Light Yagami

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"Raito" redirects here. For the Italian village on the Amalfi Coast, see Raito (village).
This article is about the second "L". For the first "L", see
Near (Death Note)
.

Light Yagami
Sayu Yagami (sister)
Misa Amane
(fiancée)

Light Yagami (

NPA and a world-renowned detective named L
.

In the anime adaptation, he is voiced by Mamoru Miyano in Japanese and by Brad Swaile in the English version. In the live-action film series, he is portrayed by Tatsuya Fujiwara with Swaile reprising his role as his English dub voice; he is portrayed by both Kenji Urai and Hayato Kakizawa in the musical; in the TV drama, he is portrayed by Masataka Kubota; his counterpart in the American film is portrayed by Nat Wolff. Light's portrayal in the anime was met with praise from critics.

Creation and conception

family name "Yagami" for Light, which he did not feel "too concerned" about regarding its meaning (the Kanji for "Yagami" are "night" and "god"). Light's given name is written with the Japanese character for "moon," an example of what is coincidentally called a kira kira name. In the final scene of the manga, after Light's death, a group of Kira worshippers appear under the light of the moon; Ohba describes liking this scene as it created "deeper significance" for Light's name.[3]

Takeshi Obata, the artist of Death Note, said that he had "no trouble" designing Light as the character description presented to him, "A brilliant honors student who's a little out there," was "clear and detailed". As the weekly serialization continued, Obata simplified the design by subconsciously removing "unnecessary" lines and felt that he became "better" at drawing Light. When Chapter 35 appeared and the editor informed Obata that Light loses his memories, Obata had to draw Light in a similar manner as he appeared in Chapter 1; Obata said "It was like I had to forget everything I had learned." Obata said that he used "a lot of effort" to design Light's wardrobe. According to Obata, he encountered difficulty imagining the clothing of "a brilliant person," so he looked through fashion magazines. Obata envisioned Light as a "smart and formal guy" who wears formal shirts. Most of Light's clothing in Death Note is "fitted", and Obata avoided jeans.[4] For color illustrations, Obata assigned "a lack of color or clear" to Light, as he felt these color themes best fit his "atmosphere".[5]

Light's character was slightly altered as he was adapted into the anime. Toshiki Inoue, the series organizer for the anime, stated that the screenwriting team wanted to enhance the tragic aspects of his character that were made fleeting in the manga.[6] As such, Light's death scene in the anime was made significantly different from the manga to emphasize "the sadness of someone who has lost everything".[7]

Films

Shusuke Kaneko, director of the film, intended for Light to appear sympathetic at the beginning of the film; when Light first gains the Death Note, Kaneko "was careful" to have Light react in a manner "as you and I would". Kaneko changed the story involving Light gaining his first notebook as he felt that the audience "would have a hard time sympathizing" with Light if the scene remained the same as it was in the manga. Kaneko added that as he portrayed Light as "being enthralled" as he "becomes more cruel" to make the audience members feel that they could "do the terrible things he does" even if the members do not sympathize with Light.[8]

Tatsuya Fujiwara said that he felt difficulty portraying Light in the film series because of the lack of "action" and because Light has no signature mannerisms and therefore has his feelings displayed by his face; Fujiwara added that he struggled conveying Light's "incredible intelligence" and that the performance would appear "very empty or simplistic" if Light received an improper portrayal. Fujiwara explained that he wanted Light to cry in a particular scene even though Kaneko told Fujiwara "Light doesn't cry" since Fujiwara believed that the scene would feel "more honest"; Kaneko used the take.[9]

Kaneko designed Light's room to reflect the character's personality by making it clean and neat and filling it with legal, criminal history, foreign, and academic books. The original version of Light's room included a stereo; Kaneko replaced it with a vacuum cleaner to reflect Light's "clean-freak self".[10]

Kenichi Matsuyama, the actor who portrayed L, said that he and Fujiwara became "so immersed" in their character portrayals that they did not talk to one another while on the set; when filming ceased they conversed and "went out for a drink or two".[9] Matsuyama also said that Light and L are "extremely" alike in that they have "a very strong sense of justice".[11]

Appearances

In Death Note

Light as he appears in the anime series.

Light Yagami was born on February 28, 1986 (or 1989 in the anime).

foil
of Light himself.

Light initially becomes horrified at the Death Note's abilities after he tests the notebook on two criminals out of curiosity, but he eventually convinces himself that the criminals' resulting deaths were justified, thinking he would bring crime rates down around the world. Light soon becomes driven to lead a personal crusade to rid the world of crime by using the notebook. While his agenda originates with good intentions,[15] Light eventually finds himself killing law enforcement and even innocents in order to elude capture. His ethics are utilitarian, justifying the most extreme acts in service of his cause. He is also driven by a need for victory, which motivates most of his cruelest acts. Combined with the power of the Death Note, his hubris and genius-level intellect convince him that only he can save the world.

Eventually, a small task force of Japanese police officers, including Light's father, under the direction of the eccentric genius detective

Rem
into killing L. Light then assumes the "L" persona and continues his charade of searching for Kira with the task force while carrying out the killings himself with help from Misa.

Over four years later, Light is able to garner most of the world's support, reaching the point where his followers have begun to worship Kira as a literal deity. However, it is around this time that two of L's protégés,

Teru Mikami, a man selected by Light to kill criminals using another Death Note, to make a mistake that results in Light's capture by Near, the SPK, and Japanese police. Seeing that Light has finally lost, he is killed when Ryuk writes his name in his own Death Note, just as the Shinigami had warned when they first met.[16]
Light Yagami died on January 28, 2010 (or 2013 in the anime).

In film

Japanese film series

Tatsuya Fujiwara as Light in the Death Note film series.

In the Japanese film series, Light Yagami is portrayed by

hacks
into the national police database and finds that the government is unable to prosecute many criminals, either due to lack of evidence or technical loop-holes, among other reasons. Also, Light discovers the Death Note in an alley during a rainy night after encountering an acquitted felon named Takuo Shibuimaru in a night-club. Another difference is that Light meets Ryuk right after killing Shibuimaru with the Death Note. At the end of the first movie, Light reluctantly kills his girlfriend, Shiori Akino, and frames her death as a murder and reason to foster hatred for "Kira", in order to join the Kira investigation team as a result of their sympathy.

Light relinquishes ownership of the Death Note to Kiyomi Takada. After Takada is caught, Light kills her to recover the Death Note, but it is taken by the investigation team. L states that he will test the 13-Day Rule, a fake Death Note rule designed to prove Light and Misa's innocence. Rem, knowing that L's actions will reveal Misa's identity as the second Kira, writes both L and his handler: Watari's names in the Death Note. Light then proceeds to write his father's name in the book, manipulating his father to return the confiscated Death Note. Light confronts his father, but Soichiro does not die. The investigation team members, including L, reveal themselves. Having already written his own name in the Death Note, thus negating Rem's actions, L tells Light that he had just written in a fake note. Light tries to write on a hidden piece of Death Note, but is shot by Matsuda, an investigation team member. Light tells Ryuk to write the team's names, promising to show him many interesting things, and begins to laugh. He stops, however, when Ryuk shows him that he had written just one name: Light's. Light tries to stop Ryuk, but merely passes right through him. As Light begins to succumb to the effects of the Death Note, Ryuk takes this opportunity to reveal to him that humans that have used the Death Note are barred from entering either Heaven or Hell, instead spending eternity in nothingness. Light dies in his father's arms, begging him to believe that he acted as Kira to put the justice, which Soichiro had taught him since his childhood, into practice.

Several years after Light's death, however, it is revealed in the sequel film

mid-credits scene
reveals a video recorded by Light addressing the film's events to have occurred just as he has expected them to, teasing his potential resurrection.

American film

In

Mia Sutton (portrayed by Margaret Qualley).[17]

After being enticed to kill a bully by Ryuk, Light murders the criminal who killed his mother, and together with Mia, the two begin a crusade similar to their manga counterparts to rid the world of crime. However the pair eventually come to a disagreement on how they should deal with law enforcement targeting them, including L and Light's father James, with Mia wishing to kill the "innocent" seeking to uncover their identities, and Light wishing to simply kill criminals. After Mia kills Watari, L's handler, she schemes to steal the notebook from Light, but Light outmaneuvers her and kills her, concocting an elaborate plan through the Death Note by manipulating a number of criminals to continue his activities as "Kira" through the notebook, before all of them commit suicide and induces himself into a medical coma for around a month, which seemingly proves Light's innocence to the authorities. At the end of the film, James presents Light with evidence that he killed his mother's murderer and Light confesses to being Kira and reveals how he cleared himself of suspicion. Meanwhile, L, disgraced by his superiors due to failing to implicate Light and seeking to avenge Watari, considers killing Light with a hidden piece of the notebook he finds in Mia's room, after having deduced her to have been the Kira who killed Watari, and recognising the supernatural to be real. The film ends, as Ryuk laughs to a bed-ridden Light and comments that "humans are so interesting".

In other media

In the 2015 drama, Masataka Kubota plays the role of Light Yagami.[20] Similar to the Netflix adaptation, Light is portrayed as less charismatic, insecure and is initially hesitant to kill law enforcement. His relationship with his father Soichiro is also strained due to the death of his mother prior to the start of the series. However, in the later half of the series he grows to demonstrate the same level of ruthlessness, intellect and hubris as his manga counterpart.

Like the Netflix adaption, Light does not obtain the notebook by chance and it is given to him by Ryuk in response to a confrontation with a bully. After he writes the bully's name in the Death Note and realize it is real, he is so horrified by what he did that almost commits suicide. After again using the notebook to save his father from being held hostage, Light proceeds to use the notebook to kill criminals as Kira. In response to the killings, the detective L leads a police task force alongside Light's father Soichiro to capture Kira. Toward the end of the series, L and Soichiro see through Light's deception and each attempt to convince him to turn himself in. When Light refuses to relent, he is baited into confessing after L and Soichiro both sacrifice their lives. The information obtained from their deaths is relayed to the police task force, who ambush Light in a warehouse in a sting operation led by L's successor Near. In a desperate attempt to help him evade capture, Light's accomplice Teru Mikami sets fire to the warehouse but Light is instead trapped by the fire and burns to death.

In the musical adaptation, Light is portrayed by Kenji Urai and Hayato Kakizawa in the Japanese productions and Hong Kwang-ho and Han Ji-sang in the Korean productions.[21]

Light also appears alongside Ryuk as a non-playable story character for the crossover video game Jump Force, with Mamoru Miyano reprising his role as Light. He allies himself with the game's heroes until he acquires an Umbra Cube, a tool utilized by the game's antagonists, in order to replace the power of the Death Note that he lost before the game's events.[22]

Reception

Analysis

Ohba described Light as a victim of the Death Note, with Light's life being "ruined" once he obtained it. According to Ohba, Light was "a young man who could understand the pain of others" when he first encountered the Death Note. Ohba said that if Ryuk never developed an interest in the human world, Light would have become "one of the greatest police leaders in the world" who, with L, worked against criminals.[23] He added that he believed that debating whether Light's actions were good or evil is not "very important". Ohba said that he personally sees Light as a "very evil" character.[24] Obata said that Light was his second favorite human character and that he was not sure whether that was because he "liked" Light or because he drew "such an evil character" in a magazine for children.[25]

According to Ohba, Light sees

Rem, who threatens to kill him if she dies earlier than her life span's end or if he tries to kill her, despite her knowledge that doing so will cause her own death.[26]

Although Light, bearing love for his family and "humanity as a whole", originally had good intentions to transform the world into "a better place", he was also "very conceited", with a "warped ... desire to be godlike".[27][26] Ohba also states that Light, "uncompromising" when achieving his ideals, "sullied" himself by using the Death Note and that his actions "may have been the result of the purity within him" prior to obtaining the Death Note.[28]

This purity is demonstrated in Light's personality shift after he temporarily relinquishes the Death Note to ward off suspicion. Losing his memories as Kira along with ownership of the notebook, Light demonstrates compassion, a reluctance to manipulate others, and an intense unwillingness to kill. Once his memories return, however, he reverts to his ruthless Kira persona and remains that way until his death. Nevertheless, Ohba states that Light never lost his love for his family since he viewed them as righteous people.[29]

Douglas Wolk of

Salon describes Light as "coldly manipulative", "egomaniacal", and "an unrepentant serial killer, a butcher on an enormous scale" who is not "a Freddy Krueger, a monster who represents pure evil, or a Patrick Bateman, a demonic symbol of his age". Wolk describes Light as "the good guy, more or less" who genuinely believes that he holds "the moral high ground".[30] When asked about which character was most similar to himself, Ohba indicated Near and "maybe Light." Regarding Light, Ohba cited "because I did well in school."[31]

Travis Fickett of IGN describes Light as a "sociopath".[32] Tom S. Pepirium of IGN describes Light as "brilliant, but disturbed".[33] Wolk describes Light's ideal world, a "totalitarian" place "ruled by a propagandistic TV channel and an arbitrary secret executioner". Wolk said that Ohba sometimes suggests that this world is "in some ways a better, happier world than ours".[30] Jolyon Baraka Thomas describes Light's vision of justice as "impure": "[His] supercilious attempt to save society from itself is both self-aggrandizing and cruel".[14] Toshiki Inoue describes Light as a "child whose wish happens to come true".[34]

Critical reception

Tom S. Pepirium of

anti-hero and sometimes a villain protagonist.[40][41] Manga artist Katsura Hoshino, a former assistant of Takeshi Obata, has said that she likes the way the Light is often drawn as he gives the appeal of a cool villain.[42]

Tetsuro Araki, the director of the anime, said that he felt an urge to support and cheer for Light. Araki added that Light would have used and killed him if he was one of Light's friends, but the director still believed that Light is "that interesting" and therefore he would have felt an attraction towards Light.

bishie-status-worthy" Fujiwara portrayed Light with "aplomb and near-perfection, right down to the evil little smile". Kitty Sensei, quoted in the same Malaysian article, says that the portrayal of Light in the film is "very faithful to the manga's".[43] Tatsuya Fujiwara, the actor who portrayed Light in the films, said that he "could understand" Light's intentions to create a new world even though "murder is a horrible thing".[9] Matsuyama describes L and Light as having "such unique characters that they're impossible to understand".[9] Erika Toda, the actress who portrayed Misa Amane in the films, described Light's and Misa's actions as "criminal".[44]

See also

References

  1. ^ Death Note Volume 4. Viz Media. 15.
  2. ISBN 4-08-873830-6
    .
  3. VIZ Media
    . 61.
  4. VIZ Media
    . 126.
  5. VIZ Media
    . 117.
  6. ISBN 9784088741970
    .
  7. ISBN 9784088741970
    .
  8. VIZ Media
    . 6.
  9. ^ a b c d "The stars." The Star. Sunday October 29, 2006. Retrieved on September 23, 2009.
  10. ^ "The making Archived 2008-12-18 at the Wayback Machine." The Star. Sunday October 29, 2006. Retrieved on September 23, 2009.
  11. ^ "The dummy". The Star.
  12. VIZ Media
    . 8.
  13. ^ Death Note Volume 2. 47.
  14. ^ a b Thomas, Jolyon Baraka. "Horrific "Cults" and Comic Religion". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. 39 (1): 127–151.
  15. Animation World Magazine
    . Thursday, March 28, 2008. Retrieved on September 23, 2009.
  16. ISBN 978-1-4215-1327-0
    .
  17. ^ a b c Trendacosta, Katharine (August 28, 2017). "Why Netflix's Death Note Is Really an Origin Story and Where a Sequel Could Go". io9. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
  18. ^ Kroll, Justin (September 29, 2015). "'Paper Towns Nat Wolff to Star in Adam Wingard's 'Death Note'". Variety. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  19. ^ Ressler, Karen (September 29, 2015). "Warners' Live-Action Death Note Film Casts Nat Wolff". Anime News Network. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  20. ^ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (May 21, 2015). "Masataka Kubota, Kento Yamazaki Star in Live-Action Death Note TV Series". Anime News Network. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  21. ^ Lyenzee, Loveridge (July 29, 2014). "Kenji Urai, Hayato Kakizawa Star in Death Note Musical". Anime News Network. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  22. ^ "Jump Force Game". PlayStation.
  23. VIZ Media
    . 114.
  24. VIZ Media
    . 70.
  25. ^ Death Note 13: How to Read. 190.
  26. ^
    VIZ Media
    . 65.
  27. VIZ Media
    . 60.
  28. VIZ Media
    . 9.
  29. ^ "Tsugumi Ohba Interview". Translated Interview from The Star featured in Gaia Online. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  30. ^
    Salon
    . July 26, 2007. Retrieved on September 23, 2009.
  31. VIZ Media
    . 194.
  32. ^ Fickett, Travis. "Death Note: "Rebirth" Review." IGN. May 15, 2007. Retrieved on September 23, 2009.
  33. ^ Pepirium, Tom S. "Death Note: "Confrontation" Review." IGN. October 29, 2007. Retrieved on September 23, 2009.
  34. ^
    Newtype USA
    . November 2007. Volume 6. Number 11. 50-51.
  35. ^ Pepirium, Tom S. "Death Note: "Overcast" Review". IGN. December 4, 2007. Retrieved on September 23, 2009.
  36. ^ Pepirium, Tom S. "Death Note: "Ally" Review". IGN. February 27, 2008. Retrieved on September 23, 2009.
  37. ^ Otaku Weekly Review 4/15/08 Archived July 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine". The Anchor. Tuesday, April 15, 2008 (Updated Wednesday, October 8, 2008). Retrieved on April 2, 2009.
  38. ^ Mackenzie, Chris (October 20, 2009). "Top 25 Anime Characters of All Time". IGN. Retrieved October 21, 2009.
  39. ^ Isler, Ramsey (February 4, 2014). "Top 25 Greatest Anime Characters". IGN. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  40. ^ Robin E. Brenner. Understanding Manga and Anime. p. 46.
  41. ^ Carrie Tucker. I Love Geeks: The Official Handbook. p. 87.
  42. ISBN 978-1-4215-4124-2
    .
  43. ^ "Death rocks". The Star. Sunday November 12, 2006. Retrieved on April 2, 2009.
  44. ^ Kitty Sensei. "Here're a few hints of the second and concluding part of Death Note the movie, The Last Name. Archived April 23, 2008, at archive.today". The Star. Sunday January 14, 2007. Retrieved on April 1, 2009.
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