Anime and nerd fans often call Light Yagami “evil” because of his lies, manipulation, and gaslighting, but rarely apply that same criticism to superheroes—especially Superman. Clark Kent does the same things Light does, just less skillfully. Maintaining a secret identity means constantly lying and manipulating people. Superman justifies it by claiming moral superiority, but if his son Jonathan were a superhero who lied and manipulated his parents the same way Light Yagami does Clark would be furious—even though he’s guilty of the same thing.
You’re making conclusions based on “good/bad” or “evil/just”. This means there are moral or philosophical definitions.
Light Yagami lies and manipulates people to get away with killing people. Clark Kent lies and possibly manipulates people to save or protect people.
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Kant, I think, might say you’re wrong because as long as each of these people is doing what is true to themselves in their own moral code, they are equally “good”.
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Bentham, I think, would say you’re wrong these are not the same because the outcome from Light’s actions is mass murder, while the outcome of Clark’s actions is safety, peace, and protection.
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Only if you think lying and manipulating people is a binary check.
Light is an asshole, bully and ironically an idiot. he uses the deathnote in an infantile manner and his sense of justice is juvenile.
also, deathnote was mid.
But the musical is fire
how can it be, it’s a musical. There’s only like 3 good ones, Moulin Rouge, Nightmare Before Christmas… and maybe the weird al one?
True, true, true, true, false
Hey dude, random thought, what’s your full legal name and face?
Joe Momma.
he uses the deathnote in an infantile manner and his sense of justice is juvenile.
Light was a teenager. He’s always lived an easy sheltered life under the care of his parents. He’s lacking any real life experience. In my mind, his juvenile sense of justice is right in line with someone of that immaturity especially given the power he got from the Death Note. We get to see a great contrast when Light’s father is given the power of the Death Note, and immediately chooses to cut his own life in half to get the eyes. The father understands self sacrifice and paying the price to protect those he loves.
Light was a teenager. He’s always lived an easy sheltered life under the care of his parents. He’s lacking any real life experience. In my mind, his juvenile sense of justice is right in line with someone of that immaturity especially given the power he got from the Death Note.
sure thing. It’s just combining that with the “I smelt the onion in his farts, that breed of onion only grows in the nagasaki region” style writing of “smart, observant people” makes the show kinda silly , while the tone is suuuuper serious about everything.
I watched it out of curiosity and to practice my spanish (netflix dub). In a way I’m glad I gave it a miss in its heyday when I was at uni.
sure thing. It’s just combining that with the “I smelt the onion in his farts, that breed of onion only grows in the nagasaki region” style writing of “smart, observant people” makes the show kinda silly , while the tone is suuuuper serious about everything.
I don’t think that’s out-of-place either for the story. Much like the difference between Light and his father, the story is illustrating “book smart” from “street smart”.
Like so much other modern fiction, Death Note is a variation on the Hero’s Journey trope. In this case, the hero is a composite between L, Near, and Mello.
the story is illustrating “book smart” from “street smart”.
who’s who? I thought Light and L were fairly similar in their types of intelligence and both felt book smart.
Death Note is a variation on the Hero’s Journey trope
how? It just seemed like a typical “antagonist and protagonist are mirrors” with a villain protagonist in Light.
the story is illustrating “book smart” from “street smart”.
who’s who? I thought Light and L were fairly similar in their types of intelligence and both felt book smart.
Light = Book Smart
Light’s Father = Street SmartDeath Note is a variation on the Hero’s Journey trope
how? It just seemed like a typical “antagonist and protagonist are mirrors” with a villain protagonist in Light.
Hero’s Journey is so common, I too, would consider it “typical”.
Combine L, Near, and Mello all as one entity “the hero”. How that composite travels through the story I see it well mapping against the hero’s journey. Another portion of the variation is that the story primarily follows Light/Kira, which is the antagonist, not the hero.
Hero’s journey :
So, Light goes through call to adventure, supernatural aid, and threshold guardians? Ok.
All the characters go through “challenges and temptations” but aside from Light not going for the Shinigami’s eyes, they generally tend to cave to whatever temptations they’re presented with. I assume
spoiler
L’s literal death and replacement with Melo
Is the death & rebirth and transformation. I don’t see the atonement, return nor the gift of the goddess. Also, I thought the hero’s journey had “visit to the underworld” as part of the abyss, and also a voyage to a strange land which again, feels missing.
I appreciate you sharing your point of view though.
who’s who? I thought Light and L were fairly similar in their types of intelligence and both felt book smart.
Light = Book Smart
Light’s Father = Street Smartah yeah, that makes sense
ironically an idiot.
This is a take…
it’s some plot holes/stupid stuff I noticed watching. Here’s a comprehensive list , I can’t remember anything specific because I watched it about a year ago and you know, flippantly.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WhatAnIdiot/DeathNote
One part of my perception of Light is that he expects killing every petty criminal would solve all crime forever and that society would evolve into worship of him or something stupid like that. He does nothing to address actual social ills or people with enormous amounts of power or anything like that. Other similar holes in logic, putting himself in many contrived and risky situations , the final showdown, etc etc.
Also, the show was very much a product of the post 9/11 world and its views on justice and human rights abuses.
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