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rionaleonhart) wrote2023-10-18 09:12 am
rionaleonhart) wrote2023-10-18 09:12 am
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I Think You'll Find That Light Is A Good Boy, Actually.
One common belief among Death Note fans is that Light didn't care about his family, and frankly they are wrong.
Early in the manga, Light and his sister Sayu seem to be pretty close. In chapter three, we see that Sayu is in the habit of coming into his room without knocking, that she admires him, and that she's comfortable enough with him to tease him about reading dirty magazines. Light helps her with her homework, and it seems to be a regular thing; their dad asks, 'Was Light helping you do your homework again, Sayu?' at the dinner table.
When Light learns that his family will see Ryuk if they touch the Death Note, he's afraid that this means he might end up having to kill them to protect his secret, so he builds a contraption to destroy the Death Note if it's ever discovered. This is a pretty huge thing for Light to do! He loves his supernatural murder method, he's built his entire vision of the future for both himself and the world around it, but he'd rather destroy it than have to harm his family.
Much later, Sayu is abducted and ransomed for the Death Note. Some people see that Light contemplates killing Sayu here and assume this means he would be fine with killing Sayu. But, if he didn't care about her, he'd have killed her straight away, just as he killed the director. When we first see Light thinking that he might have to kill Sayu if this goes wrong, he's retreated into the bathroom to stare at himself in the mirror and he is clearly freaking out. He doesn't want to kill her! She's his sister, and he loves her!
When it comes down to it and Light has his pen over the paper, he hesitates in a way we've never seen him hesitate to use the Death Note before, and ultimately he lets her live. From a practical viewpoint, killing Sayu would have protected the notebook, and it would have reduced any remaining suspicion of Light; why would Kira kill his own family? But he can't bring himself to do it.
Light tells himself he shouldn't kill Sayu because not many people know about the abduction, but I don't think that's the only reason. I think Light is just desperately looking for reasons to convince himself that letting Sayu live is the right move, because he doesn't want her to die. As ever, Light lies to himself just as much as he does to anyone else.
Similarly, although Light occasionally thinks about killing the Kira investigation task force, he never actually follows through with it. Why? Because his dad is on the team, and he can't kill the rest of the task force and spare his dad; that would be an incredibly suspicious move. He has to kill all of them or leave them alone, so he leaves them alone.
Light wants to think of himself as a person who's willing to do whatever it takes, so he tells himself he can kill the task force; when Sayu is abducted, he tells himself he can kill her. But, in the end, he can't bring himself to do it. It's very rare for Light to see a way a death could benefit his mission, to have the means to enact that death, and to let the moment pass by, but his family is the one area of his life where emotion consistently beats practicality for him.
On a very different note, both Tem and I had entirely forgotten about Light's brilliant plan of 'I'll give up Death Note ownership and shove another Death Note down my trousers to ensure I don't lose my memories', and we absolutely lost it when it happened on our rewatch. Just going about his life! With a supernatural murder notebook down his trousers! For two weeks!
I hope at some point Light was going to the loo, the Death Note fell out of his trousers and he lost his memories. I can picture Light just staring at the notebook, going 'wh... why was there a notebook down my trousers? did someone... put it there? surely I'd have noticed?' until he eventually picked it up, regained his memories and shoved it back down there, furiously embarrassed.
Early in the manga, Light and his sister Sayu seem to be pretty close. In chapter three, we see that Sayu is in the habit of coming into his room without knocking, that she admires him, and that she's comfortable enough with him to tease him about reading dirty magazines. Light helps her with her homework, and it seems to be a regular thing; their dad asks, 'Was Light helping you do your homework again, Sayu?' at the dinner table.
When Light learns that his family will see Ryuk if they touch the Death Note, he's afraid that this means he might end up having to kill them to protect his secret, so he builds a contraption to destroy the Death Note if it's ever discovered. This is a pretty huge thing for Light to do! He loves his supernatural murder method, he's built his entire vision of the future for both himself and the world around it, but he'd rather destroy it than have to harm his family.
Much later, Sayu is abducted and ransomed for the Death Note. Some people see that Light contemplates killing Sayu here and assume this means he would be fine with killing Sayu. But, if he didn't care about her, he'd have killed her straight away, just as he killed the director. When we first see Light thinking that he might have to kill Sayu if this goes wrong, he's retreated into the bathroom to stare at himself in the mirror and he is clearly freaking out. He doesn't want to kill her! She's his sister, and he loves her!
When it comes down to it and Light has his pen over the paper, he hesitates in a way we've never seen him hesitate to use the Death Note before, and ultimately he lets her live. From a practical viewpoint, killing Sayu would have protected the notebook, and it would have reduced any remaining suspicion of Light; why would Kira kill his own family? But he can't bring himself to do it.
Light tells himself he shouldn't kill Sayu because not many people know about the abduction, but I don't think that's the only reason. I think Light is just desperately looking for reasons to convince himself that letting Sayu live is the right move, because he doesn't want her to die. As ever, Light lies to himself just as much as he does to anyone else.
Similarly, although Light occasionally thinks about killing the Kira investigation task force, he never actually follows through with it. Why? Because his dad is on the team, and he can't kill the rest of the task force and spare his dad; that would be an incredibly suspicious move. He has to kill all of them or leave them alone, so he leaves them alone.
Light wants to think of himself as a person who's willing to do whatever it takes, so he tells himself he can kill the task force; when Sayu is abducted, he tells himself he can kill her. But, in the end, he can't bring himself to do it. It's very rare for Light to see a way a death could benefit his mission, to have the means to enact that death, and to let the moment pass by, but his family is the one area of his life where emotion consistently beats practicality for him.
On a very different note, both Tem and I had entirely forgotten about Light's brilliant plan of 'I'll give up Death Note ownership and shove another Death Note down my trousers to ensure I don't lose my memories', and we absolutely lost it when it happened on our rewatch. Just going about his life! With a supernatural murder notebook down his trousers! For two weeks!
I hope at some point Light was going to the loo, the Death Note fell out of his trousers and he lost his memories. I can picture Light just staring at the notebook, going 'wh... why was there a notebook down my trousers? did someone... put it there? surely I'd have noticed?' until he eventually picked it up, regained his memories and shoved it back down there, furiously embarrassed.
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Yeah, for him to care about anyone more than he cares about his magical ability to commit almost effortless murder shows intense love!
It's much easier to understand Light if you understand that he is not honest with himself and not that perceptive about how own thoughts and feelings. He is young and not that mature, he desperately wants to win and prove himself right, and he is not good at understanding the difference between being more intelligent than many people around him and knowing absolutely everything. None of this is going to make him great at insight about himself.
Yeah, there's no way he could kill every other member of the task force without bringing scrutiny down on his family, and it's much easier for him to tell himself that he's smart enough that he doesn't have to worry about them than to kill them for his own safety.
Oh that would be hilarious!
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This is such good analysis of Light! A lot of Death Note makes more sense when you realise that the internal monologue we hear from Light is what Light is telling himself, which isn't necessarily the same as his actual thoughts and feelings.
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Yeah he sounds pretty normal in that regard actually!
But he can't bring himself to do it.
NORMAL ASS TEENAGER, sorry Light, you're not special.
As ever, Light lies to himself just as much as he does to anyone else.
YES
With a supernatural murder notebook down his trousers!
I mean, we've all been there
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how dare you, he's the god of the new world, he's above petty human concerns like love and he's just protecting his family because it's coincidentally the logical way to achieve his goals.
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Relatedly I was sent a link by an online shop to their new sweater range, including their 'chic loose anime girl sweatshirt' and, while snort-laughing, thought of you: https://www.modakawa.com/products/chic-loose-cartoon-sailor-moon-print-shirt
I have no idea what the sleeve says ('spread global blackarine'?). And the link text says 'sailor moon', which I only just noticed as I posted. But it's L peeking out from behind her that made me facepalm most.
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That sweatshirt is incredible. The 'sailor moon' in the link is definitely my favourite part. Absolutely mystifying.
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Here's a challenge for you:
What are the dog breeds that most resemble
Light Yagamithe entire Death Note main cast? I'll let you decide who does or does not hold main cast membership.no subject
Light: medium-sized, unintimidating, smart, independent, well-behaved.
L: small, weird, quiet, independent (aloof? are there aloof dogs?).
Misa: small, loud, excitable, loving.
Soichiro: large, something that's traditionally used as a police dog. Maybe an Alsatian? Hey, look, I named a dog breed!
Mello, Near: who the fuck are these people
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Near... was a much less interesting mini-version of L, with a worse character design, but I did like the little fact that he was so busy being A Walking Brain that he couldn't do something as simple as arrange a flight on his own.
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