These days, more and more anime live-action anime adaptations reach Hollywood, such as "Death Note" 2015, fans of Japanese animation are starting to notice a trend: the Asian characters are being "whitewashed" through casting choices.
Earlier this year, Scarlett Johansson was cast in the lead role of the live-action adaptation of the anime film "Ghost in the Shell," causing uproar over the blonde star taking a role that should belong to an Asian woman; now, as the first "Death Note" 2015 casting rumors surface, the new film brings further concerns.
According to an exclusive story from Variety, Nat Wolff, the American star of teenage films like "The Fault In Our Stars" and most recently "Paper Towns" co-starring Cara Delevingne, is currently in the last phases of being cast in the lead role of the "Death Note" 2015 adaptation.
As GameSpot reports, the "Death Note" 2015 live-action version takes after a manga of the same name that ran between 2003 and 2006 with a total of 108 chapters, later collected on 12 graphic novels that have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide - and besides getting its own popular anime series and a number of Nintendo DS video games, the story has already been adapted to the big screen in three live-action films in its native Japan.
As its previous adaptations, the "Death Note" 2015 Hollywood version follows the story of an overachieving high school student called Light Yagami, who comes into possession of a notebook that allows him to kill anyone by just adding their name - and this power makes him turn into a dangerous serial killer.
While the casting news isn't official yet, as The Daily Beast reports, this would follow a long string of Asian projects that have been similarly "whitewashed," including a shelved "Akira" project that would have starred Kristen Stewart.
The true danger of this practice of casting American actors in Asian roles is basically the fact that they're not allowing further representation of this minority in Hollywood.
In any case, we'll keep you updated on more "Death Note" 2015 news!