and to channel that passion through the lens of The Simpsons, rather than doing it out of spite or for relevant gags.
Something I really like from the animated version is that it played by it's own rules. The ending is different than the one from the anime, but it makes perfect sense from the parody's perspective, since Steve Johnson has a name of course Lisa could kill him just like any other person.
I think the Simpsons' writers are finally having fun again. Don't know why they stopped, but last season and this season seems different. I'm loving it..
When u something for so long u get bored after a while
Honestly, I would LOVE to see you do a full video on Death Note!
would love to see more comparisons between stories covered in comics that have also been covered in the show it self it's fascinating
"forgive my pronunciations" followed by "light yuhgummi" is perfect
This was the best Treehouse of Horror in a LONG time.
Jims mentioned that some of these would make it into his top 20 post classic list. I could see a case for some of these even making it into the classic list so it's no longer just the eyesores one out in the cold.
I was pleasantly surprised with how good the Death Tome short was. I loved the Death Note anime and the Simpsons did a great job
I definitely don't mind the channel branching out sometimes, it's interesting to hear the perspective from someone not familiar with anime. Btw if you like the mind game aspect of death note I really recommend giving Kaiji ultimate survivor a try, it's a great show
It's so weird to see The Simpsons slightly relavent again due to anime. I'm all for it though. The special was really great, maybe we'll see more anime homages in The Simpsons.
At this point, The Simpsons have a lot to gain from experimenting a bit.
Gotta say, season 34 continues on the strong reputation season 33 built back up for The Simpsons. I had stopped watching the series for quite awhile, but after catching a random episode last year, I've become a regular viewer again.
8:42 Actually, the idea of being able to erase a death caused by a Death Note was part of Death Note. Indirectly.
Before a manga becomes a regular series they often try to release a one-shot of it to see if the audience react positively to it, a one-shot where things might not be completely as the syndicated comic eventually has it, a beta version of the manga if you will. The one-shot of Death Note ends with an artifact called the Death Eraser being used to undo the murders that happened in the comic.
Death Tome is perhaps one of, if not THE best Treehouse of Horror segment I’ve seen in years since the classic years. It’s so refreshing to see The Simpsons team actually do a TOH segment that actually does the source material so well and doesn’t just throw in jokes just for the hell of it, like SO many of their segments parodying more recent films. Here, you can really tell that the writers really love Death Note and wanted to do it justice.
thanks so much for this amazing content Jims! I've always been curious about Deathnote and this may be what gets me to invest in the anime soon. Your attention to detail is just as spot on as ever. You've also really been branching out into many interesting avenues to complement your excellent retrospective content. the future is bright!
You definitely should give Death Note a try. Easily one of the most thrilling and fun shows out there.
I had no idea either of these were made! I'm going to have to check them out sometime - I really like Death Note.
Great video. If you ever want to do anime reviews on your channel I would gladly watch. Fun fact, in the protoype chapter for Death Note (Manga willl sometimes write a short story as a pilot episode to gauge interest for a longer series) the Light character actually discovers another magic artifact called the Death Eraser which can bring back people who's name have been written in the Death Note. I wonder if that's what inspired the comic's more upbeat happy ending.
I actually think casting Bart as the L character is funnier because of how opposite the two are in personality and temperament. I really laughed at the scene where Lisa asks how Bart figured her out and then turns out he just read her diary.
I love seeing other artists take on the Simpsons in their own styles its always fun!
I know you said that in the comic they created a notebook to bring back the dead people
But I'm wondering an actual fan probably wrote that section. It reminds me of the death note pilot where there was an eraser that brought back anyone killed by the death note.
what if u wrote their name in pen? lol
I've been a fan of SpaceCoyote/Nina Matsumoto (the artist of the Death Note Simpsons Comic) for too long man. She's really got her fingers in a lot of viral web content pies, you just have to learn to spot her. Not quite as prolific or viral as Neil Cicerega, but definitely her body of work can give a similar "WAIT, THAT WAS HER?!" vibe, especially for Simpsons fans.
Also, even as a western death note fan, I read the manga before seeing the anime. My internet was too slow to download anime in that era, and there were no Death Note DVDs at the local dvd rental. But my internet could download manga, so...
This segment was so much fun. I gotta track the comic down now
I really liked this episode and genuinely hope we get more stuff like this. Its always a treat to see The Simpsons stretch out of their comfort zone and do something different. It was fun to watch this episode and also the current season.
I think id have preferred the Death Note parody getting the half hour special treatment over the IT parody
As someone who watched Death Note early into my anime career, watched the Simpsons much later, and always hated how the show treats Lisa this was perfect anime adaption for me.
Lisa is a “my life sucks but I’m right about everything” character who will take away from anyone around her who in order to keep her crown of superiority and never care or understand that she does it.
So to make her Light, someone who grows more and more self assured in his place as a god amongst men feels so right for me. Her line to steve about how she doesn’t need to explain herself as to why she’s right feels very Lisa and Light at the same time. I really enjoyed the segment.
Ah, this video brings me back to the era of Simpsons Showdowns. Love the breakdown, especially of two so very styliscally interesting pieces.
I NEED that RealJims Death Note review
Nice. I was hoping you would cover this episode
Best video yet!
this was a loving tribute
Great video! Would love to see more like it. I am curious if there are more instances of both the show and the comic parodying the same subject matter?
One small potentical correction, the idea of a notebook that brings people back from the dead, could be referencing the orgininal deathnote oneshot, which had an object called the death eraser which could remove names to bring people back from the dead, to allow for it to funnily enough undo the murders and put things back to status quo.
There's a Death Note musical which sadly never made it out of Japan; however, there is a professionally made demo of the entire soundtrack in English and it's spectacular. Highly recommend for anyone even the tiniest bit interested in Death Note and/or musicals.
I would love to see a Death Note Review, or other anime stuff in general. It's nice your analytical style in other stuff besides simpsons and pixar.
12:36 the names of the executives are, funnily enough, taken from an old japanese baseball game where the devs who seemingly knew nothing about English names had to come up with a bunch of English names. Leading to such gems as Rey McSriff, Bobson Dugnutt and Mike Truk.
Edit: ah, you adressed that in the video. Oh well, have a comment for the youtube algorithm anyway.
Just so you know, before the actual manga, there is a one shot of the manga. It ends like the parody comic where they managed to reverse everyone’s death.
Actually, the faux-English names are a reference to Death Note itself. While I can't remember if the lists were present in the anime, the manga had oodles of faux-English names. Just look at L's real name as a primary example. This might be another discussion entirely, but one of the things I noticed when comparing Death Note (the manga) to Death Note (the anime) is that the latter seems to try and humanize Light more. In the manga, characters were generally static, and there is no apparent message of "Light could have turned out differently had he not found the Death Note". He was not corrupted by the Death Note itself, but rather by power and would have abused whatever power he inevitably came into for his own self-aggrandizement. He's a psychopath through and through, one who gets off on using women. He can only compliment others after they're no longer threats, and the compliment is itself a vehicle to prop up his own ego for being better. The only time I ever remember him showing a modicum of genuine respect and empathy in his internal dialogue is towards his father. The final chapter vs the final episode also differ in how Light is treated. One is sympathetic while the other is merciless.
You're correct in that the majority of western fans know Death Note through the anime. There tends to be a large vocal dislike of the Netflix live-action movie on the premise that it's not a straight 1:1 adaptation. I'm one of the few that enjoyed it for what it was, and felt like it was made by people who enjoyed the manga as it tackles a number of my critiques for it. I feel like its only serious mistake was implying that it was an adaptation through its character names rather than its own story with a Death Note with characters that take inspiration from the manga. But I would personally take an original story like it over re-experiencing the exact same story but in a different medium.
I had completely forgotten about The Simpsons comic's Death Note parody, and I couldn't help wondering why Steve Johnson wasn't Krusty. I think it's great that two very different approaches for the same concept exist, that they have different priorities and can be compared and enjoyed as separate works.
This was such a cool segment. L = El Barto was so great
EDIT: I love how the Simpsons have a running connection with Death Note now. I can’t wait to see that get mentioned on iceberg videos
I love how you showed the screenshot of that episode where Bart gets a cellphone to say "2008"
A complete history of Shelbyville please
YESS I WOULD LOVE A DEATH NOTE REVIEW!! im a massive long-time fan of both death note and the simpsons so i would LOVE your thoughts on it
Lisa looks SO adorable in the Death Note style!
So I watched this treehouse of horror with two roommates as it aired, I have watched every Simpsons episode, another roommate has read and watched death note multiple times, and third was the perfect middle knowing a lot of classic Simpsons and watching death note once. All three of us were collectively excited the entire time during this segment and absolutely loved it. It was so powerful. The only downside was that we all collectively thought that Simpsons World was amazing and the best part. Great year for treehouse of horror
The artwork is absolutely ORGASMIC. Such a cool concept, each character draws me further into the Simpsons world. I gotta deep dive this media holy crap!
Also all the voice acting brought it too. Very subtle differences but fit the overall tone and art style more
This parody really proves Simpsons can still be just as good as it was before, they just have to do it right.
Great video! For me, the comic book version really reminds me of the original one-off proof of concept for Death Note, which features a pair of younger boys (like Bart and Milhouse), sheer chaos and a way to bring people back to life, (erasing names, rather than a second book).
Also Steve Johnson looks like Bart. I really thought Bart would be taking the Ryuk role because of the design.
As a Death Note fan, I absolutely adored the TV Treehouse of Horror parody. It was fantastic. Also i'd love to see you do a full Death Note review!
this is one heckuva simpsons showdown thing
(also worth noting there’s a plot manga featuring some dude named “taro kagami” i assume the simpsons comic took elements on, even featuring a device that brings people back to life, though in the manga it was an eraser, and not another notebook)
>I hate Misa
a couple episodes later..
>Misa is the greatest character in all of fiction
Very accurate, good taste.
I actually went the oposit route
- She sounds interesting
- Nevermind, she's annoying just kill her
To be honest I'm not as excited as everyone else about the parody- it came out very well, and I really enjoyed spotting the cast in the crowds in their anime forms, much like I liked doing the same on the LA-Z Rider gag. Bart being L was predictable but still pretty fun, and overall it's definitely one of the most iconic treehouse of horror segments yet.
I don't know if you plan on doing a video on the episode as a whole, but I'd like to see a bit of commentary on the last segment, as they crammed so many references to old beloved episodes it's almost a homage to the legacy of this show, even if rather vapid.