Death Note
Alexander Schwartz
Dr. Kerr
10 April 2013
A Comparison of Light Yagami and L from the Series Death Note
Death Note is an anime/manga (Japanese cartoon/comic book) series about a college student, Light Yagami, and his quest to rid the world of evil. The adventure begins when he finds what is called the Death Note. The Death Note is a book that can kill a person if that person’s name is written into it. With Light’s twisted sense of justice, he attempts to transcribe the name of every criminal in the world into the book in order to “rid the world of evil and create a just world where [he] will become a god” (Oba 20). Since his judgment is immoral, he is met with great opposition. A world class detective by the name of L becomes his biggest threat and begins to hunt Light down. The series centers on the conflict between Light and L. These two characters, though similar in some ways, are opposites, right down to the way they dress. The first character presented in the series is Light Yagami. At first, Light is characterized as a brilliant college student with a bright future ahead of him. He is depicted as a well-dressed individual with high academic ability and an excellent aptitude in sports. However, underneath his innocent appearance, he is reckless in his wish to rid the world of evil at any cost (“Light vs. L”). Once Light obtains the Death Note by chance, he uses it to kill off criminals believing that his killing of criminals will detain others from committing crimes. He firmly believes that this mass slaying of criminals is the way in which the world’s evil will cease. Though his cause to rid the world of evil is noble, his method of achieving his goal is “childish, because he has no mature understanding of right and wrong” (Oba, Obata, and Shiwawa 67). As Light kills criminals in increasing numbers, he begins to think that he is justice, and eventually assumes that he is a god. The public begins to accept him as a god as well. They give Light the
Dr. Kerr
10 April 2013
A Comparison of Light Yagami and L from the Series Death Note
Death Note is an anime/manga (Japanese cartoon/comic book) series about a college student, Light Yagami, and his quest to rid the world of evil. The adventure begins when he finds what is called the Death Note. The Death Note is a book that can kill a person if that person’s name is written into it. With Light’s twisted sense of justice, he attempts to transcribe the name of every criminal in the world into the book in order to “rid the world of evil and create a just world where [he] will become a god” (Oba 20). Since his judgment is immoral, he is met with great opposition. A world class detective by the name of L becomes his biggest threat and begins to hunt Light down. The series centers on the conflict between Light and L. These two characters, though similar in some ways, are opposites, right down to the way they dress. The first character presented in the series is Light Yagami. At first, Light is characterized as a brilliant college student with a bright future ahead of him. He is depicted as a well-dressed individual with high academic ability and an excellent aptitude in sports. However, underneath his innocent appearance, he is reckless in his wish to rid the world of evil at any cost (“Light vs. L”). Once Light obtains the Death Note by chance, he uses it to kill off criminals believing that his killing of criminals will detain others from committing crimes. He firmly believes that this mass slaying of criminals is the way in which the world’s evil will cease. Though his cause to rid the world of evil is noble, his method of achieving his goal is “childish, because he has no mature understanding of right and wrong” (Oba, Obata, and Shiwawa 67). As Light kills criminals in increasing numbers, he begins to think that he is justice, and eventually assumes that he is a god. The public begins to accept him as a god as well. They give Light the
Cited: "L (Character)." Death Note Database. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Apr. 2013. <http://deathnote.wikia.com/wiki/L_(character)> "Light vs. L." Light vs. L. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2013. <http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/spring07/Astudillo/dnessay2.html> Ōba, Tsugumi. How to Use It. [San Francisco, CA]: Viz Media, 2008. Print. Ōba, Tsugumi, Takeshi Obata, and Akira Shiwawa. Death Note. San Francisco: Viz Media, 2008. Print.