...gonna get hate for this but I gotta put it out there
I have said before that in my non-professional opinion, that there are no true psychopaths in Death Note, least of all L or Light. I mostly hold true to that idea.
However.
However.
When it comes to the individual who looked at a damaged and likely autistic orphan and decided:
"You are capable of handing extremely disturbing and graphic murder cases, because you were able to solve a large fraud case that police could not."
"You do not need to develop any sort of emotional intelligence as long as you can function in the role I assigned you. In fact, it would probably be a hindrance."
"Whenever you decide, I will commit illegal and even deeply harmful on someone in order to achieve a confession that supports your claims. The consequences this has for the prisoner are irrelevant."
"The orphanages I run will now be pools for material to create your duplicate."
Again, I'm no psychiatrist. I can't make any diagnosis. But when it comes to Quillsh Wammy, he's skating the line hard enough that I would call someone who can.
Ohhhh lord some people gonna kill me for not calling him Grampa Santa
Everyone whose said that Ryuk was the ‘real’ villain of Death Note bc he dropped the notebook and that Light was a victim of circumstance owes me $250 for the worst take imaginable.
Don't you think that it's really unrealistic how death note had absolutely no female criminals except for wedy?
Well, there's a few ways to look at it!
Death Note doesn't really put a lot of emphasis on criminals. Sure, Light kills a ton of them, and we have a few scenes showing their deaths, but in terms of who they are outside of their crimes, Wedy and Aiber are the only two that count as actual characters. Another thing to consider is how they're presented. Misa is technically a criminal. She's a mass murderer along with Light. The difference between her and Wedy is that Wedy is identified as a criminal by Light from her very first appearance, while Misa isn't. And, given Light is our protagonist and our main lens of the story, if he doesn't see them as a criminal, they aren't a criminal in the grand scope of the storyline.
That being said...kind of?
I wasn't able to find a lot of information on crime rates determined by gender for Japan in 2003 or 2006, but from what I did find for other countries it's pretty much a broad conclusion that men are more likely to commit crimes than women. This is probably enhanced in Japan, but alas, I am but a westerner with a poor grip on Japan's legal system.
Taking a real life stance on it and taking into context that Death Note doesn't feature many criminals, I guess it's pretty realistic?
Taking a fictional stance on it however? Yes, it is. Especially with the drastic male-to-female character ratio that comes in Death Note's fun misogynistic package, along with far too many "women in refrigerators" and the overall mistreatment of them over the course of the series.
So Wedy gets to be the honorary strong female character and criminal! ...Who shows up even less than Aiber and is only there for plot relevance and then immediately dies after she's no longer useful. I guess, "strong" as in... "not manipulated directly by Light for his own personal gain".
Overall, Wedy being the only female character considered a criminal by our star of the show (Light) is realistic by the standards of real life, but unrealistic from a story perspective, even if the story doesn't really focus on criminals. She's a victim to Death Note's vicious sexism, just like the majority of everyone else. Doesn't stop her from being unbelievably cool though.
This is such an interesting topic so I mulled over it for a little while, sorry the response is a bit long or if anything is worded weirdly ^^ Thank you for the ask, anon! <3
i've noticed that, in the meager amount of content about higuchi that exists, he's generally just kind of portrayed as an arrogant asshole who genuinely thinks he's better than everyone else. and while to some extent i think this is an easy view to have, and it's not 100% incorrect, the fact that he's really just a deeply insecure person is an important part of his character. he puts on a front to mask it; he's constantly an asshole to the people around him because it makes him feel like he's better than them, but that's really just how he comforts himself. it's not what he really believes.
in reality, higuchi is very, very aware of his own shortcomings. that's why he invited seven other people to the meetings, after all! some people (like takahashi) are mainly there to make him look better, but characters like namikawa, mido - the reason they're stuck there is because higuchi knows they're smarter than him and that their input is valuable. of course, he's also not happy that he's admitting that, even indirectly, which is part of why he's so hostile towards namikawa... but that's a whole other can of worms.
Propaganda in Death Note and How It Played Into Light’s God Complex
[This is based on information from the anime, as I have yet to read the manga for myself. Caps from or references to the manga may be included to emphasize points or provide visuals, but the version of the plot I'm referring to is taken from the anime.]
Light Yagami does not pick up the Death Note knowing he’s going to use it to commit mass murder and become the God of his New World.
Actually, he does the opposite. He kills someone to test it as he’s under the impression it isn’t real, convinces himself it was a freak coincidence, and decides to try it out in a way that will provide a more concrete conclusion. When it does end up working he’s stunned, to say the least.
“I killed them both...I killed two men. Those were human lives. I-It won’t be overlooked. Besides, who am I to pass judgment on others?”
Light Yagami, the perfect, straight-A, model student, has just confirmed he killed two people using some strange supernatural notebook that just happened to fall into his hands. He’s always believed strongly in his morals. He’s been on course his whole life to join the police force like his father an deliver justice, and here he is, an indirect murderer.
So what does he do about it?
...He comes up with a reason to justify himself.
The people he killed were criminals. Mere scum who do nothing but rot and infect the world. Wouldn’t everyone be better off without them? It isn’t that he’s never considered this before, he has, albeit not to the same degree as taking their deaths into his own hands. But now that he has the power to do so, why shouldn’t he? He’s smart, he’s determined. He’s capable of it.
In fact, in his mind, he’s the only one who is.
He’s kind of right. He’s the top of his class, he comes out on top in national tests, he barely even has to try. Plus, he’s the only one that has a Death Note, and therefore the power to do this.
At this point in time, he doesn’t consider himself a god. He doesn’t want to rule the world, he just wants to change it. Something else important to note is that he doesn’t refer to himself as Kira or anything other than Light.
...That is, until...
Websites start popping up all over claiming that whoever this mass murderer is is named “Kira”, a god among men risen to punish criminals and save the world.
Two things to note here;
Apparently, “Kira” is returning, meaning there must have been some kind of previous belief in an entity that either did something similar to Light or had the same beliefs. There isn’t any other canon mention of a previous Kira, and this in and of itself is pretty vague, but given that there’s tons of religions in real life that have never had a big breakthrough, it’s reasonable to believe this could be something similar. That, or a creepypasta. Or a cult.
Light created this understanding that he had to be the one to change the world to cope with his murders. Actually - that might be the worst way to put it, since we know how strongly he feels about justice and being given an outlet to carry out this wish of world peace just enhanced this, but nonetheless... It’s impossible to assume he’s doing all of this without even a speck of guilt. Therefore, this is the first hint of appreciation or even just acknowledgement that what he’s doing is right.
Disregarding the first point (as interesting as I find it), this is really the first time Light is ever told what he’s doing is good. His own father - who he idolizes -considers Kira evil. His sister flat out says she hates him. Of course, this is all after Kira actually does become popular, but still, all he receives from that point on is disapproval from the people he cares the most about. The online love for Kira is all he has.
So, yeah, he probably internalizes it.
He thinks he’s doing the right thing. He thinks he’s giving others justice. He thinks he’s the only one who can do this. Others agreeing is only enhancing this. They’re the ones who call him God.
As the story progresses, Kira’s power and popularity grows. He gains direct news coverage, people begin sending him names of people to kill, his following grows. So much so, that when someone gets a Death Note and figures out that must be what he’s using, their immediate response is to find a way to contact him.
Cue Misa Amane and Sakura TV.
Sakura TV is a news program known for its unreliability. Demegawa, the director, even says he’s willing to make things up for publicity. And that’s when the Second Kira tapes arrive.
This, however, is only the first encounter with Sakura TV.
After this, the only direct involvement the police has with it is in the Yotsuba arc, when it’s used to lure out Higuchi. Otherwise the program promotes Kira all on its own, even going so far as to create Kira’s Kingdom - half a scam for viewers’ money, half a way to get more people to see Kira as God. And it works. He gains a following of people who believe he will create a new, better world, and will even give themselves up to help him.
An example of this following is when a mob of followers attacks the SPK under Kira’s orders. They’re so quick to join in, and are even willing to put their names and faces on TV in trust that Kira will not kill them.
All of this publicity sparks fear in the general public. People begin fearing that if they do something wrong Kira will kill them, causing crime rates to drop nearly 70% over Kira’s 6 year reign, as well as completely stopping wars.
Demegawa is eventually killed. Other news programs begin scrambling to claim the voice of Kira, topped by NHN, where we are reintroduced to Kiyomi Takada as Kira’s spokeswoman as well as one of his greatest supporters.
Light, as much as he hates Sakura TV and NHN’s depictions of Kira, uses them to his advantage as much as he can.
But really, imagine what this is all doing to him.
At the beginning, he struggled with grasping what he was doing as right. His sense of justice, righteousness, and perfectness shattered by a single notebook. But this is perfect, he figures that if he really wants to fix the world, this is one surefire way to do it. And yeah, his family hates Kira, but online he’s worshiped as God. We already know he has a pretty decent ego, and all of this is doing nothing but fueling it.
To top it all off, as he continues with his killings, his following grows. More and more people begin to support him, every single day there’s news stations upon news stations covering his story, some negative, some positive. People from all over express admiration towards him, even the President of the United States sides with him. He is literally worshiped as Kira, as God.
This all makes it sounds like his god complex starts later in the series, so to clarify; no, he does not pick up the book with plans to become God, but the second people start fueling his ego, the more twisted his ideals and motivations become. He’s the only one who can fix this rotten world. He holds the power of a god in his hands, he does what only a god can do, and everyone treats him accordingly. He is Kira, he is God.
Between websites, news programs, and his cult-like following, Light had enough attention to feed into his ego for a lifetime. He was perfect pre-Death Note. Smart, charming, set for success. There never was a time where he was particularly not narcissistic, it was just that he only felt this way inside of himself. The way he presented to others? A perfect, cool guy persona with an - in all honesty - annoying prickly jerk hiding inside. But no one ever knew this, he never let them know, and because he was always naturally successful it was more of an expectation he just met rather than surpassed, so he wasn’t consistently praised and this incredible self-esteem wasn’t propped up by anyone but himself.
To cycle back to the title of this rant-essay-analysis-whatever you’d like to call it, I want to share some examples about exactly why I even classify this news coverage and whatnot of Kira as propaganda.
Kira’s supporters cause a riot at SPK HQ under Kira’s orders and Demegawa’s direction.
Mikami providing his insight as to why he supports Kira on television, openly promoting Kira and encouraging others to join him.
Takada announces her new role as Kira’s spokesperson on NHN.
Mikami uses his power as Kira to kill members of Kira’s Kingdom, supposed followers of Kira who have been using his publicity to gain money and attention.
Most of this doesn’t exactly look like your standard propaganda posters or news story, but it does fit the overall criteria;
Information from a biased viewpoint used to promote/publicize a certain view (accepting Kira as God)
Shows exclusively positive views on Kira
Assigns Kira positive adjectives and makes him appear as good (God, savior, messenger from Hell), never considering or showing the bad
Presenting only positive statistics (Light does this in his monologue where he brings up the 70% crime rate drop, and given there’s no way he could have calculated this on his own he likely got it from one of these media sources. Not that it’s incorrect, per se, but he does fail to mention how many innocent people he’s killed in order to do this.)
Appeals to regular, everyday people by talking about how he’s doing this for the betterment of the whole world. People who are directly affected by crime are also likely positively impacted by this.
Initiates and spreads fear by explaining how Kira only attacks those who do wrong.
In the end, Light’s personal descent into his god complex, as well as his effects on the world can be attributed to many things, but it would be a crime to ignore just how big of a role news and other types of media played in this without his direct input. To think, if Light had won and overtaken the police like he was going to, he’d have absolutely no problem stepping into his shoes as God. Everyone else already set the stage, he just had to get there first.
-
This is my first Death Note analysis, so please excuse any errors, I just watched the anime for the first time and am doing my best to piece together all of the plot and especially Light’s deep characterization the best I can. If I ever read the manga or find something new, chances are this will be updated. But as for now, it’s finally finished after a week or so of procrastinating. Thank you for reading if you got this far! <3
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