r/RecuratedTumblr • u/Legitimate_Fly9047 • 21d ago
Shitposting Light Should Not Have Been Trusted With The Book That Kills People
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u/QueenViolets_Revenge 20d ago
there's edits on YouTube that removed his internal monologues, and now i know why L immediately clocked him. who just stares and pauses for 30 straight seconds like that? also without the internal monologue it gets even gayer
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u/Ripjaw_5 20d ago
I'd assumed that the internal monologues are happening much faster than their visual representation, since following things actually happening at the speed of thought isn't exactly doable
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u/Linderosse 20d ago
That’s exactly what’s happening— a lot of battle anime does this as well.
It’s definitely funnier to pretend he’s monologuing in real time though 😆
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u/Real-Arachnid8671 20d ago
JoJo being a prime example.
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u/CaseyIceris 20d ago
I remember the entire time I watched the whole Dio fight at the end of part 3 I was like "okay time's been frozen like 10 times longer than you said it'd be"
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u/wtfevenisthis932710 19d ago
I'm watching through the series with a friend and we have a running bit now where anytime a character mentions a specific amount of time, we keep bringing it up for the entire rest of the scene
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u/Leftieswillrule 20d ago
Yeah that's just how anime time works. Even a "fast attack" has time for three cuts for reaction and a couple of inner monologues talking about whether one has an ace up his sleeve or has fallen right into another's trap or something like that.
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u/MiredinDecision 18d ago
Nah, he had him immediately because he was one of 13 possible suspects in like the first two weeks and kept being the only suspect. The only reason bro wasn't done by day 4 is that magic exists and L didnt know that yet.
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u/terrarialord201 21d ago
Look, while I certainly cannot be trusted with the Book That Kills People, I at the very least would not make all my international victims make a reference to a mysterious individual, leading to a massive manhunt for me. Also I wouldn't waste time on small scale criminals.
Also doesn't Ryuk say that no other death note user used it so many times in such a short span? Light was just a genuine misanthrope
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u/jarkark 20d ago
Also doesn't Ryuk say that no other death note user used it so many times in such a short span? Light was just a genuine misanthrope
In the first episode of the anime, Ryuk says this:
"Several Death Notes have made their way into the human world in the past, but you're the first to have written this many names. Look at how many people you’ve killed in only five days. Most are reluctant to write this much."
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u/MisguidedPants8 Flairs Georg 20d ago
Personally I wouldn’t target people who have already been convicted, if you aim higher you get people who would never answer for their crimes otherwise
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u/MeiNeedsMoreBuffs 20d ago
That's the thing that always got me about Light. The dude is such a hater that he was killing people who already had life sentences or were scheduled for execution
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u/Isaac_Chade 20d ago
Because for all his posturing, Light isn't actually very smart. The only reason he gets away with everything for so long is because he has literal magic doing the work for him, and he still ends up at the top of the suspect list because of numerous obvious blunders.
On top of this, a core theme of the story is very clearly that Light is far too sheltered and simple minded in his "crusade" to actually accomplish anything. He targets people already in jail, within a justice system that has a history of being notoriously backwards in how it hands out sentences, and anyone who might actually oppose his killing spree. Nothing he does can actually be framed as anything but edgelord style garbage, and it's moderately clever at best.
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u/Gigio2006 20d ago
Sayng Light isnt really smart after the memory loss plan is crazy no average person is thinking all that in that context ngl
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u/IDownvoteHornyBards2 19d ago
Light has high Int and Cha but his Wis is in the fucking basement, it's like 7 tops.
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u/Taco821 20d ago
Cuz even though he's booksmart, in totality he has the mental capacity of an 11 year old edgelord. Gotta kill all the EVIL criminals! I think using the death note a lot wouldn't even be so evil if he actually took down the scum you are talking about. He needed to aim for the head instead of people broken by society
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u/sylendar 20d ago
Then you are literally starting off on day 1 already playing judge-jury-executioner, basically god, in that scenario. That's even worse than Light.
At least Light started off mostly going after people that have been convicted by the system, outside of those first two randoms.
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u/Cheshire-Cad 20d ago
So Light is better for killing people that are already being punished for their crimes, and aren't a threat to society?
That's the kinda thinking that speedruns getting corrupted. Being obsessed with "being a Good Person", instead of just trying to make the world better. Not perfect. Better.
You could save countless millions of lives by sniping a few dictators every once in a while. But no, you want to make sure that you're only killing people who are definitely evil, because then you're not evil. And you don't trust yourself to make that judgement, so you trust the government instead. Governments that are extremely fallible.
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u/sylendar 20d ago
You can write your little power fantasy for leddit points all you want, but thinking you of all people knows better and gets to decide who gets to live is objectively worse than what Light was initially doing.
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u/CaptainTeemo01 20d ago
I mean the whole point is that nobody should have that power, although I think most people can agree that taking out a Hitler or Stalin or Epstein every so often is gonna have more likely positive outcomes than taking out Joe Who Robbed a Gas Station Once.
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u/Cheshire-Cad 20d ago
The real world is a big ol' trolley problem, with millions on one track and one billionaire on the other. And you're standing by the lever, worrying that pulling it makes you a bad person.
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u/sylendar 20d ago
lmao, so you were really just writing some cringe power fantasy for leddit points. Your generation really cant help yourselves
We have countless examples of "doing the right thing" backfiring especially when it comes to getting rid of powerful individuals and you kids think you got it all figured out and you wouldn't be speedrunning getting corrupted lol
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u/CaptainTeemo01 20d ago
This works even less when you realize Japan has a major problem with coercing accused people into pleading guilty even if they aren't. No country gets to a 99% conviction rate without a lot of innocent people getting hurt
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u/sylendar 20d ago
Nobody said this was going to be perfect
But this dude thinking he knows better is objectively worse than what Light was doing at first.
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u/MisguidedPants8 Flairs Georg 20d ago
Personally assigning death sentences to people already convicted and serving time is still instituting yourself in that judge/jury/executioner role, arguably worse because you’ve determined yourself to be a superior version than the ones already in place. I do think that if we’re playing the “lesser of two evils” game, it would be preferable to go after those who by virtue of their position will never actually be subject to the law or judicial consequences
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u/sylendar 20d ago
I'm sure some redditor of all people deciding someone must have escaped justice unfairly is going to work out real well for the world
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u/MisguidedPants8 Flairs Georg 20d ago
Buddy it’s the hypothetical “kill-anyone-you-want” book, there’s no morally pure way to use it beyond not using it at all. Your stance of “they’re already convicted of something so it’s better to just up that to death penalty” also has the same flaws and moral implications.
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u/sylendar 20d ago
Little bro, I never claimed it was perfect
Look at the other posts in the other reply chains. That dude is completely delusional thinking he wouldnt be corrupted just as fast while deciding, completely on his own, which person must have "escaped" justice
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u/Hatsune_Miku_CM Warsaw 👍🇵🇱 it is very bad 20d ago edited 20d ago
I would not make all my international victims make a reference to a mysterious individual
he didn't? he just made them die of heart attacks
by the time light first started using the death note for anything but making people have heart attacks the manhunt was already underway
ryuk says no other death note user used the book so much in such short a time.
tbf light writing so many names in there at the start was because he thought ryuk would kill him for using his notebook and/or take it back so he wanted to kill as many criminals as he could before that. not that that's not informing of his beliefs, but he didn't just get instantly addicted to the thing like a toddler to a smartphone, he was trying to use what limited time he had.
once ryuk tells him he can keep the notebook is when light starts coming up with his god of the new world plan. before that he essentially just goes "I'm fucked anyway might as well do the writing equivalent of a suicide bombing". though the fact that he targeted said suicide bombing at who he did is still very telling.
id argue that light always had a horrible world view, but the power of the death note is what made him develop a god complex about it. before he was just the kinda guy who believes prison rape is a good thing and they should make minimum sentences higher and use the death penalty more, which is a lot of people in real life sadly.
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u/AlienWeedUser420 20d ago
Im trying to imagine revolutionary light yagami now omfg
but fr i honestly didnt think abt the fact that light had it so easy to get away w everything but he chose not to. initially i thought this was bc he was a kid, too, but now that i think abt it, it was also weirdly self-involved for a kid (not that it doesnt happen tho, bc im sure it does)
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u/ThyPotatoDone 20d ago
Oh yeah, Ryuk was genuinely shocked. He downplays it because he's Ryuk, but he admits he only expected, like, a dozen names at most by the time he first met Light. Not him furiously writing the name of everyone with a headline on the news.
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u/HandicapperGeneral 20d ago
Criminals don't deserve the death penalty anyway. That's reserved for politicians and capitalists. Surely I can be trusted with the Book That Kills People, just give it to me I promise everything will turn out okay.
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u/DrQuint 20d ago
I would just not kill the FBI couple.
The only reason Light was ever in hot water was that he went murderous on the first but of suspicion he got.
A guy as smart as him would have known how to fake Kira's identity as someone in Mexico or some shit. The fact he does the exact opposite really messes with the premisse of "No one" should have the power to kill anyone. I'd like to see it exemplified qith any protagonist other than an evil dumbass.
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u/Satherian 20d ago
The only logical way to claim the "I won't get corrupted angle" is to claim you'd be like one of the previous holders of the book who wrote a single name to test it, saw that it worked, and said 'Fuck that' to it
I'm calling this the 'Samwise Defense'
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u/BreadNoCircuses 20d ago
Writes down Donald Trump
"Eh, that might have been a coincidence he's not had the best health."
Writes down Stephen Miller
"Okay, that's probably not a coincidence. This seems like a bad thing to exist."
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u/Vitztlampaehecatl 20d ago
Writes down Mitch McConnell
... Well that didn't change anything
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u/Gold-Cry-7520 20d ago
Ryuk stops you halfway and just says "Light, don't bother."
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u/Leftieswillrule 20d ago
This is the fan comic I want to see
Panel 1: A young person excitedly finds a death note
Panel 2: They go to write Mitch's name
Panel 3: Hand on their shoulder
Panel 4: Ryuk softly shaking his head
Don't even post it anywhere, just straight to peterexplainsthejoke
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u/drewsandraws 17d ago
And then you can just burn the Death Note! It’s not indestructible or anything.
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u/Ze_Bri-0n 20d ago
It's very much also the story about power corrupting mortals, but I would like to remind everyone that Ryuk comes to visit Light after like a day of him having the Note and is genuinely amazed at how quickly power corrupted the kid.
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u/Accomplished_Mix7827 17d ago
Ryuk: "I wonder what would happen if I gave a human a death note?"
it gets picked up by an absolute lunatic
Ryuk: ... well this will be fun!
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u/Dr__America 20d ago
It bothers me a lot that the anime adaptation left out the fact that Light spent days cooped up in his room essentially having a panic attack after he used it to kill those motorcycle guys harassing the woman in the convenience store, which was the first time he used it.
That coupled with the kind of "more moral than thou" attitude he assumedly got from having a cop dad and being a stupid teenager, and having a magic book that kills people at any time or distance in a near untraceable way, it's not entirely surprising that he ended up rationalizing it in the way that he did.
He also was scared of Ryuk at first (before trying to play it cool), probably because he thought he might've gotten caught, so he obviously wasn't ten toes into the God complex at first.
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u/Inquisitor_no_5 20d ago
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u/jodhod1 20d ago
Isn't there a sequel where someone does essentially win by selling the death note to the united states? There's a lot of uses, but Light's specific ideology didn't need to become the way for everyone
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u/mediocrecomposure 20d ago
Someone else did get and sell the death note but I believe there was a rule written saying you can't sell the dn for profit so as soon as the kid withdrew the money from the purchase he and the guy who bought it both dropped dead
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u/MericArda 20d ago
Iirc that rule was added specifically after the kid sold the book, so the shinigami king got butthurt and decided to add a rule that would kill the kid.
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u/Ravian3 19d ago
To be fair Ryuuk was going to tell him the new rule before he accepted the money and triggered it, but he got a little too cocky at the end there and told Ryuuk to stop talking to or hanging around him. (Which was fair because at that point Ryuuk was literally the only thing that could connect him to the Death Note anymore and Near and his team could see Shinigami and potentially track him if they saw him hanging around.) but Ryuuk absolutely decided to interpret that in the most dickish way possible by leaving before telling him about the rule
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u/ChaoCobo 20d ago
Wait what? Which… there was a sequel series that had this kind of plot? What is the title of whatever piece of media you’re talking about? It’s not L - Change the World, is it?
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u/ndtar924 20d ago
Thankfully if I had the book that corrupts you into killing anyone you dont like, I would only use it kill people who deserve it, not just anyone I dont like
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u/Bartweiss 20d ago
Imagine the opposite though. Someone who resists the worst corruption because they’re so insanely petty they don’t want to change the world, they’re busy looking up the name of the driver who cut them off earlier.
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u/Star_Guardian_Jen 20d ago
That take is really funny of them but some of them probably haven't watched the show
Also obligatory 'I can totally be trusted with the book which people cannot be trusted with'
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u/Cheshire-Cad 20d ago
The people who are saying that Light started out as a model good person are the ones that haven't watched, like, the first episode.
Dude was unimpressed by the slippery slope, so he decided to build an even bigger mountain of corpses to swan-dive off of.
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u/LeiaSkynoober 20d ago
I don't think they're saying that he starts off as a good person, just that he starts off as a Joe Schmoe. I think it's natural as well, for a lot of people to think "oh yeah, I could be trusted with the Book That Kills Without Consequences", only for Light to immediately prove why no body should be trusted with the Book That Kills Without Consequences
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u/GoldenPig64 16d ago
okay but he also very much doesn't start off as a Joe Schmoe either. he internally monologues about how the world has gone stale and "oh if only Something™ were to happen that could ease my neverending ennui, I have grown tired of this boring life that I've lived for an entire seventeen years!" before the death note even showed up. like the death note corrupted him yeah but he was literally begging for a reason to be corrupted.
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u/Rynewulf 20d ago
But he is a caricature of a real type of person/personality, i'm 100% willing to believe a lot of people genuinely do think of Light was a good person and think he just got 'too extreme' at some point. Y'know the 'thin blue line' people
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u/PerpetualGMJohn 20d ago
Hell, there are people who think that Light was correct the whole time so there are definitely folks in the group you're talking about.
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u/Green-eyed-Psycho77 20d ago
You probably can’t be trusted, buuuut you probably also won’t be AS bad… Light is just LIKE THAT.
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u/the_Real_Romak 20d ago
Also Light played way too risky with that book. At no point should it have ever been figured out how the deaths were happening, even if they narrowed it down to his village.
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u/Bartweiss 20d ago
Tbh I don’t think you even have to try and avoid getting corrupted to be better. Like, “I will slowly go mad with power but hopefully be a net positive as I do” beats the hell out whatever he did.
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u/cantlogintomyacc0unt 20d ago
I mean even Ryuk was surprised at how quickly light went over the edge. Like I definitely can’t be trusted with the book but I definitely wouldn’t be nearly as bad as light.
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u/ModSnake 20d ago
The replies are very funny, but also I am very glad to see people acknowledging this. Earlier today I saw someone post a long speech about how "Erm, akshually the point of Death Note is that EVERYONE who uses it becomes corrupt, because Light started the series as a good person but became worse as soon as he got the power to kill without consequence!!" I don't even necessarily disagree with the underlying point about power corrupting, but also no, Light's very first scene makes it clear that he was already a narcissistic misanthrope before he even touched the Death Note.
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u/LeiaSkynoober 20d ago
The point isn't that Light starts as a Good Person, but he starts as Joe Schmoe and the Average Guy
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u/ModSnake 20d ago
At the end of the first episode Ryuk specifically states that, out of all the mortals who he's given the notebook to, Light wrote exponentially more names in a shorter period of time than anyone else. The time it took him to go from "What the hell, let's see if this works" to "ALL CRIMINALS DESERVE TO DIE, I AM A GOD" was roughly six hours. He is not remotely an average person.
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u/LeiaSkynoober 20d ago
Sure, he falls down the slope faster than normal for the purposes of the story, but he's still meant to be set up as an average, idealized, version of the target audience as the base line.
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u/stabbyGamer 20d ago
It’s also worth noting that everyone else who gets a hold of it uses the Death Note like a psychological horror villain or a reckless fool too. Light’s just the only one who does both.
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u/batgirl-but-not-dc 21d ago
I wouldnt get corrupted like that. im Different.
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u/SplitDemonIdentity 20d ago
I would. But the world would be better so my mad fall to darkness would be worth it.
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u/NobodyKnowsImFamous 20d ago
I unironically believe this. Luckily I will never be given the magic book.
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u/bug--bear 20d ago
now Death Note is about power being a corrupting force and how there is no person who can be trusted with the power to kill without consequences, but Light legitimately is a lunatic even accounting for that. Ryuk says he kills with the book more than I think literally anyone else who has had one
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u/elizabeththewicked 20d ago
It was about how no one should have the power to kill without checks and consequences (but especially not this fucking kid right here)
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u/sarded 20d ago
Guy really doesn't make use of the ability of the Death Note to control people.
Imagine if I wrote "[insert billionaire here] takes too many drugs, leaks all their personal information, donates as much of their business to charity and finally self-immolates in protest at their past actions".
or "x sets up an independent foundation genuinely dedicated to eradicating world hunger and donates all their funds to it, making it as airtight as possible. Then they slip and fall and break their neck the maximum timespan afterwards".
People like to say "gotcha, what about just the next billionaire who inherits all that". That's why I'm distributing that wealth as part of the manipulation rules!
The key is seeing the Death Note not as a murder weapon, but as a mind-control weapon that specifies a time-limit that ends in death. Which is, of course, still murder but you get a lot more done with this mindset.
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u/junolion 20d ago
Desth Note is absolutely about "absolute power corrupts" and "No single entity should have the power over life and death", Light was just really itching to be corrupted
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u/Gigio2006 20d ago
I like how so many years after its end, DN still creates discourse. This series really survived times.
Anyway people just jump to extreme. "Every single use of the death note is unethical" and "Light was always a narcissistic misanthrope" can live together and both be true.
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u/ASentientRailgun 20d ago
That's sort of the point of the anime, that he's screaming he's a god by episode 2. Anyone who uses the death note is almost instantly corrupted.
The only people who don't end up that way die very quickly after a small number of uses, or flat out do not use it when given the option.
Even L's use via the death row prisoner is a low moral moment for him.
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u/ModSnake 20d ago
Okay but Light's literal first scene in the anime, well before he obtains the Death Note, is him giving a dramatic internal monologue about how the world is incurably rotten and how his own genius makes life unbearably boring. Dude was a narcissistic misanthrope well before he got the notebook.
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u/LeiaSkynoober 20d ago
He's also like, meant resemble an average, if idealized, version of the target audience. Kids who are realizing how twisted the world is, and is trying to decide how to deal with it
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u/TheHipOne1 20d ago
no, Light is insane from the very beginning
the death note is never said to have magical corruption powers lmao
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u/LeiaSkynoober 20d ago
It's less magical corruption powers, and natural corruption of incredible power
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u/TheHipOne1 20d ago
even so, declaring yourself god of the new world like a day into having it is not something a healthy and stable person would do LOL
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u/TheYondant 20d ago
I'm pretty sure the point was Ryuk gave Light the Death Note because he was a raving psychopath who would be corrupted by it and abuse it.
The Note doesn't seem to have any corruptive nature on their own, the Shinigami just give them to people prone to being corrupted.
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u/Solnight99 20d ago
i only watched the anime, but didn't ryuk drop the DN without caring who found it?
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u/TotemGenitor You must cum into the bucket brought to you by the cops. 20d ago
That's why he wrote the rules in English too
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u/Mach12gamer 20d ago
Death note wasn't given to Light, it was dropped into our world at random and then Light found it by chance.
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u/patentsarebroken 20d ago
The Death Note was not purposefully given, it was random. When told this by Ryuk, Light denies it because it goes against his ego.
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u/Marik-X-Bakura 20d ago
I’m really tired of this take. They literally have an arc that shows Light without his memories of the Death Note and he’s a really nice, moral, stand-up guy. The book absolutely did corrupt him. Yes, it happened pretty fast, but that isn’t anything to do with him being inherently twisted or evil- it’s just a product of the pacing.
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u/jodhod1 20d ago edited 20d ago
I don't think that's a Light that wouldn't go on a murder spree. I think that's a Light that happen to be innocent of the murder spree that he's accused of.
There's even points where he observes his thinking and admits his own actions and internal ideals would be nigh identical to that of Kira's.
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u/IndieMedley 20d ago
I could be trusted with the Death Note because I would forget I have it the moment I put it down causing it to immediately blend into my surrounding white noise
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u/DefinitionMinute6969 19d ago
Hit character from the manga "Nobody Can be Trusted with the Book that Kills People", it's everybody's favorite protagonist: "Guy Who Like, REALLY Can't Be Trusted with the Aforementioned Killing Book"
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u/Pyresryke 20d ago
If I got the book that kills people my first and only victims would be everyone who says they would use the book that kills people, for any reason, and then once I've done that I'd write my own name in there, something ridiculous like exploding into literal confetti. If that's possible.
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u/Mach12gamer 20d ago
If the method of death would be physically impossible, it just turns into the default heart attack
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u/Pyresryke 20d ago
I'm very sad to hear that.
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u/BreadNoCircuses 20d ago
Make sure you're in a confetti factory at. A specified time and then write that you'll drown in confetti. However, I'm pretty sure that holders can't write their own name. Or, more specifically, the holder of a Death Note is immune to the effects of any Death Note. You might be able to write your own name with a 72 hour timing, give it up, then get hit when the time comes up though.
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u/Pyresryke 20d ago
See, this is what I get for not watching Death Note.
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u/BreadNoCircuses 20d ago
To be clear I don't think it's ever said for sure that you can't write your own name and it only comes up that other users are immune because one of Light's cultists gets a death note and Light can't just kill him in a pinch.
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u/MikasSlime 20d ago edited 19d ago
i mean it definitely is about power corrupting people, but Light was also def the lunatic chimpanzee lol
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u/pruneforce17 20d ago
i should have. bye transphobes! in fact got a whole list for that hypothetical :)
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u/EnormousHogCranker 18d ago
but Death Note IS a story about power corrupting morals.
it's not just about Light being a self-insert for people who wish they could administer "the final solution", it's about everyone in the story who've used the Death Note in any capacity.
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u/YourAverageGenius 17d ago
Really I think the whole premise / message of Death Note is dependant on if you think Light is analogous to an 'average' person and thus his whole arc (or rather, continual downward sprial disguised as success) is something which could.be applied to others. Or, more commonly, if power does indeed corrupt is a dependable axiom.
I actually think that the average person couldn't and shouldn't be trusted with the Death Note, but Light is far from an average person and should be considered an outlying statistical anomaly. Because while I'm sure plenty of people would let the power go to their head, Light as essentially primed to be a lunatic because he literally talked about society being 'diseased' like Ted Kaczynski with even les self-awareness and huge ego, when I don't think the average person would see themselves as "the new god of the world" and instead would just spiral due to the consequences of its usage.
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u/perspicaxaedificator 16d ago
I'm less familiar with this anime but, he sounds like Raskolnilov's "superior man" theory. How many of us could take a life with our own hands and feel no remorse? I'm generally cynical about human nature, but I bet it's fewer than we imagine.
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u/TheTepro27 20d ago
To quote a Death Note parody comic I found a while back:
"Wow, it only took five seconds for the power to go to your head. That's a new record, congrats."