As a fan of the *Death Note* anime, I’m pleasantly surprised by this drama adaptation. The actors portray their characters well, and the story is faithfully retold, despite a few small inconsistencies and some creative liberties taken with the plot. Speaking of characters: Some characters don’t appear in the drama, like Naomi Misora, Kiyomi Takada, Mihael Keehl (Mello) — whom I’ll discuss more later — Halle Bullook (Hal Linder), and Mail Jeevas (Matt). Most of these are secondary characters, so I don’t find their absence too bothersome. Another important point, why is Near portrayed as a female, played by Mio Yuki, with a dual personality that includes Mello, when both characters are male in the original? Overall, this drama has nothing to envy of the anime, even though it’s shorter.