#but sometimes i can actually forget how sad DN really is bc im just having fun laughing at stuff in it

[13eyond13]

It’s fascinating how bleak Death Note is, even as it saddens me. B tries to beat L, fails, then is killed by Kira. Then it’s Kira vs L, and you wonder who will win, but in the end no one wins—L dies first, Light dies in the end, and everyone involved has their life ruined, even innocent people like Naomi. Mello swears he’ll surpass L and Near, but ends up dying, and Matt dies as well. Near manages to survive, but life doesn’t seem that great for the new L in the A-Kira one-shot. Misa commits suicide, Mikami commits suicide(?), Takada commits suicide (controlled, but still). Soichiro dies, Sayu is kidnapped and traumatized, and Sachiko is left to deal with all that. Even the Task Force... I mean, excited puppy Matsuda was pushed to his breaking point and shot Light who he once admired. Rem, a Shinigami, ended up dying thanks to Light’s schemes. And you know that song, Requiem, from the musical? People think it’s about Light only, but I think it applies to a lot of characters. “Sleep now/Here among your choices/Then drift away/Here now, how the world rejoices/Shades of grey/Gone, who was right or wrong/Who was weak or strong/Nothing left to learn/[...]/Tales full of fleeting glories.” Basically: where did you wits battle/war of geniuses got you? It doesn’t matter who is more intelligent because everyone lost. Except Ryuk. Ryuk is like, “RIP to y’all, but I’m different.” He got his entertainment from these funny humans, lmao.

DN is much better this way than if they simply let L win or Light win, imo. The way they end everything with Death Note rules to make the grim truth inescapable? Chills.

Omg hahaha once you lay it all out like that it really is amazingly bleak isn't it 😅 And I think the only reason I can still stomach it is because it's also slyly self-aware and often silly and full of interesting dramatic irony, and never really trying to force you to sympathize with any of the more egotistical and ambitious characters too hard. Most Battle Royale / "every man for himself" type things often get too edgy or gory for me, or don't have complex enough characters or logical enough rules to keep me emotionally invested in them for long. But this one is definitely an exception. And I think it's interesting how incredibly versatile this series is in terms of tone and genre and media it can be successfully adapted to and so on. I'm sure that adds to the fandom's impressive ability to sustain itself