Saturday, January 22, 2011

death note

Death Note

Death Note provides examples of:

  • The Abridged Series: Death Note Abridged. TEN of them, actually, only in the page.
  • Absence Of Evidence
  • Abandoned Warehouse
  • Actually I Am Him
  • Adrenaline Time
  • Adult Fear
    • Look at the way Light exploits the public mood. All along, he plays on a reactionary tendency in public opinion — people don't like crime, people don't like criminals, and so if someone's killing off the worst ones, who's really going to disapprove? And then he pushes the envelope, making his brand of vigilante justice more and more mainstream. Five years on, the whole world is rapidly moving towards a police state under one man's control, and it's driven from the beginning by corrupting people's need for safety and justice. That's scary, because that mechanism plays out in less extreme form in the news every day.
    • The revelation that people who die go to "mu" (nothingness) and that, after death, nothing can be done to bring someone back to life.
  • All According To Plan: Kira is quite fond of this phrase.
  • All Crimes Are Equal: Light starts by punishing the worst criminals but later stoops to culling purse snatchers - and anyone who disagrees with him.
  • All Deaths Final
  • All Love Is Unrequited
    • Averted by Raye and Misora, who did genuinely love each other.
  • Alternate Character Reading
  • Always Save The Girl: Played straight with Sayu. Rem forces Light to do this for Misa. Averted with Takadaand with Shiori in the live-action movie.
  • Ambiguously Autistic: L and his similarly brilliant/socially awkward/obsessive-compulsive/emotionally immature brethren, especially Near.
  • Amnesiac Dissonance: Done purposely as a part of Light's Memory Gambit.
  • Amnesiac Liar: Of course, before the Memory Gambit, both Light and Misa are liars. After this, they are very confused by what L tells them about the situation.
  • And It Worked: the news reports as the series progresses make it very clear the knowledge of Kira's existence dramatically reduces the worldwide crime rate, but there are some severe costs entailed when world justice is essentially dictated by one-still human-person.
    • Furthermore, it only worked in the short-run. When Kira went inactive or was gotten rid of for good, crime returned to its previous rate. Near says as much in the anime version.
  • Antagonist In Mourning
  • Anyone Can Die: Quite possibly a Most Triumphant Example for anime. Seriously, all bets are off.
  • Anywhere But Their Lips: Misa kisses L on the cheek.
  • Arc Number: Four Is Death. The manga has 108 chapters. Thirteen chapters in Another Note.
  • Arch Enemy: Light and L; Light and Mello; and Light and Near.
    • Let's not forget Near and Mello.
  • Artifact Of Death, Artifact Of Doom: The Death Notes.
  • As Long As It Sounds Foreign: The FBI agents all have names that few Americans would have. Raye Penber is the one that is the most arguably normal, and even that tends to raise eyebrows. In Death Note #13 (which is basically an encyclopedia about the series), the creator says this was intentional, as she wanted to use names that sounded realistic, but wouldn't actually exist. Apparently, she doesn't know that the names s/he picked don't sound realistic in the least...
    • They do sound realistic, though. The point is that those names make sense as names using English name patterns, and if they were common names, they wouldn't look odd.
    • This is even worse in the prequel novel, where it broke the tension in the worst way possible, especially when Misora had to double-check whether anyone shared the name. In fact, the only realistic name in the novel is Blackberry Brown — considering names such as Believe Bridesmaid, Backyard Bottomslash, Quarter Queen and Blues-harp Babysplit (that's S-P-L-I-T, which makes even less sense), "Blackberry Brown" really does sound normal in comparison.
  • Ass Pull: Mello and Near also come almost entirely out of the blue, in contrast to the usual pains the story takes to show the plans in action from start to finish.
  • Attempted Rape: Light's second kill was a member of a scooter gang who was attempting to rape a bystander.
    • Mikami Takada kills a man who is harassing a woman on a subway, as a crucial part of Light's plan.
  • Ax Crazy: The Kiras.
  • Badass Mustache: Soichiro Yagami. (Except in the movie.)
  • Badass Normal: Soichiro Yagami.
  • Bad Powers Good People -Light but Your Mileage May Vary
  • Bad Powers Bad People - though Light thinks he's doing good... but Your Mileage May Vary
  • Baka: "Matsuda no baka!" ("Matsuda, you idiot!")
  • Batman Gambit: When Light is incarcerated and loses his memory. He made elaborate plans that had to work correctly despite him not being able to make any adjustments for two or three months, or even make sure he carried out his part. In this, it's more impressive than a standard Batman gambit, since he wasn't able to actively manipulate anyone during that period. It doesn't count as a Xanatos Gambit because, while the plan was flexible, several aspects relied on people acting predictably.
  • Battle Butler: Watari.
  • Being Watched: Okay, there are 64 surveillance cameras hidden in your bedroom alone... now act normal.....
    • And how does Light pretend to act normal? Looks at porn. How does he find it? "Ugh, this is so boring."
  • Berserk Button: Ties into Beware The Nice Ones below: do not insult Soichiro Yagami's memory in front of Matsuda.
    • It's also not a good idea to ever suggest that what Light/Kira is doing may be wrong. Look at how big he writes Lind L. Tailor's name!
  • Beware The Nice Ones: On learning that Light is Kira and seeing him try to write down Near's name, Matsuda, who was by far the softest policeman in the series, flies into such a rage that he shoots Light full of bullets, and nearly finishes him off.
  • Big Brother Is Watching: "It is important to teach our children that Kira is good."
  • Big Damn Villains: B.B. is one of Kira's judgments.
  • Big Eater: L is almost constantly eating candy and sweets, yet stays in excellent shape a state of gaunt sickly malnurishment. In the manga, he explains that his overactive brain uses up all the calories, while in the anime he claims that "if you do it right" you can eat whatever you want, effectively outsmarting his food. Mello also seems to gobble down chocolate bars and stay rakishly thin.
  • Big Fancy House
  • Black And Grey Morality
  • Bland Name Product: "Fanasonic."
    • The anime also gives us the search engine "Gentle."
    • And the array of computer hardware that was very close to perfect reproductions of contemparory Apple hardware... except for the logo.
      • In the very first manga, you can even see the Apple logo on L's computer.
  • Blasting It Out Of Their Hands: Slightly subverted, as Matsuda shoots his hand rather than the object; his target is also bleeding profusely.
  • Blond Guys Are Evil: Mello, mafia terrorist extraordinaire in his debut, described as having brought in the head of a mob boss to join the group, all while he was still in his teens.
  • Bonnie And Clyde: Light and Misa, much to Light's chagrin.
  • Book And Switch
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer: L. Later, Near.
  • Cassandra Truth: In the manga, when the killings started, various tabloids put forward the Crackpot Theorythat L was Kira, so it was harder for the SPK to seriously put this theory forward when it became true.
  • Chekhov's Gun: "Hideki Ryuga." (The name but not the character.)
  • Oh, and Ryuk's personal Death Note in the climax. He only uses it once.
  • The live action movies have another, subtle example. In the first film Light for the most part wears casual brown clothing, switching to all black in the sequel as he has fully embraced his Kira persona. He goes back to wearing brown once he loses his memory, then starts dressing in black again once it's back. Takada also starts wearing all black once she actively starts using the death note.
  • Comes Great Responsibility: So in the first episode Light has an interesting moral dilemma. What's worse? To use the evil dark power to kill people or refuse the call and let the Bus Full Of Innocents get killed when he has the power to stop it?
  • Conspicuous CG: Cars in the Yotsuba arc

  • Consummate Liar: Light.
  • Crazy Consumption: L's sweets, Mello's chocolate, Ryuk's apples, and Light's potato chips.
  • Crazy Prepared: Light's three different ways to tell if someone was in his room, not to mention his Porn Stashand a TV in a bag of potato chips that are kept just in case someone fills his room with cameras.
    • Near kept millions of dollars ready to be dropped from the top of a skyscraper by the pressing of a button, just in case a Torches And Pitchforks mob attacks his secret hideout. Fridge Brilliance in that the SPK are a proscribed terrorist organisation by that point, so their bank accounts would have been frozen.
  • Creepy Cool Crosses: Misa's necklace and earrings, Mello's crucifix. The anime adaptation of the series, however, changed Misa's crosses to FleurDeLis symbols while Mello's crucifix became a nondescript red stick.
    • Criminal Mind Games: Subverted — the messages are solely to trick/irritate L. On the other hand, Kira does tend to take risks to show his superiority to a defeated opponent.
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: Light. He manages to anticipate and avoid just about every common villain pitfall.
  • Dark Messiah: Light.
  • The Dark Side
  • The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: Light pretty much completely abandoned his ideals over the course of the series.
    • Abandoned...or embraced as never before?
  • Deuteragonist:# L, Near and/or Mello from are the opposing deuteragonists to protagonist Light.
  • Does Not Like Women: Light doesn't really like anyone, but he explicitly doesn't like women because he thinks they're overemotional and weak.
  • Does This Remind You Of Anything: Putting aside the religious and biblical context of it, the dialogue and quite a few of the actions during the foot massage scene between Light and L sound awfully kinky.
    L: Hey, you Shinigami, the white thing over there...
    Matsuda: Er.. Ryuuzaki, should you really go around calling someone a white thing?
  • Dying Like Animals: Lemmings, mice, and snakes are all around. And Light himself is a mole.
  • Dysfunction Junction: Wammy's House, though it's hard to find a character who doesn't have some sort of obvious mental disorder or traits thereof.
  • Eat The Evidence: In the manga it's explained that Light swallows the Death Note scrap he used to kill Higuchi.
    • Of course, this isn't just in order to destroy evidence; by swallowing it, he ensures he keeps his memories.
  • Environmental Symbolism
  • Eureka Moment: "Ryuzaki" plants these for Naomi Misora in the BB Murder Cases.
    • Let's not forget all of those times that L "suddenly" realizes something (i.e. up in the helicopter: -GASP!!- "Of course! There have to be two notebooks, possibly more! This isn't over yet...")
  • Evil Eye: The Deadly Upgrade above involves trading for "shinigami eyes."
  • Evil Is Not A Toy:
  • Ryuk: I told you in the very beginning that I would be the one writing your name in my notebook when you die.
  • Evil Versus Evil: Mello is hunting Light. Mello is also one of the few individuals in the series who is as bad as Light.
  • Extremity Extremist: Among L's many curious habits is holding things only with his thumb and forefinger, letting them hang by his fingertips. Food, utensils, pens, phones, whatever. When he fights, he does it exclusively with his bare feet.
  • Face Death With Dignity: Whether a character can do this depends on their moral fiber. Soichiro, the most moral figure in the series, goes out with the most, while L and Watari, who are noticeably greyer though still recognizably good, each die with some, and the Villain Protagonist, Light, dies crying, whining, and cursing in a puddle of his own blood.
    • Though Light probably had the hardest thing to face with dignity. Heart attack or a Rasputinian Death, which takes longer and gives more time for a breakdown?
  • Faux Symbolism: The apples. The artist assumed they were there for their religious significance, but the writer just put them there because he thought they were cool.
  • Five Bad Band: Light and his allies form one twice.
  • Five Man Band: The Japanese taskforce from part 1.
  • Genghis Gambit: The final episode revealed that Near and Mello, who were individually trying to succeed where L failed, finally agreed to work together to defeat Kira. It works.
    • The explanation is a bit different in the manga: when Near credits Mello for creating the situation that allowed him to defeat Light, Lidner suggests that Mello realized the flaw in Near's plan (namely, that the notebook could have been fake) and kidnapped Takada purposefully to expose it. Near disagrees, saying that Mello believed he could surpass Near and L. Near continues that he always knew he wasn't capable of surpassing L alone, and neither was Mello—it was only by a combination of their two plans that they could win.
  • Genius Sweet Tooth: Mello is always eating chocolate, and L with any kind of sweet. It's a wonder how they stay so thin.
  • Ghost Planet: The Shinigami World.
  • Gilligan Cut:
  • L: ...And most importantly, we must ensure that the Yotsuba Group doesn't discover that we are investigating them.
    * cut to Matsuda getting caught by the Yotsuba Group*
    L: Please, just forget everything I said. We need to rethink our plan. Matsuda you idiot!
  • Go Karting With Bowser: L and Light throughout the first arc.
  • Goggles Do Nothing: The Shinigami from Relight.
  • Hilarious In Hindsight: in Volume 5 of the manga L wonders "Just how far ahead have you prepared, Light Yagami...?"
    • and in Volume 2 Light declares in his mind "I can't let myself be even remotely suspected of being Kira!" Yeah, good luck with that.
  • Hypocrite: Most characters, at some point. However, a notable example is when Light berates Misa for killing innocent people. In the manga, she meekly points out that: "To defeat evil, sacrifices have to be made. That's what you've done, right? I was only doing the same..."
  • Hypocritical Humor: Any scene like this:
    Light (shaking fist): Damn, damn you Kira! You bastard!
    • Also: "I'm evil? I'll KILL YOU!"
    L: I hate it when people's cellphones go off when I'm talking. I find it very distracting... * ring* Excuse me, I have to get this.
    Light: I can't take it anymore! How do you think it feels to be accused of being Kira!
    L: It was the worst feeling ever. (Light suggested that L might be Kira earlier in the episode...)
  • I Cant Believe Its Not Heroin: Apples for Shinigami. Ryuk even suffers from withdrawl without them.
  • If I Can't Have You
  • I Have Come Too Far
  • I Have The High Ground: The battle of wills between L and Light is often symbolically represented by them staring at each other on very, very thin skyscrapers.
  • I Know You Know I Know: And how!
    • Light and L rarely tell each other how much they know the other knows they know, because they don't want to give away how much they know what the other knows, or at least think they know but can't be sure of. And yes, there is a lot of internal monologuing in this series.

  • Interrogated For Nothing
  • Irony:
  • Light: I will create a new world, free from evil.
    Ryuk: If you do that, you'll be the only one left with a bad personality.
    • also:
    Desk clerk: Hi Light, remember me?
    Light: Er... sorry. I'm really bad with names and faces.
    • and (from the Director's cut):
    Light: I swear right here and now— I will send Kira to his execution!
  • I Take Offense To That Last One: in the live action movie:
    Lind L. Tailor: Kira you yourself are a hypocritical, vile, and immature criminal.
    Light: Immature?
  • It Amused Me: Ryuk set off the ENTIRE PLOT For The Lulz. More information on the trope page.
  • Judge Jury And Executioner: 
  • Jumping Off The Slippery Slope: Light, oh God Light. Seriously, if Light doesn't look heroic at some point in the series, you have no heart (or were just spoiled too early). If he doesn't fall into the Moral Event Horizonsomewhere in the series (Your Mileage May Vary as to exactly where), you've made a Draco In Leather Pants.
    • Light brought a sled so he could get down the slope faster. Second episode he decided an innocent man should die for calling him a murderer and declaring his intention to stop him. Oh, and most unforgivably for outsmarting him.

  • Killed Mid Sentence: L and Matt.
  • Kill Em All: How many major characters in a cast of around 20 survive? Three of the original police task force, plus Misa, Ide, and Near. A few more if you count the minor SPK task force members.
    • The companion book How To Read 13 reveals that Misa dies a year later from suicide.
  • Letter Motif: L, M, and N.
  • Locard's Theory

  • Love Triangle (type 3 Triang Relations). Takada and Amane are both after Light. Light is just using both of them. Pointed out by Near in episode 33, who deduces that Light "has" a love triangle. That is, a love triangle is among the things he happens to possess. "Near, please be more serious."
  • Man Child: L and Near, to varying degrees.
  • Meaningful Name: Done three times, ironically every time. Mello is a complete loose cannon, Near spends most of his time in another country from the protagonist, and Light Is Not Good.
  • Mind Rape: Light does this to himself if The Scream when he's regaining his memories is anything to go by... and then there's the ending of the manga when Near exposes him as Kira; knocks him off his pedestal and forces him to face up to what he's done and what he's become; he is drawn as (symbolically) naked and traumatized.
  • Multitasked Conversation
  • My Death Is Just The Beginning: Apparently, L planned for Kira's capture even after his death by informing Wammy's house and setting certain events in motion that would prove Light to be Kira and solve the case.Probably.
  • No Body Left Behind: Shinigami dissolve into sand when they die.
  • Noodle Incident: According to Another Note, L claimed the names Eraldo Coil and Deneuve after winning "detective wars" against their original holders. We are never told what a detective war entails or how those two played out.
  • Not So Different: One of the series' main themes — Light and L are both Well Intentioned Extremists who believe that the ends justify the means. This is semi-lampshaded by Naomi, who points out that Light reminds her of L.
  • L: "Kira is childish and hates to lose."
    FBI Agent: How do you know this?"
    L: "I am also childish and hate to lose."
  • Ominous Multiple Screens
  • Overshadowed By Awesome: To hear the fans talk, Misa is quite stupid. People seem to forget that she's only stupid from L and Light's perspective and outmaneuvers both Light and Higuchi quite easily when she sets her mind to it. In any other anime, Misa Misa could have been the iconic Genius Ditz.
  • The Pen Is Mightier
  • Playing Drunk: Matsuda, after being caught by Yotsuba, pretends to be drunk so he can fake his death via falling.
  • The Purge
  • Pyrrhic Villainy
  • Red Oni Blue Oni: Light and L.
    • Mello and Near fit the trope pretty well, except there it's Orange Oni Teal Oni.
  • Refused The Call: Ide doesn't join L's taskforce because he doesn't trust L. He later joins after L is killed and Light takes over.
  • Retirony
  • Rousseau Was Right: played straight with Light, who reverts to an apparently genuinely good person on losing his memories. Averted with Misa, who jumps at the chance to be useful to Light in any way, even if it results in someone's death.
  • Sarcastic Confession: Unintentionally done during Light's Memory Gambit:
  • Light: ...to be L and have control of the police while being Kira in secret. It's ideal.
    L: Well, it would be pretty stupid of you to do that after you told everyone your plan.
  • The Scapegoat:
    Near: Actually "L," I'll let you have full authority on this...
  • Scare Chord: Light's psychotic daydream sequence in Relight 2.
  • Secret Circle Of Secrets: The Cult of Kira
  • See You In Hell: Used effectively in the episode "Execution" (at least in the English dub).
  • Selective Obliviousness: Misa never seems to get a clue that Light hates her guts.
    • "My son is not capable of being Kira!"
    • and
    Ryuk: ...then you'd be the only bastard left.
    Light: I have no idea what you're talking about Ryuk...
  • Short Distance Phone Call
  • L and Watari are killed on the 5th of November. Remember, remember.
  • Shut Up Kiss: Light: "Now be a good girl and go home."
  • Sinister Subway
  • Sliding Scale Of Idealism Versus Cynicism: There should be no doubt in that this series is firmly on the cynical side.
  • Slobs Versus Snobs
  • The Slow Walk
  • Smart People Play Chess: Light and L in the live action movies.
  • came a mere Comic Relief character.
  • Spy Speak
  • Stalker With A Crush: The obsessed fan that tries to kill Misa, Misa becomes one herself pursuing Kira/Light, and of course L for putting 1 camera in every other room of the Yagami household and 64 in Light's room.
  • Stalking Is Love
  • Stepford Smiler: Light.
  • Strange Minds Think Alike: Light and L tend to finish each other's thoughts / inner monologues between cutaways.
  • Talking To The Dead: Light does this at L's funeral, complete with loads of Trash Talk and Evil Gloating.
  • Tastes Like Diabetes: "Let's all be friends together!" L's "Yay...Fun..." sounds so incredibly unenthusiastic.
  • Tastes Like Dirt
  • Teens Are Monsters: Though with their faces, you'd never even suspect at first without being like L.
  • That's What I Would Do
  • Thanatos Gambit: Light's rival L pulls one of these off when he sets his computer to text Wammy's house, telling them of his death, if for some reason he doesn't check in every few hours. He knows this will set Near and Mello to task with catching Kira, and he probably knew that they would race each other to catch Kira and that Near especially was almost but not quite as smart as he was. It's not too much of stretch to say that he planned on Light catching on to this and on Near and Mello inadvertently cooperating (without Light realizing it), leading to the showdown in the warehouse and Ryuk's writing Light's name in his death note. Just before he dies, in the anime (but not the manga or films), Light sees L (whether its a hallucination, vision, or ghost is left for the audience to decide) standing over him much the same way he, years before stood over L when the latter died (also killed by a shinigami with a death note.
  • Thirty Xanatos Pileup: And how! The entire plot of the series is basically a sequence of overlapping gambits.
  • This Cannot Be
  • This Is Unforgivable: Matsuda has had enough of Light at the time of the final confrontation with Near. The results are quick, well-deserved, and quite scary. Ryuk almost couldn't keep up with him.
  • Tomato In The Mirror: Kinda... sorta.

  • Trouser Space - in season 2, Light's new Death Note hiding place... He did it in an earlier scene in the manga too...
  • True Neutral: Shinigami aren't allowed to interfere with the human world. Not that they really care. It's entertainment for them. Except for Rem, who is Neutral Good.
  • Try Not To Die
  • Tsundere: It's mentioned in Another Note that Naomi tries not to be seen as one during her time in the FBI. The definition given in-text matches up with Type A.
  • Ubermensch: Light is a textbook case. Or nothing more than a sociopath with a serious god complex, it all depends on your viewpoint.
  • Unflappable Guardian: Watari.
  • Unfortunate Implications: Some readers accuse the series of being sexist. Reading through, it's not hard to see why: many of the series' main female characters seem to be Too Dumb To Live, and are easily manipulated. Misa is insanely devoted to Light and never notices that he hates her guts; Kiyomi Takada, who is likewise used by Light through their old friendship and her worship of Kira (and later dies); and Rem, whom Light forces to kill L in order to save Misa's life. Aversions with Misora, whose death is, by Word Of God's account, pure bad luck, and Lidner.
  • Victoria's Secret Compartment: Takada kills Mello with pages of the Death Note hidden in her bra. Shouldn't have let her have that blanket, huh?
  • Viewer Gender Confusion: Mello, at least in the manga (while the anime tried remedying this by giving him an overly-masculine voice and slightly less effeminate features), and Rem (who even was voiced by a man in the second film adaptation and her true gender not mentioned within it, much to the further confusion of fans). Also, Near.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Light's is certainly one of the more famous ones, and has become somewhat of aMemetic Mutation in its own right.
  • Villain Protagonist: Light.
  • Villain Song: "Ki wo tsukete, Kami-sama wa miteru..."
  • We Need To Get Proof: Almost becomes a Wall Banger (YMMV though). L and Near suspect Light almost immediately, and though they're both willing to play fast and loose with ethics to solve a case, Near says ex post facto justification (like killing Light and seeing if the murders stop) is intolerable for either of them.
  • Worthy Opponent: Light toward L. Particularly after L dies. Light's inner resentment of Near wearing a mask of L seems pretty genuine.
  • Written By The Winners: A discussed trope.
    Light: If we catch Kira, then Kira is evil. If Kira takes control of the world, then Kira is Justice.
  • Xanatos Gambit
  • Xanatos Roulette: Yagami Gambit is now a redirect.
  • Xanatos Speed Chess: L is a master of it.
  • Yandere: Let's have Misa explain it: "If I see you with another girl, then I'll kill her!". Quintessential yandere.
  • Yank The Dog's Chain
  • You Didn't Ask: In the live action movie this is Ryuk's explanation for why he hadn't told Light why, if you have a Death Note, your lifespan is hidden from a human who has traded for Shinigami-sight (which allowed Misa to discover who he is).
  • You Get Me Coffee: L pulls this on Butt Monkey Matsuda when he asks how he can better pull his weight.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Light does this all the time, as does Mello. Ryuk returns the favor to Light at the very end.
  • Young Conqueror: all of the four main characters have the mental qualifications to be this, but only Light is idealistic enough to follow this route.
  • Your Seconds Are Numbered
Once dead, they can never come back to life.
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