Death Note: What Makes a Villain?

The Death Note anime really made me think: What makes a hero and what makes a villain?

The story is revolves around Light Yagami, a young genius who gets hold of a Death Note and starts living a double life. His other persona, hiddenfrom the public, is Kira – an entity killing off criminals. That’s basically murder, right? But crime rates drastically go down, making the world more livable for the majority and so Kira gains many supporters.

Another main character is L, another young genius who is bent on upholding the law and on finding and punishing Kira.

Here comes the dilemma. Light/Kira’s murder spree has definitely helped law-abiding citizens and one could really understand why people would support him. He does have a selfish goal though: to create a perfect world and rule it as god.

L, on the other hand, is not squeaky clean either. He is a ruthless detective willing to sacrifice lives just to get to Kira. And if L indeed stops Kira, crime rates will again rise.

Whichever character you root for, you know it wont come to a “good” end. So which character is the hero and which one is the villain?

I was actually attached to Light/Kira, not because I approve of his methods and goals, but because I think it would make for a good story if he indeed is successful. Later in the story, I began to lose interest in Light when loses his memory and turns into a regular guy. I started to like L better and truth be told, the more ruthless and cunning L becomes, the more I am drawn to his character.

There is no doubt in my mind that Light is the center of the story. The viewers got to know his personality, his goals, his opportunity (obtaining the Death Note) and the creation of Kira. No other character in the story is as well-developed as Light so its only natural to be emotionally invested in him.

But Light/Kira is a murderer, whatever angle you look at it, and L is still the enforcer of the law.

So when the Death Note characters are classified, which one is the protagonist and which one is the antagonist? Which one is the hero and which one is the villain?



NOTE: Light defeats L before the series ends and new characters are introduced to continue pursuing Kira. Many feel (me included) that the last 11 episodes where L is no longer around is very anticlimactic, like a case of a bad sequel. This shows that many are also fans of L’s character.

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