#NEAR /

[vamphorica]

Because I hate being happy for more than two hours at a time, I've been considering to what extent Matt knew that Takada's kidnapping was a suicide mission.

I've been looking at this screenshot while I've been using it as a reference for a drawing and given that the poor boy is only designated sixty-nine seconds of screentime in the anime, I think it is interesting that there's a substantial pause on this specific frame. Matt is surrounded by Takada's bodyguards, unable to get out of the predicament he has found himself in. At this point, he believes there are two possible outcomes: he will either be arrested, or shot dead. You could interpret his expression here as apathetic, as that is how he tends to be characterised, but he sits in his car and looks out towards the row of headlights for about seven seconds. He considers his situation, acknowledging the number of men pointing their guns at him, and then he leaves his car.

The question is, did it occur to him then, or had he known beforehand, that his death was inevitable? Remember – Matt is one of a few characters in Death Note to be killed 'traditionally'. Should we take the Shinigami Eyes into consideration here, we have to assume that Matt is fated to die at this exact moment in time, regardless of circumstance. There is nothing that would have saved him from his demise that day.

However, I do wonder if, at nineteen years old, he is truly apathetic about his own life. I genuinely believe Mello sees his own death as an inevitable sacrifice, but I am not so convinced that Matt actually cares enough about defeating Kira to lay his life down for the cause alone. The manga suggests he leaves his car almost immediately upon being caught, and his final words, sadly, suggest a lack of foresight about the gravity of danger he is in.

Kira's world is not one in which justice prevails as Light envisioned, but rather it is an autocratic reign of terror. There is absolutely no chance in which Matt would be detained in a society in which death is considered the appropriate solution to crime. He is a Wammy's boy, but even if he had not have been associated with the House, Matt would have still been aware that his risk of death is heightened exponentially through his association with Mello alone.

In the anime, when Matt looks out the window of his car, we hear his inner monologue. Nonchalant, there is no fear to be heard in Drew Nelson's performance of the lines, and Matt's awareness of his impending death is presented as being limited. Is it an act? Or is Matt portrayed as lacking self awareness to such an extreme extent? Perhaps to 'justify' Matt's position as the third successor to L, Ohba felt the need to present Matt as ignoring the inevitable, but at least to me, this feels like it greatly undermines his intelligence. He may not be competing against Mello and Near, but that does not negate the fact he was still raised in the same institution that they were. All the children are freakishly smart, that is the whole point.

Did Mello propose the plan to kidnap Takada to Matt with the acknowledgement that they were both likely to be killed? Mello's final thoughts in the manga and anime are asking Matt for forgiveness, his death apparently unanticipated by the former, which feels like a failure in writing the deaths of these two in a manner that reflected who they were.

Matt is, by all accounts, a fandom project rather than a fully developed character within the Death Note canonical universe, but we are aware that Matt was created for Mello. I hardly expect Death Note to explore the intricacies of such themes in the series (particularly given, as much as I hate to admit it, Mello and Matt are not the main characters within the franchise). However, even with the rather minimal source material provided to us by both manga and anime, we are made aware that the two have a very unique relationship. They know each other intimately, and Matt does not fear Mello as many of the other characters in the series do.

Mello does not want Matt to die. He values Matt and while one could attribute the gratitude for him to the popular fan narrative that Matt is the one to look after Mello after the explosion, or indeed the idea that the two are in a relationship, their interactions with one another already set up their alliance as one that appears to transcend the regular boundaries of friendship. Again, I'm pulling a lot from fanon here, I know. Take it up with Ohba.

Narratively, if Mello has to die, so too does Matt. Ohba could not foresee this character that is so dependent on another to live beyond him. Yet I simply refuse to believe that Mello would have placed someone so important to him in a compromising position where the likelihood that he will be killed is almost certain. As much as I believe that Mello's final thoughts being directly addressed to the deceased Matt demonstrates an important ode to their relationship, I cannot understand how Mello would have been shocked to hear of Matt's death, given the risk.

We know Mello was fully aware that he was going to die that night. If he did not die, Near would have, and I think to Mello that would have been the greatest loss he could have suffered in their ongoing conflict. Regardless of whether you believe Mello cared about Near to any extent or not, I genuinely cannot imagine Mello would have been happy to succeed as L had it been attained through Near's 'sacrifice'. I am actually exploring an AU of this very idea in a fanfiction I intend to publish early next year, in case you're interested, haha.

This returns to the question as to when Matt realises he is not surviving this mission. Presumably Mello asked for his cooperation, and in doing so, he would have had to explain the plan to Matt which, quite frankly, reveals Mello's intent to die as soon as it is advantageous to do so. Given that Mello did not want Matt to be killed, did Mello reassure Matt that he had created the plan to guarantee his safety? Did Matt believe him? Was Mello deliberately vague, only telling Matt that he needed to set off the smoke gun, then hit the gas and get away from Takada's security team?

As far as I can tell, there is no reason as to why Mello would have been dishonest with Matt, explaining what he was planning to do and why. Perhaps he even suggested to Matt that he could find someone else to take on his position, given the danger he anticipated they would be in. Matt is, as I think the series makes clear, very loyal to Mello, and so I doubt such a proposal was even considered, but I think it is safe to assume that if Mello knew how this plan would end, so too would Matt, whether Mello explicitly told him or not. He would have figured it out.

When Matt and Mello part ways for the final time, not shown to us in either the manga or the anime, they both know that they are saying their last goodbye to one another. I think Mello hopes that Matt will survive somehow, experience a Kira-free world and move on with his life, but I believe Matt knows, well before he got caught, that there is no escape from the inevitability of his death.

Maybe, when he steps out of the car, confronted by the 'big guns', he holds out a little faith that at least he might see Mello again soon.

[xxlmug]

Lights hatred

Something I find funny is that Light clearly hated Near much much more than L.

He would genuinely start having a breakdown due to how much he despises Near, his voice would change entirely to one of pure hate. His voice actor did amazing on that note. But with L Light was much much more kind of calm sometimes, and was never down right aggressively toned about L constantly as he is with Near.

Put Light in a room with Near and Light would try and kill Near with his own bare hands out of anger, but put him with L and they'll attack each other but never try and truly kill each other with their bare hands.

I like that contrast dearly.

[official-mello]

Why do you call him "bighead" when your forehead stretches for miles?

Those bangs are there for a reason dear lord

If you had access to Google...

ALSO THAT IS A DRAWING. SHUT UP. IN CASE YOU DIDN'T NOTICE, HE HAS LONGER BANGS THAN I DO.

[queen0fm0nsterz]

Saw a twitter post about Near and L with the "do I look like him?" caption and it got me to feel so viscerally sad because... he does. He does look like L. The similarities are so uncanny that, had I not known they're not related, I would have guessed they are. And not just appearance too... some of his mannerisms, the way he speaks and reasons... all of Near is haunted by the traces of a man he has never even met.

It's not really surprising: he was groomed by Wammy's to be just like L. He never really rejected that notion, either; he just embraced it as something that has always been part of him, because how could he refuse something that was there from the beginning? He was just a kid. A very young one at that.

But someone who did reject that was Mello. Or, rather, he felt rejected by that system, so he turned his back on it -- at least partially. The effects of it are still felt even in its rejection - his visceral hatred of Near being a lampant example. But I wonder if that rejection, that search for individuality, is what made Near so endeared to Mello in spite of the other very openly hating him.

Mello became his own person and Near, forever bound to be one of two parts of L, admired that. Because he couldn't do it.

[dnln7873]

NM

[cogneartive]

theyre like siblings to me. theyre liek oomfs….

[qandnotu]

moshi moshi

[alexsiple]

some of my favorite cards from the death note tarot set i made. which you can get here, by the way

[sublimerences]

Some old Meronias 🙇

[yaolmao]

they should work together idk guys

[numbuh424]

"What's the matter, Near?" 🖊️🧩

Inspired by the scene in Relight 2: L's Successors where Light has a majority of the SPK killed. Near calls him and sits in tense silence (and a pool of blood).

[patchworkprince]

happy pride

[feeniest]

quick doodle

[kittysauce]

DEATH NOTE OFFICIAL ART REDRAW COLLAB!!

(Original below cut)

ARTISTS -

@monakisu (light & ryuk) @lloveliet (L) @kittysauce (misa) @poofmalyakaet (near) @thanatelle (mello) @cornymember (rem)

ORIGINAL:

[dnln7873]

deleted scene in the manga leaked by Ohba