Death Note
I was very interested to see how this series would apply to our discussion. I’ve seen Death Note a few times, but I’ve never had a reason to look at it critically. Even so, this is one of those shows that will always have some glaring themes that you can’t really avoid taking notice of.Â
One of the themes that this series comments on is the concept of justice and where it lies. In the series, we watch as Light Yagami develops from an upright moral teenager, to a corrupt power-hungry pseudo-god. What’s interesting about this though, is that Light never changes his perspective. His thought process might have changed upon obtaining the notebook, but he never strayed from his path of believing that he was just in action. This brings up an interesting discussion in and of itself: Where do we draw the line? As humans, we seem to believe that we have at least some form of a moral compass but, in certain situations, that compass seems inaccurate. For example, one readily accepted moral understanding is that it is wrong to kill another individual. However, in the midst of self defense, it would be disturbing to give yourself up to protect your attacker. Additionally, as a society, we don’t blame the victims for defending themselves, and neither should we. But, this is the thought process that leads to blurred lines. Though extreme, this series uses its unique storyline to facilitate this discussion.Â
I also found it interesting how Light’s character was crafted. Despite starting off as a relatively normal teenage boy, his father’s connections with the task force give Light an advantage with how to use his newfound power. He is extremely intelligent and, up until the end, seems to know how to cover each and every one of his bases. Seamlessly, Light’s intelligence directly contributes to his belief that he is right in his actions with the notebook. He fully believes that, compared to everyone else, he was the only one who could have used the Death Note as perfectly as he did. Anyway, I’ll always love this series, and I definitely enjoyed being able to explore it from this perspective.
His superiority complex with the book needs to be studied. It’s so ignorant to think that only you were meant to posses such power.






















