Death Note ending (spoilers)

[X10A-Freedom]

sorry if this has been done before. Well with the shows run finished on Adult Swim and the last volume of the manga out for some time im assuming that most fans of this series have finished it and i wanted to know peoples thoughts were. I like the manga ending better than the shows ending although they were pretty much the same thing there were some minor differences that i liked more i just thought Light was more of a man in the manga ending. And were Near and Mellow really needed in the story i mean kira had to be stoped but after he beat L the show seemed to lose something although ending it after Light beat L wouldnt be very good either. My #1 question is why didnt Light have Mikumi test the Death Note before going to the warehouse he alreasy new that Near messed with it once and this was somewhat of an all or nothing so what would it hurt to have him test it before he showed up? And the biggest question of Death Note was Light right?

[Folken Fanel]

My #1 question is why didn't Light have Mikumi test the Death Note before going to the warehouse he alreasy new that Near messed with it once and this was somewhat of an all or nothing so what would it hurt to have him test it before he showed up?

Light didn't test the Note because, by that point in the series, he was pretty sure he really was God and not someone out to better the world. He thought he'd countered Near's attempt to switch the Death Note with a fake one, and didn't think that Near might've outsmarted him.

And the biggest question of Death Note was Light right?

Depends. When Light first gets the Death Note, he says that he'll make the world into a utopia and be the God of his new world. For the first half of the show, he puts significantly more interest on making the world better than he does on being a God. Up to the end of season one, Light is pretty much just out to clean-up the world and take out the trash. Of course, something changes in the timeskip between seasons, and by the end of the show Light is out just to be God. Sure, he still kills criminals, but instead of thinking that he's just making the world a better place, he thinks he's handing out divine judgment. During the last ten or so episodes, Light is completely and utterly in the wrong.

[quasadra]

i have not seen the anime version, but have finished the manga. i cant help but feel that the whole story lost steam after L died. after the time skip, everything has a deja vu feel to it. almost repeating the first part. but i guess the story has to end some how. lets face it, Kira has to go one way or another. he start out strong, but in the end he is still human.

[X10A-Freedom]

But Lights has always benn kind of cocky but he was always smart enough not to let that get in his way. And it seems so unlike him even if he thinks hes one. But he did yell out i won when he thought everyone was going to die. So maybe he did go a little crazy and got to cocky. Its just such a little thing that would have saved him to just make sure it was real.

I read a chapter that took place a year after the Kira case is solved apperantly after the stuff in the warehouse happend Mikami was arrested and after 10 days in jail he went crazy and died and Matsuda had a theory that Near wrote Mikamis name in the real Death Note they had taken from him and wrote to come to the warehouse without writting anything in the note book and die 10 days later. That make sense but I dont think Near would accually use the note book and that theory only works for the manga seeing as Mikami kills himself in the warehouse to let Light escape in the series.

[sushicake]

In my honest opinion yeah Death Note was a great series but I think the series would have been better off like the movie, where of course L is the victor in that story still dies but he still wins. The reason for that is after L dies the story just kinda trails on and kinda leaves many many plot holes but that's just my opinion.

[RedBlitz]

3 things I hate about the endings.....

1. LIGHT DIDNT WIN!!! It's kinda getting annoying these days in manga/anime, even if the main character is essentially the bad guy... he never wins in the end, he always gets beat the forces of justice and all that crap Whats that point of making Light a god for 90% of the series and make him fail miserably at the end?? I thought for once the bad guy was actually going to win but no..... Near had to outsmart him.

2. NEAR OUTSMARTED HIM!! If there was one person that should've stopped Light... it should of been the original L. He was a far better character then Mello and Near, proven by the fact that Death Notre pretty much sucked after L was killed by Light.

3. Light should of become a Shinigami if he died, Ryuk said himself that the first person who writes in the notebook doesnt go to heaven or hell.... and since we were already missing 2 shinigami Rem and Jealous (I think thats his name) who were dead, it would of been the perfect ending that if Light died he would of become a Shinigami. Then you could see Near and friends celebrate thei little vitory somewhere and Light nearby watching them closely with those red eyes of him as he writes their names down, now that would of been an epic ending!! Much better then that good prevails in the end crap we got!!

[Ork_dreadnought]

And the biggest question of Death Note was Light right?

Depends. When Light first gets the Death Note, he says that he'll make the world into a utopia and be the God of his new world. For the first half of the show, he puts significantly more interest on making the world better than he does on being a God. Up to the end of season one, Light is pretty much just out to clean-up the world and take out the trash. Of course, something changes in the timeskip between seasons, and by the end of the show Light is out just to be God. Sure, he still kills criminals, but instead of thinking that he's just making the world a better place, he thinks he's handing out divine judgment. During the last ten or so episodes, Light is completely and utterly in the wrong.

I beg to differ. Light crossed the line when he killed Lind L Taylor on TV, just because L called him evil, and eliminated all doubt with the various FBI men he killed. The point of Death Note is the battle of wills between black and grey, not a a serious discussion of morality. The question is not if Light is right, if it was we would see Light actually doubting himself. The question was will he succeed. He didn't, because of various reasons, including but not limited to; his growing insanity, his obsession with L, his tendancy to pick a complication solution to any situation, his refusal to deal for Shinigami eyes, his reliance on two drooling fans for his dirty work and the time he wasted in between L's death and Near's appearence.

Light Yagami, is by any practical standards, a genocidal manipulative monster. The only reason why anyone sides with him is because his foes were less than clean themselves, and progressively less likable. Oh, and he was handsome, can't forget that.

[Kavik Ryx]

Light forever remains one of my favorite characters in all of anime, and certainly my favorite villain. He descent from misguided protagonist to deranged idealist to pure evil makes him as interesting as characters get. I had an almost disturbing respect for him at times and never quite hated him really; however, in the end, I honest to god wanted him dead. If he in fact won, it would have been a real insulting FU to everyone. If anything, Light needed to die so in order to show what happens to one's soul as it becomes that of a monster's.

Personally I liked the ending. I found it appropriate, I liked seeing Matsuda go trigger happy, and I just love Pen-Sepuku.

[G-Slayer]

Having watched the anime the two live-action movies and just starting the manga, it made me think of the mindset behind the use of such a dangerous power, which was what drew me to the franchise in the first place. In regards to Freedom's question, I can help but wonder if anybody can give a satisfactory answer. Only one way to find out.

In the anime, Light started using the Death Note purely out of boredom. Being so intellectually gifted, nothing surprised him. His normal life wasn't enough for him. So in a twisted, megalomaniacal sort of way, Light found that creating the perfect world--and the repercussions that would follow--gave him the excitement he craved. But over time having the Death Note gave Light more confidence that he could handle, and thus he thought himself the only one fit to decide the destiny of mankind, hence the god complex. Once the members of an anime club in my college talked about how much of douchebag Light was.

In the movies, of course, Light goes down the same road. But I felt that his motivations were genuine this time around. Once a firm believer in the justice system, he discovered that that system had let him down. Criminals were getting off scott-free, good people were suffering. Even when he got caught, Light mentioned this to justify himself. But in the end, in Light's sense of justice grew distorted, and his inner demons got the better of him. I'll leave at that.

I beg to differ. Light crossed the line when he killed Lind L Taylor on TV, just because L called him evil, and eliminated all doubt with the various FBI men he killed. The point of Death Note is the battle of wills between black and grey, not a a serious discussion of morality. The question is not if Light is right, if it was we would see Light actually doubting himself. The question was will he succeed. He didn't, because of various reasons, including but not limited to; his growing insanity, his obsession with L, his tendancy to pick a complication solution to any situation, his refusal to deal for Shinigami eyes, his reliance on two drooling fans for his dirty work and the time he wasted in between L's death and Near's appearence.

Light Yagami, is by any practical standards, a genocidal manipulative monster. The only reason why anyone sides with him is because his foes were less than clean themselves, and progressively less likable. Oh, and he was handsome, can't forget that.

Though you make some good points here, I don't agree with your whole argument. First, the shinigami eyes; sure, that sounds like sweet deal--if you don't mind getting your lifespan cut in half. Now, for the drooling fans; Light was better off with them than with people who could've betrayed him in the long run. At least we can agree that Light has no one to blame for his downfall but himself. And then, after L's death and before Near's appearance, there was nothing for Light to do but write in the Death Note while staying ahead of the authorities.

[Saikuba]

About the Shinigami eyes: I always thought that it wasn't a good deal to protect yourself. The reason being that they would cut away half your remaining lifespan of course, but the key point is that your remaining lifespan means the amount of time you will live without the eyes. It doesn't mean the amount of time you'd take to die of old age, or even of natural causes since Misa's life was extended by a prevented murder. Thus I take it to mean you will die twice as soon from whatever cause you would have died from, unless a Death Note gets involved.

So it seems that if Light had taken the eyes, since loss in his game essentially meant death, they would somehow only cause him if not to lose sooner, than to die of some cause at an earlier point than when he would have gotten caught. With that logic if there are people out to kill you it's never a good idea to take the eyes in order to oppose them.

[Ork_dreadnought]

Though you make some good points here, I don't agree with your whole argument. First, the shinigami eyes; sure, that sounds like sweet deal--if you don't mind getting your lifespan cut in half. Now, for the drooling fans; Light was better off with them than with people who could've betrayed him in the long run. At least we can agree that Light has no one to blame for his downfall but himself. And then, after L's death and before Near's appearance, there was nothing for Light to do but write in the Death Note while staying ahead of the authorities.

Consider this, the Death Note's main weakness is the limitation that you have to know someone's name and face. By refusing the eyes, Light limits himself to indirect methods of indentifying his enemies, and runs into real trouble when those enemies are purposefully anonymous. What he opts to instead is to make use of two easily controlled proxies who have taken the deal, introducing a new problem, in that they are not compitent at evading detection, and are not really rational even by Light's standards. For example, Misa killed a number of people just to get Light's attention, and left no end of evidence in the process. He he then opts to string along the investigative team for years, in an attempt to control the proceedings, rather than gently diverting them into other areas or killing them off. This falls apart the moment Near suggests to them that L is Kira. Let's not get into the massively, massively, contrived plan involving the Yotsuba Group and Light giving himself amnesia.

My point? All of this could either have been avoided or limited by Light taking the simplist solution and/or taking the eyes. The reason why he doesn't is beacuse the character's ego is the size of jupiter, and creative staff wanted to drag things out.

[aberrance]

2. NEAR OUTSMARTED HIM!! If there was one person that should've stopped Light... it should of been the original L. He was a far better character then Mello and Near, proven by the fact that Death Notre pretty much sucked after L was killed by Light.

3. Light should of become a Shinigami if he died, Ryuk said himself that the first person who writes in the notebook doesnt go to heaven or hell.... and since we were already missing 2 shinigami Rem and Jealous (I think thats his name) who were dead, it would of been the perfect ending that if Light died he would of become a Shinigami. Then you could see Near and friends celebrate thei little vitory somewhere and Light nearby watching them closely with those red eyes of him as he writes their names down, now that would of been an epic ending!! Much better then that good prevails in the end crap we got!!

I can only go by the show as I have never read the manga, but Near explicitly stated that he alone could not beat Kira/Light, but that it was the combined efforts of he and Mello that brought him down.

As for the next reason you stated, I always felt that the writer(s) left Light's fate ambiguous and that if the viewer wanted Light to become a shinigami, then he did.

Also, for the original poster, we must remember that Light never had direct communication with Mikami. Mikami was an idealist and acted upon that, not direct orders per se. Light had no way of telling Mikami to test the death note.

[G-Slayer]

My point? All of this could either have been avoided or limited by Light taking the simplist solution and/or taking the eyes. The reason why he doesn't is beacuse the character's ego is the size of jupiter, and creative staff wanted to drag things out.

Granted, the eyes would've made Light's job a lot easier, but he'd go unopposed and the whole show would've ended sooner, wouldn't it.

And Light said it himself; if he succeeded then he intended to rule his new world for a really long time. MY point is that he had the brains to consider the consequences of having the eyes in the long run. What would the point of Light succeeding with the eyes have been if his reign could've lasted as long as a few years?

About the Shinigami eyes: I always thought that it wasn't a good deal to protect yourself. The reason being that they would cut away half your remaining lifespan of course, but the key point is that your remaining lifespan means the amount of time you will live without the eyes. It doesn't mean the amount of time you'd take to die of old age, or even of natural causes since Misa's life was extended by a prevented murder. Thus I take it to mean you will die twice as soon from whatever cause you would have died from, unless a Death Note gets involved.

So that we're both clear on the subject, when shinigami kill humans with their notebooks, they add the remaining lifespan of each human (regardless of any unforseen death) to their own. When both Jealous and Rem sacrificed themselves to save Misa, the lifespan of each shinigami was added to Misa's, extending it well into the next century for all we know. Thus I'd imagine that Misa's deal for the eyes was of little consequence in her case.

[Omega]

I'm probably going to get yelled at for this... but one possible reason for their drawing the series out is that Light turned into the very thing he sought to destroy. that's my opinion...

[Folken Fanel]

When both Jealous and Rem sacrificed themselves to save Misa, the lifespan of each shinigami was added to Misa's, extending it well into the next century for all we know. Thus I'd imagine that Misa's deal for the eyes was of little consequence in her case.

But wait, didn't Misa kill herself after Light died? The last we see of her is her standing on a bridge, looking sad.

[Neo_Senku]

When both Jealous and Rem sacrificed themselves to save Misa, the lifespan of each shinigami was added to Misa's, extending it well into the next century for all we know. Thus I'd imagine that Misa's deal for the eyes was of little consequence in her case.

But wait, didn't Misa kill herself after Light died? The last we see of her is her standing on a bridge, looking sad.

Thats suggested but you also have to keep in mind that the added years are her life span if she dies a natural death. if she gets shot or commits suicide the extra years arent gonna save her.

[YazanGable]

But wait, didn't Misa kill herself after Light died? The last we see of her is her standing on a bridge, looking sad.

That was an addition for the anime only. In the original manga, she has a bit of a stranger fate: she's last seen as the priestess in a Kira worship cult.

Also, some interesting points in this thread...to toss in on a few with (hopefully) few needs to abuse the quote blocks

The reasons for Light's downfall - It all comes down to one thing in the end - ego. We all know Light's opinion of himself was obscenely high. As has been discussed he had numerous easy outs to eliminate his opponents handed to him on a number of occasions. While the half life-span thing effected his ruling on the Shinigami Eyes, part of that was likely due to sating his pride. It'd be like if Char hadn't given Amuro the psycoframe plans in CCA. He would have won, but his ego wouldn't be satisifed because he had an extra advantage.
When it came to L, Light basically wanted to show he was smarter, hence drawing things out with the mind games (...even though, technically, he still had to cheat in the end by manipulating Rem.)

As far as was he right or wrong. That's all relative. Some would argue the whole 'If you want to make an omelette' principle, some will argue that the fact he killed cops puts him safely in the wrong...it's all based on your viewpoint.

For my money, it was the Penber incident that killed his credibility. Not just the fact that he killed federal agents, but more the fact THAT was the first conclusion he reached.
First off - It's one man tailing him. It's not even like Penber was there at at all times either. Considering he was able to carry on using the Death Note in a house wired with cameras leaving almost no suspicions (shy of L) the fact he couldn't find a better way around Penber than to kill him doesn't speak highly for his sense of right and wrong.
To this end, also the fact he had absolutely no qualms with killing non-criminals. This was where I first thought his god complex was kicking in. This was no longer just trying to make the world into a better place, he basically looked at these people that stood to oppose him and just went "Well...you're just gonna have to die." No guilt, no shame, not even a conflict, he just went to work thinking of how to best kill them all.

3. Light should of become a Shinigami if he died, Ryuk said himself that the first person who writes in the notebook doesnt go to heaven or hell.... and since we were already missing 2 shinigami Rem and Jealous (I think thats his name) who were dead, it would of been the perfect ending that if Light died he would of become a Shinigami. Then you could see Near and friends celebrate thei little vitory somewhere and Light nearby watching them closely with those red eyes of him as he writes their names down, now that would of been an epic ending!! Much better then that good prevails in the end crap we got!!

Wouldn't this destroy Light though? I seem to recall it was basically doing something like this that killed Rem.

As for the ending itself in general.
While I thought the way it was resolved was a bit much, there were two things I enjoyed about it.
1) Seeing Light finally get what he had coming to him. Yeah, I can understand rooting for the bad guy, but generally it helps if you can LIKE the bad guy in order to root for him. I didn't find anything in Light terribly winning. He was arrogant, manipulative, shameless, and, come the second half, far too caught up in his own ambitions to give us any reason to care about him as a person.
2) The epilogue. While the warehouse itself was a pretty '...oh what the HELL?' way to wrap things up, I rather liked what they did in the aftermath. Once Kira is eliminated, we learn that, much to what would have been Light's chagrin, once he was gone, people wasted no time in reverting to their old ways. His efforts were for nothing and, shy of a cult in the manga, his grand legacy of purifying the world will sink through the cracks forgotten.
Truly, the most vicious punishment he could have received.

[G-Slayer]

That was an addition for the anime only. In the original manga, she has a bit of a stranger fate: she's last seen as the priestess in a Kira worship cult.

Not too surprising; in the movie, she made a big shrine to honor Light.

2) The epilogue. While the warehouse itself was a pretty '...oh what the HELL?' way to wrap things up, I rather liked what they did in the aftermath. Once Kira is eliminated, we learn that, much to what would have been Light's chagrin, once he was gone, people wasted no time in reverting to their old ways. His efforts were for nothing and, shy of a cult in the manga, his grand legacy of purifying the world will sink through the cracks forgotten.

What, he isn't even immortalized as the most notorious serial killer in history?

[YazanGable]

It's likely he had that reputation going, definitely (to this end, have to wonder how many of the details of the case were made public after the fact.)

In either case though, it's certainly not the praise Light was aspiring for. When all was said and done, he temporarily made criminals stop only thanks to fear, and once he was out of the picture, they went right back to work, with the brunt of his legacy going between
a) Those who, while part of the mob, now look on him as a killer (...the mob is fickle enough like that)
and
b) The smaller portion that still believes he WAS right and a god.

[RedBlitz]

3. Light should of become a Shinigami if he died, Ryuk said himself that the first person who writes in the notebook doesnt go to heaven or hell.... and since we were already missing 2 shinigami Rem and Jealous (I think thats his name) who were dead, it would of been the perfect ending that if Light died he would of become a Shinigami. Then you could see Near and friends celebrate thei little vitory somewhere and Light nearby watching them closely with those red eyes of him as he writes their names down, now that would of been an epic ending!! Much better then that good prevails in the end crap we got!!

Wouldn't this destroy Light though? I seem to recall it was basically doing something like this that killed Rem.

Rem died because she did it to save another humans life, Light would of done it for his own greed. Or else Ryuk would of also died while he was writting Light's name down.