Character Analysis: Light Yagami/Kira

Warning! The following will have major spoilers for the anime Death Note.

Hello, may I take your name- I mean order.

How far do we have to fall before we realize we have fallen? That the mirror on the wall is reflecting a false image? That the person we used to be is slowly shrinking and dissolving into nothingness? And once we realize these things, can we ever go back or have we already fallen too far? …? Okay, I may have been a tad too dramatic in those last two lines but these are the kind of questions I think of when I think about Light Yagami from one of my favorite anime shows.

Light Yagami is the main villain of Death Note, but he doesn’t start out as the villain. Well, at least for the first five minutes he’s shown he isn’t a villain, but there is a big difference between the Light at the beginning and the Light at the end. The Light at the end is a lot darker! 😀 All joking aside, Light really is a tragic villain.

Really good looking

At the beginning of the anime, Light is a hardworking student, always making super A pluses and studying well into the night. He is the ideal Japanese student. He is also very good looking and very popular. His dad works at the local police department and his mother— I’m not sure what his mother did, but let’s just say the rest of his family is pretty nice too. But, he is not satisfied. He sees news reports of murders, mass murders, drug-dealing, and other criminal activity and is disgusted at the world he lives in and wishes he could do something about it. Then, behold! On the ground there lay a black with the words “Death Note” written upon it, and out of curiosity Light picked it up and took it home with him, thus beginning is downward spiral into insanity. Sorry, couldn’t help myself. Anyway, the notebook he picked up has the ability to kill anyone in the world if provided with that person’s name and a mental image of that person’s face. Not sure if this is actually true, he decides to test it on a couple of criminals. Once he is sure this notebook is the real deal, he decides to use it so he can become the god of a perfect world with no crime and no suffering. Yeah, no one ever said smart equals logical or sane.

I have a love/hate- let’s just say “relationship” for lack of a better word- with Light. In the beginning I liked Light. I thought he had good intentions (sometimes I too think the world would be a better place if all the mass-murdering psychos and child molesters were killed off) and I even rooted for him somewhat even though his end goal was a bit crazy. But he makes it clear early on in the series that he will stop at nothing to accomplish his end goal. When his killings become noticed by crime fighters (and by crime fighters I mean cops and detectives not Superman and Batman) across the world and they try to stop him, he tricks one of the American investigators into killing his own team and then kills him.

Whatever you do, DON’T follow the Light!

He uses all of his attributes I listed earlier- good looks, popularity, father’s job status- to manipulate others to do his bidding and then kills them when they are no longer of use to him. He even does this to a Shinigami, a death god or a keeper of a death note.  But even then, I was impressed how he executed all his elaborate plans and manipulations to get him out of trouble. In the episode when he’s trying to kill another P.I. and he finally succeeds in writing down her name, and she asks him why he keeps checking his watch and he says, “Because I’m Kira,” gives me chills every time. But when Light’s father dies, that’s when my awe-inspired respect for Light died. I said, “Wow, Light, I hate you now,” and then I gladly waited for him to get his just desserts.

Light isn’t the only one who suffers from his actions, his whole family is affected

Still, I was sad when Light died. When he’s laughing manically, insulting Matsuda, begging for help, and staring at the ceiling as he dies makes you realize how far this character has fallen. If he did not pick up that notebook or at least stopped using it after the first couple uses, he could have used his intelligence, charm, and family resources to find more peaceful, or at least more sane and practical, ways to change or better the world.

Always crossing the border between reason and insanity, truth and controversy, Light will always be one of my most loved and hated anime characters.

Plus, it’s fun to make a few “Light” puns. 🙂

GuardianTree12 out.