Netflix’s ‘Death Note’ In Trouble Over Disturbing Train Footage

Netflix’s Death Note may not be the worst anime adaptation by Hollywood, but reviews have been less than kind to the feature. The movie has taken some hard knocks since its debut, but 2019 has zero plans to let up.

After all, Death Note has landed in hot water with the Dutch, and it all has to do with some improperly used footage.

According to a recent article by Anime News Network, Death Note has come under fire in Belgium after news footage was spotted in the film. For those who saw the Netflix original, the movie features a scene where a newscast is covering a deadly train accident. However, it turns out that footage was actually real and apparently used without proper permission.

The National Railway Company of Belgium was informed of the disturbing footage, and it has since lodged a public complaint over the footage’s use.

“This shows little respect for the victims and surviving relatives, or for the staff of the railway and the emergency services. We are deciding whether to take steps to deal with this matter,” spokesman Dimitri Temmerman relayed to Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad.

For those unfamiliar with the incident, the footage used in Death Note comes from a train wreck that occurred back in 2010. The catastrophe ended up killing 19 people while more than 300 were injured. According to reports, none of the survivors were notified about the footage being used nor were the kin of those who died. Anita Mahy, a passenger who survived the wreck, has come out since this footage scandal went live to condemn the film’s insensitivity.

“You’ll just sit and watch a movie in the evening unsuspectingly, only to face the accident again.”

So far, Netflix has yet to comment on the issue, and the crew behind Death Note has done the same.

Are you surprised by this oversight? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

For those unfamiliar with Death Note, the original series was created by Tsugumi Ohba with illustrations by Takeshi Obata. The series’ synopsis can be read here: “Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects—and he’s bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But will Light succeed in his noble goal, or will the Death Note turn him into the very thing he fights against?“