Light Yagami - The Reason behind Death Note’s success

If you are an anime fan, then you’ve definitely already watched Death Note. Currently one of the most popular anime series of all time, Death Note is viewed as a classic that no otaku can miss out on. Some fans absolutely loath Light Yagami for being a manipulative and evil person, while some love him for his elaborate plans. However, one thing that all of us Death Note fans can agree on is the fact that Light Yagami is the most well-written character from Death Note.

Let’s take a closer look at the life of Light Yagami as we try to understand what makes him such a memorable and classic anti-hero.

Who is Light Yagami?

Light Yagami is the anti-hero protagonist from Death Note who is also known as Kira. Light carries around a notebook called the Death Note that grants him the powers of a Death God. Any person whose name gets written inside the notebook dies. Light wants to use the powers of this notebook to kill every single criminal in the entire world and become the God of the new and righteous world.

Light wasn’t always Evil

Light wasn’t really evil at the start of the series; he was just bored of his everyday life. Being a perfect part of society was so easy for him that he didn’t like to do anything at all and thought that the world around him was just rotten. When he first got his hands on the Death Note, Light was extra careful about who he would eliminate. He ended up using its powers to kill two criminals that actually deserved to die, but he felt bad for even doing something like that.

We can also tell that Light isn’t really evil at heart from the later episodes of Death Note, in which he loses his memories of being Kira. Light is not even able to comprehend how he could ever become such an evil person.

Light’s God Complex

Eventually, Light started to develop a god complex, and that is when he started to lose his humanity. After realizing that killing those two criminals might not be the worst thing, Light decides that he is going to kill all the criminals and build an ideal world that only comprises honest and hardworking people.

When he finds out that there are many people out there who refer to him as Kira and actually appreciate his efforts, Light becomes more eager to continue doing what he’s doing. At this point, I’d still say that Light is not really evil. However, as the story moves forward, Light’s god complex starts to get extremely bad. Light decides that anyone, good or bad, who stands in his way is also going to die.

Descent towards Real Evil!

Light starts to become evil as soon as he kills the first apparently innocent person standing in his way, Lind L. Tailor. As soon as Lind calls Light evil, he is not able to control himself and instantly decides to take his life without any remorse.

Afterwards, Light continues to take many innocent lives in order to keep his identity hidden and keep on killing the criminals. At this point in the story, Light is evil, but he still has a small part of his sanity intact because of his family.

I think that Light finally became truly evil after the death of his father. While it might seem like an act to some, Light actually cried real tears when his father passed right in front of him.

Light’s Death

Light’s death is beautiful, meaningful and the perfect ending that Death Note could’ve ever received. In the end, it's Light's god complex that becomes the major reason for his undoing. Not only does Light underestimate Near, but he also loses all of his comrades. While in the manga, even Teru Mikami betrays Light, in the anime, Teru still tries to help Light by creating a diversion.

Even though he knows that there’s no going back now, Light still tries to make a run for it. Eventually, Ryuk writes Light’s name on his Death Note, and Light dies on a flight of stairs without accomplishing anything. Before dying, Light finally realizes just how messed up his life had become. Light dies thinking about what life could’ve been like if he had never picked up the Death Note.

Conclusion

For me, Light Yagami is the best character from the entire Death Note series. He might’ve been annoying, manipulative and evil, but we still can’t help but fall completely in love with him. Despite the huge changes in his personality throughout the show, Light is definitely one of the most realistic characters from the world of anime and manga.

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