Death Note
Warning: may contain spoilers in process of analysis though nothing major
I haven’t finished watching this anime yet. I’m not sure if I will since I’ve already read the manga. I was fully engrossed in the manga while I was reading it and the anime seems to follow it pretty well. There are parts cut out, but for the most part it stays true to the manga. I could be wrong later in the anime, but thus far, everything is predictable - so much so that it’s at times tedious to watch. It’s only tedious because I’d read everything before, but if this is your first time watching it, I can almost guarantee you won’t want to stop.
I love the art for the manga as well as the anime. The symbolic use of colors such as red and blue and the continuous use of apples is pretty nice. Light’s evil laugh is something I hadn’t imagined while reading the manga and I think Mamoru Miyano did a remarkable job of that as well as the change in Light’s voice from cheerful innocence to cunning evil.
If you like mystery, psychology, the supernatural, drama as well as amazing art, then I would recommend this to you - that is if you haven’t already read or watched it. I didn’t like the ending much but that’s just me. Other than my disappointment with the ending and what happened to L, everything else was superb.
What interested me the most was that the protagonist is an anti-hero. Light/Raito Yagami is an honors student who is extremely smart yet bored out of his mind. When he finds the Death Note, unlike most people, he isn’t scared by its power to kill. Nor does he think of using the Death Note for personal gain. In fact, he vows to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. On the surface, this may seem like a noble deed, but to have one person judge the life of all others is unjust in itself. I’m one of those people who believes no one has the right to take the life of another, like Vash the Stampede. Ryuk/Ryuku the Death God/Shinigami even makes the comment that in the end Light would be the only one with a bad personality if he were to rid the world of evil. Light, himself, does not see it so. Instead he believes it’s his destiny to judge and change the world.
The Death Note grants Light great powers, but with great power comes great responsibility. Absolute power, corrupts absolutely. The people of this world would not be happy if evil were rid through death as punishment. Instead they would live in fear and possibly even hate. Sure Light’s method of abolishing evil may be fast and efficient, and it has been proven in the manga that the crime rate dropped 70%, but in the long run this sort of judgment will create much controversy and revolts. Light not only kills criminals without hesitation, but he also kills those who are in the way of his grand scheme.
Ryuk, Light’s Shinigami, is pretty special in terms of Shinigami. Normally, Shinigami are lazy and don’t bother meddling with the human world. Unlike other Shinigami, Ryuk has an unusually large capacity for boredom and the need to stop his boredom. He’s actually interested in the human world and the way people use and respond to the Death Note. He makes no judgments however, and neither helps nor hinders Light’s plans and goals. He does, however, warn Light that he will be the one to write Light’s name in his notebook when it comes time for Light to die. Also, that those who use the Death Note can neither go to Heaven nor Hell, that humans who use the notebook will experience feelings of terror.
It’s true that Light becomes more corrupt as the story progresses, but looking back towards the beginning at the closure of the story, one can sympathize with Light. He wasn’t an evil person to begin with. He had good intentions and wanted to use the notebook for the benefit of society. It was the magnitude of power that the notebook possesses that inevitably corrupts him. Also, Light’s confident personality and his resolute mind after deciding his own destiny. When he lost memory of the notebook, he even said so himself, after realizing the similarity between himself and Kira, that he couldn’t possibly be Kira because he wouldn’t kill people even if they were criminals. I think in this way, the notebook itself may have an evil force about it that drives people towards evil and misfortune.
This anime doesn’t seem to have absolute themes (according to the author), but one I consider to be important is the concept of justice. The manga doesn’t state outright that the police represent justice and Light/Kira represents evil. Many people may argue that L is justice, and when L says “justice will prevail” with his cute little smile, you can’t help but believe it so. Yet L was also willing to sacrifice criminals such as Lind L. Taylor. Though Taylor’s death was indeed inevitable (he was scheduled to be put to death just at the moment that Kira killed him), L deliberately allowed the execution of criminals to fall out of the impersonal justice system, and this shows that he is in this aspect no different from Kira in his willingness to let the power of judgment fall out of the law’s hands. It is hypocritical, also, for L to insist that Kira must be stopped if L himself freely allows Kira to continue his actions, even if he does so out of pragmatism. Additionally, L lacks respect for human life, possibly to a higher extend than Light himself does; as demonstrated in the Yotsuba arc, L is willing to allow more criminals to die in order to assist in his winning the war against Kira; on the contrary, Light, having lost his Kira memories, wants to save as many lives - even those of criminals! - as possible. This further suggests that true evil lies in the Death Note itself.
After all this, I’m not saying I dislike L and that I’m on Light’s side, but I just wanted to throw this perspective out there. If anyone were to personify justice, it would most likely be Chief Yagami, Light’s father. He also wants to save as many lives as possible, never killing anyone, putting people’s lives above winning against Kira, and putting his own life on the line in the persute in catching Kira. Yet I believe the main message Death Note tries telling us is that people are all different, and they each have a different sense of justice. There is no good and evil in Death Note, just like Near said in the last chapter. There are just different sets of beliefs at war with each other, though I do believe Kira is evil and that Light’s form of justice is twisted and corrupt.
What do you think determines or defines justice?
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lol, you did it again. anime analysis!
hm, I’m on L’s side. Panda eyes and cute habits work on me better than Light’s crazy evil laughter hehe…
I’ve read the manga, then watched the anime and movie and in my opinion, the producer of the anime must’ve really disliked Light’s ideals of justice cause Light did seem so much more evil and twisted than how he was portrayed in the manga/movie.
I still side L. Yagami Light is a megalomaniac, who’s too smart and uses people, as far as I’m concerned..
I watched the anime before I read (parts of) the manga, but anyway.. I really like the anime. It’s atleast not as shallow as most and actually has a good story.
I’m on L’s side, he tries to do the right by seeking out this mad justice-bringer, and well to me it’s just wrong when people take justice into their own hands. Do not judge if you do not want to be judged, that’s what I think!
I’ve never seen Death Note so I apologize, but I didn’t read this entry because honestly, I wouldn’t have known what you were talking about and I wouldn’t have had anything interesting to add. And hey, if I ever do see Death Note I’d rather not read any spoliers.. I hope you don’t mind.
BUT I read the newest update on your main page and I wanted to say congrats on getting everything to work properly and getting it the way you want it. I also wanted to say that I really like your layout. Everything looks great!
P.S. I’m from despair.nu, sorry this comment is late but my internet was having connection problems.
I haven’t watched the Death Note anime on purpose, lol. I’m awaiting the selected release of the film in the U.S., though I’m kind of ticked that they used English dub.
I haven’t commented here in ages =_= *hits self for being stupid* My schedule is too crazy for me to handle =(
I love L more than Light. I still am halfway reading so many manga :S
I don’t know much about the show, but my husband loves it. I’ll be sure to have him come read this for himself.
I am a manga reader & art fan. I have not read Death Note yet but have heard a lot about it. I would definitely consider reading it if titles would keep on coming. Over here, manga sequels are difficult to follow because of poor supply.
that is a very interesting post I am not into anime at all but it is cool how you do your posts they are always interesting.
I’ll have to add this to my must-see/read list.
I’ve not seen Death Note or read the manga. Quite honestly, it doesn’t look like my kind of thing. However, I like the illustration style.