Nowadays, antiheroes are a dime a dozen, but back when Death Note first came out as a manga in 2003 and as an anime in 2006, it wasn’t as common. We were all enthralled. We romanticized Kira and L’s relationship. Instead, we should have heeded the warning.
Why?
These days, Death Note is probably more popular for memes about dramatically eating a potato chip and recently failed live action adaptations, including an Americanized movie on Netflix and a dorama from Japanese broadcaster, NTV. And yet, reading the manga for the first time in 2020, I find it nothing if not relevant to today’s world.
Death Note, for those unaware, is about Light Yagami, a high school student who picks up a murder notebook. Using the Death Note, Light is empowered to kill anyone whose names he would write in the notebook. This has led to his crusade as Kira to kill all criminals and create a new world where he is God. The excitement comes from L’s task force trying to catch Kira and Kira outsmarting L.
Roughly 17 years after Death Note’s first chapter was published, we are now living in a world where right-wing politicians who espouse the same cultist and murderous tendencies in the name of a peaceful world is rampant. Death Note is prescient in showing us how easily the masses would agree to murder and vigilantism if they believe that it will keep them safe. Death Note showed us how easy it is to hero-worship a figurehead that would kill in the name of peace.
But as we see in Death Note and in real life, this does not end in true peace, but rather a culture of fear, where everyone must follow arbitrary rules, no matter how unreasonable, to avoid being in the kill list. The people we put on a pedestal for bringing us this false peace pretend that they're only doing distasteful things for the greater good. But as Light’s true character unravels, we realize that what he really wants is power over everyone else. In his arrogance, he believes that he knows what’s best for everyone. Don’t we all know a politician or two who think and act the same?
While keeping up this pretense of justice, Light is nothing more than an abusive psychopath behind the scenes. This is especially apparent in his relationship with Misa-Misa, who he strings along for most of the book not only because she is useful and loyal, but because he can. For someone like Light, it might even be impossible to feel love at all, not even for his family. In fact, he is willing to kill his family just to win. This is what happens when you think that everyone is beneath you.
Given today’s political landscape, it’s not hard to imagine that new readers would agree with Light/Kira and take his agenda as theirs. We already have our own war on drugs, for starters. But is mass murder really the answer? Even the detectives trying to catch Kira have their doubts. Regardless, Death Note is still a must-read. It’s a masterclass in storytelling and characterization. At its core, it's a very good detective story told from the perspective of both the perpetrator and the detective trying to catch him.
In its entirety, the manga is close to 2,400 pages. It sounds like a chore, to be honest. But once you’re hooked, you’ll go through the book faster than you think. The panel art and dialogue are so intense, that it’s very hard to look away. It makes for an excellent binge-read during the lockdown, as it manages to be both entertaining and thought-provoking.
Death Note is one of those timeless manga greats that come out once in a while and linger in people's hearts and minds long after they’re done reading. And this time around, it hits closer to home than it ever did in 2003.
Are you team Kira or team L? Let us know in the comments.
Comments