Poll: The DeathNote

[tthor]

For those of you who may not know, 'DeathNote' is a really popular anime, the plot is that the main character(Yagami Light, a very intellegent 18?year-old) finds the Deathnote(a notebook that, whosever name is written in the deathnote will die of a heartattack). Light decides to use the deathnote to try to kill most of the criminals in the world, as well as send a message to anyone else that if you commit a crimes, you will die as well. he also uses the deathnote to kill people such as the police who seek to arrest him.

so basicly, this guy uses this supernatural book to kill tens of thousands of criminals.
my question is, what do you think of the main character Yagami Light? is he the hero? or is he the villian? was he right to decide who lives and who dies, nearly eliminating crime?

EDIT: this is NOT a debate about anime, this is a debate about whether it would be morally right to kill criminals in order to protect the innocent.

 

[Pimppeter2]

He deserves to make me a sammich

Take that as you may

 

[Ultrajoe]

I think the main point of the series was to point out that absolute power corrupts absolutely, and that L is one crazy son of a *****. So yeah, even the show paints Light as the villain.

I simultaneously hate and adore this Anime.

 

[KurtzGallahad]

Dude, the series wasn't even very good, I don't know why people get so worked up about it

 

[Teh Ty]

I personally would follow in lights footsteps, because I personally, even though a fan of L, would try to rid the world of evil at any costs. So I say he's a hero, when he started killing people who started to oppose then and kill one of his only "Friend", is when, to me, he became the villian of the series. Som he started out good, but went corrupt and mad with power.

 

[Hybrid Sight]

I loved the series when I watched it a while ago. In the beginning he was ok, doing it for the good of the word and whatnot. But near the end... you could tell that he was mentally unstable, the power had pretty much consumed him.

 

[delet]

I'm guessing you just finished watching it? Kind of old; just about everyone has already watched it. Prepare for some minor hate.

OP: I like light, though L is plain awesome. Light was out to create a utopia and he does, in a way, succeed. Truly, it was a good anime for the suspense and psychological thriller aspect of it.

 

[Julianking93]

Wow. That second poll choice is exactly what I was going to say.


No human has the right to decide who lives and who dies, especially some 17 year old sadistic, sociopath douchebag.

And he was no hero. People viewed him as a hero because he nearly eliminated crime, but he did it all for the wrong reasons. He was right for the wrong reason. He wanted to become a god in the new world and no single person should have that power.

 

[Amnestic]

I find the anime doesn't stand up to repeated viewings terribly well. When most of the anticipation is on the unknown of "What's going to happen next?" It's kind of lost when you know all the answers already.

Light was a bit of a cock to be honest.

 

[KhaineII]

You need more options to this poll. When I watched this series, my feelings were not so black and white.

----------

To stick to the basic poll. Yes, what he did was good. But not because justice needed to be vanquished. Had I found my own Death Note, I certainly would have used it, but criminals wouldn't be my primary target.

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

A mix of both. I agree with him, but at the same time...
Then again, he basically gave the death sentence to who he deemed worthy of the death sentence with no corruption, so I agree with him.

 

[barryween]

Light starts of with the right idea, but the SECOND he kills an innocent person to get his way, he became a "bad guy"
At least, in my opinion.

 

[Teh Ty]

Dude, the series wasn't even very good, I don't know why people get so worked up about it

Not to start argument, but it's good because of conflicting sides and a hard judgement of good and evil. Along with that there was the complexity and development of the characters. Light, going from innocent boy to God-chaser, L, going from lonely detective, to only-has-one-friend status, that 'friend' he suspects as the enemy, as well as Lights dad, Rem, and even slightly, Misa. Just my 2 cents.

 

[tthor]

I'm guessing you just finished watching it? Kind of old; just about everyone has already watched it. Prepare for some minor hate.

OP: I like light, though L is plain awesome. He's out to create a utopia and he does, in a way, succeed. Truly, it was a good anime for the suspense and psychological thriller aspect of it.

i actually finished the anime about a year ago, tho it is one of my favorites. i love the moral dilemma it provides, and was curious as to how some of you would answer. i myself havent voted yet, because i dont know what to answer

I was throughly saddened because Raito lost against near, that was bull, if anyone were to take down Raito it should have been L. (Raito, in case your wondering, is light's name in the japanese version, which I watched)

really? i watched the japanese with english subs, and they only refered to him as yagami light

 

[FalloutJack]

I can't vote on either choice. I'm an evil person who could probably justify the kill.

 

[GodsAndFishes]

Light was right!
But I personally prefer the manga, the large volumes of talky talky feel right in a manga, but make for a boring anime in my opinion.

 

[RyePunk]

I adored him (Light) for the same reason that I adore Lex Luthor, a brilliant individual who wants to save the planet so bad that they'll do anything to save it. These are villains who do not see themselves as the villain of their stories, they think themselves the heroes. It is so much better having conflicted, flawed characters 1 dimensional simpletons.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I think what Light did is a textbook example of the saying "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Not to mention "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." His intentions were sorta noble, in a way. What irritated me the most about Light is the guy was obviously a frickin' genius, much smarter then I could ever hope to be, but for all his brains he failed to notice that he was becoming and eventually became the very thing he was determined to eliminate.

 

[delet]

I'm guessing you just finished watching it? Kind of old; just about everyone has already watched it. Prepare for some minor hate.

OP: I like light, though L is plain awesome. He's out to create a utopia and he does, in a way, succeed. Truly, it was a good anime for the suspense and psychological thriller aspect of it.

i actually finished the anime about a year ago, tho it is one of my favorites. i love the moral dilemma it provides, and was curious as to how some of you would answer. i myself havent voted yet, because i dont know what to answer

So you make a thread about it now? Eh, I'll let it slide.

It's a very intriguing anime for the mind. The 'epic' music didn't hurt either.