#demegawa

[13eyond13]

6 and 16!

6. something you see in art a lot and love: SO, FOR ADORABLE LAWLIGHT ART: I'm a huge sucker for Light going absolutely feral with affection secretly over L just being L, hahaha. Like there's one I'm thinking of right now that I couldn't find again, but L has a tiny ponytail in his hair that Misa gave him. And Light is just acting aloof and unimpressed about it while secretly on the inside being like OMG NO IT'S SO CUTE GJAJSJGJAGJ ahahaha. I think Light's secret freakouts are just SO much fun and one of the best things about him by far, love it when fans portray that in their art

ALSO stuff where L kinda slyly goads Light's overly responsible ass into doing things for him / taking care of him always makes me laugh because it just seems so Them... Here is a great example of that: U can't hold a baby with 2 fingers!

16. a tiny detail in canon that I want more people to appreciate: When Demegawa extinguishes his cigarette in poor ol' plaid-shirt employee's drink:

[ask meme]

[kendelias]

OC HALLOWEEN 2024 → merch / memorabilia

merch from the 2024 stardust blush tour (feat. ocs by @ocsandallthatjazz)

[sugurushimura]

the results are in. tumblr's MOST HATED DEATH NOTE CHARACTER IS...

WITH 22.5% OF THE VOTE, HIGUCHI WINS! FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS LIFE! CONGRATULATIONS, HIGUCHI!

our unfortunate runner-ups are light yagami, in his own goddamn series, at #2 with 17.7% and hitoshi demegawa at #3 with 13.7%. i think it's very funny that light got more votes than demegawa, who is up there with higuchi in terms of "purposefully written to make you want his ass dead."

with almost 650 votes total, here's the end tally:

congratulations to takada and misa for getting the least votes of the named characters. death note tumblr officially supports women.

the other characters voted for include:

raye penber (who i should have put in the initial poll but forgot about), with 6 votes or around .93%

mello, with 3 votes or around .46%

matsuda, with 2 votes or around .31%

L, with 2 votes

soichiro, with 2 votes

watari, with 1 vote or around .15%

rem, with 1 vote

roger, with 1 vote

sidoh, with 1 vote

matt, with 1 vote

beyond, with 1 vote

the kid from the relight OVA who kept dumping on linda's responses to L during the monster speech scene, with 1 vote (i only respect this person)

(note that some people who voted for "other," including myself, didn't say who their least favorite was, and a few people said more than one character, so the breakdown isn't 100% accurate. by the way, my least favorite character is aizawa's wife. not that anyone asked.)

and a special shout out to these based souls:

thank you for taking part in this incredibly scientific survey. see you in 50 years when i decide to do this again but with raye penber in the official running

[empressofthewind]

okay i'm done with the higuchi spam i promise

[randomkposts]

You can take your time with this, but how would a wholly genderbent deathnote be?

You can take your time with this, but how would a wholly genderbent deathnote be?

A wholly genderbent death note?

I must admit ,anon -I took my time with this, because the scope of that is a little intimidating. Also Eclipse has been busy with work and Baldur's Gate 3, and hasn't had much energy to brainstorm. Thank you for your patience. 

To start with, the gender politics of this world are very different, as a lot of people in important positions have become female.

 Higuchi, is head of the technological development of the Yotsuba group at age 32, in 2004. He's canonically obsessed with gaining social status, power, and wealth, and is implied to not be as competent as his colleague's. If it were just him swapping genders that would carry unfortunate implications, but the rest of the group heads were male,  are also gender swapped, so now she's power climbing ambitious hate-sink, I guess. Just like before. 

Would Demegawa still be a sensationalist media director of a TV station in a gender swap? Maybe not if it was just him being swapped. That story would probably her being a lacky who made it higher (quite possibly to Kira Deaths in the industry) who is running the station in part two, someone who reached too high and fell to Kira like all others. 

The director of the FBI Stev(i)e Mason, is female, and so is most of the American FBI, with Misora standing out. Actually, in this AU would Penber have still told her fiance to stay in the kitchen and quit his job in order to marry her? Is she still reluctant to marry him? If so, that certainly carries implications about gender roles in this world.

But let's say things are different and Penber is less of a sexist jerk, and Misora had to tie up some loose ends on a previous job, before Rae dies. Misora is still one of the bigger threats to Light in series, and had to be taken down quickly for the story to work. It would certainly up the stakes if that coincidence was taken out, but keeping them there and playing multi person chess would be a lot harder.

The SPK of America, and the police of Japan are now full of ladies. It turns Lady Lights' desire from controversial to expected again.

On the flipside, crime is also made up of ladies, such as Mello's Mafia, Misa's stalker, and independents such as Otoharada.

It's starting to feel kind of like Barbieland, as there is a noticeably higher number of named male characters then Female in the universe of Death Note. Like really, off the top of my head I can think of 13 named female characters in death note, and I'm including characters like Misa's friend Yoshi.

In this gender swapped Death Note, by 2009, there is something that hasn't happened in reality in the states. There is a Madame President, and Vice president. Mrs Roger is so done with Watari, she never wanted to spend this much time around children and here she is running an orphanage filled with them. I'm going to assume Linda is still into art.

In a world where Watari was the only one gender swapped,  I would wonder if Watari's past as an inventor was a bit like L being the world famous detective that no one sees. I also wonder about her backstory having her well trained in espionage, and marksmanship. Watari was born in 1933 (anime), which is in the range of world war 2, but would make her a young child when it started and ended. Does this mean that in the Death Note universe World War 2 lasted longer, or did England get up to orphan spy training programs, that later inspired Watari to create orphan detective programs. Wait, is this becoming a kind of crossover with Gallagher girls? After all, just because Watari founded a school in England, didn't mean she was from there. Also transfers were a thing. Or could have been. That's fun. 

I'd say Watari would have to be a lot louder to get such a rep as L's handler. After all, stupid people still exist even when you have a rep. I wonder if she used disguise to help? Of course, thats in a solo, and this is about everyone.

Aiber and Wedy

Wedy is L's profesional cat burglar and survalance expert. In story she mostly looks cool, installs some bugs to evesdrop, and rides a motorcycle. 

Aiber gets more to characterize himself and stand out. Aiber is L's professional con-man, and social infiltrator, said to be able to blend in with varied types of social groups. L has enough evidence to land Aiber in lifetime prison, and has saved Aiber's life a couple of times. Its also said (in how to read) that he is multilingual, often assumes fake identidies, and gets his biggest thrills from swindling and living on the edge. Basically. He sounds a bit like a male Black Widow, with less combat training, and tramatic backstory… presumably. Hmmm, also less brainwashing

L trusts Aiber enough to use one of the other detective names he stole, and play the roll of Eraldo Coil. I can't say if Aiber is playing the roll of L playing Coil, or original coil. He also, has a family, and heavily dislikes guns.

For the most part, they are pretty typecast by their character designs  if it were a story about any of them individually, there's more space for extrapolation, but in large groups it becomes a norm. Female Aiber could be interesting to explore as an individual. Actually, so could male. Same with Watari, or any of them really, by any writer who decides to get really invested in it.

Still, in fanwork, you have to consider the conservation of the ship of Theseus. At what point in replacing the parts do you have a new ship? Is it when the first nail is replaced? The fifth? The planks? The entire boat? Is it still the same boat after all that change? Likewise, you can never be the same person you were at eleven, or even two years ago. You have grown, your body has changed old cells out for new ones, and most importantly you have had experiences that filter your thoughts into directions that filter your perceptions.

At what point in changing a character do they become an OC committing identity fraud? What core traits are important to keeping a character”in character”, even when you change the experiences that filter their perception of the world? What changes with gender, and what stays the same? 

Gender is a big factor in the face we present to the world. It has expectations with it. And the expectations of gender in Japanese culture are different then the ones in the west. Japanese culture is collectivist, and group cohesion is placed higher than the west's individual needs. There is also a shame culture in the east, in contrast to the west's guilt culture. Confucius vs Christian values. There are benefits and pitfalls to both worldviews. 

It's not something anyone would know their first time watching eastern media, but with learning more about these cultural aspects, one can look back to characters they didn't previously understand the motives of in a new light.

Time is also a factor. The culture and expectations adults today grew up with, are different from the ones they would have experienced 20 years ago, for all that there have been things that stayed the same? 

I should also get into Honne and Tatemae. Tatemae is whats expected by society and required according to one's position and circumstances. The Honne is one's true feelings and desires, which may be contrary to society's expectations and is often kept hidden except with one's closest friends. 

It ties in with Japanese Confucianism Beliefs, of human centered virtues for harmonious and peaceful society. Essentially, in Japanese culture Public failure and disapproval of others are seen as a source of shame and reduced social standing, so direct confrontation is something they wish to avoid. The traditional social norm then is to minimize discord, not doing so might be seen as insulting or aggressive.

I feel a good example can be seen in this quote from this article.

“A Belgian friend of mine once kindly told a Japanese librarian that the English travel guides had been misplaced in the “History” section. The woman immediately started apologizing almost hysterically, bowing, hiding her face in her hands and looking so distressed that my Belgium friend started apologizing frantically as well, and left as fast as she could after putting the books back where they belonged. A Japanese student, had he or she noticed the mistake, would probably have took it upon himself or herself to silently put the books back into the right place, and nobody but a foreigner would have casually and publicly proclaimed something was wrong, thus unintentionally shaming the librarian and embarrassing themselves in the process.”

Not to say that we don't have social masks as well in the west. We do. But because its not talked about to keep social cohesion, you often don't realize you have been angering someone to the point hurt and resentment and grudges towards you has built up until things escalate.

Politeness is something that keeps society together. We have scripts for interacting with others to keep things even keel. We have rules that we all follow to more or less get along with other people. This is true of any lasting society. 

We all expect other people to follow the rules, and make exceptions for those we consider close to us.

Perhaps that paints Light's killing of criminals with more context. These people did not follow the rules for harmonious society.  Light told Rem to find someone selfish and cruel enough to be willing to use the Death Note, while being dumb enough to not spread out his corporate killings. She found Higuchi. Nobody likes him. His collages instantly pin him as Kira. He's a victim no one would have any qualms about dying if it were not for the Kira case.

Lights dream for the Millennium Kingdom-I mean- new world, consist of kind hearted people he deems fit to live in it. He claims that once the world as a whole changes people will become kinder as a whole. He starts with criminals, then plans to move to immoral people, and harassers, and has later plans to kill people who refuse to contribute to the good of society, or lazy people as he put them. I have to wonder whether Light living through “The Lost Decade” had any influence on his thoughts here?

He's basing who should live in the world he wishes to build on those who can follow the rules (both said and unsaid) of society he knows. And he is using the rules of Japanese Justice to enforce them.

The Phoenix Wright games are not a bad place to start understanding Japanese Justice. Japan has a 99.8% conviction rate in cases that go to trial. For all we make jokes about the confetti that comes down when Pheonix wins a case, with those numbers, winning a case as a Defense Attorney is rare, and worthy of celebration. 

While no real trial that I am aware of has needed to cross examine a parrot, Japan's “hostage justice” means a long uphill battle for an acquittal. 

On Japanese Justice

Japan also practices Capitol Punishment and the death penalty.

To Light, narcissist, son of a police officer, and good Japanese student, this is probably what everyone is secretly wanting but could never do. But he can. And will do it for them. And if not, well they will come around when they see how much better it is, his way. He just needs time to change the world.

But back to a point, of sorts, Eclipse and I try to keep a balance of sorts between what we know of Japanese culture, and fun headcanons. We certainly go into cracky territory (no regrets about Cat Misa here), but I also don't see a lot of reasons that most of the character traits with the other characters need to change with Gender, when gender is not the only factor that make up their persona. What we see of most of the other characters are what are culturally or socially expected of them. We don't see their Honne, just their Tatemae. 

I'm going to end this with another Lady Virgilia video about Persona 5, this one about Socialcultural context. P5 is very on the nose apt with its gameplay mechanic about removing their mask to send their will of rebellion out to fight. 

[lightyakami]

okay succession posting over back to being an anime blog but jfc. also can i just say i need a wammy kids incl. L succession au so badly

[worlds-fluffiest-detective]

who’s your least favorite death note character? :3 and whose you’re favorite background character (out of the ones that are rly irrelevant to the actual plot like for example matt or linda etc)

least fav: demegawa! and I don't like thinking about light's family since it's so sad...

Lind L Tailor lol! plot point. go boy give us nothing.

[deathnotewiki]

November 25, 2009:

Demegawa and his men surround the SPK base.

A large amount of dollar bills are released from the sky in lower Manhattan.

The SPK and Mogi escape the Kira worshiper mob.

[kiyomitakada]

At last the warehouse is silent except for Light Yagami's wheezing breaths.

Teru stands. His nice shoes are stained with viscera. He has just killed seven people.

He has never particularly cared about victory.

"Mikami," Light gasps out. "Mikami. You did it."

There is the blood of an eighteen-year-old boy splashed on Teru's dress shoes. He's never fired a gun before. He's handled plenty as a prosecutor, of course, typically while cursing the murderers whose fingerprints littered the handles.

"You're not God," Teru says.

"What are—you talking about?" Light manages a smile. It twitches oddly on his face, like a dying butterfly. "We won."

Teru just looks at him. Looks and looks and looks.

He used to wonder what God looked like. It was an idle thought, one only entertained in the depths of night when the sleep medication hadn't quite kicked in yet. He told himself it didn't matter; God was an entity that surpassed shallow things like appearance, and Teru's job was to follow him no matter what. Teru was not like the rest of Demegawa's little cult, who followed God only for the sake of personal safety and money. Teru was righteous. But he had wondered, regardless.

He had never settled on an answer. But Light Yagami, bleeding from the shoulder, brown eyes and manic grin—

Pathetic, Teru thinks. You're pathetic.

"Listen, Mikami," and Light tries to sit up, but hisses through his teeth and props himself awkwardly with one elbow instead. "You've done well. I'll reward you. Anything you want."

"Your watch," Teru says.

"My—what?"

"Your watch."

The boy, before he had been gunned down by Teru's own hand, had thrown a match. Teru has never been the type for schemes, but he knows for certain that whether real or fake, all of the notebooks are now ash.

"No," Light says, clamping his free hand around his wrist instantly. "You can't—it's from my father."

Teru could almost laugh. How nice having a father must have been. How inconsequential.

"I don't care," he says.

It's a fitting choice for a sacred compartment. Something paternal, something time-keeping, something small. It must fit right over Light's pulse point.

"It's not enough," Light tries. "It's—it's a tiny scrap of paper. It could fit ten names at most."

Teru feels his face fall. He can write very, very small, but the idea of the paper running out is terrifying.

Still. It's better than nothing. Perhaps he'll never even write in it. Perhaps he'll keep it on a necklace or frame it on his desk. Teru can do good work without the Death Note, but he cannot go on without God.

"I don't care," he repeats, and strides towards him.

Light flinches. He tries to get up again; his arm fails him, and he starts dragging himself backwards instead. Like a worm, Teru thinks. That's all he is. A worm and a murderer.

"Don't get closer, Mikami," he says, voice cracking with the beginnings of nervous laughter. "I still have—"

Teru punches him in the nose.

Light collapses. Teru very easily slips the watch off his wrist.

The shinigami is cackling.

"You don't know how to unlock it!" Light reaches for him. Teru yanks the watch away from his grasp. The idea of being touched right now is more repulsive than the blood. "I never told anyone!"

"I saw you do it," Teru points out. Just before he'd broken out of his restraints he'd seen Light twisting at the crown of the watch to kill Nate River. Four times. A holy number? Or just habit?

"Ryuk!" Light shrieks. "Stop him!"

Oh, there it is. The appeal to a higher power. But Teru's God loves him, and Light Yagami's false idol does not.

It's almost sympathetic. Teru is not a heartless man. He knows how it feels to be screaming for help that never comes.

"I'm not going to kill you," Teru says, folding the watch carefully and slipping it into his breast pocket. Light stares at him, eyes wild. "You're just misguided."

"How dare you—"

If Teru was more inclined to humor, he might have said One day you'll see the light. As it is, he closes his eyes. A sense of beautiful, serene inner peace descends on him. It was foolish of him to put so much faith in a human voice over the phone, to be honest. Teru knows better now.

This time, he'll get it right. This time he will please the real God.

In the meantime, he might as well spread His word.

Teru rolls his sleeve down. He grabs Light's bare wrist through the fabric and, before Light can pull back: kisses his palm.

A day ago, this would have been reverence. Now it reveals itself as pity.

Light sucks in a breath, sharp, pained. Teru lets go.

"Good luck," he says, and means it.

"Mikami! Where are you g—Mikami!"

Teru does not look back. The shinigami's cackles fade into the distance.

(Teru Mikami dies of unclear multiple system failure ten days later.)

[ @deathnotetober day 18: worship ]

[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

[lacquerlagarde]

did Death Note characters cry at the end of “The Notebook” (2004) ?

cried HYSTERICALLY:

Mello, Matt, Naomi, Shimura, Hatori, Lidner, Gevanni, Rester, Misa, Sidoh, Matsuda, Sayu, Sachiko, Soichiro, Aizawa, Mogi, Mikami, Lind L. Tailor, Neylon, Gelus, A

cried:

Near, L, Namikawa, Rem, Takada, BB

shed no more than one tear:

Raye, Ide, Ukita, Ryuk, Mido, Wedy, Aiber, Watari, Roger, Takahashi

did not cry:

Light, Demegawa, Kida

did not cry at all !! (became hysterical in secrecy):

Ooi, Ross, Higuchi

[13eyond13]

If death note characters were seven deadly sins

LUST - Misa GLUTTONY - L GREED - Demegawa / Higuchi SLOTH - Near / Matt / Sidoh WRATH - Mikami ENVY - Mello / B PRIDE - Light / Kiyomi

[fictional-birthdays]

Happy Birthday (April 4th)

Alicia (Pop’n Music)

Buck (Animal Crossing)

Quattro (Pop’n Music)

Diamond (Pokémon Adventures)

Dolce (Log Horizon)

Jinta Hanakari (Bleach)

Madeline (Fire Emblem Engage)

Nellie Rhodes (The House in Fata Morgana)

Shin Hyuga Shaing (Code Geass: Akito the Exiled)

Hitoshi Demegawa (Death Note)

Kukkapuuro (Bleach)

Kuro Yakaku (I-Chu)

Tsubame Koyasu (Kaguya-sama: Love Is War)

Rik Heisenberg (Di Gi Charat)

Sakura Kurobane (Love Live! School Idol Festival)

Slader (Seven Deadly Sins)

Aloy (Genshin Impact)

Tokusa (D.Gray-man)

Takahito Ono (Big Windup!)

Tonbo Tobitake (Naruto)

Tomoya Taki (Big Windup!)

[sugurushimura]

i’d appreciate it if you could reblog this so that it can reach more people but no worries if you’d rather not!

[empressofthewind]

Bro, can you imagine a female higuchi and demagawa?

this is both fascinating to think about and also a little cursed 💀 on one hand, i actually feel like female higuchi would be super interesting to explore assuming the rest of the yotsuba arc members remain male, given that this would likely change both her role in the company and her motivations as a whole. i feel like she could use her femininity to her advantage in that situation given that it’s super common for women in male-dominated careers to be spoken over and not listened to; she has a reasonable excuse not to speak up in the meetings without raising any eyebrows. on the other hand though, since higuchi as a character only really exists to Be Evil and get caught, she wouldn’t exactly serve much of a purpose. we are certainly not starved of female plot devices in death note and i have very little faith that female higuchi would have been well fleshed-out in canon, enough to be compelling beyond simply being an entertaining villain.

i’m honestly struggling to envision exactly how female demegawa would be received. in modern fandom i wouldn't be surprised if there was a small fanbase of very passionate demegawa apologists, and she might be marginally more sexualised, but she also, like higuchi, only really exists to be an antagonist and ultimately be killed by mikami, so it’s tough to say specifically how much would change.

thanks for the ask!

[blondiest]

7, 22, and 27 for the Salt ✨

oh these are juicy omg hi

7. Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?*

not really!! i have been pretty consistent in my feelings towards most things :3

22. Popular character you hate?

i don't hate any of the popular characters in DN i don't think!! the closest i get to this is being salty about matt's popularity comparable to near but 😔 it's not his fault obata gave him max swag so. i have to forgive him.

27. Least shippable character?

this one is very challenging. i was about to say rester but then i remembered i thought it would be charming for him and sachiko to end up together so now i'm stuck. uhhhh. demegawa i guess?? he has utterly terrible vibes so like. him. sure.

salty fandom asks