#c-kira

[kiyomitakada]

i'm gonna die of cuteness aggression

[applestorms]

i love near so goddamn much. i finally read the c-kira and a-kira post-canon one shots all the way through last night and AAAAAAAAA my heart. nate river 🫵🫵🫵

c-kira in particular hits me hard bc you can really see that he's still reeling from the events of the main story. it’s a very specific era of near that’s so horribly awkward and insecure about his place in the world, about his role as L, and has so very few people left behind to support him-- really just lidner, rester, and gevanni. so much of that story is about near struggling to figure out who he is and who he wants to be in the wake of Everything, scrambling around in the shadows of all these false gods and blown up egos, trying to grow up and be a Person in the smoking remains of all these people who killed themselves with their own hubris. i mean, just look at this page:

LOOK AT THIS. near is almost shockingly expressive in this story, his grief and regret is fucking Palpable in a way that you very rarely see with a guy like him. it really gets to me that this is the story where near actually opens up about his mixed feelings surrounding the original L, about the interview he held where he picked near & mello out to be his two successors, and all while hiding himself within these massive card towers that you only see to be these giant L's at the end-- a kid barely out of his teens already getting dwarfed by the enormity of the history he is expected to continue and represent. the winner of the game who's only prize is the legacy he now holds on his shoulders, the grief he is cursed with as the only one left behind. this kid barely has anyone now, never even got the chance to truly, fully know what he lost in the first place, these all-powerful figures that have dictated every inch of his life from the moment he stepped foot in that damn house.

and i mean, goodness. what did we expect? i can talk all i want about the cinematic parallels of light & L as opposites, but look at near & mello in literally every piece of official art-- near truly loses his other half when mello dies, and you can just Feel the discomfort, the deep-seated, underlying imbalance in his soul through this shit.

a-kira near, on the other hand, has had the time to grow a bit more at ease with himself, but he still gets to me in a slightly different way. i cannot emphasize enough how utterly fucking perfect the decision to make his hair longer is-- for so simple of a detail, it really sums up so much about his character. this version of an older near feels like a guy who's been stuck outside of time for ages, barely even noticing the constant shifts of the outer world as he holes himself up in his room, hardly aware of the way that his own body stretches and grows and changes with each passing day. doing his job, all just for a bit of entertainment. there is still that distinctly privileged, childish part of him that hides in his forts of toys and makes whatever demands he pleases, but it's more smoothed over, more exhausted, more Done.

he's packed away the grief by this point. dealt with it properly? not necessarily. but the wound isn't as raw now so he can set it aside to be ignored or looked over more easily, focus on the things that he wants to. blow up his toys when they don't meet his standards.

i strikes me as important that near's view on the new kira's shifts so much over the course of even just these two little stories. in the c-kira story, near is so Quick to shit on the new guy as fast as possible, literally snarking him into submission with the fear of his presence alone until he writes his own name down. we never see this "cheap" kira, this pathetic fake that couldn't possibly stand up to the original. (projecting a little there, nate?) he's barely more than a panel or two of hands, and then he disappears from the story forever.

in a-kira though, you get something a little more desperate, a little more hungry-- near really fucking wants to meet this new guy, purely for the sake of talking to him, and is a lot quicker to respect him & the depth of how well he's thought through this plan. at first it seems like he's intrigued by the idea of finally finding yet another equal, someone to match his freak after years of standing on his own, and knowing DN you're inclined to trust that the mind games will eventually happen. but, in the end...

he loses. and doesn't he seem so happy about it?

minoru really is the perfect match for near in a way-- a new, passive kira, uninterested in the bullshittery of killing and shinigami and evil murder diaries, to reflect and match the tired, new L who was done with his job before he even started doing it. RIP minoru dying due to shinigami bullshit, but i'm genuinely happy that this is the ending near gets, the chance to finally lose at something without having to pay the price of human lives for it. winning has almost never been a truly positive thing for near-- his winning wammy's house only gave him the many pressures & stresses of a job as L, his winning against light only gave him a dead mello and a notebook to quietly burn, hell, all of this shit happening at all is what made mello resent him so much in the first place.

but now he can lose. and i think he's all the better for it.

near is immature, yes, he bossy and snarky and blows up his toys without giving a fuck what anyone else has to say-- but he doesn't get ahead of himself in the way that light and L and the others did, a trait which ultimately lets him win but also leaves him behind to shoulder the grief of a generation. but now he can lose, he can let the fate of the world fall of his shoulders for just a moment, and everything is still going to be okay. it's good to see him getting older. it's good to see that you can still move on and grow, even when it seems like the legacies of the past are locking you away in a cage. i'm glad these manga exist, and i'm glad near can still make it out alive.

[smallsinger5901]

Just checked, this is the last line gevanni ever speaks in all of death note:

For the rest of volume 6 he does nothing else except make terrified faces in the edge of the scene.

He appears in two (2) panels during c-kira where he is in the background with no lines.

He appears in zero panels in a-kira. None. At all. Im pretty sure they forgot about him guys idk

[deathnotepolls]

Who was the most sympathetic Kira/person acting as Kira?

#93: Who was the most sympathetic Kira/person acting as Kira?

Light Yagami

Misa Amane

Kyosuke Higuchi

Teru Mikami

Kiyomi Takada

C-Kira (killed sick people in great pain and suicidal people who asked to die)

Minoru Tanaka (killed nobody, sold the Death Note to Donald Trump despite not*

None of these people did even a single thing wrong ever

I cannot imagine having even the slightest sympathy for any of these people

Results

Voting ended onMar 6, 2025

*being a Trump supporter)

[lawliet-theme]

what i love abt the death note manga one shots is that like, each “kira” is just a representation of what a fan of death note thinks they would act if they were in a situation where they possessed the death note somehow, and the author’s response to it. that’s probably not the intent of these stories, but i can’t help but feel like they were partially written with a profile of the two most common opinions of fans in mind.

a-kira is in a way a viewer who, during their 5th rewatch of the show (i know what u are.) probably thought something like “how can i be the hero in this story? how can i outsmart everyone by using modern technology and the death note/shinigami mechanics to my advantage and get out of it unscathed?”

it’s basically an exploration of what most people thought of when watching death note. “how do i survive this?”/“how can i be different?” and the answer is just as bleak as you might expect. even if you played all your cards right, and even if u did the “moral thing” and used it to help people instead of hurt them, u still wouldn’t survive the death note. and isn’t that equal parts hilarious as it is devastating? OBVIOUSLY u can’t work around the rules of an instrument of the death gods, you can’t survive on a technicality!

i feel like through light’s perspective we’ve underestimated the ruthlessness of shinigami a lot. if the c-kira and a-kira stories have one thing in common, it’s that it drills into your head the idea that yagami light is an anamoly in a long long line of death note users. you will never be like him, let alone exceed him. you will Never get as lucky as he did.

this isn’t meant to undermine his intelligence, a big part of why he succeeded is that, obviously. but the fact that he managed to execute so many of his plans almost flawlessly required insane luck, which’s something he has mentioned in the anime himself.

also i think it’s funny that the death king saw the very consistent pattern of destruction that humanity goes through every time the death note falls in the wrong hands and the only thing he bothered to put a stop to is the selling of the death note. the mind on you, ohba.

[hiithink802]

Never forget the annihilating sass this boyo spits on a day to day basis

Here he is driving a man to s**c*de simply by saying "you fuckin' murderer" 🥰

[kayglittertrashcan]

Here are some of my thoughts on DN: short stories!

And it's a lot. I'm crossposting this from my reddit account. Spoilers ahead

Book cover

Why does Ryuk look different on the cover? He looks like normal in all the actual stories but on the cover he has a red spot on his chest and red lips (among other things).

I do really like his right bracelet, it reminds me of the handcuffs Light and L had. I'm not sure if it's new but it's cool.

Speaking of the cover, there is 'Death Note' written in shiny letters and I only noticed once I turned my lamp on. That's such a nice detail.

Onto the stories themselves.

C-Kira

When I read the name Yamamoto, I though it was one of Light's friends from the manga, since they have the same name and appearance (spiky black hair and glasses). But apparently they are different characters entirely, which is kinda disappointing even if it doesn't change anything.

I'm bit confused on what's up with Matsuda. He tries to justify actions of C-Kira and I'm not sure where the writers where going with this. Like he was supportive of the original Kira but I kinda thought that ended when he shot Light several times.

I like that Near's hair got a bit longer from last time. Also the tator card towers are insanely cool.

And the way he just pops out of them on page 22 XD.

When Near recalls the video chat, we see a kid with a striped shirt, who I'm guessing is Matt

I haven't seen the Relight movies (I'm planning to one day), but I saw L's monster speech and I'm guessing it's based on this scene. The manga is pretty different from it, L is more forward and cold.

It's pretty interesting to hear that L picked Near and Mello because they didn't ask him any questions, just listened. Also bc of their glares.

And if this is the only time Near interacted with L, how does he know his appearence for his finger puppet? Did he see a photo or did he just get a description from someone else?

I can't believe Ryuk got other shinigamis, including the actual King of Death addicted to apples. Good lord.

Also I love how Ryuk refers to king of death as an "old fart". Makes it sound like he's the shinigami's dad XD

Near just tuning in, calling C-Kira a murderer and then signing out was pretty badass. Rip C-Kira, you were okay.

Speaking of C-kira, we actually know really little about them. All we got was they own a bunch of anime figurines.

I noticed how many bananas Meadra has eaten. Do all shinigami's have a specific food they like? Although all seem to like apples.

I like Near not being sure if he acted like L and how Rester tells him he's L now, it's pretty sweet and adds a bit of humanity to Near.

Also how are the towers holding together? Near's breaking laws of gravity

Meadra is such a nice friend, bringing Ryuk an apple.

This was a pretty fun story and it's always nice to see Halle Linder.

A-kira

I really like Minoru's design. He looks unique but still natural and his hairstyle is bit more modern compared to Light's.

Ryuk picked Minoru rather than just throwing the death note and waiting for somebody to find it. It's a interesting shift from his first appearence.

I love Ryuk's disappointment when Minoru told him he can't read the rules and demanded translation.

Minoru is so based for just trying to sell the notebook and his plan is really clever.

Ryuk holding the sign while literaly everyone in the studio can't see him is hilarious.

Near looks gorgeous with the long hair. <3 And so does Halle Linder with the shorter hair cut

Is that Donald Trump???!!! What even is this story?!

I love how Armonia just shows up with his chair and leaves immediately.

Wait, Yotsuba??? I was wondering what the Yotsuba group was actually leading, nice to get a conclusion.

I'm also intrigued that Minoru decided to keep only a fraction of the money, but it was pretty smart and he still got a bunch of money from it.

I can't believe Ryuk met Donald Trump.

In the end, Ryuk writes the name of Minoru in his note book. I thought the rule would kill him immediately? Or is Ryuk obligated to write it?

Anyways, this story was goofy, Minoru was entertainingly smart and I liked it.

Scribbles

I love how insane and fun everyone in this. We need more. Also Sayu has more to do. Yay :D

Why does Light think strawberries are more sexy than apples?

Misa's back!!! I missed her so much.

Her swimsuit is really bland, but Light looks great in the Hawaian shirt. He should wear it more often.

I'm not sure how to feel about Misa getting sexualized in this. I'm fine with fanservice and her being sexy, but I feel like she sometimes gets treated more as a source of fanservice than an actual character.

I noticed she's the one driving the car. And I don't think I ever saw Light drive. This leads me to a conclusion that Light never learned to drive. Headcanon that Misa just drives him around during those 5 years.

Also I live for Misa and Sayu's friendship!!!

Misa making bunny apples for Ryuk is so cute.

Somehow, "Disappointment" makes Misa and Light into a somewhat healthy couple.

In second to last strip, Light somehow pulls L up using only one arm. My boy is strong.

And the last strip, "Debate" depicts Rem holding a glass of wine (?). Since Rem doesn't have a favourite human food (unlike Ryuk, Meadra and Sidoh), maybe she likes to drink wine? Misa seems to enjoy drinking (in that one scene in the anime). Maybe she shared some with her.

L - one day

Watari narrates this like an animal documentary.

It also gives L both really bizarre and really normal traits, like he bathes in a washing machine and can't be bothered to put a shirt on, but he is fond of art galleries and theme parks.

Also L's a pop fan. Love that but I'm bit said we didn't get this in the main series. I'd love to see what interactions with Misa could come from that.

I'm glad to know that L does more than just sit in front of a computer.

L- Wammy's house

I love L, but he looks so weird as a kid. Glad he didn't stay like this forever.

So L came into the orphanage without a name. Did he name himself or did Wammy gave him that name? How do all the kids get their names? Why does Near have a normal name but then we have a guy named Mail?

How did L manage to defeat a group of kids who were trying to beat him (the new kid) up? And judging from what L says, this might be a common thing, so why isn't anyone doing anything about it?

Kids in Wammy's house share bedrooms so I wonder who did Near and Mello live with.

L and Watari's dynamic here is so hilarious.

Overall I'm not really big on this story. I know it's a matter of preference but L feels really overpowered and inhuman here. I kinda prefer when he gets some grounded moments, like his monster speech in Relight movies or even just his reaction to Misa kissing him on the cheek. I'm not saying it's bad, it's just not really my thing.

Taro Kagami

This is also a pilot for the series.

I noticed that the shinigami's look more human. I'm glad their designs got changed, I don't like how they look like sexy women with weird faces.

Taro is so cute! I really like his design.

I like how he just uses the Death note as a regular notebook and accidentally kills someone. It's a pretty common concept in memes about DN so it's nice to see it in a serious story.

I appreciate Taro's reaction to Ryuk and accidentally killing people. It's pretty realistic for a kid like him.

Takagi kinda looks like Raye Penber while Yamanaka's design didn't make it into the series. Its kinda a shame, since it's pretty unique.

I also like to see Taro's mom getting involved. We never really got any reaction from Sachiko.

The conversation between Yamanaka and Takagi about how they'd use the death note is really interesting. Yamanaka makes a great point on how most people would use it.

I also love him saying that Takagi would have to kill half the world to achieve his harmonious world.

And personality wise, Takagi reminds me a bit of Matsuda.

The death eraser is a cool concept. While it probably would be too overpowered in the main series, I'd love to see what could be done with it.

I'm also intrigued by the author of detective novels. His design is cool as well and I wonder if he somewhat inspired L's character. His deductions were great.

And so we're Taru's, when he figured out Miuro is the second DN owner.

The ending itself is amazing in my opinion. Taro manages to twist the truth just right, so Miuro trusts him while he keeps the original note book. Death note becomes a legend but Taru still has it after all these years. The ambiguity is brilliant.

And older Taru looks great with long hair.

I read on the wiki that Taru might have inspired Mikami and I honestly believe that, but he seems like a combination of both Taru and Miuro.

He gets his long hair from Taru, glasses and fanatism from Miuro (who kept screaming "Die, die, die" while frantically writing names of criminals) and being bullied from both.

This was my favourite story. It flows a bit better than the A and C kira stories and it had some really cool ideas.

Final thoughts

While I'm bit sad we didn't really have any female characters (since DN doesn't really have many and as a woman I'd like to see them) I had fun with this book, the art's great and it's nice to see the pilot, shorter funny comics and what's most of the living cast up to after Light's death.

[malewife-lightyagami]

it's a mello and matt cameo !!!!!! (from the c-Kira story from death note short stories )