#dn meta

Wdym he gave his ties to the police away, drew suspicion on the police and their immediate relatives, just to get the police to bring this L guy out of hiding? How about chilling man? You want coffee? Because if you just sit still and don't bother getting back at him, you'll be much safer, Light.

L really managed to piss him off, very bad, in that face off. All he thinks about is L this, L that. L is not underestimating you bro, calm tf down.

Heck like causing that whole riot of a Yotsuba arc, getting a shinigami to kill off L, and then missing L when you did it is not yandere like. No wonder the fandom calls him gay.

he thinks that other people would, if given the chance, try to accomplish what "Kira" is meant to be doing. most people would, even ! that he is not out of the norm for thinking that murdering a certain category of people will save society, or for actually murdering those people when given the chance. he is exceptional in the sense that he is the only one able to do it successfully (aka, selecting only the correct people, without getting caught, and while getting the support of the rest of society - which already thinks like him anyway)

L: *thinking*:

"That means Kira's psychological state has already reached the divine level.

He's judging sinners without batting an eye.

...

"I almost want to think that Kira no longer exists-- that this really is divine judgment.

But while Lind L. Tailor really was a criminal, the FBI agents did nothing to deserve being killed.

Or was it sacrilege on their part to question divine will?

"Well, I have no time for those who say that the Gods are capricious and beyond human understanding.

"For a God to need knowledge of someone's name and face to kill them is ridiculous.

This isn't divine judgment.

It's the work of some childish killer who's playing at divine retribution. That's all."

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L starts by marveling at Kira's (i.e. Light's) lack of change in facial expression while killing criminals as no visible reaction (even if subtle) was observed in any of the suspects (let alone the prime one from L's POV) during surveillance while people who committed minor crimes were killed.

He compares that quality of the killer to that of a God as it no longer seems human to take others' lives without batting an eye. He goes on to think that he'd almost want to think that it's actually the work of divine judgment after all. (I think it's because L doesn't want to believe (for a very short time before he shakes himself out of thinking that, anyway) that such a killer exists with such little regard for others' lives that they show no emotion while killing.)

But since L is highly logical, he questions his own subconscious beliefs, finding flaws in the assumption of this being divine judgment.

He knows Lind L. Tailor was actually a criminal and a God would naturally also know that so it's not inconceivable that he was killed...however the FBI agents hadn't done anything to warrant killing them...unless you count them questioning divine will as sacrilege.

This being neither here nor there, L decisively concludes this not being divine will- since a God needing knowledge of a human's name and face to kill them is ridiculous. Thus, Kira must be a childish killer playing at divine retribution, nothing more nothing less.

I find this particularly funny because the only sufficiently convincing argument L could construe against Kira being a God is this: "For a God to need knowledge of someone's name and face to kill them is ridiculous."

Which sounds pretty reasonable and of course L had no way of knowing otherwise but the Shinigami (the Gods of Death) actually do kinda need both of those things? Yes their Eyes are sorta like a shortcut which allows them to make do with just the face of a human but they still do have to write down the human's name on their Death Notes.

Like even Gods of Death can't just will a human to die in their mind or something...

So Ryuk was right! Light'd indeed make a fine Shinigami since the difference between a Shinigami killing humans and a human with Death Note killing other humans (those 2 points about lifespan) is pretty negligible lmao

by and large Mello serves to drive the plot, regardless of the position he is put in within the universe. we don't even have to actively be trying to do anything with him -- even in our more Near-centric pieces, as long as Mello is present? his emotions, whims, wants are what shapes the trajectory of the story, his emotional beats are the beats that drive the plot forward. he feels, he impulses, he injects stuff into the sequence of events. things happen because Mello wants them to (or pushes Near to make them happen if/when he himself cannot).

meanwhile Near is much less of a driving force for the plot and more of a reflective force for the story. he isn't IRRELEVANT to the plot, he doesn't do NOTHING, but most of what he does from a plot progression standpoint is reactive. like, he acts not because of an inner drive, not based on his own wants or needs, but largely when his circumstances require action of him. (by circumstances i don't just mean Plot Events. sometimes what he reacts to are his own emotions, like in sweet atonement, when they are so overwhelming that he cannot put them aside to strategise effectively anymore -- the keyword here being "effectively", because even then his first response will still often be to try to strategise.) by and large what Near does do is provide space for reflection, for thought, for analysis. things happen to him, or through him, and he thinks about them a bunch, and he'd leave it at that if Mello wasn't pushing him.

so they make for super neat storytelling when you figuratively drop them together in a jar and shake them around, because it's like. Mello pushes Near into action Near wouldn't take on his own; and then Near adds weight to Mello's direction, provides a deeper sense of spacetime, fleshes out the places where Mello takes him that Mello wouldn't necessarily stop at or consider on his own. like at their core, in the way we write their dynamic, Mello Does and Near Is. and mixing them up, you get: all of the essential elements for a compelling story!

Also,it reminds me of posts saying "Light sees a smart woman and would act as if it's unnatural","He would cry like a baby and feel emasculated by being defeated by a woman". Bitch,where? I don't remember seeing his ego being wounded by being threatened by female characters. If he was that much of a chauvinist,he'd not go "alarm bells" with Naomi's discoveries. Light gets gold medals in mental gymnastics,but it's all about how virtuous and "good" he's.

Yes,manga!Light is Japanese. However,he's the Perfect Japanese Teen Boy™ - handsome,charismatic,extremely intelligent,upper-middle class,belongs to a racial majority,utterly privileged. Therefore,an USAmerican!Light being an All-American pretty boy who looks more or less like Zac Efron would be a very faithful adaptation to the spirit of his character,IMO.

On the other hand,USAmerican!Light being Japanese would've been just as cool,IMO. The writers could emphasize his Model Minority status,for example(as long as they did respectfully). It's just that I feel like white!Light is a good idea. I just don't like the way it was executed in the Netflix adaptation.