#domofthedoctor

[mikami]

When people call Light a sociopath, I'm guessing it's usually down to (aside from the anime reducing his love for his family) the moments when he revels in the deaths of good people; he practically gloats when he successfully sends Naomi to her suicide. Then there's that moment in Chapter 1 when he sees people he feels the world would be better off without. How would you explain this to someone without throwing ASPD in there? Are these intense cases of Light's self-deception, or something else?

I think the example from the first chapter and the Naomi example are still two separate phenomena.

This here is not exactly nice, but then, Light isn’t a nice person. It is also, frankly, not unusual. What we see here is, in the least professional terms, teenage edgelording. This is before Light confirms that the Death Note is even real - his ideas on how to use the notebook are still largely a thought experiment. While he is entertaining the possibility that it works, he doesn’t freak out until after his second murder is successful - he doesn’t really believe in it yet.

So his thoughts of looking around and being like ‘damn you people are all trash’ is honestly more of a statement to how deeply unsatisfied Light is with the state of the world at large and less of a declaration of intent to kill.

Which is why later, when Light does actually target people, we do not see him target anyone even remotely like the people in these panels. His standards for who to kill are much higher and more specific when he does have intent.

So then, this. This is, obviously, far less normal. It’s awful. But then, Light-as-Kira has ceased being a good person. That is something I always would urge people to remember when the discussion of ‘is Light a sociopath’ comes up: you CAN be an absolutely fuck-awful human being without having a personality disorder as root cause. Mental health is not a qualifier of goodness, ever.

So where does Light’s gloating over this innocent casualty come from?

1.) Light is disenchanted with other people at baseline. Not because he has a condition. but just because his circumstances make him have a hard time relating to others who also won’t relate to him because they see him as Special. He is not without empathy, but he certainly isn’t over-empathetic. Even before becoming Kira, he does not connect to people emotionally very easily. He’s simply not the type to be emotionally affected by other people unless they are very close to him. That happens.

2.) Being Kira desensitizes him to killing and death. A fairly forward thing to happen - if you witness a lot of death (let alone cause it), death starts becoming commonplace to you. It loses its shock value.

3.) Light likes winning a challenge. He does not face many challenges in his life, but when he does get to a situation that poses a problem for him and then solves it, that’s... well, that’s fun. Intellectual stimulation is fun. And that fun, at this point in this life, is honestly rarer than feeling horror at the act of killing.

4.) He’s just not a nice person, really.

[wilwheaton]

Has Jodie Whittaker broken into your house recently? Seriously though, what are your thoughts on the oncoming era of 13 (costume, companions, TARDIS, the works)?

I’m THRILLED that The Doctor will be a woman. I’m THRILLED that her costume looks vaguely familiar.

I’m cautiously optimistic that I’ll enjoy the writing and storytelling, which I haven’t really liked as much as I used to, starting a few episodes into Matt Smith’s Doctor, when I felt like the show stopped being about the incredible possibilities open to someone who can go anywhere in all of time and space to solve problems and outwit bad guys simply by being very clever, and started to be about giant mysteries and intricate storylines that rarely paid off for me.

[casuistor]

UO: Soichiro should have found out about Light before his death, similar in a way to the drama but without confirming the Task Force’s fears outright. His death in the manga forced Mello into the background, and character wise it denied Light from crossing the one line he stuck to (by letting his dad die or killing him outright) which would have eviscerated him emotionally and ensured his destruction at YB. I know you’d have preferred Light to cause his own downfall, so I wonder what you think.

Send me UNPOPULAR opinions (or popular, it doesn’t matter) and I’ll rate them like this:

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

Ooooh, I’m actually of mixed mind on this one! Personally I really like the way the manga handled the situation between Light and Soichiro because it left the deep internal conflicts that Light had about his dad unresolved. 

Whether Light would admit it to himself or not, he did ultimately want the approval of the people he loves, and though he understands that none of them (esp. his dad) would ever get to the point of being full fledged Kira supporters, I think a part of him still hoped that they might get to a point where they’d be able to concede that Kira has done some good for the world and that maybe some of what Kira had done was justified in the end. 

I think the genius of the lead up to Soichiro’s death in the manga is that it leads Light to believe that maybe Soichiro has come around since Soichiro agrees to (what everyone believes is) Kira’s plan for the Mafia raid and Soichiro is the one who decides he must take personal responsibility in making the eye trade – both of which imply Soichiro’s willingness to cooperate (and perhaps enulate) Kira, but at the very last minute… he refuses to kill Mello and then goes on to express relief that Light is not Kira. And then he dies. 

This leaves so many questions for Light to mull over. Would Soichiro understand if he knew the truth, would Soichiro acknowledge how hard Light fought to keep Sayu and his mom safe, would Soichiro acknowledge that he was acting in good faith?? For me personally there’s a certain aesthetic in all of this being unknown and unknowable to a person like Light who cares very much about having these answers from his dad. There’s kind of a cruelty here that I find meaningful and lastingly haunting and in a way I think it’s fitting that Light doesn’t get those answers. He doesn’t get the catharsis of being accepted or rejected; he’s just stuck with this empty “I’m glad you’re not Kira” forever. I think that’s a fitting punishment, if you will, for Light. it feels unfair and no matter what he does it’s not something he’ll be able to resolve. Just one small thing that Light cannot make “right” about the world, no matter how much power he has. 

On the other hand, there’s certainly something appealing about Soichiro confronting Light as well and Light having to make a hard decision about what to do going forward. It definitely challenges Light and his beliefs more directly which is always kind of interesting in terms of how it forces Light to evolve as a character – I completely agree with you on that! It’d make for an interesting adaptation and it’s kind of a shame, imo, that drama!Soichiro was just.. well, let’s just leave it at that, haha. If done well this could be incredibly compelling as a story arc for sure. 

Overall though, I think the lack of real answers and emotional closure appeals to my personal taste a bit more than seeing how far Light can be pushed… if that makes sense? That’s just my bias, ofc!

[deathnotefilms]

I'll be watching it tomorrow first thing so I can review it. I only know about what's been released, minor spoilers from you and everything up to Anthony Skomal. Wish me luck! Do you intend to rewatch it to see what stuff they've changed since the test screening, or are you going to trust the initial reviews and assume it's more or less the same?

Good luck! Can’t wait to read everyone’s responses to the film. I’m sure you’ll all notice things I missed.

I’ll be rewatching it to see what they’ve changed from the version I saw, yeah, and I want to double-check some things. I have Questions that I think will be answered in a rewatch. I’m sure there are changes since they did some reshoots and I’m curious if anything actually improved for the storyline (despite how bad it still is.)

[bookshopwitch]

I was tagged by @purplemuskrat to answer 5 questions, ask 5 questions, and then tag some people:

Do you have a favorite word?

Ineffable. Add an ish on the end for comedic effect. 

What piece of media (book, song, painting, show, etc.) last affected you in a meaningful way, and (if you’re comfortable sharing) why?

DEAF WEST SPRING AWAKENING. Holy crap it’s the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. Seeing hearing and deaf actors, and the first actor in a wheelchair on broadway, all in this incredible piece of theatre truly affected me, and has made me want to create similar, inclusive theatre in the future. 

What’s your favorite comfort food?

Pizza garlic bread. For sure.

What’s one thing you wish had been invented already?

Automatic bedroom cleaners/clothes put awayers. I need help.

What’s your very first memory?

Shouting ‘hello my name is Lottie, will you be my friend?’ off of the balcony at the post man when I was, like, 2.

My questions:

If you HAD TO dye your hair an unnatural colour, what would it be?

You have been blessed with a magical genie who can make you an expert in ONE instrument. Which instrument would you choose?

What is one of your guilty pleasures? 

Do you have any weird/uncommon/funny pet peeves?

Describe yourself in one (positive) word?

Tagging:  @ramen-noodl @gay-toaster @seamless-dreams-of-lead @domofthedoctor @mr-craig

[reallyhardy]

Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your Fireflash fanfics, particularly the one with Gordon and John. They really brought some depth to the actual episode, and it's fantastic to see work being made for Thunderbirds Are Go, especially when I can't really share my enthusiasm for it with those around me. More please!

hey, you can count on me! nothing’s gonna deter me short of scenes like this actually happening in canon. thank you so much :) and hey, everyone within this little online fandom’s happy to share in that enthusiasm with you! we’re all in this together.

[miss-singleplayerdrama]

"You can tell a lot about someone by the music they listen to. Hit shuffle on your iPod/iPhone/iTunes/media player and write down the first 10 songs. Then send this on to 10 people."

I was tagged by baker-street-potter-head, so here goes:

1. Family Tree - Kings of Leon

2. Battleborn - The Killers

3. If Today Was Your Last Day - Nickelback

4. One Note Song - Tenacious D

5. Ready To Start - Arcade Fire

6. All About That Bass - Meghan Trainor

7. Can't Rely On You - Paloma Faith

8. Come Alive - Chromeo ft. Toro y Moi

9. Here Today - Aloe Blacc

10. Wildflower - Cee Lo Green

Well, there you go. There's weirder shit on my phone than this, so I think I did preeeety well. I'm tagging: 

domofthedoctor  i-wanna-hug-l  sherlockadoresmolly thewalkingdetective  timelorddetectivewizard221b  margalovee  megsta95  fuckyeahbenedictcumberbatch  ihartbennyc and artbylexie

Peace!

[mikami]

Following up the anon question about Light's naivety, how different do you feel Death Note would be if the text itself didn't somewhat share that naivety? If it conformed closer to real world standards, and assuming the same loose path of the original story is followed, do you feel things would be radically different, or would changes be more subtle?

I think it would be radically different - I think the idea of Kira being so unbelievably effective at keeping crime at bay is unrealistic to begin with and a lot of Death Note hinges on the idea that Kira works. 

If Kira didn’t take off so easily because socioeconomic causes of crime aren’t so easily neglected and also the death penalty as a deterrent has historically been rather ineffective, that would force Light to confront morality on a different scale much sooner.

In canon, Light has the option to point to a rapidly changing word and say ‘look, what I am doing works, so it can become justice’. Take that away and you send his entire character on a different trajectory.

I think a Death Note that isn’t to some degree naive would wind up being the exact kind of human and societal drama story that Ohba stated he wanted to avoid when writing the manga.

Honestly, I am just not worldly enough to make non-naive guesses at how exactly the story might wind up looking though. This is as far as I currently get, haha.

[mikami]

Following on from your thoughts about Matt, how would you build on his character using the traits you feel fanon has largely ignored?

I started a write-up of that before, a year or so ago, and then got really bored and gave up, so thank you for forcing me into doing it after all, haha.

Mail “Matt” Jeevas, third ranked of Wammy’s House. I need to get the implications of ‘third ranked’ out of the way immediately: I don’t think Matt is a Genius™. I think he’s smart, but not smart enough to stick out from a crowd of other fairly smart people. I wrote about my impression of Wammy’s House before, but the tl;dr is that I don’t think the average Wammy kid’s intelligence really surpasses average ‘good student’ intelligence elsewhere in the world. They just get a very good and costy education because Watari is rich. 

Does the skill level thing impact his growing up? Not much, initially, I don’t think. We know thanks to Chapter 109 that the actual successor candidates were only picked sometime in 2003, thus when Matt was around 13. Until then there had presumably been rank lists, but nothing was really set in stone and rank 3 is like… pretty good. Nothing to feel bad about here.

And when there’s the L Q&A, Matt seems reasonably interested in L alongside the other kids. That doesn’t mean he was sincerely interested in becoming L, but let’s assume for the sake of argument, that he was.

After this, Mello and Near get picked as successor candidates. What used to be a far-future idea of a job that they could build up to over years is now something that he’s more or less locked out of. Even though he’s got good grades, they’re below Mello and Near by far, so hopes of breaking into the candidate spots are slim. The adult Matt we see in canon seems pretty aimless, so you could argue that this is the point where he loses any ambition. Just goes ‘eh, what’s it all for’ and starts focusing more on video games and hobbies than his studies. 

And that’s where the backstory speculation ends and we can start digging into what little traits he has in canon.

Matt’s stats say he likes videogames and hates going outdoors, so you’re forced to conclude that he’s just kind of a nerd shut-in stereotype, which is an impression aided by the way he’s untidy about his trash:

And I think that all plays into the trait I always see as Matt’s most defining one: aimlessness.

That’s probably a controversial take, but I don’t think him working with Mello on his plan is really a product of loyalty at all. Mello and Matt were friends but there is no particular evidence that they were very close. For all we know, they probably haven’t really spoken at all since Mello left Wammy’s House. 

So then why does Matt go along with Mello’s plans? Aimlessness.

We don’t see him having picked up any career or anything meaningful unlike, say, Linda, who’s already a very successful painter as a young adult. Matt just… kind of exists, and this state of ‘just kind of existing’ makes him more open to doing anything that seems like it might be interesting. (Between his chainsmoking habit and the fact that we know he’s a good and/or reckless driver, thrill-seeking behaviour doesn’t seem unthinkable for him generally.)

Given how chill he is during the chase scene generally, I don’t think this is his first car chase rodeo. I could see him doing illegal car races for a time just to try it out, haha. But that’s very up for interpretation.

Morally, he doesn’t really seem to care about the Kira case at all. The priorities he voices during his few appearances are all boredom-related, really.

Which again ties into aimless/thrill-seeking. Matt wants something to do but mostly just something that is quickly entertaining - it doesn’t have to be meaningful. He’s as satisfied with checking out girls as he is with video games or car chases - as long as it is just something that’s going on.

Though Matt doesn’t like it when they get the better of him in his observation, you never really get the picture that he cares particularly about the reason he’s observing them (the order to follow them to Japan surprises him). Rather, he just doesn’t like having the wool pulled over his eyes, and to be fair, who does?

This also is the one time that really breaks his fairly deadpan perma-bored expression and body language. Frustration about loss, though he’s usually aimless. If I wanted to go out on a leg, I could count that as evidence for my earlier theory that his one-time loss at becoming a successor candidate just kind of frustrated and demotivated him for life.

Also as a side note, he’s 19 and describes a woman he’s attracted to as child-like and potentially as young as 14, which is :/ Not sure what other characterization to derive from this though other than ‘he’s into girls and mildly skeevy’. Guess that just adds to the image of ‘stereotypical gamer bro’ in the end... (Also he’s off by 10 to 4  years, Misa’s 24.)

In the end, Matt dies as he lived: casual and kind of bored-looking. Up until his last moments he’s treating things as a random pastime more than a life or death situation. He’s clearly not expecting to actually die here.

And that’s as far as I get with canon Matt. I’ve almost convinced myself he’s actually a logical character, I can’t believe this.

[mikami]

A brainwave I had today - Light and Mikami both experienced a variation of the "One Bad Day" fallacy from "The Killing Joke". Like Joker, they experience a trauma which they rationalise and use to redefine themselves; they become martyrs in their own minds when they are really in selfish denial. The difference is that they build and insist upon rules to aid their rationalisation, even when they stop making sense, whilst Joker decides there are no rules because the world is inherently unfair.

I would continue the Funny Joke of being unaware of major popcultural hallmarks and say “your DC words mean nothing to me”, but I actually looked into The Killing Joke a few weeks ago and read like 1/5th of it - the most DC I have ever consumed, my exposure to anything from that universe is minimal.

I’ve honestly never understood the Light/Joker comparison that is so popular in fandom (likely more due to L/Batman and Misa/Harley than anything Light does), but the One Bad Day thing is probably the closest to a coherent connection here, congrats! Even if the specifics differ wildly, there’s at least some thematic resonance to it. Light would have been very different if not for That Day.

Mikami, I’d argue, is less of a One Bad Day case. Though the bad day (losing his mother) is what cements the whole system for him, it had been so strongly in the making before - over the course of dozens of bad days, over and over.

[mikami]

I'd say finish it! Especially for the ending, which calls Joker out on his nonsense. And you're fair about Mikami! As for why DN is compared to Batman so much? My mate Emily suggested that they both share similar elements, but the details are mixed and matched because DN is more pessimistic about human nature than Batman; the serial killer has the moral code (albeit a shaky one), the detective just wants entertainment, the police chief is punished rather than upheld for his strict morals, etc.

Oh, when I say a fifth of it, I mean largely ‘I skimmed through it and read the end’, haha. I just looked into it because I saw an Alan Moore quote about its (and Watchmen’s) impact on the atmosphere in comics at large and got curious. 

I mean, these are just the elements of... detective stories.... I’m still kind of at a loss for where the specifics come in as compared to any other serial killer based franchise tbh. So I keep coming back to “blonde girl with twintails really loves a serial killer and people just build off from there” but I might be simplifying. 

[casuistor]

My family recently watched a documentary on Alma Deutscher, the girl whose full-length opera was performed when she was only 11 years old. What we noticed was that her younger sister was on a similar level intellectually, and thus we speculated on how isolated Alma might have felt if that wasn't the case. I then noted that this sounded like Light. So, whilst there's no doubt that he loved Sayu, do you think canon would be significantly different if he grew up with a sister who was also a genius?

That’s a really interesting thought experiment, thank you for sending this ask! I love sibling hypotheticals, haha. Apologies for the late response as I wanted to give this one some detailed thought before responding! 

It’s all speculation of course, but I’m inclined to think that there would have been a pretty significant difference in the story if LIght had a sibling who was on his level in terms of intellectual prowess, yeah! Namely, I think there’s a good chance that Light and Sayu would both be in on the secret of the Death Note and Kira would not have been a thing.

To get into the details of it, in canon, while I’d argue that Light doesn’t feel lonely, I do think he has some difficulty relating to his peers as equals. In some cases that might mean he looks down on them in private (like he does with Misa), but non-equal status doesn’t have to be explicitly negative in connotation either, which is what we see with Sayu. 

Light doesn’t view her as an equal, he sees her as someone he has to protect and be strong for. Obviously, that comes from the fact that he does love and care about her, and partly because she looks up to him as a role model, but that is also, as you pointed out, a little isolating. In canon, Light presents his best side to her at all times and tries to shield her from his worst thoughts and beliefs. This in turn means Sayu idealizes Light and it makes real talk difficult because there’s internal pressure not to shatter her perception of him as an ideal role model. 

But I think if Sayu were on his level and someone Light truly did view as an equal, this could have very well been different because so much of what he experiences (the ??? at his peers for example) would also be things Sayu experiences and the two would be able to relate to each other on a more balanced level and that in turn might mean they’re inclined to have deeper, more meaningful conversations about how they feel about other people and the world at large. 

That’s a significant departure from canon as it’s pretty clear that Sayu doesn’t seem to think Light has jaded views of the world or of the criminal justice system. If they were closer, I think they’d be able to talk about this kind of thing more openly -- and more critically, joke about it together. In other words, I think if they were on equal terms, Light would have wanted to show Sayu the Death Note before he ever tested it out to have a laugh about it with her. 

He’d have done no such thing in canon because, again, he’s meant to be a pure hearted role model who wouldn’t find the premise of the death note (before he knew it was the real deal) kinda amusing. If they were closer and shared an even more similar sense of humor, then it’d probably be akin to sharing a dumb joke with a bestie. 

I think they’d both test it out because neither of them would have any reason to believe the note would work as advertised (and neither of them would be prone to superstitious thinking), but ofc after Otoharada Kurou died, they’d both have a shit moment. I can see them both deciding they should just make sure it wasn’t a freak coincidence because neither of them would want this on their conscience and once they’d verified that they’d killed two people accidentally, they’d probably freak out more, but I think it’d more realistically end with an agreement to hide the note and never talk about this incident again rather than a pledge to purge the world of as many “evil” people as possible. 

[casuistor]

domofthedoctor replied to your post: Every time I read the phrase “Light has no...

No problem! Knowing the ins and outs of Light Yagami is essential to my extracurricular work, so I tend to have a lot to say on the matter.

Phrased like that, this sounds ominous and now I am deeply amused. Please do yell more about Light, it’s always a real joy when people aren’t talking about him like he’s the devil incarnate. 

[mikami]

Hey, in terms of the Shinigami eyes, can you tell me which prequel novel suggests that the Death Note uses names chosen by the victim? Is it "Another Note" or something else? Also, "Death Note: New Generation" seems to employ that rule, and although the film universe uses slightly different rules, it's probably fine to incorporate it into manga/anime headcanons, especially if it's the second instance of this rule being utilised.

Yes, it’s Another Note!

It’s a bit between the lines, but the novel states that B named himself Beyond Birthday. Further that name is not known to Wammy’s House, who would surely know his legal name. The conclusion to draw here is that his legal name as given by his parents was a different one.However, Beyond Birthday was the name he was imprisoned under, following the hints he himself left to his identity and it’s definitely the name he’s killed with (after all, he can see his own true kill name).That makes B a person who is killed by a self-chosen name.

And yes, I’m aware that NewGen permits name changes and I think it’s interesting something finally addressed this. I’m always hesitant to mix and match continuities too much when it comes to rules, but it sounds valid as a headcanon as long as the person actually lives under that name now.

My issue is just forever that Light never encounters any problems killing people, so just ‘self-identified’ seems too vague. Many people identify as a different name as the name they use officially, but Light can still kill everyone by the name they go by in official documents so... 

[bookshopwitch]

i was tagged by @maltedchocolatemilkshakes c:

rules: answer the 20 questions and tag 20 amazing followers you’d like to get to know better!

name: charlotte

nickname: lottie

zodiac sign: libra

height: 5′5, edging on 5′6

orientation: bi nationality + ethnicity: English/Jersey

favourite fruit: orange

favourite season: autumn

favourite book: i literally can’t do that

favourite flower: daisy

favourite scent: vanilla

favourite colour:  purple or pastel yellow

favourite animal: bunny

coffee, tea, or hot chocolate: hot chocolate OR tea

average hours of sleep: 4 or 5 hours

cats or dogs: cats

number of blankets you sleep with: so many

dream trip: venice

blog created: who fucking knows

number of followers: 217

Tagging: @ramen-noodl @mr-craig @trashprinceofdenmark @cantankerousquince @annathegreenwitch @benidork @cassiocantdrink @sayyestothejess @bansheeinspace @adifferentkindofgentleman @bewareofitalics @domofthedoctor @dvoiddubs

yo if i’ve tagged you, you should totally pm me bros

[bookshopwitch]

I was tagged by @trans-dirkgently to do this tag thingie. Yay. c:

5 things you’ll find in my bag:

My Phone

Laptop

All my makeup

Chapstick and/or moisturizer

Dry shampoo

5 things you’ll find in my bedroom:

Not the floor 

Various nick nacks that I have no use for

Candles 

8 million cups, plates and mugs

Instruments 

5 things I’ve always wanted to do in life:

Live somewhere other than here

Go to university

Own a Pomeranian

Perform something professionally

Do a job that doesn’t feel like work because I love it

5 things that make me happy:

Singing

Acting

Shakespeare

Friends who take the time to ask about my day

Making new internet friends who I can geek out with

5 things I’m currently into:

The 100

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (watch this shit now)

Skulduggery Pleasant (Again)

Outlast 2

Star Wars

5 things on my to-do list:

Pass my AS exams kill me

Do something that will mean something to someone

Meet at least some of my internet friends

Bake a fucking amazing brownie cookie cake thing

Get more grungey aesthetic clothing

5 things people may not know about me:

I’m an actor, but I’m stupidly shy and hate public speaking

I’m literally the messiest person alive

I am a writer as well as an actor, and have written several play scripts, screenplays and teleplays.  

Fucking love cooking and baking man

I always want to make new friends but am too shy to

I’m tagging @punkhobbit @domofthedoctor @ramen-noodl @samuelbarnettsdisease and literally anyone else who wants to do it.