Love how all the best death note ships are the ones that would piss Light Yagami off the most. Lawlight? Check. Matsulight? Check. Even the ones he’s not involved in. You just know he would despise mellodramattic and meronia for the sheer fact they (occasionally) allow L’s successors to be happy. Honourable mention to soichello despite me not shipping it because i think thats actually the one that would deliver the most psychic damage possible to that murderous twink.
moral of the story is you will always have a great time if you live your life in a way that Light Yagami would hate <33
I feel like elaborating on this post, and just in general outlining my takes on how Mello perceives Soichiro Yagami. All silliness aside, I truly think they have one of the most intense and interesting dynamics in the series!
Long post incoming, so for a whole lot character analysis and supporting canon references, see under the cut.
Mello canonically admires people who hold their convictions dearer than their lives. For example, about President Hoope when faced with potentially being forced to launch a nuclear war he seemingly chose suicide, and on that basis Mello calls him a “fine President” (Japanese - “an impressive President”):
Costly commitment is something Mello respects instinctively, perhaps because it mirrors his own relationship to his cause. He has always been willing to die for his rivalry, for his mission to take down Kira, or both.
Seeing that mirrored in Soichiro is validating, something he can understand. It speaks to him, and it makes Soichiro significant.
As far as we can see in canon, Mello has never felt truly important to anyone he respected in return. He's an orphan raised in an institution that (whatever its actual intentions) measured its children's worth by how they performed their intelligence, and ranked them by how well they could be shaped into the L mold. Whether this reflects Wammy's House's genuine philosophy or Mello's own competitive psychology exacerbating the pressures applied there, the effect was the same. To Mello being only second place (even in an institution whose purpose is to collect the most gifted children in the world) isn’t “close”...or “almost enough” or “impressive”...it’s nothing. It’s as good as coming last. “If you can’t beat the game…you’re nothing but a loser.”
And so with this mindset firmly engrained, even outside Wammy's the pattern continued. Despite his accomplishments, despite rapidly rising in the Mafia, showing incredible strategic abilities by never steering them wrong and the resulting clear trust they had in him and their willingness to follow his every direction, Mello never felt affirmed or seen by anyone he himself saw as mattering. And success without recognition, specifically from someone he respected is hollow.
Most people in Mello’s world have been self-interested, and whatever recognition or praise they offer usually comes with strings attached. He was raised in Wammy’s House not quite like a person but like a weapon, valued for how well he could be shaped into L’s successor; later too the mafia clearly values his intelligence and capability - but from the self-interested angle. His worth to them was in his ability to bring them success via power and profit. And fair enough, since (as volume 13 confirms) he's using them just as much in turn to provide the resources and backing to his own personal mission. He doesn't care about strengthening organized crime syndicates, it's a transactional arrangement, so however impressive his achievements with them may be to Mello they are meaningless - just necessary stepping stones to his actual goals. He also expects that eventually they will turn on each other. As such there are none among them that he really trusts or respects, and he doesn't expect that in return either.
But Soichiro Yagami is different. His earnestness and rigid principles make him someone who can actually be trusted to mean what he says. We can see that recognition about Soichiro’s nature in how Mello conducts the operation to trade Sayu for the Death Note. Mello has already identified Soichiro as someone who operates according to firm moral principles so rather than treating it as a hostile negotiation he constructs the whole plan around principles that promote both sides to cooperate and act in good faith.
Throughout he consistently reassures Soichiro by explaining explicitly that there’s no underhanded tricks involved and if Soichiro just cooperates in the same spirit, Sayu will not be harmed.
The revolving door mechanism for the hand-off is a good example, since it protects both side’s interests.
He actively works to reinforce that trust during the exchange and is conducting the trade in this way. He does all this despite the fact Mello is not someone who is typically so trusting or who expects others to act honourably. But because he sees Soichiro as a rare man who is sincere and principled and will act with integrity even under tremendous pressure, he’s designed the hostage trade-off specifically in respect for and to also exploit those very traits. Because doing so makes the whole operation more predictable, and a safer and more reliable bet for both of them.
Later, when the Task Force attacks the mafia base, he echoes exactly this sentiment:
Where the official English translation has Mello say "it's easier to deal with straight-laced guys like you," the Japanese is closer to: "You're an earnest, principled guy. Impressive. That’s easier to deal with."
It might be easy to dismiss the admiration expressed here as just a sarcastic jab at Soichiro, but when you look closely at Mello as a character, his actions and how he relates to others, it tracks as a canonically consistent value and resonates with who he is.
It's a form of sincerity Mello respects - people who go beyond the ideal, and prove the authenticity of it in action - through conviction, resoluteness. He respects people who don’t just sit on the sidelines but are willing to go to extremes for their cause, who don't flinch under pressure, who put their lives on the line the way he himself always has. Similar to how L put his life on the line to take on Kira, Soichiro walks the walk. He doesn't hide behind in screen or sit in his office to send a subordinate in his stead - he shows up, puts himself in the line of danger.
So when Soichiro, someone whose sincerity shines through in both word and conduct, says "I'd happily give up my own life if it means you'd die as well" even if comes from place of pure opposition, even hatred - what Mello (someone starved for acknowledgment and validation) hears is something he may never have received before from someone whose opinion he valued and whose word he could trust to be real: he mattered, he was worth something. Not just something but everything a person could give.
Being willing to die for someone, even (or especially) if it means staking your life in a confrontation in opposition to them - it’s the ultimate commitment.
And despite being the one standing on the receiving end of that threat, Mello takes it as a sincere compliment.
Because in Mello’s worldview self-sacrifice is the purest form of acknowledgement.
don’t talk about foreshadowing don’t talk about foreshadowing
Soichello is such a funny fucking concept for a ship. Mello really be like LMAO you thought I was interested in your little sister eh Kira? Who do you think I am *fucks his dad instead*
