Forum - View topicTen Years of Death Note: Is Light The Bad Guy?
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bleachj0j
 Posts: 926 |
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Some people forget that Light also says to Ryuk in the first episode "I'm bored too". Its the way we're introduced to him, this very smart kid who can breeze is utterly bored. Light deep down may believe what he was doing was right but it doesn't change the fact that he accepted the Death Note partially because, like Ryuk, he was bored. He's even upset when he thinks Near isn't as much of a challenge as L.
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TrustTheFungus
Posts: 38 |
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I sorta enjoyed Death Note, but felt it had a lot of problems. It was hard to sympathize with Light. It would have been ok if they had started out slow, just killing the worst convicted criminals, but getting worse with each passing day. Killing his first innocent should have been a major turning point. Instead he kills fake L in the second episode. And why? Because he called him mean names on TV? Sure, it turns out he was really a criminal, but Light didn't know that.
But I also feel L was almost as bad. He allows someone to pretend to be him, knowing that Kira will kill him. He kidnaps and tortures Misa, putting her in a state of complete sensory deprivation for months. He places cameras in the Yagami household, including the bathroom used by two minors. That's child pornography he's filming and watching. Despite this the show always acts like he has some sort of moral high ground. Death Note could have been a great show about two characters who come into conflict over their ideals of justice and liberty, but instead is just about two people completely lacking empathy and no clue what they are doing. spoiler[And then it kills off L and replaces him with Chibi-L and Psycho-L.] |
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Divineking
 Posts: 1296 |
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Yeah I pretty much agree with the article 100% and even now it's kind of baffling to me that there still people seriously arguing there's some level of ambiguity.
I know the article mentioned the FBI thing as the point where it was clear Light was full of it, but for the Raye Penber thing is what cinched it. Like a lot of people already pointed out Light had no clue the guy was a criminal before hand, nor literally any reason to assume he even had a serious chance of catching and pretty much just offed him for the sole offense of telling Light he was wrong. There was never any room to doubt Light was a monster, and while Ohba might have people can draw their own conclusions on things, it's hard not to come to that one. To be honest if I had to think of any argument for the "Light is a tragic character" thing that actually works it would be the recent live-action drama. It worked a lot better in that respect since Light started off a lot more normal, and made him a bit more sympathetic while still ultimately not shying away from the fact that his actions were pretty despicable, so it was a much more pronounced transformation of him becoming a monster as opposed to his manga/anime counterpart being a sociopath from day one. Of course given that Death Note was never intentionally trying to be thoughtful it's not something I'd particularly fault (and even though that version does Light's character arc better it doesn't work as effectively on the thriller angle) but I feel like if you really wanted to take on the task of making that "tragic" argument plausible that's the best way I've seen to go about it so far. (Though now I'm kind of left wondering how the upcoming Hollywood adaption will tackle this...) |
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RestLessone
 Posts: 1426 Location: New York |
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I wasn't involved with any online Death Note fandom when I was reading it. My friends and I were all under about the same impression; whatever noble goals Light hoped to achieve, he was still a egotistical sociopath who killed innocent people. So it was bizarre when I learned there was a debate.
Anyway, I agree with the article. I've yet to see a strong argument for Light being a hero or even anti-hero. Even if you see it in terms of a "means to an end" greater good--preventing most crime at the sacrifice of both criminals and innocent people--you wind up ignoring Light's stance. He isn't troubled by killing innocents, including people close to him, and sees himself as a god. Essentially, you have to ignore major facets of his character. Light's character makes him a great foil to L. Light is destructive and cruel, but he's also athletic, handsome, popular, and smart. L, on the other hand, works on the side of "good" but is strange, withdrawn, and socially awkward. This carries over to Near. |
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CoreSignal
 Posts: 727 Location: California, USA |
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Same here. It's been awhile since I watched Death Note, but as soon as I saw that scene where he gives his little monologue on becoming a god, it was pretty to clear to me that Light was a power-drunk sociopath who'll do whatever it takes. I give Death Note a lot of credit for making the "tragic villian" the main character of the story, but at the same time, being tragic didn't make him any less of a bad guy in my view.
Yeah, I thought the All You Need is Kill manga was a fantastic adaptation. Obata is actually great with drawing mechanical designs and action scenes and I'd love to see him do another sci-fi series. |
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Themaster20000
 Posts: 868 |
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That's where the show fails for me. Light becomes a comically cartoon villain within a week of getting the book. For a show based around morality,it's pretty damn black and white about it. |
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residentgrigo
 Posts: 2544 Location: Germany |
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The Punisher (watch DD season 2 now!) or Dirty Harry "clean the streets" while following a code and are thus anti-heroes. Kira (note the name...) and Heisenberg are only in it to polish up their own brand and are thus anti-villians. The case coulnd´t be clearer and the fanbase never tried to argue Light´s scumbag nature. That´s why we like his byronic ass! The original manga pilot was way lighter btw. and the manga features a different/darker and more satisfying ending than the anime. The anime´s rushed handling of the post L arc is pretty flawed overall...
The new life action adaptation was a no budget Japanese TV show and thus had no chance to be good to begin with but making Yagami "relatable" is the biggest mistake it did. |
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Saku-dono
Posts: 801 |
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Gee, Light's a really great character. But he's arrogant for pete's sake. Leaving life in a mere mortal's handwriting is already awful enough so it's a no brainer. Light's a freaking bad guy with no qualms to lie with a straight face. He only won against L because he had about 4 trump cards against him(namely Ryuk, Misa, Rem and the Death Note).
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Banken
Posts: 1281 |
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Kira is a terrible person but a great character.
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Fronzel
Posts: 1906 |
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To the point of silliness; there's a "Death Eraser" that brings people back to life! And the protagonist being an elementary schoolkid who couldn't read the English word "death" on the cover and only accidentally kills people kind of gives the story no place to go. |
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meiam
Posts: 3444 |
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For those who think Kira is 100% evil, have you ever heard of train track though experiment?
There's a train going full speed on a course to run over five people tied to the track, you're standing next to the railroad switch. If you press the switch the train will go onto another set of track where only one person is tied to the track. You don't have time to untie anyone or for the train to come to a stop. What do you do? |
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pikabot
Posts: 169 |
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Acknowledge that this thought experiment has absolutely nothing to do with Light? Nobody had a gun to his head (or anybody else's head) telling him to kill those people. |
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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There is more than one such experiment. Trolly problems form a diverse class. |
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Gasero
 Posts: 939 Location: USA |
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Light was clearly the bad guy after episode 2 when L tricked Light into killing someone that revealed where Light most likely lived. If Light wasn't so arrogant and evil he would have ignored L's trick and just kept with the routine of killing obviously malicious people.
I still had hope throughout the series that Light would turn things around, but season 2 clearly showed that Light was gonna stay a jerk. |
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lobomaligno
Posts: 2 |
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I am agree with almost everything you say.
But I think the death note corrupted Light. When he forgot of the existence of the death note he reverse to be a completely different person. Light as the son of a policeman and a guy interested the matter must be constantly exposed flaws of the system. He early express hi discomfort with the system. But he didn't have any plan at all expect maybe be a cop like his dad and give his part. But the death note allow you to have a big impact in the world in seconds. You can get rid of the most awful people in one day. I cannot imagine any person not change with that possibility. In the manga after check that the death note was the real deal he hide in his room and trembles in his bed for a while. All his talk about been a god, must be his justification to use the death note because only a god could have the right to do the things he did. He had 2 options burn the death note and keep the world as it is or use the death note and try to change the world. Since he hate the world as it is he choose the later. He very quickly become intoxicated with that power and was ready to use any means to remove any obstacle. So am not going to defend him. But I do believe the death note change him. He is a very fascinating character both attractive and scary, one of the best villains I have ever see. |
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