#L analyzes

[skoulsons]

Thinking about the sniper section always

The first shot rings out and they all duck. Joel does not move until he sees Ellie and has a hand on her back to guide her to cover behind the car. And he keeps it there until they’re fully behind it and he checks to see where the shots are coming from.

“Stay here.” “What?”

Immediate fear. Some guys trying to snipe them and she doesn’t know from where, and Joel has the audacity to say ‘stay here’. She knows exactly what he’s thinking. That he is going after him. But Ellie fears for him, as capable as he is. She cares about him. She doesn’t want to lose him. Not in a setting like this. And just like their night out in the woods and after they crashed, he reassures her. He’s so good at that, isn’t he?

He faces her directly. He holsters his gun, turns completely around, puts his hands out in a ‘listen to me. I’m sure of this’ fashion, looks her dead in the eye, and speaks to her gently. Firmly, determined, but gentle.

“If you don’t move, he’s not gonna hit you.” Again, this same reassurance <3 she’s expressed fear over him more than anything, and he reassures her that she will be okay if she doesn’t move. Nothing about his safety, only hers and how to maintain it.

And he tells her his plan. He’s not hiding what he’s trying to do from her. He does this so she knows his mindset, where he’s going, and how he’s doing. Trying to calm her down the ways he knows how.

“But if you go out there, he’s gonna kill you.” I LOVE MUTUAL CONCERN. But she just says it outright. Expresses that fear and care outright.

“It’s dark and he has shit aim, nobody’s gonna kill me” what a roast. But true. He was an old man with a death wish.

“Then he’s gonna kill us!” She’s trying to keep him with her. She’s trying to give him a reason to stay down there with them. With her. So that he can stay down there and be by her side to protect her like they’ve become so adept at doing. And he thinks about this for a second. He doesn’t want to lose them, especially Ellie. But in the end, he knows better. He’s the one out of the four of them who can do this. And unless he runs out of ammo, they’re stuck there. And Joel wouldn’t willingly send any of them into possible fire if he can help it.

“Do you trust me?” She has no reason not to. He’s proven time and time again that he is trustworthy. From killing that first QZ soldier to the ambush to now. She has seen him protect her without a second thought. He has gained her trust through every encounter with infected or people. He’s gained it through their nights and days. He’s been honest in everything he’s told her. There’s very little room left to not trust him.

And eventually she nods, as reluctant as it is. If she says yes, he does it. If she says no, he does it anyway. As much as she wants him down there with her, she does trust him to protect her. To protect them.

And she watches him go until he’s completely out of sight [bonus- the very light and almost off screen hand on her arm as he’s walking away :’)]. Because she fears for him. Because she’s scared of him getting hurt. Of losing him. She cares about him, more than she knows what to deal with, and way more than he’s comfortable with. And to know he still tries to get rid of her next episode 🤣

And then Joel gets in the house and kills the old man, a shot goes off and Ellie immediately shoots up from behind the car. Because, for a moment, she thinks it’s him. But there wasn’t a struggle. Not multiple shots or any signs of them fighting. Just one shot, and it was his revolver, so she knows it was him. Besides, he promised her no one was going to kill him. And she trusts him

[spiraling-trap]

happy valentine’s day :)

better quality here

the text is an L line from the L romance route in the ds game ↓

[coddda]

Everyone knows that Light and L matched each other's freak but I think their dynamic in the musical (the Japanese ver specifically) is underrated. Like it's not super different from canon but they just had this extra edge of Violence that we never quite saw from the more methodical and careful mindgames in canon death note and I think it's great. Like, yes, they did declare in canon that they will bring each other to justice, yes L says he wants to send Kira to his execution, but in the lyrics of the musical they both outright say multiple times that they just want to straight up Kill each other. It's direct the whole way through. There's more mutual contempt. This game is about nothing more than simply being the first one to Kill the Other (they actually use the word "殺し合い" (koroshiau) or "to kill each other" to describe their game (translated as "murderous ... game")).

(Sidenote but all those references about wanting to send each other to Hell?? Beautiful)

Yeah this is a battle of justice and ideals, yes that clash is a key part of their final confrontation at the end of the musical, but throughout their duets (or even songs like The Game Begins where they're singing by themselves) there's this near singleminded desire to just fucking End each other. It's fucking Raw and it's great.

Also THIS FUCKING SCENE?? THIS SCENE FROM SECRETS AND LIES. Iconic. Actually Insane. My jaw dropped. Light looks like a crazy bitch it's beautiful.

Um. Also. Obligatory Playing His Game (yknow the gay sex song) lines dump. It basically says everything I just said above in like 9 lines. You see what I mean right.

In canon they're playing a game of mental chess, trying to use everyone around them to finally catch the other as their end goal, but in the musical you really do feel like all they see is each other. They would probably beat each other to death with their fists if it came down to that. Idk they're just so excited and fired up about their little game in the musical and it's so unhinged and fun and special and I love it. It's like the writers for the musical decided to kick their murderous intent up a couple notches and the result is absolutely Beautiful.

I also think that the intensity of their rivalry in the beginning just makes the wind-down of The Way It Ends soo much better. It's such a good contrast to their previous duets where they try to sing over each other (Secrets and Lies & Stalemate) or with each other but basically at the top of their lungs (Playing His Game). It feels like there's both a quiet mutual understanding but also an underlying disappointment that the game is finally over. In canon, L's death Is instead the peak of their game, the moment he gets confirmation that Light is Kira is the exact same moment that he dies. In the jdrama it's almost sudden, how L dies, after the quiet moment has already passed. But in the musical L's death, ironically, Is the one quieter moment in their game. Their peak was the game itself. It was Secrets and Lies and Playing His Game. But the end of the game in the musical is not a victory, it's just (as L says) the end of everything they'd been wanting up until this point.

Uh. Fuck it. Clip from the Kenji Urai version because I just love his delivery here. His tone just goes so well with the silence and the sound of the clock ticking. You see what I mean right.

Their rivalry in the musical may have been more shortlived but like Damn they were really enjoying every second of it. They were truly insane about each other until the very end. (Like despite everything I just said about the ending it was still unhinged as fuck. Light Making L Shoot Him and then Making L Shoot Himself with L's Own Hand?? Holy shit man. What the fuck /pos)

Musical Light and L your game might've been shorter but you'll always be famous <33 Please never inflict what you had on anyone else ever please stay in hell forever thank you

[leolaroot]

star trek fans specifically are crazy for that. you say "im not really comfortable watching tos because of the way captain kirk interacts with women" and 900000 people come crawling oit of the woodwork to say UM ACTUALLY kirk is a GENTLEMAN FEMINIST who is ALWAYS NICE and VERY BISEXUAL! and the only people who think he acts like that are the DUMB PIG CHAUVINIST MEN who think kirk is LIKE THEM! okay im actually referring to how he constantly grabs at women esp when they're unhappy and physically restrains them. or the weird sexually charged comments he makes. or his persistent assumption of all women as available and simple things to be acquired or controlled. and sometimes they lobby back with the "well Its Made In The Sixties so of course its Dated but its still PROGRESSIVE!" okay well its so dated that im not comfortable. i cant just say to myself "oh well it was another time" and immediately become blind to whats happening before my eyes.

[bazpango]

[WIP] Looking forward to inking these

[anaphoraholic]

i really wish death note gave us more insight into the minds of the characters?? like on one hand i like the freedom it gives to the fandom space but also... misa's parents were fucking murdered in front of her... how does that affect her mentality... what the hells going On with light yagami just in general... i have so many questions </3

i feel the characters are only shown at surface level with little to no complexity even though the complexity... the nuance... its right there...

[nezz-cringe-crib]

ONCE AGAIN. FUCKING.

FUCKING SOICHIRO AND L MAN. WHY THEY. WHY. WHY THEY GOTTA. WHY ☹️☹️☹️

[aba-daba-dooo]

I started rewatching Brooklyn 99 with my family because they wanted another cop comedy after finishing Psych. But I’m reminded that the thing I really like about Psych is that it doesn’t fall into the “clean up the streets” trope. So many cop shows have a main character who thinks of criminals as human garbage or think that sending people to jail ultimately betters the world. And they make that stance very clear. But Shawn is really just invested in doing the right thing by someone else. He doesn’t just immediately go for the obvious suspect. He openly believes and makes friends with convicts. He finds redeeming qualities in criminals who people would otherwise despise, like Yang and Despereaux. He works hard to right his wrongs when it comes to cases. (Maybe this is because he breaks the law at least once per episode and really can’t judge anyone? Like he sees other humans as his equals and it’s kinda refreshing.) It’s just very cool how subtly different the take on good vs evil is in the show. Morality is fluid and I like it.

[llawlieta]

I love L outsourcing his moral compass to Soichiro

[numbuh424]

Let's talk composition in the jdrama. L is always on the brighter side of the frame while Light is on the darker side.

[skoulsons]

Remembering how Joel purposefully tugged on Ellie’s (little) gun (that’s for you z love you) when he was teaching her how to handle it correctly. How Ellie had to shoot a kid (a failure on Joel’s part—so he blames himself because he, as we all well know, was ‘too slow and too fuckin’ deaf to hear him comin’) and Joel saw how it affected her and, maybe in a way, knew how it was getting to him, too. To do it for his own peace of mind. To make her smile after she had to shoot someone and then have the conversation they just did.

He didn’t have to tug on it. He could’ve said, ‘look it’ and tugged it once to show her that her grip on it was good and that would be that. He did it another time, exaggerated it even, just to get that reaction out of her.

A way of saying, “I’m not mad,” I think. A way to show he was sorry she had to do that. A way to show that he was sorry for not being able to protect her enough that it reached the point that she had to protect him.

An apology, a thanks, a gift

[wellgoslowly]

thinking of the zoom in on both lockwood's and Lucy's faces when they first meet- the fact that not only did the entire mood shift when they met, but they had to emphasize it by using a zoom on both of their expressions upon meeting each other for the first time. it literally mirrors how it feels to meet someone you're instantly attracted to/interested in- the world zeroing on you and that person for just a split second. Lucy meets a lot of new people throughout the show, especially in the first episode, and none of them are introduced with a slow zoom like that and none of the introductions give emphasis to both parties reactions upon meeting the other. like- they really said "these context clues aren't enough we gotta make sure that no one can miss the chemistry between these guys and how they instantly become extremely important to each other"

[coddda]

Hiiiiiii. Episode 25/26 lawlight analysis rant thingy here. I don't know how to write an intro for this so let's just get to it LOL

I think one of the reasons that the rain/foot scenes stick out so much (the. Sheer insanity of a Foot Massage Scene in an anime revolving around two guys trying to kill each other aside 💀) is the fact that the anime specifically suffers a bit in terms of adapting a few of the "emotional" moments in death note.

And I don't mean "emotionally impactful" exactly. For example I think the adaptations of scenes like Raye and Naomi's deaths were very impactful and the atmospheres of their final scenes were great, but I mean more from a characterization standpoint (if that makes sense). Being more focused on mind and logic games, Death Note as a whole isn't as invested in individual characters' deeper feelings as it is in its action (which isn't necessarily a criticism per say, it's simply part of the nature of a mystery thriller series). But just because they're fewer and farther between doesn't mean there are none at all. In the manga we do get to see, for example, how much Light actually cared for his family and especially Sayu, and how he actually felt more conflicted and suffered lack of sleep/appetite when he first used the Death Note.

The anime specifically as an adaptation is pretty good at adapting the main mind fuckery and action of Death Note, but its lacking in properly adapting scenes like the ones I mentioned above is a criticism I see somewhat often, and it's pretty fair imo. Compared to all the other adaptations, it certainly seems to fall short on an emotional level: the musical has entire songs going in depth about the characters feelings and relationships, the 2015 jdrama is. Insane and has its emotional moments in spades (because it's a TV drama, which are more focused on portraying emotional conflict and the like), even the 2006 movies has its emotional beats and L Change the WorLd is. Well. Oh Man.

Anime Light to a lot of people is like. Light but he's "already evil" (which I have my own thoughts on but I digress). Light but after using the Death Note for like 2 minutes he's already like "fuck yeah time to kill criminals". Basically the anime doesn't take as much time to delve into his less cynical sides or really delve into his already vague and harder to decipher feelings in general, he is noticeably colder from the get-go here, etc.

But that's part of why I think episode 25 manages to stand out so much tonally (apart from it being, y'know, the episode L literally Dies). I love the episode so much and could probably rant for hours about how much I love the artistic choices made in it but what I'm trying to get at here is that it's one of the very few moments where the show tries to go deeper into specific character's emotions, and one of the very few moments where the show Attempts (emphasis on "attempts" because, well, you'll see in a bit) to get more in-depth into Light's feelings apart from his cynicism/apathy/justice. ness.

L in these two scenes in episode 25 is, well, pretty damn open about how he feels. It's usually interpreted as him knowing that he's going to die, and you can see it. He visibly looks/sounds lost, somber, etc. He never really had much to hide around Light to begin with (since he doesn't really care about hiding himself the same way Light does) but especially not now and it Shows, and I personally thought it was pretty cool to delve into his thoughts/show how he feels this way. The somberness can be felt throughout the entire scene, even people who don't already know the plot of Death Note from the manga could probably tell that he's about to die.

In the manga, once L starts suspecting Misa again and Rem realizes what Light is trying to do, it goes straight to Watari and L's deaths, but the anime instead gives a distinct and unexpected pause in the middle of this where L contemplates his own death. It's fucking great, and the shift from straight action to slower emotional weight makes these scenes stand out a lot, since, like I said, the show usually focuses more on the former. But it's kind of ironic, too.

Not only does the anime open up L's feelings more in these scenes, but it also tries to dig deeper into Light's feelings as well through L. And it's really funny honestly because while, yes, these are the more "emotionally open" scenes of the anime Light still manages to be Incredibly avoidant and contribute almost nothing to the entire ordeal.

L is visibly upset -> "Yeah Ryuzaki, you're not making any sense at all" (Not addressing the obvious conflict from L)

"Tell me, Light. From the moment you were born, has there ever been a point where you've actually told the truth?" -> "[The most stale, over-explained, avoidant answer to a "yes/no" question that you could ever hear + blatant attempts to reframe the question]"

(L's half-smile here kills me) "I had a feeling you'd say something like that" -> [Nothing]

"I'm sorry" -> [Nothing]

"It'll be lonely won't it? You and I will be parting ways soon" -> [Nothing]

^ From this point Light continues to say literally Nothing for the rest of the scene. I'm not even joking, from then on the rest of Light's voicelines are reduced to nothing but vague noises of confusion.

Everytime L calls Light out as a person ("Has there ever been a point where you've actually told the truth?" / "I had a feeling you'd say something like that." / "Won't it be lonely?") he doesn't actually acknowledge anything. Out of those three lines, he only answers verbally to if he's ever told the truth, and even then it's the most blatantly people-pleasing answer ever, as it usually is with Light. And I don't think it's because Light just. Doesn't care about any of what L's saying at all, or that he doesn't know what the hell he's talking about (questioning Light's authenticity as a person, saying it would be lonely when they part), instead he's choosing not to acknowledge any of what this means about himself or him and L at all. He's like a fucking wall.

And like, for the truth question in particular, the show makes sure that you know it's not something that Light just. Doesn't care enough about to answer. The hard cuts to silence are a very rare but extremely effective way that the show conveys an extremely important moment (see: Light regaining his memories, Matsuda noticing Light opening the warehouse door before he escapes (not as much of a "direct" cut to silence but still)), and cuts to multiple angles/framings/zooms of the exact same shot are also used for the same purpose (see: Light hugging Misa when she was crying, Matsuda aiming his gun to shoot Light, Light regaining his memories Again). Just like the scene where Light gets his memories back, the moment L's question finishes the show utilizes both. That question cut Deep. There's is a solid Almost 5 seconds of silence before the sound of the rain gradually starts fading back in, and honestly that should be telling enough as is (but of course Light doesn't actually admit that. Or anything at all really, so). Oh also another fun detail! We do not see Light's face At All (except for the shot where you can see his mouth moving but not his eyes), for the Entire time that he's going on his spiel to L. We Will Be Revisiting This Later, by the way. This is not, in fact, the first time you're going to see this detail from Light.

The only sort of reciprocation that we see from Light during Any of these two scenes is when Light dries L's hair while L dries his feet. Biblical meanings/references aside it's interesting because it's the only time he directly does anything "for" L in these scenes, but even then he doesn't try to pass it off as anything meaningful really the same way L does ("You're still soaked", a purely neutral and factual statement. It doesn't Add Anything compared to L's. Sin atonement loneliness grieving stuff. While Light is showing his own reciprocation to this more personal moment he also tries to keep it impersonal enough that it doesn't actually have to mean anything deep). And when L says "I'm sorry" after he once again gets no response from Light. It's also after this that L gets that pained look on his face, like he knows that at this point he's not actually going to get anything meaningful from Light (again, very significant and rare from L in the show. We've seen him in distress (see: when Ukita died, hell, when Watari dies), but even then he mostly manages to keep his usually neutral expression), we never see him "look sad" like he does here):

I just think it's interesting that this is one of the few scenes in this particular adaptation of Death Note where they try to open up the character's thoughts/feeling (especially considering the fact that they. lowkey blunder in adaptations of original scenes from the manga), and L himself is being rather open (not that he ever really tries to hide what he thinks nearly as much as Light), and yet all Light contributes to it in return is like. Actually nothing. Bro fumbled it. There is no resolution to any of this, to any of what L asks at all, to any of the many opportunities for a meaningful conversation, and the only thing even relatively close to an answer that you can get from Light is what you can infer from how he acts in the episode after L dies, where he's just going through the motions, but hardly acting as if he's actually living at all.

(Honestly I think the transition from this scene with the taskforce to the subsequent scene with Misa says enough on its own. Light's expressions and tone says everything:)

(Oh sidenote but. This shit again:

"Light, this is our first date in forever. can't you enjoy yourself a little more?" ('Why don't you seem happy? We can finally be together since L is dead') -> No response, Light instead changing the topic to him wanting to move in with Misa without changing his mannerisms at all

Also there's that one detail again. You pretty much don't see Light's expression when he speaks here at all, except for one shot of his eyes, which is quite literally the exact same shot they used when he "saw" L, just altered for the new setting. You have No idea what he looks like when he's responding to Misa, although it's probably fair to assume that it's the same empty stare he has for the whole Two Shots where you can clearly see his whole expression in the entire scene.

Something something Light Yagami bad at feelings I think you get the point though)

I guess Light's Kind of showing what he's feeling now? He'll admit to himself that it's boring without L, but no more than that. Light never actually admits to anything "significant", and L's dead already anyway, so what would that even do?

And then we get, uh. Basically nothing from Light. For the next 5 Years. Except that he joined the NPA, so, uh, yay? Good job, Light you totally nailed it! Thank you for allowing us as an audience to delve deeper into your inner thoughts and feelings as a character so we can find out more about you as a person! Very helpful! Thank you for not sabotaging one of your few dedicated opportunities to look into yourself as a person and reflect on your relationships with others and being 100% honest with yourself! We stay winning guys.

Anyway, this got way too long for a scene that's over a decade old, and I've probably just said everything that everyone else has already said in this fandom before. But unfortunately this has been living in my head for way too long and I must scream. I just think this episode's neat is all :)

tl;dr Part of the reason why the rain/foot scene (tbh episode 25 in General) stands out so much is because the Death Note anime specifically was a bit robbed in terms of its more emotional character moments compared to the other medias, which makes more somber/introspective scenes like the ones in episode 25 stand out a Lot in comparison. But it's also incredibly ironic because it's one of the few moments where the show (or specifically L) tries to look deeper into Light's character, but because he is so avoidant for the entire duration of these two scenes he adds basically nothing at all. It's almost funny. Mostly sad. It's also very gay. Aand post

Okay actually nevermind one more thing I talked about how the jdrama is supposed to be more emotionally in-depth because it is a TV Drama and just for the record, same thing happens there! I could probably do an entire analysis of the Blue Scene in this context like I did with episode 25 but I'd literally be here forever, so uh, just take this iconic line as my main example:

Same Thing. L's statement "I wish we could have met some other way" is personal. It's his own wish, his own regret that he is expressing to Light. While Light's reply obviously has that same regret implied it's also phrased in a specifically impersonal way. It's closed off. "This is the only way we could have met" it closes off the topic and simply renders L's wish as ultimately futile. Light does not say that he Also wishes he could have met L a different way even if it was likely impossible, instead it's a cold statement of cynical fact.

Idk just. Something something L being able and Willing to be more openly sentimental/emotionally open towards Light/about Light vs. Light's inability to be honest with anyone including himself and his own nature preventing any form of meaningful reciprocation. Something something self-sabotage, y'know the drill. God don't even get me Started on how sincere L's tone is when he says "It'll be lonely won't it?"(at least in the eng dub) in the anime I could talk about his tone in that scene for ages. Also yes all of this relates to L Change the WorLd too by the way. Don't ask how it just does okay.

I do think that scenes like these (rain/foot scene, The Blue Scene. Uh. L Change the WorLd The Novel Adaptation) show, at least in those adaptations, that L does genuinely care for Light, and show that he values him as a friend not just in the mindgame-equal sense but also just like, a more sincere sense you know. Idk if that made any sense and that's a whole other topic for another day but you guys just have to believe me on this one alright please please believe me buries head in hands. Okay post over finally thanks for coming to my tedtalk hope you enjoyed my very-unnecessarily long analysis of the week

[13eyond13]

I think the moment Light's crush on L first smacked him in the manga (like when it finally rooted and started blooming in his guts) was when L was like "you're my first ever friend" whilst smirking into his teacup. And not because Light fully believed he was being sincere about being friends, but because he KNEW L was slyly teasing him and speaking to him on more than one level at once. Nothing more unexpected funny flattering and intriguing than that for him right then

[drop--pop--candy]

feeling a lot like ichika in that one 4koma rn

[edgepunk]

it's actually insane to me that shows like SU and S/he-Ra caused so much rancid discourse on here rather than Bre/aking Ba/d