OTAKU Series by Cecile Maxi ('23): A Better World?

Have you ever dreamed of a world with no crimes and no criminals, just happiness and love? Like most of us, I know I did. Light Yagami did too, and he was determined to create a world where criminals don’t exist.

The opening scene of The Death Note shows a notebook falling from the sky, however it’s no ordinary notebook. It's a Shinigami’s. In Japanese culture Shinigamis are monsters from the darkness that invite humans toward death. The Shinigami’s notebook grants the human who possesses it the power to kill anyone simply by writing his first and last name in the notebook while picturing the target’s face in his mind, but that kind of power comes with a price. The main character, Light Yagami, is an intelligent high school student who doesn’t fit our regular description of a hero in anime: he’s no outsider. When Light first found the notebook, after reading the instructions, he was a bit skeptical about the whole notebook, but he decided to take it home and gave it a try anyways. A perfect world for Light is a world with no criminals. In order to make it happen, Light decided to kill all the criminals, starting with those in prison. To keep his identity confidential, Light goes by Kyra because the police were a bit concerned about criminals in prison dying from sudden heart attack. At first, Kyra wasn’t comfortable about killing people, but the more he used the notebook, the more he was convinced that what he was doing was the right thing to do. Kyra ends up loving the power that the notebook gave him--the notebook made him a God--and he wanted to be The God of this new world that he was going to create. By touching the notebook, Kyra had the power to see the proprietor of the notebook, a Shinigami named Ryuk who’s there to help him and answer questions he has about the notebook.

If the whole point of the anime was to kill criminals using a notebook, it would’ve been a bit redundant and boring. Well, maybe not, since the notebook gives you the ability to be creative; you get the chance to describe in what circumstances the person dies, or else he dies of an accidental heart attack. The anime starts to get interesting when a detective, L, who’s known to solve cases that are impossible to solve, is determined to know who Kyra is.

L and Light are the most intelligent characters I have ever seen in anime. The tactics and tricks that both are using, one to avoid getting caught and the other to catch the mysterious man, will have you root for both because you will want to know who will win the cat and mouse game that they’re playing. The Death Note was only one season separated into two parts. I wish it was a little bit longer. L and Light will make you overthink every move they make because, let's be real, they won't use fake names just because they want to. All actions were meticulously calculated; they were all important and all of them had a purpose.

I left some information out for those who haven't watched it yet, but overall, The Death Note isn’t a fantasy show. The people look real and have real problems, which makes me wonder, what if all of this was possible? On a scale of 1 to 10, besides the amazing storyline and the suspense, the whole anime was a solid 9. However, I wish some of my questions were answered. Did I mention that there weren't any physical fights? There were no physical fights, therefore that storyline must have been really good for me to keep watching it. And if I’m being honest the unrealistic fights in anime is one of the reasons why I watch anime (lol).

For those who watched it already, I have a few questions: have you ever thought about how the world would have been if the “Death Note” really existed?  Were Light’s actions justified? Do you think that criminals don’t deserve a second chance?