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Just finished Death Note. **massive spoilers**

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The trap that Near and Mello set to catch Light wasn't really fulfilling. Felt like a contrived ending.


Also the manga's ending was far better with their final Ryuk moment vs the anime
 
Oh yeah, I remember that now. It's when (during one of his internal monologues) he's chastising Mikami for being too rash in his proxy killings. He doesn't disagree with killing the lazy - he just says he needs to wait until he has more support from the world at large.

So I reject your hypothesis, Lord Thrappleper The 49th :-p


Wait, what?

please be joking

Did I say j/k at the end? I honestly don't remember him killing somebody that wasn't necessary. If L, in the second episode, was actually L, and not a man for the death penalty, then I would be agreeing with you. But he wasn't, Light learned from that experience, and never killed unecessarily again.

So you support the death penalty for any crime? A purse snatcher is irredeemable human scum? People who commit crimes aren't intrinsically evil. Or do you believe that poor people are intrinsically evil since the poor are more likely to commit crime? Light could eliminate far more crime by eliminating poverty and hunger, which are what drive most people to crime. And yet you support just murdering every criminal like some lazy fascist fuck.

Light never killed a purse snatcher though. He killed people who needed to be killed for true peace.
 
Light is a huge asshole, but I can't say that I didn't root for him. If it were real life I probably wouldn't support him, but some of the most entertaining parts of the show where when he was the most evil (e.g. the death of the FBI guy's wife).


I've heard that Code Geass also has an evil protagonist, and it's supposed to be really good. Also, Dexter is on Netflix, and it's a great show with an anti-hero protagonist, even though he's not that evil.
 
Did I say j/k at the end? I honestly don't remember him killing somebody that wasn't necessary. If L, in the second episode, was actually L, and not a man for the death penalty, then I would be agreeing with you. But he wasn't, Light learned from that experience, and never killed unecessarily again.



Light never killed a purse snatcher though. He killed people who needed to be killed for true peace.

Light was planning on killing purse snatchers and the lazy. Which he outright fucking states when chastising Mikami or whatever his name was for doing it too early.

You are an awful person btw.
 
Light was planning on killing purse snatchers and the lazy. Which he outright fucking states when chastising Mikami or whatever his name was for doing it too early.

But he never did it. I believe that Light would have stopped himself before it got that far. His head was warped, sure. But if it got to a point where violent crime had completely stopped, I believe he would recognize it and think 'that's actually enough.'

EDIT: Oh thanks, I guess because I believe evil people need to die it makes me an awful person. Can't we have a meaningful discussion of philisophical differences with devulging to petty namecalling?

DOUBLE EDIT:
Light should have made L die from a diabetic shock which probably wouldn't have alarmed anyone seeing as how L ate a lot of sugary things especially sugar cubes.
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Light should have made L die from a diabetic shock which probably wouldn't have alarmed anyone seeing as how L ate a lot of sugary things especially sugar cubes.
 
Light was planning on killing purse snatchers and the lazy. Which he outright fucking states when chastising Mikami or whatever his name was for doing it too early.

You are an awful person btw.

Man, it's a show about a smart high school kid who went way over his head thinking he was God.

Settle down.
 
The show is the show. The people in this thread are real people expressing what I assume are real views. And those views are fucked up.
The very idea that anyone watches the whole thing and still walks away thinking Light only "killed people who needed to be killed for true peace" is terrifying
lol.gif
 
Light should have made L die from a diabetic shock which probably wouldn't have alarmed anyone seeing as how L ate a lot of sugary things especially sugar cubes.

Wait, didn't he not know L's real name, at least for a long time? It's been a while and I can't quite remember.
 
Wait, didn't he not know L's real name, at least for a long time? It's been a while and I can't quite remember.

Yes, Light did not know L's name for a while but as soon he found out he should have written L's name and diabetic shock in the Death Note.
 
He killed innocent people already. That one FBI lady at least.

In his sick mind those people weren't innocent because they were trying to stop a serial killer who was murdering people who may or may not have actually been guilty, and may have been able to be reformed into productive members of society.
 
Wait, didn't he not know L's real name, at least for a long time? It's been a while and I can't quite remember.
Yeah, he came close when Misa did the deal with the "eyes" but she was promptly arrested. Rem was his only avenue for killing L because Shinigamis can see everything.

I guess he could have just asked Rem for his name and killed L himself, but it would have been even more suspicious to be seen around her since the whole team already saw her with the shady businessman they believed was actually Kira.

He killed innocent people already. That one FBI lady at least.
He killed L's private investigator buddies (like Wedy and the American guy who imitated Coil) after killing L, which was just vindictive.

Not to mention killing all the FBI agents, who were simply doing surveillance on a case they weren't even fully briefed on.

And if we take the anime movie as canon, then using Mikami to kill random people in the audience simply for attending a taping for a show on an anti-Kira network.

He killed tons of innocent people.
 
So you support the death penalty for any crime?

No I don't, nor do I remember Light killing for any crime.

A purse snatcher is irredeemable human scum? People who commit crimes aren't intrinsically evil. Or do you believe that poor people are intrinsically evil since the poor are more likely to commit crime?

No. Right. And no.

Light could eliminate far more crime by eliminating poverty and hunger, which are what drive most people to crime.

With the Death note? How?

And yet you support just murdering every criminal like some lazy fascist fuck.

I realize now that my comment could be interpreted in many ways. I certainly don't support what you just said. Maybe you should settle down a bit. I would be in favor of getting rid of the irredeemable ones. Thinking back on the show, Light did seem a little too trigger happy on some occasions so I guess I don't fully support his vision.
 
No I don't, nor do I remember Light killing for any crime.

Maybe the show dumbs things down but I think even the show has the scene where Light chastises Mikami (or whatever his name was) for killing lazy people and petty criminals. Expect he chastises it for being too early to start killing off those sorts of people. Using our reasoning skills, we can infer that Lights vision included killing purse snatchers.

Right, he couldn't eliminate poverty and hunger with the Death Note. Except maybe by using it on key influential people that could set up the systems to eliminate those things. But ignoring that, his lazy "just murder the criminals" method is defensible only if you think the criminal justice system is flawless (you can be convicted but not guilty) or don't value human life and thus can stomach the loss of innocent life Lights system definitely caused.
 
Did anyone ever do a psych-eval on Light at this manga/anime's peek? I was just curious what the results would be. He started off as a bored kid, and before it was over he was a really despicable human being, but when he lost the memories of the Death Note, I was wondering if there were any signs that he still would have ended up a terrible person. L certainly seemed to think he'd become awful again, without even taking into account the memory loss thing.
 
Maybe the show dumbs things down but I think even the show has the scene where Light chastises Mikami (or whatever his name was) for killing lazy people and petty criminals. Expect he chastises it for being too early. Using our reasoning skills, we can infer that Lights vision included killing purse snatchers.
We see Light's worldview from the very first chapter of the manga/episode of the series when he considers killing the leader of the pack that's bullying the nerdy fat kid in cram school and muses that the spoiled brat complaining that his mom hasn't picked him up on time is basically a waste of life.

It's inevitable that he would've eventually targeted anyone he saw as a drag on society, criminal or not.
 
The direction of the anime was far too melodramatic. Compare L's death scene in both. L's death was far more effective in the manga because it focuses on the confusion of the situation and climaxes with Light's incredible shit-eating grin. In the anime it's all shaky cam and red light filters and flash backs.

I don't think the second half of Death Note is as bad as most people say. It follows an interesting story premise: what happens after the bad guy wins? What would Light's crime-free society really look like? The problem is that Light has no interesting character dynamic with anyone like he did with L in the first half. I don't care about Near like I did L. Mello is boring and is kind of a third wheel. I can see why they added him because they thought "we can't just do Light vs. L 2.0... how about an EVIL L?" Light's comeuppance was perfect though (in the manga at least).

I would highly recommend the manga to anyone.
 
We see Light's worldview from the very first chapter of the manga/episode of the series when he considers killing the leader of the pack that's bullying the nerdy fat kid in cram school and muses that the spoiled brat complaining that his mom hasn't picked him up on time is basically a waste of life.

It's inevitable that he would've eventually targeted anyone he saw as a drag on society, criminal or not.

Oh right I forgot about that bit. Yeah, bullies and ungrateful children also deserve death and are irredeemable scum. Lol.
 
I personally saw the ending to be fairly fitting. There was no way that Light was going to come out on top, and in the end he really was fairly pathetic, only pursuing what he felt was "justice" for selfish reasons. I do prefer the manga ending, though. Really drils the point home of Light's true character.

The show dipped in quality halfway through, mainly for me because of how convoluted it started to become, in addition to Near and Mello not really being as engaging as L. Other than that, I enjoyed it fairly thoroughly. I like the whole psychological warfare going on between Light and L, how everything is move and counter-move. Even when it did get complciated/convoluted, it never felt like it was doing so arbitrarily, it felt more like a natural progression of how insane all these plans and moves had to become in order to get further and further into the game that was being played.

Really, any show that can make eating potato chips super dramatic is certainly doing something right.
 
Oh right I forgot about that bit. Yeah, bullies and ungrateful children also deserve death and are irredeemable scum. Lol.
Yep. It's just fiction and all, but I'm suspicious of anyone who supports Light - either they skipped over huge portions of the narrative, or (more likely) are enchanted by the power fantasy of the Death Note.

I rooted for Light just because his victory would have been such an atypical conclusion for an anime, but that's different from thinking he was actually right
lol.gif
 
Maybe the show dumbs things down but I think even the show has the scene where Light chastises Mikami (or whatever his name was) for killing lazy people and petty criminals. Expect he chastises it for being too early to start killing off those sorts of people. Using our reasoning skills, we can infer that Lights vision included killing purse snatchers.

Anyone remember which episode this is?
 
I actually think it fell apart after he killed Raye Penber's wife (ep 9 onwards). After that, L was already so close to him that the show became boring. L narrowed it down to one suspect far too quickly.

Though, I did like parts from later on. Particularly the ending. It's especially nice that Light had the winning plan. The fact that he was brought down due to his need to rely on other people (and their lesser skills) is a nice touch.
 
Episode 32.

Light's only objection is that it's too early.

Yeah I just found it. It's at 16:05. Yikes.

Yep. It's just fiction and all, but I'm suspicious of anyone who supports Light - either they skipped over huge portions of the narrative, or (more likely) are enchanted by the power fantasy of the Death Note.

Well, it's a 37 episode half hour show. I guess it's normal to not remember every sentence. Either that or I'm just old. :)
 
Well, it's a 37 episode half hour show. I guess it's normal to not remember every sentence. Either that or I'm just old. :)
I don't mean every sentence. I'm talking about that guy who said Light never killed any innocent people.

You could only think that if you watched entire episodes blindfolded.
 
Is the Death Note film available online anywhere? I enjoyed the anime (though it did drag after L's death), so I'd be interested in watching the film, since some of you are saying it's even better.
 
Would have this worked:

When Light got found out and kinda started freaking out couldnt have he used the notepaper in his watch to kill everyone in the room? They didnt really care if he ran around so he could have maybe just ran about, rolled on the ground or did something babyish and while covered from their view write the names down quickly.
 
Would have this worked:

When Light got found out and kinda started freaking out couldnt have he used the notepaper in his watch to kill everyone in the room? They didnt really care if he ran around so he could have maybe just ran about, rolled on the ground or did something babyish and while covered from their view write the names down quickly.
That's a hilarious image XD

He wouldn't have been able to do that anyway, though. Only Mikami was able to see the names of Near and his groupies, but Mikami's Death Note was a fake.
 
That's a hilarious image XD

He wouldn't have been able to do that anyway, though. Only Mikami was able to see the names of Near and his groupies, but Mikami's Death Note was a fake.

But Light did try to use the note in his watch, he just wasn't very subtle about it. But you have to wonder how many names he knew... He certainly didn't know Near's real name. Besides, his note was too small to write down all those names :)
 
But Light did try to use the note in his watch, he just wasn't very subtle about it. But you have to wonder how many names he knew... He certainly didn't know Near's real name. Besides, his note was too small to write down all those names :)
He could've killed everyone on his own side (Matsuda, Aizawa, etc.), but it wouldn't have made a difference because he didn't have the Shinigami eyes. He was so dumbstruck by his plan's failure that he wasn't thinking clearly by that point anyway.

It's so fitting that Light's downfall resulted from his being unable to contact Mikami directly. L had the opposite problem - he had unlimited, open contact with Light but still couldn't prove his guilt quickly enough, whereas Light couldn't ever get Mikami face-to-face and was exposed because of the eventual communication breakdown.
 
the more I think about it the more I really do like how Light's who operation fell apart from small overlooked things and love triangle pettiness. I forgot Mikami and the reporter had that sit down and they were passive aggressively trying to prove they were the best one for light. All the way to the end.
 
That's a hilarious image XD

He wouldn't have been able to do that anyway, though. Only Mikami was able to see the names of Near and his groupies, but Mikami's Death Note was a fake.

Ok ok but what about if he said he had a bomb or something?

I think Lights problem was that he went into that final confrontation without a back up plan!!! He was too confident.
 
I didn't like it. I thought it was way too dramatic for its own good, and I never related to any of the characters.

The second arc was pretty bad, too.
 
Everyone should stop at episode 26. Pretend the last bit doesnt happen. It should end with Kira killing L.
 
Ok ok but what about if he said he had a bomb or something?

I think Lights problem was that he went into that final confrontation without a back up plan!!! He was too confident.
If he were thinking straight, he could have said something like, "As a back-up plan, I had Mikami randomly plant bombs in subway stations that he or another third-party would detonate should Kira ever be caught."

At least that way, he'd have bought some time for himself to at least be interrogated instead of, you know, shot to death.
 
Light was the good guy for me. I'll say it loudly and proudly. He was making the world a better place. Anyone who stood up to him were supporting chaos and war. Light was making the world a better place, and I was sad when he died. The good guy lost in Death Note as far as I'm concerned. I would relish the chance to live in Light's world, a world without bad people, a world filled with nice people who help each other and enjoy themselves.

Weren't they going to start killing lazy people eventually?

Doesn't seem like the ideal world for a gaffer
 
read, the, manga.

I don't know why the anime felt like scenes needed changing.


For example in the manga L gets to know Light was Kira. "So.... I was right. But then I...." Where he probably meant to say he lost. Light outplayed L, that's how it is. When N came, Light didn't take him seriously because he beat Ryuzaki after all. But as soon as he involved other humans into his plan, he lost control of it,and it all got ruined.

Yes. Aside from him wanting to be a god, his plan fell apart when he decided to bring incompetent people into his plan.
 
yeah i just finished watching this too a few days ago so perfect timing

i enjoyed the first half more than the 2nd half. overall it was good but it just sort of ended on a weak note for me.

btw how many times does light always say "looks like i've won"
 
I don't know if the fact that Light would eventually lose makes it predictable...I mean, that was a given from the very start. There was no way he would end up on top

Yeah it was literally stated that Ryuk was just waiting around for the right moment to kill off Light.

Also, pretty much no anime detective series ends with them never being able to find the guy who did it.
 
the more I think about it the more I really do like how Light's who operation fell apart from small overlooked things and love triangle pettiness. I forgot Mikami and the reporter had that sit down and they were passive aggressively trying to prove they were the best one for light. All the way to the end.

He killed Ray Pembar for absolutely no reason. Light was an idiot, which is probably the worst thing to be when you're also a megalomaniac.
 
Years later and people still complain about the 2nd half... geez its not bad at all. If anything the second half opens up more diversity for the show the inclusion of Mello and Near providing a 3 way goose chase was every bit as fun as the original cat and mouse between light and L.


i really dont get or ever will understand the complaints.. JESUS
 
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