Actually, Death Note (2017) is based off Death Note (2015)

I recently rewatched the drama for some sort of character analysis, and decided to do the same with the Netflix film because I haven't rewatched it in a really long time. I wanted to ramble about the similarities between these because I think it's interesting... Obvious spoilers for the Drama and the Netflix film. I doubt anyone's reading this, though.

The similarities between Light Turner and Drama Light are pretty obvious from a start. Both of them have a dead mother, situation that made them have a tense relationship with their fathers, although in different ways. They're both "less smart" and "more emotional", they both actually like Misa/Mia, and such. However, there's more!

Light's problems with his father come from the fact he admired Soichiro's job as a cop, but after Soichiro was "late to Sachiko's death" due to him being busy arresting a criminal, Light lost all respect towards Soichiro's job, believing that "justice is not worth sacrificing a family member over". Which is really funny considering his reaction to Soichiro's death. Turner seems to have a grudge against his own father because he has done "nothing" about the guy who killed his mom, as well as the way James (White Man Soichiro Yagami) does his job (investigating people and waiting for them to fuck up instead of "solving real problems", which just really showcases how immature Turner is). However, they both care about their fathers, of course.

Which also gets me to their kills. As usual, Light (in general)'s first kill is to test the Death Note's powers. Drama Light and Light Turner's first kills were against a bully. Their second kills were specifically done for their fathers. Light practically forced himself to kill the man who was holding Soichiro hostage, meanwhile Turner killed the guy that killed his mother all for his own liking.

I REALLY wouldn't compare how emotional these guys are, at least not in regards to their first two kills. Turner was, at most, impressed with his first victim's death (which was pretty bloody), whereas his second kill was done just so he and his dad could be happy. Drama Light started panicking and tried to kill himself after realizing he killed people. Pretty crazy that the 20 years old college student with a job is more stressed over murder than some 17 years old white boy, but you also have to consider that Drama Light wished to have a peaceful life, meanwhile Turner is more of an edgy kid already, dumb enough to tell Mia about it. Besides from both of them being scared of Ryuk.

Another thing I find similar is how Ryuk influences Light to kill people. People usually bring up Ryuk telling Turner about the rules and getting him to kill the bully, but no one really seems to talk about the scene where Drama Ryuk was pretty much pressuring Light to kill his own dad because they thought Light was going to get arrested. Drama Ryuk is an entire mess, though.

I also like to think about their relationship with Misa/Mia, even though Misa and Mia are completely different people. Neither Drama Light nor Turner have fucked up ideas to manipulate women; Turner just wants to impress Mia and mostly goes with whatever she says, and while Light did tell Misa that he'd kill her if she snitched about Kira business, he did give her the opportunity to step off the whole Kira thing because he genuinely worried about her. Also because she was sort of burdensome, but hey, at least Drama Light was a Misa fan beforehand. Summarized, they don't hate women, they actually like Mia/Misa... and they both act pretty nervous around her.

The one thing I don't see them similar in is the way the whole "Kira" thing affected them. Drama Light slowly got more into it, only getting the whole "god" idea short after he met Mikami, to the point of acting like he's "addicted" to the Death Note's power and going batshit crazy when its taken away from him, getting into physical fights to get it back. Turner is way more composed about it, he just wants a world with no crime, he opposes to killing innocents up until L confronts him, and even then he's never seen acting insane or anything.

Another similar thing is, like, a quarter of L's personality, but that's a given. He is known for being "the most violent L", anyways, although I don't see it like that. They're both a bit aggressive in the sense of hitting stuff/throwing things around when they're angry, but people mostly go for Netflix L because he tried to kill Light. This is... completely justified. Not saying he has the right to kill Light, but I'd expect him to react like that. It IS a crazy thing to make L do, but it all just comes from Watari's death (and, to be fair, whatever the hell the Netflix equivalent of Wammy's put him through. No one who "gets locked up in a conditioning vault" at 6 years old comes out truly sane). 

Drama L's aggressiveness comes from him just being a bitch. Mind you, he started the physical fight in Episode 8... and that's what he gets for provoking Light, I guess. Hell, Beyond Birthday's existence isn't even implied in the drama, so I doubt Wammy's was a traumatizing place for him to grow up in. The only person who was mistreated in Drama Wammy's could've been Mello, but that's for another post. I'm ridiculously gay for Drama L, but I have to recognize that he's not too nice.

Aggressiveness aside, both Netflix and Drama L end up coming off cockier than usual, but I think Netflix L is just veeeery awkward. The actor did base him off film L more than anything, and he really plays it well, although he's way more shaky, but it fits with his backstory.

I also do find it fun that both Netflix L and Drama L deduct that Light is Kira because of the kills that have to do with their fathers. Also funny that Drama L saw Soichiro as a father and Netflix L acted like Watari was his family. Really goes to show you how much these adaptations care about L's orphanism, although no one does it like L: Change the World.

In short, Light Turner and Drama Light have heavy father issues, Drama L and Lebensborn Lawliet are a bit angry, they will not stop making Ryuk evil, I will always defend Netflix L.