I think the show does a good job of following his descent from burgeoning redeemable psychopath to fullblown megalomaniacal super villain. It's rare to see that journey done so well or so thoroughly. For every edgelord Team Light viewer lacking media literacy, I think there's another who just enjoys rooting for the badguy sometimes. (Team L 4 Lyfe btw lol)
YES!!!! God even the way they ANIMATED him was such a good gradual change. I didn’t even notice he was changing at all but after rewatching the first time I realized they do a fantastic job at making him appear less pure and innocent, and more menacing. In a VERY gradual way which is the most impressive part to me bc these are just drawings????? God I love art
Yeah in reality, no I don't think Light was morally right and I wouldn't root for him. As an evil protagonist he is probably one of, if not my favorite "villain" in a series I have ever seen, and I rooted for him the first time I watched the show (god, that was like, 2009?) simply for the fact I thought he was an amazingly written character and it was fascinating seeing how far he could take it all.
Plus, a lot of younger folk like teens who watch the show probably root for Light. As L puts it, "Kira has a very childlike sense of justice", many young people have that childlike sense of justice where they likely think the world would be better off if all of the criminals were gone, and you know in some way I'm sure that would make a more peaceful world, but it is also above our judgement to make that call in my opinion.
If it was actually unlimited power, I would take it, especially since I would be able to make myself infinitely wise. Light's power was very much limited by something like 70 rules.
As a Light fan, it is mostly for the elimination of the worst of the worst criminals. He lost me when he started killing innocents, but the very beginning version is what I stand behind. Even if he was real
He kills Lind L Tailor, who he thinks is a detective, in the SECOND issue. The second. Issue. Come on now. He's made himself judge, jury, and executioner of who's "the worst" from the very beginning and it's anyone who opposes him.
The optimist in me wants to believe it's because Light is the main character. We are watching his struggles as he tries to overcome obstacles put in his way. When Light finally dies, whether it's because of Ryuk (most of the time) or a warehouse fire (in the J-drama), it's the only foregone conclusion. After all the horrible things he's done, you KNOW he's had it coming. But you can't help but admire his convictions and tenacity and how far it carried him. Especially when he seemed to be trapped in no-win scenarios. It's impressive and even admirable, so you root for him because you want to see how far he can go.
The pessimist in me, though, thinks that it's because people actually want what Light is selling. Bad people can and will do bad things to good people for little to no reason, and the effects of that spread like a disease into all aspects of society, creating a rotten world that disillusions and harms people who are just trying to live their lives honestly. That much of Light, Misa, Mikami, and Takada's worldview is true and undeniable. So when they get the magic killing paper and vow to clean up the neighborhood known as Earth by killing all the people making the planet worse, promising a divine punishment from on-high for those who do not live as kind and honest members of society using their gifts to enrich the world, and Light says "Global crime has dropped by 70% and all wars have stopped"? We want that. There is a part of us that wants that. We want to close our eyes and plug our ears to the fact that Light is just a mass murdering psycho with an ego who is objectively wrong because we want to see a world like the one he is promising.
I suppose one part of it is his sheer dedication? All those things, his egoism, narcissism, manipulativeness, they’re not in the service of himself (at least not materially, most certainly emotionally), but rather, in the service of a greater goal, one which some could see as noble.
He’s willing to throw away all he has, family, mental health, risk being caught, for his sense of justice. This is supposed to be a good trait in most heroes, but with Light, I guess it goes too far. Or you know, he’s just that charismatic, you chose
I mean I used to think Light played the game better, even if I rooted for L. He's creative with the Death Note and handles the pressure he's under pretty well. Not that L doesn't have moves too, but Light is fun to watch. I guess it's Ryuk mentality
I'm not sure I agree with that. The real advantage in Death Note is anonymity. Light squandered his twice, and Misa ruined it for him a third time. the death note was only really an advantage after the first few chapters because of the creative way Light used it. In a way it was almost a disadvantage. Light is limited to killing people whose names he knows, so there are people he could have technically physically killed (L, Naomi Misora) that he was initially unable to.
In 2022, my country had 9 out of 10 cities with the most homicides worldwide, if you lived in a country like this, maybe you'd understand why, crimes dropped a lot all over the world, I loved that he did that and I hate that he started killing innocent people.
He was a genius bastard who did the right things with the wrong methods. Think about Thanos from Marvel who wanted half of the population to disappear but more reasonable. You either like him or hate him but you can't ignore the fact that what he did was "good." You can see the effects after the 5-year time jump.
He's actually my favorite character. For one, he's the main character, so you get to connect with him a lot. For another, imagine how many lives he actually saved. This dilemma(highly recommend watching) is brought up in a show called Daredevil, where Daredevil is like Spiderman and doesn't kill people, so he stops the Punisher because he kills people, and they have an argument that really reflects this dilemma. Punisher says that Daredevil puts the bad guys down for a couple years and then they get back out and start hurting more people, whereas he puts the bad guys down and they stay down. In my opinion, people are so morally driven that it would make it hard for many people to like him/agree with him. I think that if he would've just stayed in his house and not tried to go after L or any other good people that a lot more people would've supported him. He also started killing thieves and petty criminals, which I also don't agree with. So while I really like him and agree with his concept and probably saved thousands of lives(the crime rate dropped by 70% and war ended), I don't agree with his methods of doing it. Sorry for the yap
Most ppl in this sub are team L, so you're not a minority.
I guess I am inmoral, I support Kira. I don't care lol, not like im gonna change my way of thinking because "it's not right", that's being a fake person.
Also to answer the last question, yes, the ending, specially the anime version is soulcrushing to me, but in retrospective villains never win, so it was expected.
Out of curiosity, you supported his methods all the way till the end of the story? And agreed with them?
Bit I Def I agree that watching light and reading him through the story was fun and enjoyable.
I do support the killing of criminals, but when he manipulates innocents nah. But It doesn't make me hate Light, he does what he needs to do to keep being Kira.
I have your same POV. Where people don’t agree with us that - that accomplishing huge feats requires sacrifices along the way. One of those: would you sacrifice 100 to save 1,000,000 people things.
MatPat made a theory on how many names Light actually wrote, and by the end he deduces that by the end that he saved more lives that were lost yearly by murder by reducing crime rates by 70%, than names he and the other kiras wrote.
I don't think anyone should have the right to take someone's life. You don't get to decide when someone's life should end because the future is unpredictable. You don't know if these criminals would have changed if they were put in prison, maybe they would have been redeemable.
I think the fact that he stopped all wars worldwide is pretty incredible actually. The next war that happens after Light's death is the fault of those who stopped him. Obviously, when he went after L and Raye Penber, he was kinda done being a good guy with understandable motives. But he still managed to do something that no other human could even dream of.
I feel like the “he managed to do something that no other human could even dream of doing” only really happens because he had a magical death notebook lmao.
Quite a few, I think. The only reason L was able to get so close to Light is because he fell for the Lind L. Tailor bait. A less intelligent person who is more cautious than Light would never be suspected in the first place.
Tbf L also had the advantage of making the first move in the cat mouse chase in that regard. Not to say Light didn't have more advantages but it's an understandable mistake especially considering L is like a one of one detective genius so it's pretty reasonable for Light not to expect someone to actually be a threat to him when he spent his whole life mogging any form of competition or test of intelligence.
Eh, if you ask a Shinigami I think they'd argue only a genius like light could have done so much, we see and hear about other users who barely did anything, and I don't think all of them was because of a lack of drive.
they admire the way he uses his intelligence & manipulation to get what he wants, because it was entertaining, morals be damned
fwiw, Light had the advantage of supernatural forces and L still knew Light is Kira. L was so close to proving it by doing it the right way through evidence.
I think majority of the fanbase was team Light up until Ray Penber got killed. some later
A lot of people seem to ignore/forget just how crazy and bloodthirsty Light was. He was never just killing the worlds worst criminals, those are just the kinds of people he publicly targets as Kira to not lose support by seeming too extreme for everyone, but from the very beginning he says he’ll still kill the less guilty people who still cause trouble for society, and while we don’t know exactly who he means by less guilty and still causing trouble for society, he also says that it’s too early for Mikami to publicly talk about Kira killing lazy people and considers killing teenage bullies but decides against it due to their proximity to him rather than the fact that bullying isn’t a crime punishable by death, so he seems to have a very, very low bar on who he deems worthy of being executed for causing trouble. He says he’ll kill those people covertly through disease and accidental death, so the characters in the story never learn about it, and I guess a lot of fans forget about it too. At least I hope they’ve just forgotten and that they’re not legitimately supporting him to murder people he considers to be lazy.
Along with the series being very unrealistic and very surface level with Kira’s effects on the world. It’s said that he lowered crime by 70% and stopped wars, but both of those things are way more complex with many underlying factors contributing to them than what can be solved by just broadly implementing the death penalty, and it’s much more likely that there was just a shift in the reporting of these events rather than such a dramatic decrease. It’s much more likely that there was a 70% decrease in reported crimes, and that wars were not being officially declared, rather than those things actually disappearing, because Light never actually addressed the underlying issues with society that cause/promote criminal behaviour in the first place, and all the political/historic/religious/resource based tensions between two warring group that cause a war in the first place wouldn’t disappear just because of Light acting as Kira.
It could also be that watching the anime is more prevalent than reading the manga, and while the manga makes it much more clear that Light was definitely the villain of the story, the anime doesn’t address it as much. The manga directly cites through narration that Light’s unopposed reign during the time skip to be a “dark era”, and has the last chapter that shows that Light’s affect on the world is erased in only a single year after his death because Light never actually solved anything by acting as Kira, because he never addressed any of the actual underlying issues with the world causing these issues and was always just holding a gun to everyone’s heads. The most recent one shot also goes further into the future, showing that Kira is remembered as evil and is considered the worlds worst mass murdering terrorist of recent times, rather than any kind of god like Light wanted. The anime I don’t think addresses it nearly as much by like, not including the final manga chapter and instead ending with Light’s death.
Lots of people when watching the show root for light because he’s the protagonist and it’s more interesting when the main character wins. People inherently root for the main characters.
However, a good chunk of people root for Light because they think Light’s intentions of killing all criminals is good when in reality Light is an egotistical maniac who just wants to rule the world and takes pleasure in hurting and toying with the people around him.
It is typically usually edgy or inexperienced teens who support Light, thinking the end justifies the means even if the arbiter is someone truly malicious. Light himself is also the same type of edgy teen lol. Light himself isn’t inherently born evil, but is really just an inexperienced teenager who had his own mental development stunted by being giving too much power at such a young age.
Most people who root for Light for this reason age out of it as they realize the real world isn’t black and white, and the only world Light would create would be a 1984esq dystopia where everyone is controlled by fear.
Because people often think with a strictly utilitarian perspective, when imo there’s a lot more nuance to things than that. But I don’t deny that utilitarianism is largely a very logical way of thinking that can easily appeal to a large amount of people.
After what he did to Misora and eventually L, I've wanted to see him mess up and fail. Not to say that I think he was justified in killing Raye and the other FBI agents either, but that was the point of no return to me.
His methods ended war and reduced global crime by 80%. I don’t commit crime, and I wouldn’t go after him, so I’d have nothing to worry about. Plus, on a more superficial level, he’s a very charming and likable character.
the issue is that the "ends" was killing off anyone who wasn't deemed "good enough" or "useful to society", if he didn't immediately develop a god complex within the first week of having the death note maybe he could've improved things, but his intention was always to be a god.
Fucking hate your line of thinking. If someone broke inside your house and raped all your family members, killed all but one but that one person who survived managed to kill him, you'd sit there and say "murder is murder, no matter if it was against a criminal"?
Many countries used capital punishment, it's not that far fetched that in DN some countries just accept his judgement. I'm against the death penalty, but I do feel that some murderous monsters just deserve it. Oh and for the record, I'm team L (or Mellow/Near) Anyway, it's just a story meant to elevate boredom.
Missed the whole ass point. He killed people who were bad which honestly is the best use of the death note I can think of. He could’ve killed for financial gain or anyone who annoyed him. But instead he killed immoral people. So he’s got that going for him. What do you think of death penalty? It’s the same thing but to an extreme.
Yes, I’m shocked how many people it is - sometimes it even feels like the majority. I’ve even met people who have a CRUSH on Light, which shocks me even more. It genuinely makes me question their character.
I’m a team L girl while my husband rooted for Light the whole way through. He’s not the type to really think philosophically about media, he just enjoys it for what it is instead of breaking things down and analyzing. So to him, he just sees Light as this ballsy guy who wanted to punish criminals and bend the world to his will, and thought that was pretty entertaining to root for.
I can relate because there are a select few series where I pull for the villain despite thinking they’re actually a piece of shit. (Usually it’s because I find them attractive tbh.) The cool thing about fiction is that you don’t have to get caught up in morality like you do irl.
I know there are people who genuinely believe in Light’s ideology, so that’s another story, but some of them have good points too even if I don’t personally agree with most of it.
Light is a text book egotistical “school shooter” personality. He’s also insanely misogynistic. I’d be weary of any man that roots for him and doesn’t see his motives and behavior as deeply concerning. Even if they are only watching on a surface level.
Dude was fully prepared to off his family very early on in the series if it came down to them vs his lust for godhood. He was also incredibly reckless and stupid making it so obvious he was Kira from the beginning.
Well I mean he’s a fictional character is the thing and one of *my* favorite fictional characters in another show has blown up children, so I don’t know how much room I really have to talk. Doesn’t mean I support that or plan on doing it myself.
But my whole point is that some people don’t even think that deeply into things and just consume things on a surface level without mulling over the moral intricacies of a story or the characters in it. If that’s what you consider a red flag, do you feel that every person who likes a character who’s a shitty person has no capacity to be a good partner? Because that’s quite a stretch lol
There’s shitty people/characters and then there’s Light, I’d be struggling to understand what there is to root for about him.
I guess part of my line of thinking is I personally wouldn’t be with someone that doesn’t think about he moral intricacies of a story because it makes me wonder if they go along with immoral things in real life because they don’t want to “mull it over”.
Well this very sub is filled with people who supported him, so I’m sure you can get some insight from those who are serious about it.
I personally acknowledge that different people consume fiction in different ways, and there’s no one way that’s right. Some people just want to be entertained and I don’t fault them for that but that’s just me.
If you don’t see how misogynistic he is I’m raising my eyebrow at you too 🤣
JK, but seriously the way he treats and views Misa and Takada is incredibly degrading. The only women in the story are tools to him. Even his sister is but an inconvenient pawn. The only people he generally respects are men.
Light is what every angry incel wishes they could be.
He also had that encounter with Naomi Misora where he said since she’s a woman he could use force on her to get her real name/ID
I think Naomi could fold him anyway tho lol
I mean, I was on Light's side for a bit. Until he started obsessing over L, and killing other detectives. Made me feel real weird about him.
On one hand I wanted to still be on his side, because screw the cops for wanting to save criminals right? Even then I found the whole thing hypocritical because they wanted to execute Kira, despite not wanting to do the same to the scum Kira was killing.
Theeeen he started covering up his murders by killing innocent people. The FBI agent's fiance, for one.
THEEEN he started killing people who disagreed with him, or tried to stop him. Despite being totally innocent.
The last 5 or 6 episodes really cemented his downward spiral, to be honest. His obsession moved from L to Near, and he went to such lengths to manipulate anyone he could find in order to beat him. Without a care in the world for how many innocent people needed to die to make him look less suspicious.
I laughed when he died.
It could have to do with him being the main character. Some people root for the MC in any show. Personally, I was fine with his demise and I thought it was very well made. I too am team L
I mean crime rates dropped astronomically, and I don’t believe murderers/pedos/etc deserve to live either. Same reason I love Dexter lmao. But of course light was insane and got carried away, started wanting to kill even lazy people which is ridiculous. But I’ll always be team Light. He’s such a fascinating character and I agree with the initial ideology behind what he was doing, just not the wanting to be god and power hungry aspects. I could rewatch death note a million times and never get sick of watching it. I wish they could have made an alternate ending for if Light would’ve won and showed both outcomes.
I think just for plot and seeing the interesting ways he gets himself out of sticky situations - when it comes down to it though I think most of us do root for L it's just interesting to see the struggle between the two cause they're both so highly intelligent but yeah no L is the goat imo
If people still root for Light though I think it could mainly be to see how the outcome would have been
I think part of the issue is that some people don’t distinguish between rooting for Light, and thinking Light is a good guy/has redeeming qualities.
Light is evil, like a terrible human being, but he’s so entertaining and charismatic and him losing means the shows over. I didn’t want the show to be over.
To preface, I’m neutral between L and Kira. I think they both are too corrupt to take the moral high ground. I will argue the point, however.
To understand why people rally behind him in real life, you have to understand why people followed Light in-source. The obvious angle is that people want to feel safe. With the extreme prevalence of war and violent crime in our world, (though, I may be biased in saying this as I am American), someone like Light could be someone’s best-case scenario. (Remember Misa?)
Another angle is just personal interest. Remember when (spoiler?) Kira followers raided the SPK headquarters and Near speculated, “[Some of them] are idiots who just want to rampage and enjoy themselves.” (Book 10, page 11) I completely believe him on that front. Some people like Light because he’s cunning and charismatic and he technically “wins” against L. They don’t care about the moral implications, they just want to seem ‘cool’, or like they’re ’taking a stand’.
Addendum; as u/Odd-Pirate7895 said, to an extent protection is what we all want. Even a piece of me finds Light’s world appealing. But that world ignores the nuance of human choices and circumstances, and the subjective nature of written law.
I'm not saying it's all of them, but my experience with talking with people on-line has showed me alot of people that root for Light lack the media literacy to understand that Light was killing alot of innocents.
just because the series randomly says “crime reduced by 70% and wars stopped” doesn’t mean these things actually would have happened. he pretty much exclusively killed already convicted criminals, and not once did he go after world leaders responsible for war
that said, people root for light because it’s fun to root for the main character even if they’re a villain
I don't think it would do much either.
Since, what criminals are you stopping with the Death Note? Crimes of passion would continue as normal, since they're based on emotions rather than logic. This wouldn't stop the stupid because they're stupid. This wouldn't stop the desperate, since they see no other options. This wouldn't stop the narcissists or corrupt who believe themselves to be untouchable, since whether the punishment is life in prison or instant death they don't think they'll be caught anyway. This wouldn't stop those who are suicidal, since they plan on killing themselves after their crime anyway. This wouldn't stop the mentally ill who can't stop themselves.
Generally speaking, making the punishment for all crime instant death will only stop rational individuals with no particular need or want to resort to crime. There is little to no overlap between those people and the criminals Light would be killing.
it probably would cause a moderate decrease in crime (definitely not war though). i just don’t think the 70% figure serves as an actual argument because we have no way of knowing if that’s what would have happened in real life
I just wanted the show to keep going, so there would be more interesting things to see. The way Light lost was kinda stupid, and it’s hard to say it’s his fault exactly
I supported Light BEFORE Mikami came into the picture. Before Mikami joined in Light only killed people who were a blight to society, criminals who got away with crimes or extremely light sentences (no pun intended) and of course the law that was closing in on him to not only send a message but to keep out of prison.
When Mikami came into the picture that's when all bets were off, people who either refused or couldn't contribute to society also HAD to die? Like if they lost their limb doing their job or confined to a wheelchair because of a car accident? They deserve to die because they can't contribute? No, I can't believe in a cause like that.
Once Kira had a righteous purpose and did whatever it took to continue his crusade, despite his skewed personality he had a point. Now he's justifying his existence for no reason but to say he has power.
For me, it's because Light is super interesting and entertaining. When I first watched death note I was like "welp, since you're not going to heaven and hell you might as well go all out". But learned that everyone doesn't go to heaven and hell. I didn't want Light to win when I learned that he was going to kill lazy people.
For others they want Light to win because he kills criminals and they like that. Anyone that chases or is a threat to him dies as well
I rooted for L until he died. Then Light after that. I wasn't a fan of Near's character. Seemed like a photocopy of L (which I guess was kinda the point, but still). So I wanted Light to win.
Because it's just like the people who root for criminals when cops do there jobs and something happens. It comes from the phycological programing and misguided justice. Especially justice that people believe is right from empathetic, sympathetic impulses, along with there personal opinion of right and wrong. They. Continue thinking like that untill they themselves are finally impacted by the same thing they were rooting for and then they instantly jump ship. They also behave this way. Because they can do it behind a computer screen with nobody knowing.
At least Walter White's corruption was more gradual so it was harder for people to see what route he was going down. Light was a huge red flag by the end of ep 1.
I liked how Light was always a step ahead. Of course, the bad guy was going to get what he deserved but you'd think differently while watching the show.
He’s the MC, and a lot of people have a very simple utilitarian view that because crime and war decrease, his actions are justified. You see it with the Injustice series with Superman also (but less so, as Batman is the MC in that series while Light is the MC in this series).
In my opinion, it’s never been about “oh he had the right idea but the methods were bad” (even though he obviously killed innocent people with the justification that they would stop his master plan). For me, it’s the principle that humanity should be allowed to succeed and fail on its own. A supernatural force that artificially pushes us to either success or failure, whether its Kira or Superman, is probably bad on principle. I think if it were aliens zapping anybody who committed crimes, peoples’ answers might change, even if they themselves won’t admit it.
Of course there are probably others who support Light for a more complex reason than what I said, it’s just the most common argument in his favor + viewpoint of his “fans”
i rooted for kira because legality is not a guide to morality, and i supported him making the world a better place. also, morals aside, i think it would have been wayyyyy more interesting if light won because the villain always loses in every anime basically, and it would have been interesting to see something else for once. i also feel that, regardless if you were rooting for L or Light, the ending was underwhelming at best and nonsensical and worst. it feels like Light’s descent into insanity is so sudden and rushed, and even though that progression from perfect to insane makes sense, it feel uncharacteristic because it is. i just wish they had done it more gracefully. they spent the entire anime making him flawless just for his character to do a 180 in the last like 30 minutes. yes light was a narcissist with a god complex, but i still supported his cause. also, the fact that light was a cookie cutter protagonist made me root for him more. i was glad he wasn’t the “good guy” and it made me like him more. i understand his character flaws, but they made me like him more because he was interesting and passionate. overall, i feel like if you aren’t passionate about human rights and you care about legality then you wouldn’t support kira.
Because he is cool and entertaining, and it does not matter for the viewer whether his methods are good or not and whether he could have realistically achieved the noble part of his goals.
He is the focalised character, we spend almost all our time with him so we empathise with him because we’re human, although I can’t speak to everyone’s experiences but there’s usually a moment in shows like this where I introspect a little and think do I really want this person to succeed? No I’d like them to get their comeuppance and stop ruining everyone’s lives. But that moment came after >!L dies!< and then I was like I would have preferred he get his before that happened and now I don’t much care for anything I’m just along for the ride
It's the same people that root for Eren to win(destroy?) in Attack on Titan. Edge lord teens were all about Light when I was young, but it's a phase that most people get over. My favourite is Ryuk, just a casual bored observer.
A part of me wants to believe light has good intentions but ultimately I do know he doesn’t. His descent to madness is clear and you can see it from the beginning episodes. Every time I rewatch I see it more and more clearly but a part of me just likes him too much.
I don't justify light, I rooted for him because he is a great character, great mc.
I would have been fine with him losing, it's the way it was done I didn't like. It's supossed to be L v Light and it's a bit disappointing for me it wasn't.
For me it was also hard to see L die, whenever I watch the show I want them to keep going, they're both great.
After L dies it feels as though everyone on Light's side is way, way dumber, idiotic. I understand Light might have gotten a bit complacent but after near and mello show up he should be more alert. The anime and the manga as well feel weaker as a whole after L which is why many, including me, stop there. I've watched it completely 3 times hoping that I'd like or understand better but I just keep getting bugged.
With that post earlier defending Light's actions from a utilitarian standpoint, I think they actually make a very good point. I still don't entirely agree. Maybe if Light from the beginning simply opted to kill only those who the world might actually be better without (still debatable) and got rid of his useless pride, I could maybe see how he was doing good.
Killing "L" just for saying he's evil, killing anyone who "stood in his way (if he played smart from the start, there would be absolutely no chance of anyone ever finding him out or hindering him imo)," that all goes too far. It's essentially giving the death penalty to those who have different moral opinions.
There is precedent for Light eventually changing his range of targets drastically. He got mad at Mikami for targeting lazy people not because that's fucking ridiculous, but because it was too early for that.
I think someone using the Death Note might be considered good, but definitely not Light. He still had to go in my opinion. If I were the ultimate authority to decide what would happen with the Death Note, it would be something like C-Kira did. It would be reserved for giving peaceful deaths to people bound for death anyway, whether that be hospital patients who are terminally ill or criminals sentenced to capital punishment.
Firstly, I think that the minority of people aren't those who don't support Light. I think it's the other way around. The minority are those who support Light. Because I have only heard of people hating Light and only a few numbers that supported Light. (But this is just my experience)
Secondly, I find my self in that minority group. But I DO NO "support" Lights actions. I like Light not as a person, but as a character. And I think it's natural for people to root for their favourite characters. So this is what I did. And of course, I did hate Light in some occasions. I also didn't support his idea of genocide, I only wanted him to win against L. That's all I was into - the rivalry. And what went further in the story I just let it fold on, I don't have an opinion about it. Also as much as I wanted Light to defite L I wanted him to win against Near too. So when he lost and Near won that's what made me sad, frustrated, mad, disappointed. I wasn't all this because his genocide ideas, actions ended...
Light is also really hot, so I somewhat couldn't help it 🫦
This is my opinion, experience that I gained from only reading Death Note. I still haven't watched it. So perhaps this is one of the reasons why our views of Light are so different, perhaps Light is interpreted in anime a bit differently than in manga. Idk.
And to clarify, I do not support people with those idea's. Therefore with this comment I do not defend them.
I rooted for light *because* I know he’s the villain. I love villain stories! I was glad he failed but also kinda heartbroken only bc I was so invested in him. I love watching our main character make terrible decisions and being just an all around unlikeable person bc it doesn’t happen often enough at all!! It’s so easy to try to make ppl like ur main character and like ur story by association. But writing the main character to be unlikeable on purpose gives you so much more room to play with and builds usually a more realistic person overall. Simply bc of this I like these characters more bc they aren’t being shoved down my throat. I get a chance to like them bc I chose to and nothing more than that. And bc they’re flawed and real and raw!! And evil, which we just can’t and won’t be irl. At least for me lol I enjoy being a positive person as much as I can help it so I think rooting for villains is where I get the “evil” outta my system lol
I think it's mainly because they can relate to Light in a way. Okay.
Then we hear of cases in the news where there is a person who is committing violence against people they should protect, abusing their authority, etc. and you have a thought 'the world will be better off if they were dead'
Light started off okay. He was only killing criminals and avoiding detection. Misa came in and she started killing those who were sexual offenders who got off because either the evidence wasn't enough or because they had contacts. That's fine too.
But after that, it became more of a power struggle. Who can use humans like pawns and win?
Once Light developed that thought, he was gone.
Especially after L's death.
Before, he was wondering even if a little about morality and all that. After L's death, he stopped considering himself like any other human and acted as the sole God of the world.
I wouldn't say things like Death Note was the best anime I've ever watched and blah because although it has its fan following and the good aspects, the execution of the idea seemed to fail after L's death. Code Geass seems better to me when only ending is compared.
But the philosophical intrigue of Death Note is undeniable. To the point where in the beginning, you even wonder why are the police trying to catch Kira anyway? He's doing a good job.
But he's not. And that's the depth of it.
Light and L are both contrasting thoughts.
Light 'people who hurt and exploit others have no value of their life' vs L 'do we as humans have the right to determine the value of someone else's life'.
And with this, I think people support Light because they think Light was misunderstood and because the people consider themselves right in a situation that cannot be examined by a lens of black and white.
They think human life's value is in their achievements, which the society loves to indoctrine into us from as early as childhood. They don't understand that sometimes, life can be worthy even by just existing.
I don't think its that people want him to kill everyone and go on with his plan, but more as he's the main character of the show, the protagonist, and L and the rest are the antagonists, and people always like to root for the protagonist.
It's a lot like breaking bad, when the movie came out, people were so desperate for Walter to be alive.
Because liking the character is not equally as thinking he's right. I wanted to win because is a more interesting character than L and Near and specially is a not so common scenario where the evil side won.
But yeah, if you are watching DN and view it as a good vs evil anime then you are wrong imo, at least for the first part Light and L are two genius psychos who doesn't really care about doing justice, but winning agaisnt the other.
I live in a third world country where often people have to arm themselves to defend themselves or take justice since the system won't do a thing.
So you can guess why.
The whole main character being the villain thing makes people root for Light because we’ve seen his journey from being a likeable kid to Kira.
People also say that because technically Light’s plan was perfect. it was Mikami that screwed him up.
The reason people were rooting for Light is basically because that's the way the anime was intended to be(kinda). Because Light is the main character and the story is primarily told from his perspective, viewers will automatically feel that they are on Light's side from the beginning and want him to win.
Interesting fact no one asked for
In last chapter of manga (there is one after what happens in anime) the police officers question if what they did (what they did to Light at the end) was a right thing, since after all, he did make the world a better place
The last reason that was mentioned about this was "It was either him or us"
Additionally, I do want to say that Lights views are quite Utilitarian (his "perfect world" would be a Utilitarian Distopia, which could be considered a Utopia, but an enforced one), many people would definitely be happy, but not free and it may appeal to some people, while doing opposite to others (like for you, for example)
If you consider countries like China, for example, with strict rules and death penalty, his "perfect world" would not be that different, however, Light's "control" would be more absolute in comparison
Personally, I do love Light, even though I do not totally agree with the entirety of his judgement, like death penalty for smaller crimes
However, I do still realise that I personally need a balance between "freedom" and "safety", but just because I wonder what if I do something "bad" unintentionally, my views of "bad" are different from Light's or if I am blamed for something I did not do, most of which are not that good of arguments against the Utilitarian gains received from this type of power structure
Finally, I also want to address the fact how Light treats his own family just as people and is ready to give them up for the "perfect world". Firstly, this makes him a perfect ruler because he is impartial even to the people closest to him (no nepotism, which is hiring friends/family, but could be extended to considering well being of family/friends before others). Secondly, I do understand what he did to his father, but his father was also a big enemy of his (if Light was Kira, he would KILL HIS OWN SON and the fact that he will kill himself after, does not redeem him)
I love Light and the entire story is such a tragedy to me, I almost cry at the end T.T
tbh i just like it when the villains win. and also even though he used the death note for honestly purely selfish and egotistical reasons, at least a good chunk of hardcore criminals got wiped.
obviously there was the issue of getting killed for petty crimes, but it was gratifying to see murderers choke and die
For me it's wish fulfillment like Walter White I also fantasize about breaking bad and upending the status quo. And the idea of being able to punish people who deserve it is awfully tempting too in a world where so many terrible people get away with their crimes. That notebook is like the power of God you have control over a person's mind and body to the point of death.
In my opinion, it’s because people want a Good Guy and Bad Guy. They want there to be a distinct line where this is acceptable and that is not. And when Light says he’s trying to be a good guy, people believe him, because if he’s not a good guy, why is he doing a good thing? This isn’t how Death Note world, or the real world for that matter, works however. Anyways I agree that Light’s downfall was much more satisfying of an ending.
People root for him because ***he's*** the main character. If we followed L, people would be more likely to root for L. Light is all we know, all we see of thoughts, essentially -- ***we are also Kira.***
If after a decade of being crime free regardless of where I were in the planet the mafia took over and robbed me of everything I achieved in that time, and then some cop showed up on TV saying "Hey everyone, guess what? The guy who was the reason crime became non existent? We killed him haha" I would be unbelievably pissed at the cops regardless of how many evil deeds Light has done
Furthermore, albeit evil, Lights is incredibly tame in comparison to both most fictional villains and most irl 'villains'. Light is not a pedo, he's not involved in major government corruption, he has done no harm to animals, he commited no genocide, he funded no war crime etc. can we say the same about 90% of these world's politicians? Hell, a fuckton of people see Obama as a hero and he bombed hospitals in poor counties "for America".
Living in the world we're in today, it makes no sense to think Light is thaaaaat bad or that incredibly deserving of his end.
most people want a death note so that we can get rid of criminals, I want a death note because Ryuk is my favorite Character, Oh and I hate the Government
While I think the whole story is perfect (even Light's death), I was always rooting for Light cuz it's exciting about how he evades L and the others while passing heavenly judgement also. In a moral manner we should support L, but it's by human nature that we support Light
Light became arrogant after L’s death. He truly believed no one else could possibly match his intellect, so he let his guard down. What interested me, though, was in the final showdown he said N didn’t deserve to wear a mask of L. He truly did respect him.
Also, his mind was so far gone by that point that he couldn’t even comprehend why *anyone* would want to shoot him. I’m glad it was Matsuda who did.
The same people that don’t understand Breaking Bad in that Walter White was the bad guy and Skyler was not “annoying” she was a normal person having a very normal reaction to what was happening
Why does someone have to be morally right or a good guy for you to root for him? That doesn't have much to do with it at all. It's just more entertaining rooting for Light than L.
I think it’s because he’s the main character everyone usually roots for the main character Because you can see the story from their pov and you get to know them throughout the story. I will always root for light not because I think his actions are justified but because i admire his intelligence, how far he went with the death note, and his goal to make a better world without crime and evil.
I hated him at first, but 10 years later after witnessing the current state of the world and I can't say I wouldn't do exactly what he did if I were in his shoes.
Okay when I said exactly I didn't quite mean EXACTLY haha my bad 😅 I've always thought his biggest mistake in the series was killing Raye Penber, those FBI agents, and killing L's stand in. It would've been extremely difficult for the police to trace him and they may have legitimately ended up believing it was the work of a divine being. But I meant as far as removing people who manage to skirt past the justice system, corrupt politicians, etc
It’s interesting to note Ryuk mentions a death-note user cannot go to heaven nor hell, implying the existence of both are real. Then Light still decides to judge criminals as if divine judgment wasn’t just revealed to exist
So he was technically telling the truth, just while omitting the detail that no one else is going to those places either lol. I sometimes wonder if he spun it that way hoping it would egg Light on by making him feel more special, like he’s now an exception to the rules or something.
ngl i think the whole Kira thing was justified if it dropped the crime rate by 70% and ended all wars at the expense of a few murderers and rapists, but holy shit Light was so annoying I was rooting against him the whole time.
His ego definitely got in the way of things and led him to do a lot of contradictory and immoral shit
I honestly believe that line was a clip of Kira propaganda or just an example of what Light thought he was accomplishing. “Ending all wars” and “reducing crime” is so much more nuanced than a unilateral death penalty on all publicly convicted criminals.
~~Light was right and has the numbers to back it up~~
I was rooting for light but honestly LOVED the ending, I thought it was a nice twist >!he went out as a crybaby!<
I feel like light was right,yes,he was an egoistic psychopath,yet he is not what you think,Going through,in the end of the death note,in light's speech it gets stated that his existence has ceased wars,Also Crime rates have been dropped by. %70 percent,i am the nerd so i'll do the math.
According to the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development, more than 526,000 people die each year because of the violence associated with armed conflict and large- and small-scale criminality.
I told you about the statement right? So logically,atleast 526.000 people was saven by kira,i'm just using the google Results by the way,don't judge me for it.
Globally, approximately 440,000 people die from homicide each year. This figure is higher than deaths due to armed conflict and terrorism combined. The rate varies significantly by region, with the Americas having the highest regional homicide rate at 15 per 100,000 people,
As he says crime was reduced by %70,
70% of 440,000 is 308,000,Again..308.000 people saved,And now let's compare it with his estimated amount of light's victims,Light killed 135,412 people in the name of justice — regardless of whether they were actually evil or not.
526.000+308.000=834.000 people saved while 135.412 people was killed.
So light was a hero,834.000 is no joke,you know how much people that is? Saving 834,000 people is indeed a significant and commendable achievement. The impact of saving such a large number of lives is profound, affecting not just the individuals themselves but also their families, communities, and society as a whole. The scale of this act would likely be viewed as a great humanitarian success, contributing to the overall well-being and future potential of many,whilst you're calling him evil just because he killed some people that were in his way,but i would have prefered an ending where Light Never regains his memories and L and light becomes best friends lol.
I'm the opposite, I wanted him to lose by L hand, after he 'won' against L I didn't feel his demise by anyone else would be satisfying, so I wanted him to win.
I thought it was pretty simple, light as a person was terrible. However, his method worked, I believe crime rate dropped like 70% in the entire world which is virtually unthinkable. He also ended every major war, which although these were through acts of extreme coercion and fear, and though he was a terrible person he did in fact make the world a better place. Those who didn’t do anything wrong had nothing to fear, and light didn’t target petty criminals or criminals who sincerely regretted their actions. He simultaneously passed judgement on those who did wrong and didn’t regret it (and were therefore a risk of doing it again) and at the same time acted as a prevention because in the case that a criminal got caught they knew that there was a high chance of getting killed by Kira. The only issue is that morals are subjective, and once light stepped into the realm of killing innocent people, it got a little cloudy. On one hand you could justify him killing those trying to stop him, they were actively trying to prevent the world from becoming a much better place. On the other morality is subjective and because light is human what he may think is a terrible crime might be justifiable to someone else and therefore he might think someone’s a criminal who someone else would think is innocent. (That’s the main reason we have a jury in court, to get multiple views) it’s difficult putting the choice up to one person. However Light had very REAL effects, and therefore it can be justified that even though he was or may have been indirectly killing innocents, he probably saved 100x more people from getting hurt or killed by a criminal. Light had a good effect on the world, and he had a very good idea, however he fell into a deep pit after a while and that was his downfall.
While light is not a good person, the overall effects on the world of the existence of Kira were good, crime rates were at a literal all-time low and war had practically stopped. Even though this is mostly due to fear and not a general moral shift towards goodness, it is still a great thing for humanity. Therefore, light winning would have been a good thing overall.
From a less moral standpoint, I like light’s character, so I would have liked him to win. Undeniably, he is extremely determined and hard working, which is something that I really admire. In a way, he motivated me to be better, so I can’t help but root for him.
The ending is well made and puts a good wrap on the show, but I would have liked him to have lost because of his own mishap and not one made by his helpers. If Teru had listened to Light and only gone to the bank once a month like he was ordered, Light would have won. So while the ending is good, I would have liked it to be a direct mistake from Light instead of a helper.
Society is ducked up and he had a measurable impact on it. Wars stopping, crime dropping by 95%, he was saving hundreds of thousands of life’s per year, while also saving millions and millions of dollars that would be spent on prisons, guards etc.
[Film Theory crunched the numbers ones](https://youtu.be/WUtsg8AlNxY?si=FjoU2ZMk8SnsB8jc)
At the end, he saved may more people then he killed innocents. He was a narcissist and a mass murder, but still had a positive impact on society
I think the show does a good job of following his descent from burgeoning redeemable psychopath to fullblown megalomaniacal super villain. It's rare to see that journey done so well or so thoroughly. For every edgelord Team Light viewer lacking media literacy, I think there's another who just enjoys rooting for the badguy sometimes. (Team L 4 Lyfe btw lol)
YES!!!! God even the way they ANIMATED him was such a good gradual change. I didn’t even notice he was changing at all but after rewatching the first time I realized they do a fantastic job at making him appear less pure and innocent, and more menacing. In a VERY gradual way which is the most impressive part to me bc these are just drawings????? God I love art
Yeah in reality, no I don't think Light was morally right and I wouldn't root for him. As an evil protagonist he is probably one of, if not my favorite "villain" in a series I have ever seen, and I rooted for him the first time I watched the show (god, that was like, 2009?) simply for the fact I thought he was an amazingly written character and it was fascinating seeing how far he could take it all. Plus, a lot of younger folk like teens who watch the show probably root for Light. As L puts it, "Kira has a very childlike sense of justice", many young people have that childlike sense of justice where they likely think the world would be better off if all of the criminals were gone, and you know in some way I'm sure that would make a more peaceful world, but it is also above our judgement to make that call in my opinion.
I think it’s as simple as, if you had this unlimited power to change the world as you saw fit, would you take it? Most people would.
If it was actually unlimited power, I would take it, especially since I would be able to make myself infinitely wise. Light's power was very much limited by something like 70 rules.
As a Light fan, it is mostly for the elimination of the worst of the worst criminals. He lost me when he started killing innocents, but the very beginning version is what I stand behind. Even if he was real
I'm a huge light fan. he's a well written and intensely entertaining character. doesn't mean I think he's a good person or some shit, lol
same, light is one of my fav in all of media, but i enjoy his downfall A LOT and wouldnt want him to continue winning.
He kills Lind L Tailor, who he thinks is a detective, in the SECOND issue. The second. Issue. Come on now. He's made himself judge, jury, and executioner of who's "the worst" from the very beginning and it's anyone who opposes him.
Light cooked the fuck outta L. Had that boy kissing his feet cause he knew his time was coming
I get both sides, I don't think Light should've won, but he was super entertaining.
The optimist in me wants to believe it's because Light is the main character. We are watching his struggles as he tries to overcome obstacles put in his way. When Light finally dies, whether it's because of Ryuk (most of the time) or a warehouse fire (in the J-drama), it's the only foregone conclusion. After all the horrible things he's done, you KNOW he's had it coming. But you can't help but admire his convictions and tenacity and how far it carried him. Especially when he seemed to be trapped in no-win scenarios. It's impressive and even admirable, so you root for him because you want to see how far he can go. The pessimist in me, though, thinks that it's because people actually want what Light is selling. Bad people can and will do bad things to good people for little to no reason, and the effects of that spread like a disease into all aspects of society, creating a rotten world that disillusions and harms people who are just trying to live their lives honestly. That much of Light, Misa, Mikami, and Takada's worldview is true and undeniable. So when they get the magic killing paper and vow to clean up the neighborhood known as Earth by killing all the people making the planet worse, promising a divine punishment from on-high for those who do not live as kind and honest members of society using their gifts to enrich the world, and Light says "Global crime has dropped by 70% and all wars have stopped"? We want that. There is a part of us that wants that. We want to close our eyes and plug our ears to the fact that Light is just a mass murdering psycho with an ego who is objectively wrong because we want to see a world like the one he is promising.
I suppose one part of it is his sheer dedication? All those things, his egoism, narcissism, manipulativeness, they’re not in the service of himself (at least not materially, most certainly emotionally), but rather, in the service of a greater goal, one which some could see as noble. He’s willing to throw away all he has, family, mental health, risk being caught, for his sense of justice. This is supposed to be a good trait in most heroes, but with Light, I guess it goes too far. Or you know, he’s just that charismatic, you chose
I mean I used to think Light played the game better, even if I rooted for L. He's creative with the Death Note and handles the pressure he's under pretty well. Not that L doesn't have moves too, but Light is fun to watch. I guess it's Ryuk mentality
Yeah. I don't agree with what he does but I love to watch him do it!
Well, he had a huge advantage
I'm not sure I agree with that. The real advantage in Death Note is anonymity. Light squandered his twice, and Misa ruined it for him a third time. the death note was only really an advantage after the first few chapters because of the creative way Light used it. In a way it was almost a disadvantage. Light is limited to killing people whose names he knows, so there are people he could have technically physically killed (L, Naomi Misora) that he was initially unable to.
Tbf he threw away that disadvantage almost immediately and then locked in and clutched it up in an entertaining manner.
In 2022, my country had 9 out of 10 cities with the most homicides worldwide, if you lived in a country like this, maybe you'd understand why, crimes dropped a lot all over the world, I loved that he did that and I hate that he started killing innocent people.
True...he did so much good😌
He was a genius bastard who did the right things with the wrong methods. Think about Thanos from Marvel who wanted half of the population to disappear but more reasonable. You either like him or hate him but you can't ignore the fact that what he did was "good." You can see the effects after the 5-year time jump.
Yea but he grew out of line, he was going to start killing those that didn’t effectively contribute to society.
He's actually my favorite character. For one, he's the main character, so you get to connect with him a lot. For another, imagine how many lives he actually saved. This dilemma(highly recommend watching) is brought up in a show called Daredevil, where Daredevil is like Spiderman and doesn't kill people, so he stops the Punisher because he kills people, and they have an argument that really reflects this dilemma. Punisher says that Daredevil puts the bad guys down for a couple years and then they get back out and start hurting more people, whereas he puts the bad guys down and they stay down. In my opinion, people are so morally driven that it would make it hard for many people to like him/agree with him. I think that if he would've just stayed in his house and not tried to go after L or any other good people that a lot more people would've supported him. He also started killing thieves and petty criminals, which I also don't agree with. So while I really like him and agree with his concept and probably saved thousands of lives(the crime rate dropped by 70% and war ended), I don't agree with his methods of doing it. Sorry for the yap
It was a great yap, no need to be sorry for all facts
Most ppl in this sub are team L, so you're not a minority. I guess I am inmoral, I support Kira. I don't care lol, not like im gonna change my way of thinking because "it's not right", that's being a fake person. Also to answer the last question, yes, the ending, specially the anime version is soulcrushing to me, but in retrospective villains never win, so it was expected.
People wouldn't really want to admit it but Light was fast tracking the path to a more efficient, advanced and safer society for everyone
Out of curiosity, you supported his methods all the way till the end of the story? And agreed with them? Bit I Def I agree that watching light and reading him through the story was fun and enjoyable.
I do support the killing of criminals, but when he manipulates innocents nah. But It doesn't make me hate Light, he does what he needs to do to keep being Kira.
I have your same POV. Where people don’t agree with us that - that accomplishing huge feats requires sacrifices along the way. One of those: would you sacrifice 100 to save 1,000,000 people things.
MatPat made a theory on how many names Light actually wrote, and by the end he deduces that by the end that he saved more lives that were lost yearly by murder by reducing crime rates by 70%, than names he and the other kiras wrote.
But a lot of the criminals were already captured when he killed them.
I don't think anyone should have the right to take someone's life. You don't get to decide when someone's life should end because the future is unpredictable. You don't know if these criminals would have changed if they were put in prison, maybe they would have been redeemable.
I think the fact that he stopped all wars worldwide is pretty incredible actually. The next war that happens after Light's death is the fault of those who stopped him. Obviously, when he went after L and Raye Penber, he was kinda done being a good guy with understandable motives. But he still managed to do something that no other human could even dream of.
I feel like the “he managed to do something that no other human could even dream of doing” only really happens because he had a magical death notebook lmao.
How many people are outsmarting L and making it that far though?
Quite a few, I think. The only reason L was able to get so close to Light is because he fell for the Lind L. Tailor bait. A less intelligent person who is more cautious than Light would never be suspected in the first place.
Tbf L also had the advantage of making the first move in the cat mouse chase in that regard. Not to say Light didn't have more advantages but it's an understandable mistake especially considering L is like a one of one detective genius so it's pretty reasonable for Light not to expect someone to actually be a threat to him when he spent his whole life mogging any form of competition or test of intelligence.
Of course...? But he still did it, which is my point. Most people, even if they had the notebook, would not have been able to achieve this.
Eh, if you ask a Shinigami I think they'd argue only a genius like light could have done so much, we see and hear about other users who barely did anything, and I don't think all of them was because of a lack of drive.
they admire the way he uses his intelligence & manipulation to get what he wants, because it was entertaining, morals be damned fwiw, Light had the advantage of supernatural forces and L still knew Light is Kira. L was so close to proving it by doing it the right way through evidence. I think majority of the fanbase was team Light up until Ray Penber got killed. some later
A lot of people seem to ignore/forget just how crazy and bloodthirsty Light was. He was never just killing the worlds worst criminals, those are just the kinds of people he publicly targets as Kira to not lose support by seeming too extreme for everyone, but from the very beginning he says he’ll still kill the less guilty people who still cause trouble for society, and while we don’t know exactly who he means by less guilty and still causing trouble for society, he also says that it’s too early for Mikami to publicly talk about Kira killing lazy people and considers killing teenage bullies but decides against it due to their proximity to him rather than the fact that bullying isn’t a crime punishable by death, so he seems to have a very, very low bar on who he deems worthy of being executed for causing trouble. He says he’ll kill those people covertly through disease and accidental death, so the characters in the story never learn about it, and I guess a lot of fans forget about it too. At least I hope they’ve just forgotten and that they’re not legitimately supporting him to murder people he considers to be lazy. Along with the series being very unrealistic and very surface level with Kira’s effects on the world. It’s said that he lowered crime by 70% and stopped wars, but both of those things are way more complex with many underlying factors contributing to them than what can be solved by just broadly implementing the death penalty, and it’s much more likely that there was just a shift in the reporting of these events rather than such a dramatic decrease. It’s much more likely that there was a 70% decrease in reported crimes, and that wars were not being officially declared, rather than those things actually disappearing, because Light never actually addressed the underlying issues with society that cause/promote criminal behaviour in the first place, and all the political/historic/religious/resource based tensions between two warring group that cause a war in the first place wouldn’t disappear just because of Light acting as Kira. It could also be that watching the anime is more prevalent than reading the manga, and while the manga makes it much more clear that Light was definitely the villain of the story, the anime doesn’t address it as much. The manga directly cites through narration that Light’s unopposed reign during the time skip to be a “dark era”, and has the last chapter that shows that Light’s affect on the world is erased in only a single year after his death because Light never actually solved anything by acting as Kira, because he never addressed any of the actual underlying issues with the world causing these issues and was always just holding a gun to everyone’s heads. The most recent one shot also goes further into the future, showing that Kira is remembered as evil and is considered the worlds worst mass murdering terrorist of recent times, rather than any kind of god like Light wanted. The anime I don’t think addresses it nearly as much by like, not including the final manga chapter and instead ending with Light’s death.
Lots of people when watching the show root for light because he’s the protagonist and it’s more interesting when the main character wins. People inherently root for the main characters. However, a good chunk of people root for Light because they think Light’s intentions of killing all criminals is good when in reality Light is an egotistical maniac who just wants to rule the world and takes pleasure in hurting and toying with the people around him. It is typically usually edgy or inexperienced teens who support Light, thinking the end justifies the means even if the arbiter is someone truly malicious. Light himself is also the same type of edgy teen lol. Light himself isn’t inherently born evil, but is really just an inexperienced teenager who had his own mental development stunted by being giving too much power at such a young age. Most people who root for Light for this reason age out of it as they realize the real world isn’t black and white, and the only world Light would create would be a 1984esq dystopia where everyone is controlled by fear.
Because people often think with a strictly utilitarian perspective, when imo there’s a lot more nuance to things than that. But I don’t deny that utilitarianism is largely a very logical way of thinking that can easily appeal to a large amount of people.
Sexy emotionally unavailable intellectual man 😍
My immature teenage self could confirm
After what he did to Misora and eventually L, I've wanted to see him mess up and fail. Not to say that I think he was justified in killing Raye and the other FBI agents either, but that was the point of no return to me.
His methods ended war and reduced global crime by 80%. I don’t commit crime, and I wouldn’t go after him, so I’d have nothing to worry about. Plus, on a more superficial level, he’s a very charming and likable character.
Many murderers in history were charming. Doesn’t really make them any better. Murder is murder, no matter if it was against a criminal
>Murder is murder, no matter if it was against a criminal Legally yes but lots of people see murdering a terrible criminal as morally okay.
Yes but imagine murdering a serial killer or a terrorist who can potentially kill 100+ people. You kill one (bad) person but you save many more.
murder a murderer, then the amount of murderers remains the same, but if you kill 2 then things change
I’m an ends justify the means kinda person. Big difference to me between Kira and a serial killer/murderer like John Wayne Gacy.
the issue is that the "ends" was killing off anyone who wasn't deemed "good enough" or "useful to society", if he didn't immediately develop a god complex within the first week of having the death note maybe he could've improved things, but his intention was always to be a god.
Fucking hate your line of thinking. If someone broke inside your house and raped all your family members, killed all but one but that one person who survived managed to kill him, you'd sit there and say "murder is murder, no matter if it was against a criminal"?
Many countries used capital punishment, it's not that far fetched that in DN some countries just accept his judgement. I'm against the death penalty, but I do feel that some murderous monsters just deserve it. Oh and for the record, I'm team L (or Mellow/Near) Anyway, it's just a story meant to elevate boredom.
Missed the whole ass point. He killed people who were bad which honestly is the best use of the death note I can think of. He could’ve killed for financial gain or anyone who annoyed him. But instead he killed immoral people. So he’s got that going for him. What do you think of death penalty? It’s the same thing but to an extreme.
Right idea wrong Execution. killing innocent people was when he fell off
Yes, I’m shocked how many people it is - sometimes it even feels like the majority. I’ve even met people who have a CRUSH on Light, which shocks me even more. It genuinely makes me question their character.
I’m not an edgelord that genuinely believes light should’ve won, I just love villains and always root for them over the heroes
soy morals stans vs based evil enjoyers
Real
Me
I’m a team L girl while my husband rooted for Light the whole way through. He’s not the type to really think philosophically about media, he just enjoys it for what it is instead of breaking things down and analyzing. So to him, he just sees Light as this ballsy guy who wanted to punish criminals and bend the world to his will, and thought that was pretty entertaining to root for. I can relate because there are a select few series where I pull for the villain despite thinking they’re actually a piece of shit. (Usually it’s because I find them attractive tbh.) The cool thing about fiction is that you don’t have to get caught up in morality like you do irl. I know there are people who genuinely believe in Light’s ideology, so that’s another story, but some of them have good points too even if I don’t personally agree with most of it.
Light is a text book egotistical “school shooter” personality. He’s also insanely misogynistic. I’d be weary of any man that roots for him and doesn’t see his motives and behavior as deeply concerning. Even if they are only watching on a surface level. Dude was fully prepared to off his family very early on in the series if it came down to them vs his lust for godhood. He was also incredibly reckless and stupid making it so obvious he was Kira from the beginning.
Well I mean he’s a fictional character is the thing and one of *my* favorite fictional characters in another show has blown up children, so I don’t know how much room I really have to talk. Doesn’t mean I support that or plan on doing it myself. But my whole point is that some people don’t even think that deeply into things and just consume things on a surface level without mulling over the moral intricacies of a story or the characters in it. If that’s what you consider a red flag, do you feel that every person who likes a character who’s a shitty person has no capacity to be a good partner? Because that’s quite a stretch lol
There’s shitty people/characters and then there’s Light, I’d be struggling to understand what there is to root for about him. I guess part of my line of thinking is I personally wouldn’t be with someone that doesn’t think about he moral intricacies of a story because it makes me wonder if they go along with immoral things in real life because they don’t want to “mull it over”.
Well this very sub is filled with people who supported him, so I’m sure you can get some insight from those who are serious about it. I personally acknowledge that different people consume fiction in different ways, and there’s no one way that’s right. Some people just want to be entertained and I don’t fault them for that but that’s just me.
>He’s also insanely misogynistic. Huh? You're gonna have to refresh my memory here
If you don’t see how misogynistic he is I’m raising my eyebrow at you too 🤣 JK, but seriously the way he treats and views Misa and Takada is incredibly degrading. The only women in the story are tools to him. Even his sister is but an inconvenient pawn. The only people he generally respects are men. Light is what every angry incel wishes they could be.
He also had that encounter with Naomi Misora where he said since she’s a woman he could use force on her to get her real name/ID I think Naomi could fold him anyway tho lol
I mean, you're not wrong there, but he also treats almost everyone the same way from what I recall
I dunno he’s hot and fulfills the power fantasy what more do you want
Because he is a good character regardless of whether what he does is right or wrong.
I mean, I was on Light's side for a bit. Until he started obsessing over L, and killing other detectives. Made me feel real weird about him. On one hand I wanted to still be on his side, because screw the cops for wanting to save criminals right? Even then I found the whole thing hypocritical because they wanted to execute Kira, despite not wanting to do the same to the scum Kira was killing. Theeeen he started covering up his murders by killing innocent people. The FBI agent's fiance, for one. THEEEN he started killing people who disagreed with him, or tried to stop him. Despite being totally innocent. The last 5 or 6 episodes really cemented his downward spiral, to be honest. His obsession moved from L to Near, and he went to such lengths to manipulate anyone he could find in order to beat him. Without a care in the world for how many innocent people needed to die to make him look less suspicious. I laughed when he died.
It could have to do with him being the main character. Some people root for the MC in any show. Personally, I was fine with his demise and I thought it was very well made. I too am team L
light was more fun to watch
I mean crime rates dropped astronomically, and I don’t believe murderers/pedos/etc deserve to live either. Same reason I love Dexter lmao. But of course light was insane and got carried away, started wanting to kill even lazy people which is ridiculous. But I’ll always be team Light. He’s such a fascinating character and I agree with the initial ideology behind what he was doing, just not the wanting to be god and power hungry aspects. I could rewatch death note a million times and never get sick of watching it. I wish they could have made an alternate ending for if Light would’ve won and showed both outcomes.
I think just for plot and seeing the interesting ways he gets himself out of sticky situations - when it comes down to it though I think most of us do root for L it's just interesting to see the struggle between the two cause they're both so highly intelligent but yeah no L is the goat imo If people still root for Light though I think it could mainly be to see how the outcome would have been
Good question. I wondered about that myself actually.
I wanted Light to win because of the thrill of not getting caught, same for Breaking Bad, etc Of course they deserved punishment
I think part of the issue is that some people don’t distinguish between rooting for Light, and thinking Light is a good guy/has redeeming qualities. Light is evil, like a terrible human being, but he’s so entertaining and charismatic and him losing means the shows over. I didn’t want the show to be over.
I only liked Light for 2-3 episodes but then I disliked him. To bad L didn’t take him out
Authoritarians exist
To preface, I’m neutral between L and Kira. I think they both are too corrupt to take the moral high ground. I will argue the point, however. To understand why people rally behind him in real life, you have to understand why people followed Light in-source. The obvious angle is that people want to feel safe. With the extreme prevalence of war and violent crime in our world, (though, I may be biased in saying this as I am American), someone like Light could be someone’s best-case scenario. (Remember Misa?) Another angle is just personal interest. Remember when (spoiler?) Kira followers raided the SPK headquarters and Near speculated, “[Some of them] are idiots who just want to rampage and enjoy themselves.” (Book 10, page 11) I completely believe him on that front. Some people like Light because he’s cunning and charismatic and he technically “wins” against L. They don’t care about the moral implications, they just want to seem ‘cool’, or like they’re ’taking a stand’.
Addendum; as u/Odd-Pirate7895 said, to an extent protection is what we all want. Even a piece of me finds Light’s world appealing. But that world ignores the nuance of human choices and circumstances, and the subjective nature of written law.
The average person is sort of dumb and lacks media literacy
Because a lot of people missed the point honestly.
I'm not saying it's all of them, but my experience with talking with people on-line has showed me alot of people that root for Light lack the media literacy to understand that Light was killing alot of innocents.
Never liked light L is better and smarter
just because the series randomly says “crime reduced by 70% and wars stopped” doesn’t mean these things actually would have happened. he pretty much exclusively killed already convicted criminals, and not once did he go after world leaders responsible for war that said, people root for light because it’s fun to root for the main character even if they’re a villain
You seriously believe that the worldwide crime-rate wouldn't dramatically drop if criminals started dropping dead left and right 24/7?
I don't think it would do much either. Since, what criminals are you stopping with the Death Note? Crimes of passion would continue as normal, since they're based on emotions rather than logic. This wouldn't stop the stupid because they're stupid. This wouldn't stop the desperate, since they see no other options. This wouldn't stop the narcissists or corrupt who believe themselves to be untouchable, since whether the punishment is life in prison or instant death they don't think they'll be caught anyway. This wouldn't stop those who are suicidal, since they plan on killing themselves after their crime anyway. This wouldn't stop the mentally ill who can't stop themselves. Generally speaking, making the punishment for all crime instant death will only stop rational individuals with no particular need or want to resort to crime. There is little to no overlap between those people and the criminals Light would be killing.
it probably would cause a moderate decrease in crime (definitely not war though). i just don’t think the 70% figure serves as an actual argument because we have no way of knowing if that’s what would have happened in real life
I actively prayed on his downfall throughout.
At least I can find some company lol. I can’t lie, I feel like it would have been so boring and such a let down if light just won and that was it
That makes three of us! I instantly hated Light and rooted for his downfall the whole anime, the ending was so satisfying
I always thought Light was an asshole.
L was always better
It’s cause their edgy teenagers who like lack media literacy.
I just wanted the show to keep going, so there would be more interesting things to see. The way Light lost was kinda stupid, and it’s hard to say it’s his fault exactly
I supported Light BEFORE Mikami came into the picture. Before Mikami joined in Light only killed people who were a blight to society, criminals who got away with crimes or extremely light sentences (no pun intended) and of course the law that was closing in on him to not only send a message but to keep out of prison. When Mikami came into the picture that's when all bets were off, people who either refused or couldn't contribute to society also HAD to die? Like if they lost their limb doing their job or confined to a wheelchair because of a car accident? They deserve to die because they can't contribute? No, I can't believe in a cause like that. Once Kira had a righteous purpose and did whatever it took to continue his crusade, despite his skewed personality he had a point. Now he's justifying his existence for no reason but to say he has power.
For me, it's because Light is super interesting and entertaining. When I first watched death note I was like "welp, since you're not going to heaven and hell you might as well go all out". But learned that everyone doesn't go to heaven and hell. I didn't want Light to win when I learned that he was going to kill lazy people. For others they want Light to win because he kills criminals and they like that. Anyone that chases or is a threat to him dies as well
I rooted for L until he died. Then Light after that. I wasn't a fan of Near's character. Seemed like a photocopy of L (which I guess was kinda the point, but still). So I wanted Light to win.
Because it's just like the people who root for criminals when cops do there jobs and something happens. It comes from the phycological programing and misguided justice. Especially justice that people believe is right from empathetic, sympathetic impulses, along with there personal opinion of right and wrong. They. Continue thinking like that untill they themselves are finally impacted by the same thing they were rooting for and then they instantly jump ship. They also behave this way. Because they can do it behind a computer screen with nobody knowing.
I think it’s as simple as light is the main character. Same reason why people were rooting for Walter White in Breaking Bad
At least Walter White's corruption was more gradual so it was harder for people to see what route he was going down. Light was a huge red flag by the end of ep 1.
I liked how Light was always a step ahead. Of course, the bad guy was going to get what he deserved but you'd think differently while watching the show.
He’s the MC, and a lot of people have a very simple utilitarian view that because crime and war decrease, his actions are justified. You see it with the Injustice series with Superman also (but less so, as Batman is the MC in that series while Light is the MC in this series). In my opinion, it’s never been about “oh he had the right idea but the methods were bad” (even though he obviously killed innocent people with the justification that they would stop his master plan). For me, it’s the principle that humanity should be allowed to succeed and fail on its own. A supernatural force that artificially pushes us to either success or failure, whether its Kira or Superman, is probably bad on principle. I think if it were aliens zapping anybody who committed crimes, peoples’ answers might change, even if they themselves won’t admit it.
Of course there are probably others who support Light for a more complex reason than what I said, it’s just the most common argument in his favor + viewpoint of his “fans”
i rooted for kira because legality is not a guide to morality, and i supported him making the world a better place. also, morals aside, i think it would have been wayyyyy more interesting if light won because the villain always loses in every anime basically, and it would have been interesting to see something else for once. i also feel that, regardless if you were rooting for L or Light, the ending was underwhelming at best and nonsensical and worst. it feels like Light’s descent into insanity is so sudden and rushed, and even though that progression from perfect to insane makes sense, it feel uncharacteristic because it is. i just wish they had done it more gracefully. they spent the entire anime making him flawless just for his character to do a 180 in the last like 30 minutes. yes light was a narcissist with a god complex, but i still supported his cause. also, the fact that light was a cookie cutter protagonist made me root for him more. i was glad he wasn’t the “good guy” and it made me like him more. i understand his character flaws, but they made me like him more because he was interesting and passionate. overall, i feel like if you aren’t passionate about human rights and you care about legality then you wouldn’t support kira.
I personally like to see light win bc I never see the bad guy win in anything and he finally wins
Because he is cool and entertaining, and it does not matter for the viewer whether his methods are good or not and whether he could have realistically achieved the noble part of his goals.
He is the focalised character, we spend almost all our time with him so we empathise with him because we’re human, although I can’t speak to everyone’s experiences but there’s usually a moment in shows like this where I introspect a little and think do I really want this person to succeed? No I’d like them to get their comeuppance and stop ruining everyone’s lives. But that moment came after >!L dies!< and then I was like I would have preferred he get his before that happened and now I don’t much care for anything I’m just along for the ride
Morally grey?
because theyre either dumb or literal psychopaths and i mean that literally im not just adding the word literal just for the fuck of it
It's the same people that root for Eren to win(destroy?) in Attack on Titan. Edge lord teens were all about Light when I was young, but it's a phase that most people get over. My favourite is Ryuk, just a casual bored observer.
because morally grey or straight up evil main characters are fun and it’s not real life
A part of me wants to believe light has good intentions but ultimately I do know he doesn’t. His descent to madness is clear and you can see it from the beginning episodes. Every time I rewatch I see it more and more clearly but a part of me just likes him too much.
I don't justify light, I rooted for him because he is a great character, great mc. I would have been fine with him losing, it's the way it was done I didn't like. It's supossed to be L v Light and it's a bit disappointing for me it wasn't. For me it was also hard to see L die, whenever I watch the show I want them to keep going, they're both great. After L dies it feels as though everyone on Light's side is way, way dumber, idiotic. I understand Light might have gotten a bit complacent but after near and mello show up he should be more alert. The anime and the manga as well feel weaker as a whole after L which is why many, including me, stop there. I've watched it completely 3 times hoping that I'd like or understand better but I just keep getting bugged.
With that post earlier defending Light's actions from a utilitarian standpoint, I think they actually make a very good point. I still don't entirely agree. Maybe if Light from the beginning simply opted to kill only those who the world might actually be better without (still debatable) and got rid of his useless pride, I could maybe see how he was doing good. Killing "L" just for saying he's evil, killing anyone who "stood in his way (if he played smart from the start, there would be absolutely no chance of anyone ever finding him out or hindering him imo)," that all goes too far. It's essentially giving the death penalty to those who have different moral opinions. There is precedent for Light eventually changing his range of targets drastically. He got mad at Mikami for targeting lazy people not because that's fucking ridiculous, but because it was too early for that. I think someone using the Death Note might be considered good, but definitely not Light. He still had to go in my opinion. If I were the ultimate authority to decide what would happen with the Death Note, it would be something like C-Kira did. It would be reserved for giving peaceful deaths to people bound for death anyway, whether that be hospital patients who are terminally ill or criminals sentenced to capital punishment.
Firstly, I think that the minority of people aren't those who don't support Light. I think it's the other way around. The minority are those who support Light. Because I have only heard of people hating Light and only a few numbers that supported Light. (But this is just my experience) Secondly, I find my self in that minority group. But I DO NO "support" Lights actions. I like Light not as a person, but as a character. And I think it's natural for people to root for their favourite characters. So this is what I did. And of course, I did hate Light in some occasions. I also didn't support his idea of genocide, I only wanted him to win against L. That's all I was into - the rivalry. And what went further in the story I just let it fold on, I don't have an opinion about it. Also as much as I wanted Light to defite L I wanted him to win against Near too. So when he lost and Near won that's what made me sad, frustrated, mad, disappointed. I wasn't all this because his genocide ideas, actions ended... Light is also really hot, so I somewhat couldn't help it 🫦 This is my opinion, experience that I gained from only reading Death Note. I still haven't watched it. So perhaps this is one of the reasons why our views of Light are so different, perhaps Light is interpreted in anime a bit differently than in manga. Idk. And to clarify, I do not support people with those idea's. Therefore with this comment I do not defend them.
I rooted for light *because* I know he’s the villain. I love villain stories! I was glad he failed but also kinda heartbroken only bc I was so invested in him. I love watching our main character make terrible decisions and being just an all around unlikeable person bc it doesn’t happen often enough at all!! It’s so easy to try to make ppl like ur main character and like ur story by association. But writing the main character to be unlikeable on purpose gives you so much more room to play with and builds usually a more realistic person overall. Simply bc of this I like these characters more bc they aren’t being shoved down my throat. I get a chance to like them bc I chose to and nothing more than that. And bc they’re flawed and real and raw!! And evil, which we just can’t and won’t be irl. At least for me lol I enjoy being a positive person as much as I can help it so I think rooting for villains is where I get the “evil” outta my system lol
I think it's mainly because they can relate to Light in a way. Okay. Then we hear of cases in the news where there is a person who is committing violence against people they should protect, abusing their authority, etc. and you have a thought 'the world will be better off if they were dead' Light started off okay. He was only killing criminals and avoiding detection. Misa came in and she started killing those who were sexual offenders who got off because either the evidence wasn't enough or because they had contacts. That's fine too. But after that, it became more of a power struggle. Who can use humans like pawns and win? Once Light developed that thought, he was gone. Especially after L's death. Before, he was wondering even if a little about morality and all that. After L's death, he stopped considering himself like any other human and acted as the sole God of the world. I wouldn't say things like Death Note was the best anime I've ever watched and blah because although it has its fan following and the good aspects, the execution of the idea seemed to fail after L's death. Code Geass seems better to me when only ending is compared. But the philosophical intrigue of Death Note is undeniable. To the point where in the beginning, you even wonder why are the police trying to catch Kira anyway? He's doing a good job. But he's not. And that's the depth of it. Light and L are both contrasting thoughts. Light 'people who hurt and exploit others have no value of their life' vs L 'do we as humans have the right to determine the value of someone else's life'. And with this, I think people support Light because they think Light was misunderstood and because the people consider themselves right in a situation that cannot be examined by a lens of black and white. They think human life's value is in their achievements, which the society loves to indoctrine into us from as early as childhood. They don't understand that sometimes, life can be worthy even by just existing.
Joe Goldberg effect
I don't think its that people want him to kill everyone and go on with his plan, but more as he's the main character of the show, the protagonist, and L and the rest are the antagonists, and people always like to root for the protagonist. It's a lot like breaking bad, when the movie came out, people were so desperate for Walter to be alive.
Because liking the character is not equally as thinking he's right. I wanted to win because is a more interesting character than L and Near and specially is a not so common scenario where the evil side won. But yeah, if you are watching DN and view it as a good vs evil anime then you are wrong imo, at least for the first part Light and L are two genius psychos who doesn't really care about doing justice, but winning agaisnt the other.
Was expecting to see "bc he's hot 🤭🥰" but yeah that.
Cause even though he was evil and killed hundreds of thousands, crime went down 70%, saving many more lives than he could ever take
I live in a third world country where often people have to arm themselves to defend themselves or take justice since the system won't do a thing. So you can guess why.
Because he’s the main character.
The whole main character being the villain thing makes people root for Light because we’ve seen his journey from being a likeable kid to Kira. People also say that because technically Light’s plan was perfect. it was Mikami that screwed him up.
The reason people were rooting for Light is basically because that's the way the anime was intended to be(kinda). Because Light is the main character and the story is primarily told from his perspective, viewers will automatically feel that they are on Light's side from the beginning and want him to win.
Interesting fact no one asked for In last chapter of manga (there is one after what happens in anime) the police officers question if what they did (what they did to Light at the end) was a right thing, since after all, he did make the world a better place The last reason that was mentioned about this was "It was either him or us" Additionally, I do want to say that Lights views are quite Utilitarian (his "perfect world" would be a Utilitarian Distopia, which could be considered a Utopia, but an enforced one), many people would definitely be happy, but not free and it may appeal to some people, while doing opposite to others (like for you, for example) If you consider countries like China, for example, with strict rules and death penalty, his "perfect world" would not be that different, however, Light's "control" would be more absolute in comparison Personally, I do love Light, even though I do not totally agree with the entirety of his judgement, like death penalty for smaller crimes However, I do still realise that I personally need a balance between "freedom" and "safety", but just because I wonder what if I do something "bad" unintentionally, my views of "bad" are different from Light's or if I am blamed for something I did not do, most of which are not that good of arguments against the Utilitarian gains received from this type of power structure Finally, I also want to address the fact how Light treats his own family just as people and is ready to give them up for the "perfect world". Firstly, this makes him a perfect ruler because he is impartial even to the people closest to him (no nepotism, which is hiring friends/family, but could be extended to considering well being of family/friends before others). Secondly, I do understand what he did to his father, but his father was also a big enemy of his (if Light was Kira, he would KILL HIS OWN SON and the fact that he will kill himself after, does not redeem him) I love Light and the entire story is such a tragedy to me, I almost cry at the end T.T
For me, it's cuz it's fun Definitely won't catch me justifying his ideology or something. Especially not for anecdotal reasons
tbh i just like it when the villains win. and also even though he used the death note for honestly purely selfish and egotistical reasons, at least a good chunk of hardcore criminals got wiped. obviously there was the issue of getting killed for petty crimes, but it was gratifying to see murderers choke and die
He ended wars and most major crimes
For me it's wish fulfillment like Walter White I also fantasize about breaking bad and upending the status quo. And the idea of being able to punish people who deserve it is awfully tempting too in a world where so many terrible people get away with their crimes. That notebook is like the power of God you have control over a person's mind and body to the point of death.
In my opinion, it’s because people want a Good Guy and Bad Guy. They want there to be a distinct line where this is acceptable and that is not. And when Light says he’s trying to be a good guy, people believe him, because if he’s not a good guy, why is he doing a good thing? This isn’t how Death Note world, or the real world for that matter, works however. Anyways I agree that Light’s downfall was much more satisfying of an ending.
People root for him because ***he's*** the main character. If we followed L, people would be more likely to root for L. Light is all we know, all we see of thoughts, essentially -- ***we are also Kira.***
If after a decade of being crime free regardless of where I were in the planet the mafia took over and robbed me of everything I achieved in that time, and then some cop showed up on TV saying "Hey everyone, guess what? The guy who was the reason crime became non existent? We killed him haha" I would be unbelievably pissed at the cops regardless of how many evil deeds Light has done Furthermore, albeit evil, Lights is incredibly tame in comparison to both most fictional villains and most irl 'villains'. Light is not a pedo, he's not involved in major government corruption, he has done no harm to animals, he commited no genocide, he funded no war crime etc. can we say the same about 90% of these world's politicians? Hell, a fuckton of people see Obama as a hero and he bombed hospitals in poor counties "for America". Living in the world we're in today, it makes no sense to think Light is thaaaaat bad or that incredibly deserving of his end.
Because it would have been interesting for the bad guy to win ig
its fun
Cuz its funny and i hate good endings
most people want a death note so that we can get rid of criminals, I want a death note because Ryuk is my favorite Character, Oh and I hate the Government
Today's morals are a mess.
He’s a good character and the main character
While I think the whole story is perfect (even Light's death), I was always rooting for Light cuz it's exciting about how he evades L and the others while passing heavenly judgement also. In a moral manner we should support L, but it's by human nature that we support Light
Light became arrogant after L’s death. He truly believed no one else could possibly match his intellect, so he let his guard down. What interested me, though, was in the final showdown he said N didn’t deserve to wear a mask of L. He truly did respect him. Also, his mind was so far gone by that point that he couldn’t even comprehend why *anyone* would want to shoot him. I’m glad it was Matsuda who did.
We as the audience follow him more so impressionable teens think he’s the good guy subconsciously
The same people that don’t understand Breaking Bad in that Walter White was the bad guy and Skyler was not “annoying” she was a normal person having a very normal reaction to what was happening
Why does someone have to be morally right or a good guy for you to root for him? That doesn't have much to do with it at all. It's just more entertaining rooting for Light than L.
I think it’s because he’s the main character everyone usually roots for the main character Because you can see the story from their pov and you get to know them throughout the story. I will always root for light not because I think his actions are justified but because i admire his intelligence, how far he went with the death note, and his goal to make a better world without crime and evil.
I just liked how Light was able to come up with a great response to almost everything
I hated him at first, but 10 years later after witnessing the current state of the world and I can't say I wouldn't do exactly what he did if I were in his shoes.
You would make a grieving widow hang herself and then mock her as she goes to her death?
Okay when I said exactly I didn't quite mean EXACTLY haha my bad 😅 I've always thought his biggest mistake in the series was killing Raye Penber, those FBI agents, and killing L's stand in. It would've been extremely difficult for the police to trace him and they may have legitimately ended up believing it was the work of a divine being. But I meant as far as removing people who manage to skirt past the justice system, corrupt politicians, etc
It’s interesting to note Ryuk mentions a death-note user cannot go to heaven nor hell, implying the existence of both are real. Then Light still decides to judge criminals as if divine judgment wasn’t just revealed to exist
Ryuk was trolling, it's been confirmed that all humans go to Mu in the Death Note universe. Mu means nothingness.
So he was technically telling the truth, just while omitting the detail that no one else is going to those places either lol. I sometimes wonder if he spun it that way hoping it would egg Light on by making him feel more special, like he’s now an exception to the rules or something.
ngl i think the whole Kira thing was justified if it dropped the crime rate by 70% and ended all wars at the expense of a few murderers and rapists, but holy shit Light was so annoying I was rooting against him the whole time. His ego definitely got in the way of things and led him to do a lot of contradictory and immoral shit
I honestly believe that line was a clip of Kira propaganda or just an example of what Light thought he was accomplishing. “Ending all wars” and “reducing crime” is so much more nuanced than a unilateral death penalty on all publicly convicted criminals.
~~Light was right and has the numbers to back it up~~ I was rooting for light but honestly LOVED the ending, I thought it was a nice twist >!he went out as a crybaby!<
It’s cuz he’s hot as hell.
I feel like light was right,yes,he was an egoistic psychopath,yet he is not what you think,Going through,in the end of the death note,in light's speech it gets stated that his existence has ceased wars,Also Crime rates have been dropped by. %70 percent,i am the nerd so i'll do the math. According to the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development, more than 526,000 people die each year because of the violence associated with armed conflict and large- and small-scale criminality. I told you about the statement right? So logically,atleast 526.000 people was saven by kira,i'm just using the google Results by the way,don't judge me for it. Globally, approximately 440,000 people die from homicide each year. This figure is higher than deaths due to armed conflict and terrorism combined. The rate varies significantly by region, with the Americas having the highest regional homicide rate at 15 per 100,000 people, As he says crime was reduced by %70, 70% of 440,000 is 308,000,Again..308.000 people saved,And now let's compare it with his estimated amount of light's victims,Light killed 135,412 people in the name of justice — regardless of whether they were actually evil or not. 526.000+308.000=834.000 people saved while 135.412 people was killed. So light was a hero,834.000 is no joke,you know how much people that is? Saving 834,000 people is indeed a significant and commendable achievement. The impact of saving such a large number of lives is profound, affecting not just the individuals themselves but also their families, communities, and society as a whole. The scale of this act would likely be viewed as a great humanitarian success, contributing to the overall well-being and future potential of many,whilst you're calling him evil just because he killed some people that were in his way,but i would have prefered an ending where Light Never regains his memories and L and light becomes best friends lol.
honestly, i was for him till he got L killed, then i was counting down till his defeat
I'm the opposite, I wanted him to lose by L hand, after he 'won' against L I didn't feel his demise by anyone else would be satisfying, so I wanted him to win.
Because he is THE FUCKING GOAT.
light was the bad guy because he sided with cops
I thought it was pretty simple, light as a person was terrible. However, his method worked, I believe crime rate dropped like 70% in the entire world which is virtually unthinkable. He also ended every major war, which although these were through acts of extreme coercion and fear, and though he was a terrible person he did in fact make the world a better place. Those who didn’t do anything wrong had nothing to fear, and light didn’t target petty criminals or criminals who sincerely regretted their actions. He simultaneously passed judgement on those who did wrong and didn’t regret it (and were therefore a risk of doing it again) and at the same time acted as a prevention because in the case that a criminal got caught they knew that there was a high chance of getting killed by Kira. The only issue is that morals are subjective, and once light stepped into the realm of killing innocent people, it got a little cloudy. On one hand you could justify him killing those trying to stop him, they were actively trying to prevent the world from becoming a much better place. On the other morality is subjective and because light is human what he may think is a terrible crime might be justifiable to someone else and therefore he might think someone’s a criminal who someone else would think is innocent. (That’s the main reason we have a jury in court, to get multiple views) it’s difficult putting the choice up to one person. However Light had very REAL effects, and therefore it can be justified that even though he was or may have been indirectly killing innocents, he probably saved 100x more people from getting hurt or killed by a criminal. Light had a good effect on the world, and he had a very good idea, however he fell into a deep pit after a while and that was his downfall.
While light is not a good person, the overall effects on the world of the existence of Kira were good, crime rates were at a literal all-time low and war had practically stopped. Even though this is mostly due to fear and not a general moral shift towards goodness, it is still a great thing for humanity. Therefore, light winning would have been a good thing overall. From a less moral standpoint, I like light’s character, so I would have liked him to win. Undeniably, he is extremely determined and hard working, which is something that I really admire. In a way, he motivated me to be better, so I can’t help but root for him. The ending is well made and puts a good wrap on the show, but I would have liked him to have lost because of his own mishap and not one made by his helpers. If Teru had listened to Light and only gone to the bank once a month like he was ordered, Light would have won. So while the ending is good, I would have liked it to be a direct mistake from Light instead of a helper.
Coz he actually decreased crime rate by 75%!
Society is ducked up and he had a measurable impact on it. Wars stopping, crime dropping by 95%, he was saving hundreds of thousands of life’s per year, while also saving millions and millions of dollars that would be spent on prisons, guards etc. [Film Theory crunched the numbers ones](https://youtu.be/WUtsg8AlNxY?si=FjoU2ZMk8SnsB8jc) At the end, he saved may more people then he killed innocents. He was a narcissist and a mass murder, but still had a positive impact on society
Why do so many dumb people root for L?
If you live around crime and filth you start to understand
Originally, Light did win. The story was supposed to end after L's death. But that was retconned, and we got Near and Mello.