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Ten Years of Death Note: Is Light The Bad Guy?

While I thought Light was a great villain, I often thought that L was a terrible hero. L doesn't solve crimes out of some moral obligation but out of a way to kill boredom. L will use any method to solve crimes and he doesn't seem to have any regard for human life at all. I have always felt that if L had come across the death note before Light, that he would have become the villain instead. But he wouldn't be a crazy cult leader with a god complex, he would be a more cleaner and less restrained version of the Punisher.

In these ways, despite having traits in common, L served as the polar opposite to Light, and was the one to recognize and supplement his own deficits by believing and entrusting in society in order to slowly come out from the shadows, offer what he could, accept his own limits, and ultimately become the true light of humanity in the show.

She was more than not nice. She was a murderer also. By law enforcement standards she was an knowing accomplice to Light. She was also a murderer of people she knew were innocent of any crime. Think it was safe to say she is evil.

Law enforcement were fighting a human being that had god like powers, and if that god like human being could identify them, they were as good as dead. I think any normal human being could sympathize with the police in this case, over Misa a murderer and an accomplice to Light.

That said, I believe in rights for people even after they've been convicted of a crime, and what L does to Misa during the Yotsuba group arc were a violation of her rights, regardless of the murders she's committed. Ide walked out, and I would have too.

Since we're on the subject, what did you think of Near and Mellow? Near was more like L2 while I felt that Mellow was more destructive than helpful as an investigator.

Cynics distrust any good intentions and think that everyone acts out of self-interest. That would include Light. Why would they side with him? They know that he's either an asshole or will never accomplish his goal, because he'd eventually have to kill too many for the society to function. Where do you get the idea that a cynic necessarily thinks a person deserves to die for wrongdoing though? He just thinks that it's in man's nature.
What is more likely that people with sociopathic tendencies would agree with what Light is doing, and egotism goes hand-in-hand with sociopathy much more than cynicism does.

She was more than not nice. She was a murderer also. By law enforcement standards she was an knowing accomplice to Light. She was also a murderer of people she knew were innocent of any crime. Think it was safe to say she is evil.

Anyway, I don't really like the idea of some people being "born evil". Stop and think about the implications of that, if it's true what should we do with such people? How can we identify them? Maybe if Light had continued his campaign long enough he would have started killing children as well. Bratty kids and juvenile delinquents. Who knows, maybe he did get that far, the show stopped going into detail after awhile. While I do think what Light did was evil, I can see why he went in the direction he did. In his world, there was no room for compassion and mercy. And no shades of grey, just black and white.

Mikami, for example, had no problem using the Death Note. But he only did as Light told him and I don't believe he ever took any initiative on his own. But if he had been the first, I think he would have been as destructive and power mad as Light. However, I don't think he would have lasted as long and would have been quickly caught because he lacked Light's cleverness. But if was obvious the Mikami was messed up from an earlier age. But he was the inverse of Light; he was bullied and didn't seem to have a privileged background. He also had a rigid black and white worldview. He didn't mourn his mother's death because she wasn't as sympathetic to his standing up to the bullies at school.

Considering the way the direction this thread has been going in, I know I might as well be talking to a wall. But the thing that really bugs me about this debate is that almost everyone not only thinks that Light was a bad guy but he was always was that way.