Death Note new real-life movie sequel + Matsuyama Kenichi in anime as guest seiyuu

There will be a new Death Note real-life movie to be screened in 2008 where L becomes the lead for the first time. Matsuyama Kenichi, who has played the character L for both of the Death Note real-life movies shown this year, will continue to take on the role of this genius who pits his wits against Yagami Light (Fujiwara Tatsuya). What is known about this project would be the fact that the story is an original creation and the time setting is before Light gets hold of the Death Note. At the moment, the cast and exact storyline including whether Light will appear in this spin-off movie are not decided as yet. The 2-part Death Note movies have grossed 2.85 billion yen and close to 4 billion yen respectively. The manga has also sold more than 2.3 million copies to date.

Matsuyama Kenichi will also make his debut as a voice actor (seiyuu) in the Death Note anime currently showing via NTV. He will not play the role of L though. During the recording session on 30 Nov, it was disclosed that Matsuyama will play Jealous, the Death God who died for Amane Misa by sacrificing his life to save her from the attack of a stalker. His appearance will be in the 26 Dec episode.

Yes, more Death Note and more of L or rather Matsuyama Kenichi! ^__^ That's why I'm so excited to read about this piece of news. However, I don't understand why they have to wait until 2008 to screen the movie. It would be better to take advantage of the Death Note boom and try to show it before summer next year. Anyway, if it's something worth waiting for, it would be better for the production crew to take their own sweet time.

Since the story is going to be focusing on L, this would probably mean that Light will not appear after all since his contact with L stems from his acquisition of the Death Note. I wonder if the story would be linked to the Los Angeles BBS murder case featured in the novel version...which means Misora Naomi gets to return to life? Or they might create a new story to show how clever L is? In any case, as long as I get to see more of L and the story is exciting to watch, that would be great!

And the anime...it's a pity that Matsuyama only gets to appear in one episode since Jealous makes a very brief appearance in the story. Given that he's quite busy with a lot of movies, I guess he won't have the time to do regular recordings for the anime. Can't wait for the 26 Dec episode!