#morality. ethics. empathy. i feel like a lot of people use those words waaaaaaay too loosely when they talk about death note

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Hey! I saw that you like Death Note. With Death Note, I've noticed that recently there's been somewhat of a spike in Death Note fans. Not that much, but still. This fandom seems to be somewhat reviving itself, since a lot of the posts I've seen were newer than I thought they'd be. Do you think that's actually happening or is it all in my head? Also: I've noticed that fans tend to differ wildly in their opinions of L, his sense of morality, and how much was an act/lie. Some people think L has a strong sense of justice, similar to Light. Some think L has very few morals and does mostly what interests. Personally, I believe it's a bit of both. He seems to mostly do as he wants to, but he does show empathy for the task members occasionally. What type of morality do you think L has? (sorry if this is a loaded question, I've been very curious about this for a long time, since a lot of people disagree on it)

hey omg lol i didnt see this but im glad i found it!!

RAUGH. I have such a hard time talking about like.... cool in depth meta because i think im the dumbest death note fan perhaps. lmao. not really, i just think other people have probably verbalized what I think in ways that I never properly could, but I'll give it a go :>

1- I have no idea!! Honestly I feel like the death note fandom has never really died, although it really does go through dips and valleys in terms of members' activity. It probably is dependent on new adaptions being released, death note coming up in other pop culture spheres and getting people interested, and cringe culture dying. For me, my return to the death note fandom was really the last one, along with me just being more confident about my interests lol. I also think that there's a new generation of people who are into anime and not as deeply ashamed of it as some older folks might have been at that age and i think its great!! tbh overall i probably don't have the best gauge of the exact growth and diminishment of the fandom because i take a break every couple of months whenever i drown in some other random hyperfixation lol. but i always come back :) death note is pretty timeless! its neat!!

more under the cut because i........... ramble....

2- and here is where i repeat again that I'm definitely not like. a great meta writer with super fresh and interesting ideas (which is kinda weird because one of the main points of appeal of death note for a lot of the fans is the meta and analysis and theories and whatever. but idk im just not creative :') ) but I'll give you my take lol

Analyzing L as a character can be really frustrating to me because... let's face it, O&O don't write incredibly deep characters. All of the characters in Death Note tend to fit roles and tropes rather than being super three dimensional studies of incredibly complex personalities. The purpose of L's existence in death note is to serve as an adversary to Light, our protagonist, antagonist, anti-hero, whatever. Light's existence is to propel the plot. We see Light specifically stray very far away from whatever his actual personality or character could have evolved into as he is transformed by the death note. You could say that while Light used the Death Note for his own purposes, the Death Note essentially used Light. Both the actual book. in the show. and the show. The characters exist solely to further the plot and tell the story, and little focus is put on their more intimate profiles. idk how to really put this part of my response into words eloquently, but that's that.

Which brings me back to L. because i get sidetracked very easily. L is used to further the plot, but we're left to question his motivations and his inner profile as O&O did not elaborate on that. Annoyingly.

I personally like to think of L as just... a guy. doing his job. Like how a lawyer would do their job. He takes on cases because he likes the challenge, and he allows himself to feel triumph when he 'wins.' Because our worlds are shaped by the presence of other people, despite the fact that L seems very antisocial and picks and chooses when to follow moral/ethical standards, he still does rely on the general concept of 'justice' in order to get some gratification from his work.

He's just a guy who has way too much fucking money and time on his hands, and he's way too smart for his own god. All of those things will give you a bit of a god complex, so I see L as someone who is based in the desire to do good/gain approval of others but is less fettered by things like.... laws...... social norms... the opinions of a lot of people. How could you not take on some big bad villain like Kira, saving the lives of thousands of people, and not allow yourself to feel like you've done something good? That you're a bringer of justice? That's just a really powerful feeling that I don't think L would be afraid to indulge in. Like I said, he just isn't as fettered as most people, and he has an insane amount of resources at his disposal.

I think empathy is a different subject, as it's separate from having a sense of morality or justice (I struggle HARD with empathy but I have a very strong sense of justice. probably not how everyone else thinks of justice, but yknow.) As someone who is so clearly on the spectrum/neurodivergent, I think that we as the audience are also meant to understand that L does not experience normal levels of empathy in comparison to the other characters, especially Misa and Matsuda. I think his lack of empathy is not (as is unfortunately mischaracterized in a lot of meta/fanfic) primarily emotional. L is shown to have emotions-- fear, embarrassment, anger, happiness, and he is shown to understand when other characters are acting based on their own emotions. That being said, L does behave coldly at times, and he always maintains a distance from himself and his coworkers. He can seem detached, and I think we can't forget that that is again, just part of his job. Being a detective means that you cannot get wrapped up in your work emotionally. He's very good at his job.

His primary lack of empathy is in respect to his general understanding of socialization. He is clearly not someone who's had many relationships-- Light is his first friend, and the thought of falling in love with Misa seems to really knock him backwards. He's just very socially inexperienced. Tying it all together though, I think that L does understand emotions, he has them, he can empathize with his co-workers, and he does care about them to a certain degree-- He's just very good at being able to put all that shit aside and do his damn job.

thanks for the ask!!!