My analysis of the death note story. « ..be transformed by the renewing of your mind

My analysis of the death note story.

January 4, 2008 at 7:37 pm | In Thoughts | 16 Comments

It’s getting pretty late now (about 3am) and I still can’t get to sleep, probably due to the previous night shifts days ago.

I’ve realised something about the death note characters L and Raito/Light, not that no one has realised it, but I just want to elaborate it a bit further– something to do to get myself more sleepy meanwhile.

Light/Kira and L are the two main characters in the death note story. The both of them are extremely similar in terms of intellect and deduction of problems. However, when it comes to their character, they are just like light (pun intended) and darkness. 2 separate entities, one contrasting the other so greatly.

In the story, Kira is supposed to be the attractive guy that every girl would fall for, and L is the weird guy that an “average” girl would not be interested in– because of their looks. However, it is interesting that there are millions of fans of L out there whereas, fans of Kira are unheard of. This shows that looks are not everything that matters. A man can be extremely handsome and good-looking, but if his character is evil, he would not be that attractive anymore. Perhaps those girls who are similar in character would be attracted to him? Aka the female Kira–Misa–who is actually not really evil in nature, but having naivety and self-centredness to fulfill her own wishes, wants to own Kira at the costs of other human lives. Note: naivety and a one-sided view of things are often the characteristics of some females who stay on in a destructive relationship. But I have to credit them for the love they have for the guy though, which I believe is genuine. Note also how Misa views the killing as influenced by Riato. In the end if they stay on in that relationship, they will be badly influenced to a certain extent by that guy whose character is evil.

Next, Kira/Raito’s self-centredness and L’s self-sacrificial actions are extremely contrasting to each other. It is a wonder that they can even be friends, or so only to L’s perspective, whom I think, made his worst mistake in underestimating the “5% suspicion rate” of Raito. He let down his guard eventually and just like in chess, he got check-mated by Raito. This shows us to heed what we call “the nagging voice” in us. You have to heed it, be it, “the nagging voice” to start your assignments or things to, before they “outsmart” you one day.

I also find that L is a good-natured character who is very honest, compared to Raito who is a downright liar. Honesty is a virtue that is hard to find in the modern day society where you don’t really know who to trust. A liar can tell beautiful and inspiring things, so convincing, it’s too good not to believe it. But the thing is, how do you know who to trust? My policy is to never let your guard down. And you must know what things to tell others and what not to tell. Just like in the story, when the FIB fiancee gave Riato her real name, Riato killed her. You must learn to protect yourself, that is your prerogative.

What I find appealing about L is his ability to stay so focused at his tasks and his giving of 100% of what he does. It is an admirable trait to be determined and focused. L is not easily swayed by others’ opinions. He held on to his own beliefs, which nearly saved him. He spends his time wisely and doesn’t wastes his time doing what normally people would do. He is a role model.

L’s quirks are just some traits to make him more “approachable” and more humanly inspite of his noble character. He is a wonderful construct of the imagination.

The other aspects of the story like the internal logic thinking and strategies, just showed us the importance of planning ahead. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. And being logical at thinking is the best instead of just following one’s feelings.

Death note is just purely a fictional story with some components like the “death gods” that I’m not very agreeable with, but I will applaud it just for the intricate plot and the things that this story can show us.

ok feeling sleepy already.

And lastly, Riato/Light initially is not that bad a character. However, driven by his selfish ambition to ”be the god of the new world”- a drive for ultimate power, control and selfish ideology, he lost himself in it. Reminds me of the bible verse in Matthew 16:26—(said by Jesus)–For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? In this modern society, where success is heavily emphasized and money is equal to a person’s status in society, we must exercise discernment. A person’s worth doesn’t lie in these things. To be driven by one’s own selfish desires for the benefit of self is meaningless. Only when driven by the will to benefit others, or by the will to make things better for the world, would it be meaningful, in which, who is to say that in the process, one wouldn’t find success or wealth?

16 Comments »

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

i actually found this blog entry while googling “death note analysis.”
i had just finished watching the anime, and had some unanswered questions, but i stumbled upon this page.
are you by any chance a journalist? or some sort of writer?
this is, like, an amazing overview/summary of the two characters. it seems like you covered every trait of light and L and i couldn’t agree with you more.
kudos to you, haha .
(:

Comment by susan — March 3, 2008 #

Reply
Hi Susan,
Thanks a lot for your compliments.
Haha, I’m not a journalist nor a writer, just an ordinary citizen putting out my thoughts.

Thanks..

Comment by serena1612 — March 3, 2008 #

Reply
- hey i was wondering if u colud giv me a website where i could find the play script for death note i need it for the school play…
  thanks
  =D
  
  Comment by Shrutzi — July 28, 2009 #
  
  Reply
I loved your brief analysis. I thought it was very insightful, and your right, lots of people have noticed these contingencies within the “death note” realm. I too appreciate the story for its complexities of characters. But I find that even though it gives the appearance of white vs. black or light vs. darkness… it is sugared in grays… when you look at all the other characters (not Light or L)

My personal favorite quote that I always think of when it comes to light’s predeciment is from Polonius’ mouth in Hamlet- “With devotion’s visage and pious action do we sugar o’er the devil himself”

Comment by Vee — May 16, 2008 #

Reply
i also stumbled on this site by googling. i just like to say that i agree with light on everything he stands for. ( and yes i am one of those girls you metioned earlier about having the same personality traits as light.) i think L deserved what he got, and i believe the world would be a better place if every evil person just disappeared.

Comment by tina — May 28, 2008 #

Reply
Hi Tina…
Thanks for your comment….
The world will definitely be a better place if there is no evil..
RIP L..

Comment by serena1612 — May 29, 2008 #

Reply
This was preaty good summery of ?L and light, but you were wrong about one thing light isnt evil, he is in somes ways a better person than L,because he dosent believe in manipulating people when he is not in control of the D note, and he is only doing what the rest of us D note fans are wishing we could do lol

Comment by Tyler — June 10, 2008 #

Reply
Wow, I found this page by googling “Death Note Analysis” too. After the end of the series, I’ve become somewhat obsessed with reading analytical works and essays about Death Note. The last episode was so amazing, by the way.

Comment by Justin — July 7, 2008 #

Reply
I also googled Death note Analysis.
I was fairly…bumbed when L died, because the story was indeed about the two of them – L and Light. I just wondered why he ate so much.

Comment by Josh — September 12, 2008 #

Reply
Actually, to correct some things, it has been stated by the author that when L says something like 5%, he really means upwards of 95%, like a reverse math of sorts.

Think about how disadvantaged L was in this entire “fight”. Light was, as far as we know, besides Misa at a couple times, the only one to truly know the Death Note rules in the entire world (besides the Shinigami of course, where Light actually knew more sometimes as evidenced by Ryuk being surprised in one episode by not knowing certain restrictions)

L was more intelligent than Light, however Light had the advantage of, literally, a God, paranormal killing devices, and being on the side of evil and manipulating people for your own good.

In fact, the only reason L lost, was because a God literally chose to kill him, there’s bloody nothing you can do should a God want to kill you, and Rem only did it because she KNEW L would win, and Misa would be placed in jail and executed.

If you look at the clues, L was rapidly closing in on Kira and boxing Light in, so he did a last ditch resort, not even relying on his intelligence because it failed him, and chose to get the Shinigami to kill him.

While some may consider this to be Light winning, it’s winning in the same regard as killing the strongest person in the world with a gun, it doesn’t make you the strongest.. it just means you were too weak to do it yourself and resorted to something else.

Also, if you read the manga, it shows L thinking when he dies “I was right.. But I…”

Comment by Me — December 13, 2008 #

Reply
I disagree with some of what you’re saying.

What makes them similar is the element driving the show until L dies, which is one of the reasons why the show looses its appeal after L dies. I have become semi-depressed after watching a series that could’ve ended so much better was ruined by the death of L.

Power corrupts is hard to get away from in this series, but i feel that it also shows how recklessness got the better of Light and that it’s better to be lucky than good.

But most importantly, i think you miss the fact that when L says ‘5%’ he means over 90%. He is not really fooled and it shows that he caves into the other NPA people defending him and L is filled with self-doubt when he works with them.

If L wasn’t subject to this, i think that he would’ve caught Light very easily.

In the Film (i think), L wrights his own name in to die 23 days later so the SHinigami can’t kill him and he catches light within that time.

Comment by Dr — December 31, 2008 #

Reply
i ttly agree with “Me — December 13, 2008 ” in the truth that light was acting smarter than he realy was and L truly out smarted light but light got realy lucky on his last ditch effort to kill L. Still they where way smarter than i could ever be even if they are fiction…

Comment by collin — March 3, 2009 #

Reply
to serena1612
you say, “The world will definitely be a better place if there is no evil…”
Wouldn’t the show suck though? To me thats one of the most amazing aspects of Death Note. It really gets to the root of the idea that without the bad guys, we wouldn’t have any good guys to admire. I think we all need a lil evil now and then.

Comment by Sam — April 23, 2009 #

Reply
Regarding the biblical reference in your analysis, i couldnt help but notice others such as L washing Light’s feet in episode 23(i think) before he dies, as jesus washed the feet of his desiples at ‘the last supper’ before he was ‘crusified’, there are others but it’s just some food for thought

Comment by Joe — August 8, 2009 #

Reply
Actually, I think you have analyzed L’s character wrong. L isn’t honest, and he doesn’t have a moral compass, conveyed many times throughout the manga, anime, and stated by the author.

L is an unbelievably incredible, brilliant, and fascinating character.

You pegged Light though

Comment by Noir — September 19, 2009 #

Reply
- Other than this, you explained L and the facets of his character very well XD Great job, I love your writing style
  
  Comment by Noir — September 19, 2009 #
  
  Reply