#Aiber

[fndmfrenzy]

I rewatched Death Note focusing on the japanese 1st person pronouns the characters use (because I'm an otaku and I find it interesting). I'm not an expert, so I'm mainly going to point out everyone's pronouns and add a little analysis/opinion based on what I know or read online about their usage. Some characters probably won't get explanations because I have nothing to say. Also: since this is a piece of fiction the pronouns can tell us more about someone's personality. Also: I can only analyze the formality of the pronouns not the rest of the speech, because I don't know japanese that well!

Warning: like half of this post is about Higuchi because he's funny to me. And I included all of Yotsuba, who are pretty minor characters.

Kira Task Force:

Light Yagami Starting with Light as the main character, his pronoun of choice is 僕 (ぼく/boku). Boku is typically used by boys and young men. It's considered polite and humble. If I'm not mistaken only 2 other characters in Death Note use boku (Matsuda and Hatori from Yotsuba). It's a fitting pronoun for the perfect student and son, Light Yagami. It also gives a funny contrast to his ego-driven Kira speeches.

There is a couple of situations when Light uses 私 (わたし/watashi) (because it's gender neutral, and more... neutral in general). It's when he acts as L or Kira on the phone with someone, so in situations where he's trying to hide his identity.

L L uses 私 (わたし/watashi). It's gender neutral and usually used by men in formal settings. L comes accross as wanting to sound polite (he always uses honorifics for people, even correcting himself one time when he forgets to do so with Matsuda).

He yells out "Matsuda", but then corrects it to "Matsuda-san". He also calls Light "Light-kun" or "Yagami-kun". It's a funny contrast that he cares about this, because otherwise he isn't very polite (especially to Matsuda).

In the anime (sadly I don't think he uses any pronouns in that scene in the manga) when he calls Matsuda (who's in Yotsuba building) and pretends to be his friend he uses 俺 (おれ/ore).

Matsuda As I said earlier, he uses the same pronouns as Light - boku. He's the youngest member of the Task Force (save for Light and L) and his pronoun gives him that youthful feeling.

One situation I've heard him use a different pronoun was when he got busted by the Yotsuba Group, and introduced himself with 私 (わたくし/watakushi) - an even more polite version of watashi. Oh, he also uses watashi on Sakura TV, for similar reasons to Light's usage of watashi.

Soichiro Yagami 私 (わたし/watashi). I don't think he's ever shown using a different one? We only see most of the Kira Task Force at work, so it's expected that they all use formal pronouns.

Aizawa 私 (わたし/watashi). Except for when he's quitting the Task Force, then he switches to 俺 (おれ/ore). Ore is a masculine informal pronoun, considered more rude and rough. He's angry at L and it shows.

Mogi 私 (わたし/watashi), I think, but he doesn't talk much.

Team Kira:

Misa Amane Misa's main pronoun is her name. She basically talks about herself in 3rd person, which might sound silly in english, so most translations don't include it. It's cutesy and childlish and she probably does this as part of her idol persona.

She also uses 私 (わたし/watashi) at times (which is basically the most common pronoun used by women). As I mentioned before, it's considered formal when men use it, but for women it can be both formal and informal. Well, she uses it formally (when it's weird to just use Misa) for example in the Yotsuba interview. And of course, just like Light she uses watashi when posing as Kira (on the tapes in Sakura TV, on the phone in the 2nd part of the series).

Here's Misa using watashi during the interview:

Teru Mikami 私 (わたし/watashi)

Kiyomi Takada 私 (わたし/watashi)

Shinigami:

Ryuk 俺 (おれ/ore)

Rem 私 (わたし/watashi)

Yotsuba Arc:

Most of my research comes from Yotsuba arc (like all the specific examples above...) so I'm including the Yotsuba Group guys. But first, others from this arc.

Aiber 俺 (おれ/ore) usually, 私 (わたし/watashi) when acting as Eraldo Coil.

Wedy 私 (わたし/watashi)

Yotsuba Group: First I have to say that we see them most of them only at work, so they're going to use formal pronouns.

Hatori 僕 (ぼく/boku), but he uses watashi once when keeping watch on Matsui.

Takahashi He doesn't use any in the Kira Meetings (because he doesn't talk much). I'm pretty sure I heard him using ore (maybe at the party?), but I couldn't find it in the manga.

Namikawa 私 (わたし/watashi)

Mido 私 (わたし/watashi)

Shimura He actually is only shown using 俺 (おれ/ore). Even at the meetings. He's a very unassuming guy, so I feel like there's a contrast with him using the informal ore with his coworkers, when most of the others use watashi.

Namikawa and Mido still use formal watashi, even when the three of them are hanging out at Mido's house. The only one using ore is again, Shimura.

I think thanks to his kind personality his usage of ore gives a sense of familiarity, instead of sounding crass.

Ooi 私 (わたし/watashi) in the meetings. In a call with Kida, he uses 俺 (おれ/ore). I want to add that in a work setting ore can be used by people that are either older or in superior positions. Ooi is the oldest in the group, and de facto leads the meetings, but idk if it means anything. Maybe he uses watashi with the group, but ore one-on-one? Maybe that's the etiquette?

Kida 私 (わたし/watashi)

Higuchi We get more scenes with him and we get to see him switching pronouns. One of them is 私 (わたし/watashi). He uses it in those situations: - talking to Rem (and/or himself). He seems to respect her so he's usually formal when talking to her. This might be also him talking to himself, but since Rem's there let's assume it's at least half-aimed at her... Anyway, here Higuchi talks about marrying Misa:

Even when giving this ego-driven speech (again, about marrying Misa and some more...) he uses watashi:

Talking with Rem in the car:

- thinking. He's kinda inconsistent because he thinks with both watashi and ore. Mostly watashi though. Maybe he uses ore when he feels more confident? Here after confessing to Misa he's Kira:

And some more:

At least in two of those he's like "my life is over, i'll lose my job... oh and go to jail and maybe die... but my job...!"

- in formal/business setting. Ok that's a stretch, but before making this post I was convinced he used it more in the series. We can assume he would in a formal situation, but it doesn't happen in the manga so I have no proof. Huh. Here he pretends to be a lost businessman before shooting Light's dad:

Then there's 俺 (おれ/ore). It's typically used by men around family and friends. It can sound cocky, and indicates a sense of masculinity. Situations where Higuchi uses ore include:

- talking to coworkers. Higuchi doesn't talk that much during meetings and if he does he doesn't use any pronouns. I was wondering if he's more like Ooi (watashi during meetings, ore outside meetings) or Shimura (always ore). I think it's the second based on these two panels:

At least I think it's him talking to Shimura? This moment was cut from the anime so we don't know who's saying it, but it fits Higuchi (and the person saying it uses ore so that excludes most of the people there). The panel below it shows him responding to Mido with ore.

Below are other moments he uses ore with coworkers, during the Misa interview and on the phone with Mido:

Like with most things Higuchi does I think he's going for nonchalant, but it comes across as sloppy and disrespectful. Just look at him here:

His chair is so far back, he's leaning in it with crossed arms. He's trying to show how much he doesn't give a fuck about this interview... Even if it's in his interest to get info about L from Misa! Talk about posturing.

- date with Misa, including his Kira confession. I think it's common for men to use ore when talking to women they're pursuing? I've read about a shoujo manga where the male lead usually uses watashi, but it's a big moment when he switches to ore with the female lead to show he's serious about her (/interested in her romantically).

- thinking. This one happens before he confesses he's Kira:

And he uses ore after making the eye deal when he's like "I'm invincible" (lol). I don't know what to get from this, but there's like 3 panels where he thinks with ore as compared to 6+ with watashi.

Wammy's house:

Near 私 (わたし/watashi)

Mello 俺 (おれ/ore). He's the odd one out when compared to formal L and Near. Well, he is a thug and works with the mafia.

Matt 俺 (おれ/ore). I was surprised to find it so easily considering his lack of screentime.

[mizzmellos]

L has an exceptionally sound screening process for his employees.

[suddenlymicah]

death note birthdates(dd/mm/yyyy)

for most of these i used aliases, but for characters commonly known as otherwise (jack neylon/kal saydar) i used the more common of the two. these were all retrieved from volume 13: how to read, as well as being in the order they are stated. please please please tell me if i got something wrong!!!

Light Yagami, 28/02/1986

L, 31/10/1979

Mello, 13/12/1989

Near, 24/08/1991

Misa Amane, 25/12/1984

Teru Mikami, 07/06/1982

Kiyomi Takada, 12/07/1985

Soichiro Yagami, 12/07/1955

Touta Matsuda, 14/12/1978

Shuichi Aizawa, 11/05/1969

Kanzo Mogi, 12/07/1973

Hideki Ide, 29/09/1969

Hirokazu Ukita, 09/11/1977

Sayu Yagami, 18/06/1989

Sachiko Yagami, 10/10/1962

Raye Penber, 31/12/1974

Naomi Misora, 11/02/1976

Aiber, 17/07/1969

Wedy, 02/11/1974

Watari, 01/05/1933

Matt, 01/02/1990

Roger Ruvie, 29/04/1939

Kyosuke Higuchi, 06/06/1972

Reiji Namikawa, 03/08/1974

Takeshi Ooi, 31/03/1961

Shingo Mido, 25/01/1972

Eiichi Takahashi, 19/12/1963

Suguru Shimura, 21/07/1968

Masahiko Kida, 20/10/1971

Arayoshi Hatori, 22/03/1971

Anthony Rester, 06/01/1968

Stephen Gevanni, 01/09/1982

Halle Lidner, 18/02/1980

Rod Ross, 13/04/1968

Kal Saydar, 23/02/1973

Hitoshi Demegawa, 04/04/1966

[m1nionlvr]

aiber and wedy are suchhh underrated death note characters

ESPECIALLY WEDY SHE'S SO COOL

[nebulamist]

Death Note Hunger Games Sim. — Finale

Part 1

Part 2

Sayu falls into a frozen lake and drowns.

Noooo! I was rooting for you! 😭

😢

Namikawa poisons Naomi’s drink, but mistakes it for his own and dies.

Tbh, I think Namikawa would be smarter than that. But I guess we have a winner now…

Naomi Misora!

I suppose if anyone deserves it, it’s her.

Rankings and summary of the game below the cut:

Summary:

Rankings:

Sayu was brutal in this one.

5 kills?

We need to use the image again.

[mechadeimos]

[g0blin-artz]

There’s like no fanart of Aiber and honestly I find that completely unacceptable, so here are my sillies.

[deathnotewiki]

April 7, 2004:

Light Yagami and L play a game of tennis.

Soichiro Yagami collapses due to stress.

April 7, 2005: Aiber (real name: Thierry Morelle) is killed by the power of the Death Note.

[captainhysunstuff]

Light made L some chocolate, but L’s not dumb enough to eat it right away.  ...So, he makes Aiber taste test it to Light’s annoyance.

Script below the cut:

L on the left holding a bag of chocolates.  Light on the right smiling and wiping his forehead.

Light:  Happy Valentine’s Day!  I made you chocolate!

L:  Oh.  Thank you, Light.

Light:  It was harder than I thought would be, but I think they came out all right!

L:  Here Aiber.  Take one.

Aiber:  *comes in on the left and takes a heart-shaped chocolate from the bag* Thanks, boss!  *eats one*

Light:  ?!

L:  *walks off to the left* If Aiber dies in the next 24 hours, Light is Kira.

Aiber:  *scared*

Light:  *enraged* Hey!  I’m not Kira!!

Aiber:  *fearfully looks at Light, thinking* Oh, boy... It’s the Lindy experiment all over again.  *gulps*

Light:  *addresses Aiber* Don’t look at me like that.  I DIDN’T poison them!

*Aiber is referring to the Lind L. Taylor broadcast.

[13eyond13]

Hello! Random ask, reading the manga again, I couldn't help but notice the kind of special relationship L has with Aiber. Almost friendly. He allows Aiber to have initiative, praises him, is concerned about his safety.... I wonder if those two could actually have been friends, like close friends, in an AU where they both survived.... Like, Aiber being that good close outgoing friend, the extrovert of the pair, to have brought L out of his semi-isolation....

Haha, I thought they had an oddly interesting dynamic as well! My fave is how L urges Aiber to be careful and lets him take liberties with one of his aliases and whatnot. Aiber and Wedy are definitely fun possible closer relationships to imagine for L (I kinda wish it didn't say in canon that he'd never met them in person before, because that would leave more up to speculation about how friendly they actually had been with each other previously – it'd just be fun to me if maybe L had some hinted-at relationships like that in the past at times, especially with criminals he'd formerly been hunting down).

[queeranotkira]

I wish Aiber and Wedy were in the game

I want his smug conman ass to swipe in and secondhand embarrass L in front of everyone

[irevanity]

a career conman and a suspiciously good lockpicker walk into a bar

[loserlawliet]

[nirvanario]

she’s shrimply the best‼️

[randomanimeandmangablog]

Light: L, I was thinking of sending Aiber a birthday card.

L: That's nice.

Light: What's his real name again?

L:...

[nebulamist]

Death Note Hunger Games Sim. — Part 1

Hey! So I thought it would be fun to do one of these and share the results on tumblr.

Let’s start by meeting our cast!

Let the games begin!

Wedy falls into a pit and dies.

She would never. (She’s just hiding guys! Right?!)

B repeatedly stabs Watari to death with a sais.

Okay, but why could I actually see this happening?

Aizawa scares Light away from the cornucopia.

Lmao.

Mogi, Sayu, Soichiro, and Light raid Aizawa’s camp while he is hunting.

Ahaha, family camp raiding! Poor Aizawa.

Rester sets an explosive off, killing Misa.

RIP

Matt and Light decide to jump down the rabbit hole to Wonderland, which turns out to be a pit of rocks.

HELLO?!?!

Matsuda eats a scorpion, thinking it is a delicate dessert.

Noooo! My blorbo! 😭

Sayu drowns Mello, who she thought was a shark trying to eat her.

Omg, this is hilarious. RIP Mello.

Damn, that’s a lot of people. RIP guys.

Aizawa and B tell stories about themselves to each other.

I want to hear that conversation!

Aizawa begs for Ide to kill him. He refuses, keeping Aizawa alive.

Damn, were B’s stories that bad?

Namikawa, L, Sayu, Gevanni, and Naomi track down and kill Mogi.

What did Mogi do?! 😭

RIP.

L and Sayu tell stories about themselves to each other.

Okay, but this would actually be an interesting conversation to hear.

B dies from hunger.

It’s literally only been 2 days. Wimp.

Sachiko receives a hatchet from an unknown sponsor.

She deserves it. ✨

Sayu, Naomi, Namikawa, and L hunt for other tributes.

I love how Sayu is on here.

RIP gremlin.

To be continued…