Something Something Something The Yotsuba Arc As A Play-within-the-play About Death Note As A Whole Because

something something something the yotsuba arc as a play-within-the-play about death note as a whole because at heart death note is about a boy who dooms himself to die, on purpose, then fails to remember that he has to actually walk the path and die the death. he forgets he’s going to be there the whole time. or he just doesn’t care, because he sees himself as a chess piece and not as a person. sending the lamb of himself off the slaughter, refusing to realize he won’t be able to consume the meat. selflessness as cruelty rather than a virtue.

what the hell Peeta working at fazbear's 🤨🤨⁉️

Thoughts on: Light Yagami and Shame Culture

Oh, I definitely think Light would be a completely different person without Shame Culture. He himself isn't ashamed of much he does, but the Light we see perfectly adapted to incredibly high standards society places on people. He knows which parts of himself he has to hide.

Shame and honour are central to his and Soichiro's relationship especially. He has absorbed his father strict beliefs completely and then takes it one huge step further, which becomes the monstrosity that is Kira.

Light is so used to appear as flawless, that even him looking at erotic magazines is something Soichiro thought would be "the last thing" he would do.

But to Light, this soiling of his image are all means to an end. He wants to create a world where Kira is not only accepted but necessary. Not once does he associate himself with the people his father puts behind bars - no, instead he's the only one who can annihilate them completely.

No one would cope well with killing someone without meaning to, but Light's actions after testing the Death Note are still far from ordinary. Rather than trying to accept his mistake, he doubles down, sacrifices himself (because that's how he views the fact he's become murderer) and underlines the validity of the system his father works with bold strokes. The system isn't wrong; it's not absolute enough.

"People who harm society should die" isn't an idea Kira came up with, after all; Light grew up in a country that still has the death penalty, and I'd say it's a thought most people have, even when they're generally against the death penalty. That's part of the reason Light completely believes Soichiro when he says he'll kill him and then himself during the fake execution. Not even the narrative needs to explain why his son being Kira would be a dreadful stain on Soichiro's honour.

And all this makes Light's final moments with his father so brilliant:

Despite everything he did to make himself look innocent, Soichiro still had his doubts. And despite for what Light worked above all, Soichiro still completely rejects Kira and ideals. His biggest fear was, until the very end, that his son could be Kira.

That's brutal! And the scene never would have worked so well if Light wasn't also a product of his culture.

Something I find extremely amusing that isn’t talked about is how much Light makes sense as a person once you get to know his father better. I’m not talking about the “he’s a cop” thing. That discussion’s been done to death.

I’m talking about how this man had a heart attack but managed to sneak out of the hospital, steal a police van, crash it into a building, hold a man at gunpoint, ruin the Second Kira’s plans, all of this in the span of like an hour… and besides being tired mostly just walked that shit off. Reminder this man was like 48 at this point.

Now I wonder what is going on with Light’s mother that she fell in love with this disaster of a man, even if he is a genuinely good person. Was she just as insane as him but mellowed out when they spawned a creature together? Is she where Light learned the belief that building a bomb in your desk to hide a diary is totally normal teenage behavior?

I’m just saying a lot of Light’s weirder traits make sense when you learn how insane his father is. How much more of it could be explained by his parents?

“But Kira will sacrifice even himself to change the world for the better…”

Happy birthday to Light Yagami (28th February 1986)

sometimes I get rly sad thinking about that fact that if light knew his amnesiac self would doubtlessly oppose kira, he knew that there was a very good & reasonable part of himself that did & just refused to face it because of the guilt that it would bring. next level cognitive dissonance my guy