Sometimes it’s hard to tell if the sexism in Death Note is coming from the author Ohba or simply a flawed outlook given to certain characters like Light, not meant to be seen as sympathetic or “correct.”
It’s not nearly so ambiguous within other works by Ohba and Obata, however. Take the following exchange between the two main characters in the manga Bakuman, also written by Ohba and illustrated by Obata (2008-2012). Here they’re talking about one of the boy’s crushes, Azuki:
SO TO SUM UP WHAT HE’S SAID ABOUT THIS GIRL SO FAR:
1) It’s dumb/embarrassing that she wants to be a voice actress for some reason, even though these two boys also have artistic dreams of becoming manga artists and writers.
2) There is an expectation of girls to behave “in a natural way” which is to be “graceful” and “polite” and “earnest” and get “average grades.” Being “overly smart” isn’t “cute.” She knows being attractive and not standing out is the most important thing she can be, which makes her “actually smart” in this character’s eyes.
3) She’s intelligent because her father is intelligent. Her intelligence can’t be attributed to her, but her dad/bloodline. I’m sure they would not bother saying this about a male character; his intelligence would just be attributed directly to him and/or his hard work.
4) He assumes her passion for voice acting is just her “trying to be a typical girl” and that she couldn’t possibly feel any pressure about her future like men do.
5) The best thing for a woman to do is to “get married and become somebody’s wife,” and these male characters applaud her for knowing that instinctively and not trying to go against the flow.
6) This other girl is considered “not likable” because she’s proud of being the girl with the best grades in the class and of being smart. It’s considered unattractive and in this male character’s eyes makes her “actually dumb.”
And then, for an added bonus scene, when the protagonist goes to ask his parents if he can become a manga artist:
Much of this is probably cultural biases, but I don’t really know a lot about the nuances of sexism within Japan. I just thought it was an interesting insight into the strange and obnoxious way Ohba views females, and therefore how he writes them as characters.
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