hyperanalyzing one (1) slice of light yagami's awesome twisted mind, for kicks
okay proper thoughts on this panel now that i’m awake and all. i think this composition is SO cool and SO telling despite it being incredibly memeworthy. here are some opinions on all of it! i hope you enjoy!!
this takes place in light’s symbolic mindscape — the lack of clothes, the all-white eyes, and most damningly the fact that mello (whose face light still doesn’t know) is represented by his sketch — so it is direct insight into his mental state, probably.
almost everyone in this panel was killed by kira (ukita by the second kira; soichiro technically by jose/mello but since light doesn't protest matsuda blaming him for soichiro's death in the warehouse it's reasonable that light would count soichiro into one of kira's victims). misa is the exception to this but her inclusion arguably implies that [light thinks] she also “died” because of kira. they are all drawn on scraps of (notebook) paper, generally as how they looked seconds before they were doomed.
IN FRONT - L and mello
L: largest piece due to first-half deuteragonist and narrative haunting privileges. right in front of/under light but light isn’t looking at him. it’s kind of fascinating that everyone who light witnessed die is shown right before the moment of doom (e.g. naomi is shown in her moment of clarity before she turns around) except for L, who is shown after his eyes have closed — you’d think in analogy to everyone else he’d be shown as that panel of his eyes widening as he notices light’s smile — so i could make an argument that L is the only one of these people light thinks of as actually fully dead [is he realizing this for the first time?], but to be honest it’s more likely that o&o just thought this panel of him was more iconic and immediately recognizable as his death.
mello: light IS kind of looking at the sketch of mello — near said earlier that mello is the entire reason light got caught, so it makes sense light is focusing on him. he’s in sketch form because as aforementioned that is the only image of mello light has ever seen, but also if we’re to fit it with the others being on the brink of death then it also makes sense because mello died due to kiyomi knowing what he looked like from the sketch.
presumably L and mello are in front of light because they were both main antagonists: the people who played this game with him.
ON THE SIDES - raye, naomi, ukita
raye, naomi: together like always, both shown in the moment they realized light is kira right before they die. it’s interesting that light even thought of them; maybe they represent the beginnings of his mission to him, and/or maybe they’ve been haunting him since yotsuba arc when he uncomfortably remembered he’d encountered them both but didn’t remember why. obviously NOW light remembers but the uneasiness could have stuck with him
ukita: this guy's inclusion is interesting because he's the only one light didn't have a hand in killing. probably why he's also the only one under light's arm. (though naturally ukita is still dead because of light — if light didn't become kira then misa wouldn't have looked for light and killed ukita along the way.) it also means light saw ukita collapse, either in real time watching the sakura tv broadcast or maybe later as a recording. i wonder how he felt? it definitely stuck with him considering ukita being here when a bunch of other dead characters are not (see later)
what raye and naomi and ukita have in common is that they are police officers who got in kira's way. we already know light thinks they deserved to die, but he does still demonstrate conflict about the idea when it comes to other people:
so that's fun!
BEHIND LIGHT - soichiro, misa
this is my favorite section personally.
soichiro: this is the panel where soichiro says, "i'm sorry… i couldn't kill him [mello] after all…" they almost definitely just picked this panel because it's basically the only clear close-up of his face in the hospital scene but that still prompts the question of WHY it's the only clear close-up of his face in the hospital scene. i think it's probably because it's the ultimate divergence of his ideals from light's.
misa: i made a whole separate post about this here already but the choice to include misa makes me feel INSANE because she is the only person here who isn't dead! she is living it up at the teito hotel as of light's mental breakdown! why is she here, among all these victims of kira?!?!
notably this is the panel where misa offers to give light her death note, which light reacts to like this:
anyway to reiterate that earlier post: is that light's retrospective memory of when misa died? when she hands light her weapon and thus becomes a weapon herself and no longer a human being in his eyes?
imo the reason soichiro and misa are quite literally in the back of light's head is that they are people light cannot think about for too long. both of them represent concepts that horrify him — soichiro is a moral paragon and we see light hiding his upset feelings whenever soichiro rejects kira, so soichiro is essentially his unwelcome reminder that what he's doing is evil; misa is the exact opposite of a moral paragon but she's on light's side, she would die for him, arguably this panel tells us she is (in light's mind) dying for him, and so she is also essentially his unwelcome reminder that what he's doing is evil.
similarly both of the panels they're shown in are kind of metaphorical deaths in light's eyes when he thinks back to them, even though soichiro is also actually on his deathbed. we've covered how misa dies in light's eyes when she becomes light's weapon, but light has spent the entire time soichiro was alive hoping that soichiro would come around to kira; he spends soichiro's last moments, even after soichiro said he couldn't kill mello, begging him to kill mello. but soichiro has rejected kira's ideals all along and his inability to kill mello is the nail in the coffin for that. soichiro yagami as a father is dead to light. all light can make out of him now is a death that at least meant something.
NOTABLE PEOPLE WHO WERE (BASICALLY) KILLED BY KIRA BUT AREN'T HERE - watari, rem, kiyomi, wedy, aiber, the yotsuba group, all the other criminals
these people just do not weigh on light's mind as much lmao. in the case of wedy and aiber and the yotsuba group i think light considers them plain criminals, not to mention subordinates to his greater plans, and so he doesn't think twice about them. rem and kiyomi are also subordinates to his greater plans that he discards right after. watari is nobody to him (he didn't even think rem would kill watari!).
SIZES OF THE SCRAPS OF PAPER - L > soichiro > mello = misa = naomi >= raye = ukita
yeah not much to say. that's light yagami's thought priorities ranking for you.
CENTER - light
light's face is also in front of a scrap of paper, because he's also doomed.
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Omg so this post got me thinking about the depiction of the Gothic Double in dn; the definition of the gothic double being, (1) the split self as a representation of societal repression, (2) the uncanny; seeing the familiar (ie. yourself) in the unfamiliar or monstrous, and (3) linked fates, be it due to either obsessive or supernatural bonds.
Light and Kira
The split self as the duality of man, Light wants to be seen as good by society but at the same time harbours a deep resentment towards it. Upon killing, Light sees himself in the monstrous and thus rationalizes that the monstrous must not actually be so. (This duality is classically demonstrated by the Yotsuba Arc, which is reminiscent of a Jekyll/Hyde transformation in character.) Once Light accepts the death note, and accepts the moniker of Kira, his fate is sealed.
Light and L
The split self as two sides of the same coin. Two characters of the same mind, but one is compacted by the restrictions of society while the other lives entirely free from it. Light recognizes himself in L, which disturbs him and so he rejects it, pretending it doesn't exist. Their fates are linked through mutual obsession. One cannot live while the other survives, and yet with L's death Light goes through a (second) spiritual death of his own.
Light and Ryuk
A manifestation of Light's apathetic boredom. Light is less afraid of the version of himself he sees in Ryuk, a literal supernatural specter representing death, than the version of himself he sees in L, and perhaps without meaning to trusts him as a friend. Their fates are linked by supernatural bond; Ryuk is an inescapable physical presence, and destined to write down Light's name one day. (Light's death reminds me more of a Dorian Gray-esque double in that he is killed by a mostly passive object/figure; Ryuk, and the notebook as an extension of Ryuk)
Near and Mello
Near and Mello are cosmically linked in that they are, as individuals, narratively only partial fragments of L that need to come together to meet the sum of the whole. Their fates are entirely dependent on their realization and acceptance of this, on both of their parts. (They are the most obvious example of the gothic double imo, because all of this is said directly in the text.) The source of tension over the uncanny comes not from recognizing themselves in eachother, but rather recognizing L in eachother.
And now some tenuous thoughts that I haven't fully thought through yet...
Light and Mikami
Mirror images. Mikami is the opposite of L in that he is externally identical to Light, but internally different. Light and Mikami are doubles bi-directionally because, by way of circular logic, Mikami pedestals Light as a deified version of what he wishes to be; and Light lauds Mikami for being "exactly like himself". When in reality Mikami is the actual, genuine version of what Light is pretending Kira is. Thus their fates are inextricable because Mikami is, in a way, the purest iteration of Kira; and it is specifically because of their symbiosis that they both fall.
To contrast him with a pure foil;
Matsuda
Matsuda does mirror Light as the purehearted, upstanding youth that wants to be seen as good by others (especially Soichiro). He doubts his certainty of Kira's evil much like Yotsuba Light does, and in the end he shoots Light, prevents him from making a kill, and helps bring Kira down. Which is exactly what Light verbally promised to do. But Light doesn't pay him enough mind to feel threatened or insecure by the authenticity of Matsuda's nature. I think that an argument could be made in the reverse, that Matsuda may see his uncanny self in Light; but since in his naïveté he doesn't realize this until the very end, it isn't something that everypresently haunts him until after the story is finished. And although Matsuda has somewhat of a fixation with Light, it isn't to a level of obsession, and there is no spiritual or supernatural bond between them.
However Matsuda and Mikami both have a similar ironic perception of Light in that they both idolize him, while themselves being the authentic versions of what Light tries to be in splitting himself between "Light Yagami" and "Kira". I think it's very interesting that they have no connection narratively, despite being in a very similar position to Light as Mello & Near are to L.
OK SO. NEW LONG ASS INTERVIEW WITH THE CAST!! (L, Light, Soichiro, Jerasu, Rem, Misa and Ryuk)
Because this interview is so much longer than the others (26 mins!) I’m just gonna sum up what I found to be the main parts. I mean the biggest take away is that the whole cast and crew seem so devoted and passionate and thrilled to be bringing this show to London which is definitely what you wanna hear! I’m gonna bullet point my main thoughts now
- they all RAVE about how great the choreography is, literally every cast member brought up how dynamic and exciting it was and how the cast act it so in character
- Telly Leung talked about how his version of Ryuk will not be trying to COPY the anime. He described his voice as ‘a 180 from the anime/manga’, which imo could mean that he’s doing something closer to the Japanese productions version of Ryuk, verus the anime which tended to be a bit more monotone and dry
- the staging is also apparently incredible, they use ‘every inch of the stage’ which is very impressive seen as the barbican is a very large theatre
- Grace Mouat (rem) seems to have barely any filter lmao (she was the first one to talk about new songs), she just adores her character and talks about how her Rem begins being a bit of a stickler for the rules and avoidant of the human realm but after seeing what happens with jerasu falls in love with misa. It also seems like Misa is going to get more development too
- this ties in with how jerasu appears to be more of a main character. Chloe Saracco has been involved in all the press they’ve been doing which makes me think they’re gonna include a lot more of her than ever before!
(- this part is pure speculation, but I don’t think it’s too far fetched to guess that they may include some scenes of rem and jerasu in the shinigami realm during act 1, possibly even giving them mortals and fools to make room for the new remisa song? I could see jerasu’s sacrifice for misa being a sort of ‘twist’ to end act 1, which would develop rem a lot more and give room for more misa scenes too. It would also give more meaning to When Love Comes as well imo. Again this is just speculation but I think it could be cool)
- the new songs are still written by Frank Wildhorn, and it seems he’s very involved with the project and has been helping the cast really sink into the songs and their characterisations
- the whole production still seems very malleable. They all spoke about how they’ve been able to influence their characters, their deliveries and ways of singing/ acting, which is interesting
- however Misa’s actress (Stephanie Zaharis) did elude to there being challenges (for her at least) with fully understanding and pinning down her character with only 6 weeks of rehearsal. Although from everything she’s said it does seem like she is very happy with what they’ve done so far (the halfway point)
- jerasu is described as ‘deviant, of seemingly deviant, out of the 3 gods of death’
- this is followed by a COMPARISON OF SOICHIRO AND JERASU??? ‘Love blinds both of our characters to what they might have otherwise seen’ omg I didn’t know I need this comparison but I love it
-Paolo Montalban (soichiro) was practically jumping out of his seat he was so excited. He is a MASSIVE fan of death note and of Frank Wildhorn I can already tell he is gonna give everything to this role and make me cry
- Grace Mouat auditioned for both rem and misa! From what I’ve seen of her her personality and past roles fit misa a lot more but I can see a lot of potential in this very different role as rem for her! She was previously known for Six and & Juliet
That’s everything I can think of that stood out to me!
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i stumbled on the smaller light & L one in the center 10 minutes before the venue closed. it is titled 'two boys one note.' i was like oh my god thank you you're the only person i've found so far with art of just the two of them and the artist was like (extremely knowingly) yeah they're pretty great aren't they?
we have quite a few upcoming death note events. here's a compilation of everything i'm personally aware of; please message me if you know of any others.
lawlight week: july 19th-25th
mattmello week: july 20th-26th
remisa week: august 2-9
meronia week: august 17-24th
talons in his mouth tuesday (light & ryuk): september
llshipweek (lawlight): november 9th-15th
hyperanalyzing one (1) slice of light yagami's awesome twisted mind, for kicks
okay proper thoughts on this panel now that i’m awake and all. i think this composition is SO cool and SO telling despite it being incredibly memeworthy. here are some opinions on all of it! i hope you enjoy!!
this takes place in light’s symbolic mindscape — the lack of clothes, the all-white eyes, and most damningly the fact that mello (whose face light still doesn’t know) is represented by his sketch — so it is direct insight into his mental state, probably.
almost everyone in this panel was killed by kira (ukita by the second kira; soichiro technically by jose/mello but since light doesn't protest matsuda blaming him for soichiro's death in the warehouse it's reasonable that light would count soichiro into one of kira's victims). misa is the exception to this but her inclusion arguably implies that [light thinks] she also “died” because of kira. they are all drawn on scraps of (notebook) paper, generally as how they looked seconds before they were doomed.
IN FRONT - L and mello
L: largest piece due to first-half deuteragonist and narrative haunting privileges. right in front of/under light but light isn’t looking at him. it’s kind of fascinating that everyone who light witnessed die is shown right before the moment of doom (e.g. naomi is shown in her moment of clarity before she turns around) except for L, who is shown after his eyes have closed — you’d think in analogy to everyone else he’d be shown as that panel of his eyes widening as he notices light’s smile — so i could make an argument that L is the only one of these people light thinks of as actually fully dead [is he realizing this for the first time?], but to be honest it’s more likely that o&o just thought this panel of him was more iconic and immediately recognizable as his death.
mello: light IS kind of looking at the sketch of mello — near said earlier that mello is the entire reason light got caught, so it makes sense light is focusing on him. he’s in sketch form because as aforementioned that is the only image of mello light has ever seen, but also if we’re to fit it with the others being on the brink of death then it also makes sense because mello died due to kiyomi knowing what he looked like from the sketch.
presumably L and mello are in front of light because they were both main antagonists: the people who played this game with him.
ON THE SIDES - raye, naomi, ukita
raye, naomi: together like always, both shown in the moment they realized light is kira right before they die. it’s interesting that light even thought of them; maybe they represent the beginnings of his mission to him, and/or maybe they’ve been haunting him since yotsuba arc when he uncomfortably remembered he’d encountered them both but didn’t remember why. obviously NOW light remembers but the uneasiness could have stuck with him
ukita: this guy's inclusion is interesting because he's the only one light didn't have a hand in killing. probably why he's also the only one under light's arm. (though naturally ukita is still dead because of light — if light didn't become kira then misa wouldn't have looked for light and killed ukita along the way.) it also means light saw ukita collapse, either in real time watching the sakura tv broadcast or maybe later as a recording. i wonder how he felt? it definitely stuck with him considering ukita being here when a bunch of other dead characters are not (see later)
what raye and naomi and ukita have in common is that they are police officers who got in kira's way. we already know light thinks they deserved to die, but he does still demonstrate conflict about the idea when it comes to other people:
so that's fun!
BEHIND LIGHT - soichiro, misa
this is my favorite section personally.
soichiro: this is the panel where soichiro says, "i'm sorry… i couldn't kill him [mello] after all…" they almost definitely just picked this panel because it's basically the only clear close-up of his face in the hospital scene but that still prompts the question of WHY it's the only clear close-up of his face in the hospital scene. i think it's probably because it's the ultimate divergence of his ideals from light's.
misa: i made a whole separate post about this here already but the choice to include misa makes me feel INSANE because she is the only person here who isn't dead! she is living it up at the teito hotel as of light's mental breakdown! why is she here, among all these victims of kira?!?!
notably this is the panel where misa offers to give light her death note, which light reacts to like this:
anyway to reiterate that earlier post: is that light's retrospective memory of when misa died? when she hands light her weapon and thus becomes a weapon herself and no longer a human being in his eyes?
imo the reason soichiro and misa are quite literally in the back of light's head is that they are people light cannot think about for too long. both of them represent concepts that horrify him — soichiro is a moral paragon and we see light hiding his upset feelings whenever soichiro rejects kira, so soichiro is essentially his unwelcome reminder that what he's doing is evil; misa is the exact opposite of a moral paragon but she's on light's side, she would die for him, arguably this panel tells us she is (in light's mind) dying for him, and so she is also essentially his unwelcome reminder that what he's doing is evil.
similarly both of the panels they're shown in are kind of metaphorical deaths in light's eyes when he thinks back to them, even though soichiro is also actually on his deathbed. we've covered how misa dies in light's eyes when she becomes light's weapon, but light has spent the entire time soichiro was alive hoping that soichiro would come around to kira; he spends soichiro's last moments, even after soichiro said he couldn't kill mello, begging him to kill mello. but soichiro has rejected kira's ideals all along and his inability to kill mello is the nail in the coffin for that. soichiro yagami as a father is dead to light. all light can make out of him now is a death that at least meant something.
NOTABLE PEOPLE WHO WERE (BASICALLY) KILLED BY KIRA BUT AREN'T HERE - watari, rem, kiyomi, wedy, aiber, the yotsuba group, all the other criminals
these people just do not weigh on light's mind as much lmao. in the case of wedy and aiber and the yotsuba group i think light considers them plain criminals, not to mention subordinates to his greater plans, and so he doesn't think twice about them. rem and kiyomi are also subordinates to his greater plans that he discards right after. watari is nobody to him (he didn't even think rem would kill watari!).
SIZES OF THE SCRAPS OF PAPER - L > soichiro > mello = misa = naomi >= raye = ukita
yeah not much to say. that's light yagami's thought priorities ranking for you.
CENTER - light
light's face is also in front of a scrap of paper, because he's also doomed.
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[ID: Death Note anime screenshot stitch of the pan up from Misa to Rem upon their arrival at Light’s house, showing Rem looming over Misa with one yellow eye shining in the relative darkness while Misa is mostly illuminated.]
[ID: Detective Conan art of Shiho Miyano and Ran Mouri drawn as Sua and Mizi from Alien Stage respectively, smiling at each other fondly as they sing into microphones, sweat drops sliding down their cheeks from the heat.]
