Death Note AU where hbomberguy makes a five hour long video about youtuber Light Yagami that's initially completely unrelated to the murders (Light would probably plagiarize or have really unhinged right-wing political takes if he was on youtube)
but halfway through he reveals that while researching he stumbled upon evidence that Light might be behind the Kira murders, and then spends like fourty minutes explaining the concept of a shinigami, an hour explaining how he thinks Light used one to commit murders, and then another hour explaining Light's ideology and why the concept of criminals being inherently evil is flawed
He finishes the video by addressing Light directly and telling him that he (Hbomberguy) had his name legally changed before uploading the video, to something that only he knows, making it impossible for Light to kill him
Now Light. I know you're still watching, and I'm sure you've tried writing my name in your book. Or you've at least considered it - after all, if I die, then it points pretty clearly to you as the killer. But then, maybe Kira is just going to try to kill me in order to frame you. We get it, you're very clever.
If watching this whole video hasn't changed your mind - made you *think* about the humanity of the people you are just callously sentencing to death - then I'm at a bit of a loss. But I do know one thing you don't:
My legal name.
That's right. Before I uploaded this video, I changed my legal name, and have encouraged those in my life to do so as well. Frankly, trying to decide what my new name would be probably pushed back this video's release like, a month.
(Aside: Actually it didn't but we can all just pretend it did, it's way more interesting than the minutiae of real issues that cropped up)
So. Is Light Yagami Kira? I can't say for sure. It turns out, accusing a public figure of serial murder comes with a lot of legal ramifications! You would think I'd have learned by now that talking about people has "potential consequences" like "being sued by extremely litigious individuals. "
I spent a long time thinking how to end this video. The only thing I came up with is that there's no way to judge a person by just a list of actions alone. And yes that includes Light, the wanker. Courts spend weeks and weeks trying to litigate criminal cases and they still get it wrong! So even though I think he may be the actual scum of the earth, I hope I'm wrong. I want to believe that, given the opportunity, he wouldn't take the ten seconds to write down my name and take my life with just a flick of his wrist.
*long beat*
But I still changed my name so don't even think about it you little sh-
*bouncy credits music*
The thing that makes the βcould your favorite detective solve the kira caseβ thought experiment so fun to me, personally, is the fact that itβs asking two questions in one. βCould X put together that Light Yagami is Kiraβ and βCould X learn how the Death Note actually worksβ are two very different problems that require two very different sets of criteria to solve. Pinning Light to the Kira murders requires a very logistical skepticβs mind thatβs good at analyzing and intuiting a lot of information into a clear and concise case, while figuring out what a shinigami is requires a mind thatβs at least somewhat open to the idea of the supernatural and of grander logical leaps into offbeat βcrazierβ territory, and itβs somewhat rare and entertaining to find characters who possess both of those kinda contradictory traits at once.
Dale Cooper could figure out how the Death Note works but would struggle to specifically pin it down on Light. Benoit Blanc would have Light pinned within an hour but his better judgement would never let him buy into the Death Noteβs mechanics. Sam and Max would trick Light into autographing their own death note copy and then make an anvil splatter him to the pavement. Harry DuBois could crack the Kira case within a day while Kim Kitrisugi would spend his life haunted by the mystery. Scully and Mulder could each solve one half of the problem and itβd make for one entertaining ass half hour of tv. All of this is to say-
Hbomberguy could totally piece together and publically lay out every last piece of stray evidence convicting light as yagami kira, absolutely, but he is also a youtuber with a brand of making very long takedowns of pseudoscience and conspiracy ideologies; a skill that is undeniably very useful and necessary in our own real world where magic doesnβt exist but that means he would never intuit how the death note works and light would kill him immediately after uploading that shit. The defense rests.
Except
Becaue of HBomberguy repeatedly making purposeful flubs of his own name in his videos, the vast majority of works written about him, including those by journalists, use a wrong name when referring to him. And, as is established in this post, Light's pretty shit at doing actual research into his targets most of the time.
He would absolutely write down "Harris Brewis" in the death note and then freak out when Hbomberguy doesn't die.
