With the Death Note movie analysis out of my system, I think it’s time to do the real
deal, the true analysis, a breakdown and understanding of one of the best animes of our time.
And when you talk about Death Note, you talk about - yeah, what they said.
It’s impossible to talk about Death Note without diving into justice because at it’s
core, justice is the underlying theme of the entire series.
So..what is justice?
Everyone from Wisecrack to Matpat has taken a stab at that very question, but now I think
it’s time drop some livin’ air freshener knowledge on y’all.
Also if Wisecrack and Matpat ever make a collab channel my vote for channel name is MatCrack.
Now before I begin I do want to acknowledge that other creators have done amazing jobs
covering Death Note.
Wisecrack’s breakdown of justice in their video was phenomenal, and I don’t really
want to go into the specific topic of what justice is because I feel like it’s been
thoroughly covered.
However, if you’ve seen Death Note then you know there’s much more to talk about
than just the question “What is justice?”.
Death Note is a work of art that gives the audience not just one question about humanity,
but many that are pinpointed to make ourselves question our own values.
It specifically targets the human condition when seen through a lens of justice.
Sidenote: Lens of Justice is a great glasses superhero name.
But Death Note questions our humanity and whether or not we can keep our sense of justice.
How do we, as humans, define it, and does that definition change when we suddenly are
given a way around getting caught?
That’s what I want to talk about today, the effectiveness power can have on our sense
of humanity, justice, and control.
Death Note is not just an anime about about a brilliant killer who changes the world in
his image.
It’s a dialogue about opposing views, about the loss and regaining of humanity, and potato
chips.
So bite down on some salty trans fat and spike that cholesterol, as we dive deep into what
Death Note tells us about Light Yagami’s humanity, and indirectly, our own in the story,
you never knew!
Let’s begin by talking about Light Yagami aka Kira, aka lady’s man numba one.
Light as a character at the beginning of the anime is actually kinda meh.
He’s the smartest guy in his grade and one of the best high schoolers in all of Japan,
and probably the world.
He doesn’t really seem to have any flaws.
He’s popular, people want to date him, people want to be him, both his parents are alive
and he has a loving family.
All in all a pretty flawless character.
And while that doesn’t usually make for good character development, in this case it
absolutely does.
You see, in most films, TV shows, any form of entertainment really, the main character
we’re watching has flaws.
Sometimes they’re something obvious like with Forrest Gump, and sometimes they’re
more subtle like every video we make about Mario.
Either way a main character needs flaws to be able to attract an audience and a following.
An audience needs to to relate to a character, see the flaws that character has within themselves
and then see that character overcome those flaws and succeed, making us feel like we
can do the same.
That’s a fairly generic and simplified story arc for a main character, but if you look
at the majority of film or TV series this is exactly how the main character’s progression
arc is plotted out.
Yet Light really isn’t like that at all.
At the start of the series is where he’s the most put together and the most perfect
character.
And as we watch Death Note Light’s character devolves into something almost animalistic.
Just take a look at him in the first episode versus the last.
He looks deranged, erratic, almost inhuman in his aggression towards the end of the series.
This devolution in Light only begins when he picks up the Death Note and starts using
it.
He even says “There must be something wrong with me to even consider it.”
right after he gets the Death Note.
What we’re seeing here is an immediate corruption of power.
Light, as a high schooler, had no real power in the world.
He saw things he didn’t like, he knew the world was filled with those who prey on the
innocent, and yet, he felt like he could do nothing to fix it despite all his braininess.
You can hear his internal dialogue on the matter at the beginning of the series.
“Day in and day out, the same news on permanent repeat.”
We can tell from the beginning of the series that Light feels that the world needs fixing.
He was preparing to go to school to become a detective, to help his father fix the world
as best he could.
Light was on a track to gain power, but even policemen must answer to higher officials.
Had the Death Note never fallen to him, Light may very well have lived a fulfilling life
feeling he was doing his part cleaning up the world’s messes.
But when an unspeakable amount of power falls to just one individual, a power that cannot
be checked, and cannot be matched, it tends to change the person who controls it.
When Light receives the Death Note and realizes it’s true power, he immediately begins using
it to clear the world of the most despicable and horrible people he can think of.
Light does this at, what he believes to be, the cost of his own life.
This show’s where Light truly falls on the justice spectum while shedding light on what
he believes about justice and killing at the beginning of the anime.
Light realizes the notebook is real, and he believes a shinigami will punish him for using
it.
Yet, despite those consequences he uses the notebook as much as possible between his finding
it and Ryuk’s introduction.
When Ryuk does find Light, Light explains that he was waiting for a shinigami and is
prepared to give up his soul for what he’s done.
What we’re seeing during this part of the story is Light using his newfound power while
completely aware of the consequences he believes it’ll bring.
He wrongfully believes that he doesn’t control the full situation, that this gothic clown
from another world will have power over him, and not the other way around.
He’s willing to risk his soul if his sacrifice will make the world a better place, and that’s
what Light believes he’s doing up to this point.
When Ryuk tells Light that he has no intention of doing anything to him, and that he has
complete free reign to do whatever he wants with the notebook, that moment changes something
in Light.
He now knows that he can steal from the cookie jar and not get caught, only in this case
cookies are human lives.
So the question becomes, what happens to Light from this moment forward?
Light started as a boy who would risk his own soul just to make the world a better place.
He knew what he was doing was wrong.
Otherwise why would he expect to be punished?
You don’t get an A on a test and expect your parents to be mad at you.
Light, in these short 5 days before Ryuk came to earth, believed that his goal of killing
those who were evil was indeed an act of evil.
As the saying goes, two wrongs don’t make a right.
Killing someone who has killed doesn’t make it the just thing to do, right?
Well.. it’s not so black and white.
Just talk to anyone who’s pro death penalty and you’ll see the issue is much more complicated
than a simple yes or no answer.
But in this case it seems like Light did believe he would be punished for his actions, he believed
that justice would catch up with him in the form of a soul sucking, clown school dropout,
shinigami.
When that justice doesn’t come, when his actions aren’t met with consequences, Light’s
entire definition of justice starts to change.
Now Light has complete control over the Death Note, with no one and nothing to stop him.
He can kill freely without any worry of getting caught or getting punished for his actions...
Or at least that’s how it was until L shows up.
L’s introduction is another turning point in the anime.
Remember we just established that Light believed what he was doing wasn’t actually just,
but he felt that it was the best thing for the world overall.
He was willing to die for his cause.
The key word there being “was”.
When L shows up and challenges Kira, we get this iconic scene from the series “I will
hunt you down wherever you’re hiding and I will eliminate you.
I am.
Justice!”
Suddenly Light doesn’t seem so certain that what he’s doing is wrong.
In fact, moments before this scene we see Light with a crazed look much like the face
of a teenager walking in on their parents doin’ the dew.
In fact, that look is a good stepping stone towards Light’s face at the end of the anime.
What we’re seeing here is L challenging Light after Light has developed a God complex.
Now what exactly is a God complex?
I mean we hear Light many times exclaim that he will become the God of the new world, but
what does that actually mean in terms of his mentality?
Well, someone with a god complex believes that they have a supernatural or godlike power.
They feel that they are above the rest of society and should be exempt from societies
rules.
This certainly didn’t describe Light when he started using the Death Note, but as early
as the second episode we see that Light’s God complex is in full effect as he takes
L’s challenge to heart.
This is the effect of power and control on the human condition.
We saw where Light began versus where he is now after a relatively short time of being
unchecked.
Light is the example of what can happen when we, humans, aren’t checked by our society,
by consequences, by anything.
We lose sight of what is and isn’t ok because there’s nothing to stop us when we cross
a line.
This warps Light’s idea of justice.
It allows him to truly believe that anyone who may catch him is worth killing because
everything he does will be justified if he is able to succeed in creating a new world.
And he’s fairly right on that part.
Light said it himself.
If Kira wins, then he’s justice, if he loses then he’s a murderer.
If Light had been able to redefine justice for the entire world so that the definition
is one and the same with Kira, then he’s won.
Society would agree that whatever he does is justified because Kira literally is justice.
But...that’s not what happened.
And that’s a good thing.
We can see just how far Light has fallen from his former self halfway through the anime
and at the very end.
Light’s return to his former self halfway through the anime is a vitally important plot
arc in the series.
It shows us who Light is without the corruption of the Death Note.
The rules of the Death Note give us a unique opportunity to see someone become corrupted
by an unchecked power, lose that power in an instant, and gain it back again just as
quickly.
When Light does give up the Death Note and loses all memory of it, we see who Light truly
is, who he was pre demon goth clown.
And whaddya know?
Light has morals!
He won’t take advantage of people, he’s not all or nothing.
He believes in laws and rules.
When you take the power away from the all powerful they resort back to our understanding
of Justice.
Just look at the example Light gives us when he relinquishes the Death Note.
L asks Light to take advantage of Misa’s infatuation of him in order to get more information
about the killings.
Light chivalrously declines L’s offer, showing that he’s not going to do anything to find
Kira, unlike L and unlike Light with his Death Note memories.
Then later on during the chase scene with Higuchi, L offers Light a gun as protection
and Light declines saying that civilians aren’t allowed to own guns.
These two examples prove that Light ( without the corrupting power the Death Note) conforms
to society’s rules of justice, even more so than L!
Yet as soon as Light’s memories return, we see him go right back to taking advantage
of Misa and doing anything to continue his pursuit of a new world wherein he is judge,
jury, and most importantly, executioner.
So what does this mean in terms of our analysis?
Well, it shows us that Light isn’t anyone special here.
He has the same values as you or me.
He wants the same things as us.
Light is a normal person, albeit incredibly bright, but there isn’t anything particularly
special about him.
This means that Light could have been anyone.
He picked up the Death Note, but in reality, it could have been anyone at his school, or
in the world.
Where a Death Note lands from the shinigami realm is just chance.
Ryuk didn’t choose Light, he wasn’t watching and waiting for the perfect person to pick
it up.
And that’s the real lesson that Death Note hides within its other themes.
Power can corrupt anyone.
Not everyone, but anyone can fall victim to its clutches.
We see Light’s father on his deathbed, with Light offering him the power to kill, and
he doesn’t accept it.
Not everyone will fall victim to unchecked power like Light would, but enough of us would
that it should be acknowledged as a vice of humanity.
When we’re given too much power, too much control of everything in our lives and the
world, we lose our humanity and see ourselves as above it.
A god complex is not unique to Light.
Narcissism runs rampant in positions of power, in people we see on the TV every day.
World leaders who have lost sight of the people they represent.
Kim Jong-Un is just one example of someone who falls into this track, I’m sure you
can think of at least one of two others from history or today off the top of your head.
But here’s the thing, did these people start with God Complexes?
Were they always narcissists, or is narcissism a symptom of a larger problem?
A human problem.
When we are given too much control over ourselves and others with no one to stop us or check
us when we do something wrong, who is going to keep us from hurting others, from abusing
our power?
There’s an old saying “Who will guard the guards?” which refers to this issue.
If you give the power of weaponry and wealth and influence to one individual, what keeps
that person from using everything they’ve been given for their own gain instead of yours,
or the country’s, or the world’s?
Light Yagami is the embodiment of this flaw in humanity.
When we’re given too much we lose sight of what it means to be human, we believe we’re
above those who are our equals, and we fight to keep ourselves from ever coming back down.
Light is just one person who was given an impossible gift and it corrupted his humanity
to a breaking point where he almost seems inhuman.
When one person has no restrictions and all the power, their humanity ceases to exist.
When we’re wondering how world leaders can hurt their own people, or knowingly kill others,
waging wars and killing thousands with a single command, the answer… is Light Yagami’s
demonic transformation.
And that’s the story, you never knew.
Light Yagami sure is an interesting guy huh?
Sometimes I wonder what I would do with the unchecked power to kill.
I’d probably start a bakery.
Because if you don’t buy my cookies I’ll kill you!
Changing the game of Entrepreneurship.
What would YOU do with the power to kill like Kira?
It’s a weird question to ask but let’s see those dark sides people!
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It means a lot and you’re beautiful for making me feel beautiful.
Anyway I’m gonna get out of here before things get weird.
I’m Grant and I’ll see you in the next video.
Bye everyone!