"Light Yagami Did Nothing Wrong" - Death Note

let's be honest here we've all had that moment where we felt we could handle the world better than those in charge the time we look around and assume that our judgment is the superior one i was six when i realized i could run society better than the morons who were in charge that old huh slow learner i guess regardless of whether or not you have experience in certain fields or just believe you can handle yourself better everyone has had that line of thought whether they like to admit it or not but what if it was more than a thought what if you had the ability to shift the balances of power how far would you be willing to go depending on what changes you make are you guilty of crimes or are you asserting yourself as the new power should anyone else have that kind of choice in power or do you alone need to be the one on top it's these kinds of lines of sentiments that can pop into your head while reading death note as light yagami goes on his journey to rid the world of criminals but light is a child prodigy brilliant at reading people and meticulous in his planning someone like that couldn't let that kind of responsibility go to his head right 33 34 35 36 37 38 49 well near looks like i win [Music] hello doomers and dumats i'm your host dede and today i think it's time you take out that handy dandy notebook jot down some names because we're making our next entry into the did nothing wrong series where we evaluate controversial fictional characters and ask the big question do they do anything wrong and today we're kicking things off with another character voted on by you guys light yagami otherwise known as kira one of my personal favorite manga series death note is a high stakes cat and mouse chase of grand proportions with characters playing such 5d chess it'll make your head spin typically this is the part where i'd give a spoiler warning but come on guys death note is getting close to two decades old at this point if you haven't seen already pause the video and get right on it it's an absolute classic now the thing i find interesting is that the author of the manga tsukumi oba has gone on records saying that the moral standing of the characters were honestly the least interesting thing to him his intention wasn't to write a series questioning right and wrong but rather focus on the great game of chess between light and his adversary in the form of l and in the how to read death note volume he mentions how he's glad he didn't dive into the human aspect of the conflict and i'd just like to say i absolutely respect that i think what makes death note fascinating is the game played rather than the character motivations however on a personal note diving deep into character perspectives and motivations is what i love doing most so even if it's not necessarily important to the story and i respect the author's intention even with him saying lightest flat out evil i'd still like to take the opportunity to evaluate it myself after all in the words of one of the characters in the series even if there is a god and i had his teachings before me i would think it through and decide if that was right or wrong myself so before we begin i'd just like to humbly ask if you could consider liking the video if you're enjoying this content or even subscribing as your support absolutely shapes the direction of videos being made and if you're returning here as a subscriber or simply coming back from watching another video welcome back with that said make your deals with your shinigami and let's dive on in what kind of fool do you take me for he's kira he's here don't care i'm kira are there any others i should know about i'm out of here now before we start i'd just like to set some brief ground rules since there are some differences between the manga and anime i'm going to primarily use the manga for reference as that is the source material but i'm also going to add some supplementary information from the how to read official guidebook which i do want to clarify is not an entry level i can read first grader book about death note so typically this is the part of the video where i'd recap events of the series but it's widespread enough that i think the major beats are known light yagami son of one of the police chiefs in japan discovers a book from the shinigami realm that causes anyone whose name is written in it to die whether it be from a heart attack or a situation he describes of course he decided to become the god of the new world as he calls it righteously killing off criminals he deems necessary for the betterment of society but his actions catch the attention of the world's greatest detective an enigmatic man named elle and so a great game ensues to try to best the other there's a ton of moving parts and several characters involved so i'm gonna try to cut down to the meat of the topic today why did light do what he did and why was it necessary to him only i could do it [Applause] [Music] who else could have done it and come this far would they have kept going the only one who can create a new world is me upon picking up the death note for the first time light was horrified to see how it worked and terrified upon the realization that he killed a man yet shortly after he realizes he can take the opportunity to make the world a better place in his mind as he defines it a place free of criminals gone of those who are unrepentant for their crimes it's a goal that may sound noble at first but i think the first sign that something is amiss is when ryuk the shinigami who dropped the notebook in the world arrives to greet light now at this point light's already pretty deep into using the notebook and most notably he seems pretty set on this vision of judgment but the interesting thing is after using it he's begun to refer to himself differently as a god someone who needs to pass a divine judgment on others and a god complex starts to take root here ryuk even explicitly asks him that after all the criminals are gone light would theoretically be the only criminal left and light brushes us off by saying he technically isn't the one doing anything that he would maintain his identity as light with the kira persona passing judgment in secret therefore light yagami wouldn't be at fault for any of this at least in his own vision but this changes pretty quickly as soon as l introduces himself as someone trying to find and catch the individual known as kira light doesn't even hesitate to kill the individual believed to be him in fact he does so arrogantly mocking him for even attempting to challenge him but what exactly did l do that was worthy for light to judge him at this point in time l only announced that he was going to be seeking out kyra and that was enough for light to immediately kill him no debate no attempt to get him to see what he was trying to do for the world nothing and this is hardly even the end of this type of behavior from fbi agents to those he cuts deals with light is pretty quick to kill anyone who slightly comes into contact with him there's even a moment where he contemplates writing his own sister's name in the notebook to prevent the mafia from getting a hold of the death note but only stops when he realizes that the loss of his sister would only make him look extremely suspect so what was the value in this the objective was clear to protect his identity as he knew his actions were going to draw attention and would be seen as crimes but the thing is it was by his design that he was noticed after all the way he organized his use of the death note was to gain the attention of others to make them believe a higher power was passing judgment on them it's why he would very often use a simple heart attack as the cause of death rather than constantly inventing unique scenarios after all the death note could control a person's death but if nothing was written the cause would only be a heart attack and yet light only used this feature strategically in highly specific situations opting for heart attacks as the primary show of force i think what's worth noting here however is light never attempted at all to ever convince anyone to follow the ideology of kira even characters on the police force those like matsuda who are shown to have sympathy for kira's way are very often misled by light good or evil it's not our call all we have to think about is catching him if kira gets caught then that makes him evil but if he wins and rules the world then i guess he's justice was it a way to throw shade onto his trail to ensure no one suspected it was him it seems to be the case but even his own allies like misa amane and kyomi takada are treated as mere tools and very often disposed of the only reason he didn't kill misa in the first place was because he was threatened by her shinigami rem after which she just becomes a simple asset to him to continue the task of using the notebook as he pretended to be l kiyomi on the other hand was lured in with similar promises but the moment he suspected she would be uncovered he had her promptly disposed of now i could go on and on about the different things light did to attempt to hide his identity or pursue his objective of becoming the god of the new world as he puts it but let's try to break down his actions as kira instead of just talking about how he tried to hide himself if you look at the how to read volume it details light's plans for his new world his world vision is one of peace which he defines as being devoid of crime but to fit that you need to be chosen by him and be his worshiper so in his vision for the new world there's a bit of a hierarchy at the bottom the worst consists of those who have threatened him this of course being el nir mello and so on above them are standard criminals but the book makes note that even those who commit criminal acts on behalf of kira including those such as what tyrome did are still considered criminals by light standards above them are the normie tears the regulars and the ones light particularly doesn't have a care for one way or the other and finally we reach the top of the hierarchy the virtuous people such as his father and those he truly loves but above them all at the very peak is himself so what was the result of him attempting to sculpt the world in this image well in a way kira got what he wanted to an extent crime had diminished significantly and wars were said to be a thing of the past with nations afraid to take action against each other in fear of retaliation by kira heck the president of the united states and the series submits to him there's another president who does something later on but that's a different story point is light's goal of improving the world was accomplished or was it even in the time jump after elle's death in the series there's still a lot of serious crime going on mafias are operating with enough strength and pull to make ordinary citizens break the law and filling out pages of the notebook is still a regular task in addition clearly corrupt individuals such as the director of sakura tv were utilizing kira's name as a way to very obviously exploit profit for the past several years a man who puts his greed first and is only removed from a picture by mikami upon his acquisition of the notebook the world was accepting kira but was it truly a better world or was it merely becoming complacent so let's circle back to the main topic of the video did light yagami do anything wrong sure he did some pretty bad things but was it worth it in the end well for the first time in this series i think light yagami would be the first candidate we evaluated that is not eligible to join the did nothing wrong squad sure his goal may have been altruistic at surface level but i think it was merely a mask for a more selfish goal of a grab for power under the guise of making the world a better place i want you to think back to the hierarchy i mentioned notice this not only does light place himself at the very top but he also places those against him at the far bottom below the criminals he sought out to erase if light were truly seeking out to make the world a better place why are they the worst type of human in his eyes it's because they defy him light never took any chance to sway anyone to the other side because to him you're either chosen or you weren't it's why light doesn't intend to just simply be the new ruler of the world but in his eyes the god of it but there's something else i'd like to bring up the reason i said i would look more so at the manga over the anime and it's the primary reason i think it's impossible to say light did nothing wrong the ending now i know there's a popular fan theory among those who saw the anime thinking that light became a shinigami after the series but things play out very differently in the manga everything is approximately the same until the point where light commands mikami to kill for him in the anime mikumi fails to react only to later stab himself with a pen allowing light the chance to escape and die alone but in the manga things play out another way after light demands that mikami write down everyone's names mikumi rejects him decrying him is not a god but scum light frantically begins to beg others for help none of whom are there as light is truly alone until he turns to ryuk and demands that he write down their names everyone in the room panics as ryuk pulls out his notebook and light begins to laugh as he thinks he's one but ryuk reveals that he's not writing their names down he's written down lights light panics and begs not to die but it's too late and he more than anyone else should know what happens when someone's name is written down someone who has spent years upon years killing others innocent or not in the name of his vision fears death himself his final thoughts being a memory of what ryuk told him in the first place someone who uses the death note can't go to heaven or hell not because they would go to the shinigami realm but because nobody goes to heaven or hell everyone goes to the same place nothingness and with that light passes away knowing despite his years of work and tireless effort to become god everything was for nothing this is my favorite scene in all of death note not because it's a moment where light is humiliated in front of everyone but because i feel it reminds us a very important thing ryuk was never light's friend death note may have been the five-dimensional chess game between light and l to see who may come out on top but the one individual above it all was ryuk simply there to watch what would happen it makes ryuk the most powerful being in the series because everything was just his way of easing his boredom i didn't choose you don't you see this is all just an accident you actually thought you were chosen because you're so smart or something don't be so vain it just happened to fall around here and you just happened to pick it up and that's all there is to it you're asking me why i did it because i was bored and like a lesser being given a fraction of power from those above him light assumed he was on the same level as ryuk someone beyond this world but that was never the case light was a part of the game like everyone else and this scene we see as true colors a person who killed countless to be at the top of the world's hierarchy fear death like a child no different from any other tyrant before him there were a lot of ways light could have changed the world as akira keeping the same motivation and use of the notebook he could have avoided the entire cat and mouse game with elle to prove his superiority he could have ended it all by making the deal for the shinigami eyes having his lifespan in exchange to see the names of anyone he could have passed on his power seeing the identity of kira as something beyond even him the motivation to be a servant of his own ideology rather than something above its laws entirely instead light placed himself at the very center and he did so from the start and that was his downfall the moment that solidified him not as one seeking out justice but the one looking to form a new world order with himself at the top but i'm not gonna leave you off just like that i'm sure some of you were probably hoping i'd defend light a bit more and so let me leave you with a real mind blower everything i just said may not have been his fault [Music] well depending on your philosophical perception of corruption i suppose that's right you heard me we're circling back to round two of asking did light do anything wrong it all comes down to light's actions when he relinquishes ownership of the death note and his personality drastically changes as he actively seeks out kira he refuses to let misa be put in harm's way and most shockingly refuses to let l sit back and let people die just so kira could be caught so what's the deal here i think it comes back to the classic phrase absolute power corrupts absolutely the death note is something beyond human power and anyone who uses it evidently let it go to their head as a result and it becomes a curse being granted the power of a god makes one confused into thinking they are a god themselves it's said numerous times in the how to read book that had light never encountered the death note he very likely would have led a highly virtuous life and done great work in the japanese police alongside his father instead upon using the death note first it immediately corrupts him and potentially curses him into seeing himself as beyond his own morals the death note has had a similar effect on others as without her own memories miso loves light yagami over kira despite some sympathy for his actions and people like tara mikami recoil when they realize that they were not given power from a divine god but were rather being used by a twisted man was light truly the one in control or was he just another game piece with the purpose of providing entertainment to ryuk i'm not suggesting that ryuk was a total mastermind of the situation it's probably more akin to a child poking an ant hill but if anything it just continues to show that maybe he was the one on top all along if i had to give my own opinion personally i'd still place light yagami in the bad boy box i think there's too many things he does for selfish purposes and it goes against his own supposed cure ideology most notably as i mentioned designing the whole system with himself at the center of it placing those who deny him below people who commit crimes but i do see plenty of tragedy in him as i instead see a man who could have gone down a far more selfless path had he not used the notebook and ultimately when you reach that point from the philosophical perspective of the onlooker of the story is light the one to blame for using it or is the death note to blame as an object of corruption destroying the life of its owner i know these types of concepts weren't things that tsugumi oba sought to include when he created death note but i think plenty of people have taken value from the philosophy of death note and it's something i find deeply fascinating and i hope the comments of this video delve deeper into some of those perspectives of whether or not others would say light can be seen as doing things virtuously or if his actions are too selfish though if i had to choose someone in death note who i believe did nothing wrong my vote is for ryuk the guy just wants to sit back and watch what happens just like any of us in fact i'd say ryuk is so pure not only was he the only good thing to come from the live-action netflix death note movie but he was played to perfection by willem dafoe you know i'm something of a scientist myself seriously he carries the entire film on his back check it out if you have the chance i'm not gonna give the note to you or anybody else and if you [ __ ] with me again i'm gonna put your name in it [Laughter] you could try but i warn you there are four letters in my name most anyone's ever gotten were two hey guys if you made it to the end of the video thank you so much for watching thank you again for your support on this channel and for another fan voted video i know this one was maybe a little bit different from my other did nothing wrong videos but it was always my goal to evaluate characters rather than issuing the straight declaration what are your thoughts do you think light yagami did anything wrong am i the only one who gets an intense craving for apples after watching death note let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions for future videos please feel free to let me know in the comments or come hang out in the discord linked in the description below thank you so much for watching and i hope i could see you next time

Channel: The Doomer Den

Views: 16,042

Keywords: death note, light yagami, kira, kira death note, light yagami did nothing wrong, light yagami death, did nothing wrong, did nothing wrong squad, l death note, ryuk, shinigami, kira did nothing wrong, death note anime, death note manga, god of the new world, death note apples, villain protagonist

Id: wVH7TTtuhq0

Length: 18min 59sec (1139 seconds)

Published: Tue May 10 2022