#death note opinion

[hellisanhonourstudent]

Opinion only me and 2(?) other fans hold

I really can't see Light Yagami being into guys(at least by reading the manga). Of course,those readings are perfectly valid(and I even enjoyed some of the meta about it),but I can't see him as anything other than straight or aroace(and this one I'm not even invested in,I just enjoy the idea). Disclaimer:I'm only discussing the manga where he's a protagonist,other sources aren't taken into consideration.

A big part of it is because I don't ship him with any male character(other than being mildly amused by Mikalight),and do ship him with some of the female ones(granted - most of it is in non-Kira AU's). Most of my sexuality headcanons are related to shipping(namely,why I headcanon Madoka from PMMM as a lesbian - I only like her with Homura);

I was a casual Death Note fan during the "imagay" jokes,and it contributed to my exaustion. Besides,most of the gay!Light material is related to Læwl1ght,and I've always liked them better as enemies. Besides,Light had almost always been portrayed in an OOC way,IMO(regardless of sexuality,Light just isn't very focused in romance and doesn't strike me as this repressed blushing mess - he'd realize he's into guys by his mid-to-late teens at most,IMO. He'd stay in the closet for pragmatic reasons and have some conflict,but not beat himself up for his sexuality). Light does indulge in denial a lot,but it seems to be all about how virtuous he's,and that he's nor amoral at all. On the other hand,he rarely judges people for being "weird","out of the norm" or "different". Other than some comment about L's sitting pose,Light doesn't really give a shit about alternative ways of expression - L isn't called an exccentric,he looks down on Misa in 97393747 ways but never commented on her aesthetic and interests,he looked at Near and didn't make any comment on his mannerisms nor on his outfits. Despite being the Perfect Japanese Teen Boy in the 2000's and looking down on people on a regular basis,Light Yagami generally doesn't give a fuck about people being odd around him;

Another reason why I see Light Yagami as a straight guy is more or less some of the above - basically,his character archetype. He's supposed to be very much inside the norm,except better. Light is The Best Student of Japan,he's seen as very handsome,has great social skills... You know the jazz. Being gay would throw a wrench in this image,IMO. Not nearly as much as accidental murder,and as I said before,Light wouldn't have a great deal of suffering due to his sexuality. However,there would still be a conflict,since Light is from a conservative family and wants to have a high-powered career in Japan. Pre-Kira Light didn't seem to have any kind of conflict related to his self or public image,and I can't see the same being true for a gay!Light. In fact,he's virtually unchallenged before the notebook falls. To top it all,Light said he had to keep himself from catching feelings for Misa,because "this is how most idiots screw up"(I found this in Chapter 30).

(I don't know if the Japanese version says something different,tho)

Of course,those were my 2¢. I just wanted to express my opinion here.

[jichanxo]

okay i know they went to university basically never because plot, but i'm forever amused by the idea of strangers seeing these two together and being baffled/wildly wrong about them

[jeremyjohnirons]

finally watched the 2017 death note earlier this summer and you know what? i love her. she's camp.

[oatmealcrisp-freak]

i love when characters go insane from the pressure to fit in :3 all of those years of intense study and stuffing themselves into a box only to leak out reprehensibly and use their knowledge for Evil

[corviiids]

every time i get into a thing i have to write a new essay about how it's just like the iliad. no one needs to see my new thesis about light yagami death note and the ways in which his tragedy arc mirrors achilles fromtheiliad but it exists now

[ikarugosleftbrow]

just finished reading death note ........ damnn that was GOOOOOOOOOD

[blondiest]

Most controversial death opinion?

it should never happen to me bc im special

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

What do you think L thinks of the successor program?

Previous Thoughts on Wammy's and How the Concept is both Bonkers and Toxic

Well, what we see is pretty damning.

L... Doesn't Talk About it Much and Other Bad Signs

L brings up the successor program once in the manga (this line is removed from the anime adaptation). It's a very one-off line in which he tells Light (while still in the college arc) that "you know, even if you were to kill me, L is legion and I'd just be replaced by the next L" and Light sort of stares at him.

Neither touch on this ever again.

Worse, when the torch is passed, it's only because Watari happened to be in the room where he could push The Big Red Button (TM) that sent information to Wammy's. And yes, while there was clearly a protocol in place to let the successors take on L's legacy, it uh... sure wasn't L pushing that button and the fact that it's a secret button in the security room where Watari hangs out (and certainly not L) leads me to think this is a Watari idea (the orphanage where people compete for the title of L, being in fact, Watari's weird fucking idea).

Most tellingly, L doesn't even bring it up when he knows he's going to die. He doesn't even think to himself "ah yes, those bratty twelve-year-olds in England will get vengeance for me and then Light will be put to justice". L doesn't think about the Wammy program at all in his last day, in fact, he knew for several hours he was going to die and he didn't seek out any means to bring his successors in or even think "oh woe that Light is right there or I could inform my secret successors of everything we need to know".

We learn later that Near and Mello never actually met L, in fact, and if they ever did speak to him it was... brief and impersonal. This leaves them both with weird complexes about the man and their relationship with the role of successor.

In fact, L blatantly says "Light is my successor" and seems to mean it. True, L knew Light was Kira and was perhaps doing this for the mind fuckery, but on the other hand he had no reason to do this and again, had time to take it back once he realized Light was Kira again (which he did very quickly after Light got his memories back). Had L not done this, he could have either a) directly had a Wammy's person take over and explain the whole successor thing (he does not) or b) left it such that Soichiro was in charge. He has nothing to gain by even hinting that Light could take control over his title after he left. And the fact is... Light does do it. He's the power behind L for six years while Near and Mello do... well, Mello joins the mafia and has a time in Nevada, Near does who fucking knows what.

Basically, L couldn't be less supportive of the Wammy's orphanage unless he actively shut it down and fired Watari (but then who would bring him snacks?)

But Why?

L's in it for personal victory. L wants to beat Kira himself, he wants to do it on his own terms, with his own ingenuity. It's not so much about beating Kira but the fact that he will be the one to beat Kira. His 'successors' doing so would be less than meaningless to L.

Leaving it to some twelve-year-old to solve, hand-picked by Watari because they solved puzzles good and read good too, would be worse for L than fucking Matsuda or Misa making a major break in the case (and canonically, both those things happen, and canonically L handles it fucking poorly).

Worse, Watari is not even implying, but outright saying, that L is not so special a super genius snowflake and that Watari can cultivate another one simply through hard work and careful selection. "Congratulations, L, you are irrelevant and superfluous!" And worse, those replacements are little kids and I imagine L finds their quirks... annoying. (I'm not convinced L's not just s troll).

And if we take LABB into account, all L sees them do is kill themselves or make trouble for everyone (through murder). L does not want to deal with these people (and so he doesn't and makes Naomi do it for an entire hilarious novel).

TL;DR

L hates those fuckers.

[purplink8]

Okay what is with those posts making Light out to be a Republican?? And transphobic/homophobic for that matter while Misa is an ally? 😭

Babes, it's Misa who was homophobic in canon. And while we're not shown Light's opinions on homosexuality afaik, Light is not really much judgemental about how people present themselves (see how he picks out a spot suitable for L to sit the way he sits).

I know it's 'funny' to make fun of problematic characters but you don't need to add whole new unfounded flaws to their character to do so holy shit

[totheidiot]

here is what i think. anime light yagami bottoms. jdrama 2005 light tops. japanese death note musical light also tops. but then the english death note musical light bottoms.

[div1n309]

got a 10hr road trip back home

chat wish me luck 🙏🙏🙏

[hellisanhonourstudent]

There's a huge debate about how Light's morality would've been if the Death Note hadn't fallen in his hands - on whether he would've been just as terrible or a good person. (This meta is based on the manga and only the manga)

I believe Noteless Light Yagami would be very mid,morally speaking. While he definitely isn't the kind of guy who would go out of his way to torment people,and he's very much an idealist,Light does have a tendency to stand idly by when faced with injustice. He saw a classmate of his being bullied and did nothing to defend the guy,despite obviously showing moral disapproval of it in his monologue. Besides,Light has a big amount of soft power in school,IMO. Not only he's a student with ridiculously high grades,he's also popular with other students. However,I don't think this makes him a bad person,since there's still a social risk even for him. It just makes him a not-good one. It also might be tied to his sense of self-preservation in canon,IMO. Light is condescending and arrogant,but those are hardly evil flaws on themselves. Besides,he's competitve and ambitious,but those traits don't have moral value either.

On another note(pun not intended),while Light surely has a huge ego and a hubris problem,his worst flaw(s) is(are) emotional cowardice and moral laziness. I understand why people don't attribute this set of flaws to him - he's shown as very dilligent and dealing with harsh situacions (kinda) gracefully. Besides,his arrogance often gets the best of him. However,Light is also shown time and again running from feelings and self-reflection. His journey as Kira starts exactly like that - his two first killings are a freak accident because the guy basically thought the Death Note was creepypasta. For a moment,Light decides to do the right thing and toss the murder weapon but these seconds of common sense don't last long. Still,he decides this is what he always wanted,instead of actually confronting the fact that he made a massive blunder(plus,the trauma from causing two deaths by accident). Plus,Light is particularly prone to Sunk Cost Fallacy - the more he loses,the more driven he becomes. Like the Law of Inertia - if a body is at rest or moving at a constant speed in a straight line, it will remain at rest or keep moving in a straight line at constant speed unless it is acted upon by a force. And since Light did nothing to stop the trainwreck,it remained with a constant speed.

[kiyomitakada]

my sayu take is that she was doing perfectly fine having friends being social getting decent grades until her big brother moved out to live with his girlfriend and now all of a sudden she has both of her parents' scrutiny on her and she knows they're just worried but it doesn't feel any less suffocating so she starts studying harder and acting more mature while she feels worse and worse because she will never live up to her big brother who every day feels less like how she remembers him and more like a hollow shell of himself and in her worst moments she wants to say i'm sorry i'm not good enough i'm sorry i'm not him* but most of the time she is normal until of course mello kidnaps her and everything goes to hell

*but also it annoys me when people say she idolizes him, i don't think it's to that extent, light is just her annoyingly smart older brother. she doesn't want to be him she just wants her parents to be happy and they're clearly not without someone-like-light there. you know?

[oatmealcrisp-freak]

[ai-the-broccoli]

okay I want opinions on this. for people who do believe that Light falls in love with L within the story (not as in you have to believe it's the canonical intention [which is of course extremely unlikely considering the author], but like through the story alone, DotA and all), in your opinion:

when does he fall for L?

when does he begin to suspect it/sort of halfway realize that?

when does he really come to accept it internally, if he ever does?

[i-love-my-dorks-and-simps]

not good at character analysis (failed eng) but i wanted to yap about my light headcanons :3