“He believed that they were good and righteous”: Light and L’s Unmistakable Similarities Became Death Note Creator’s Reason to Also Disregard Another Character
Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata’s supernatural crime thriller, Death Note, is considered to be one of the best animes years after it was released. The story follows Light Yagami, a genius high school student, who comes into possession of a mysterious notebook “Death Note” which grants its user to kill anyone whose name is written on its pages.
One of the unique things about Death Note is that the protagonist, Light Yagami, is also the villain. This changes the perspective of things and arouses conflicting emotions about his character and his cruel sense of justice. Surprisingly enough, Light shares some similarities with L, the world’s greatest detective and the one chasing after Light.
Tsugumi Ohba’s Reason To Disregard Another Character
In an interview with Tsugumi Ohba, the creator of Death Note, he reveals some important tidbits about Death Note and his choices for the manga. When the interviewer asked him what was his inspiration behind Death Note, he replied that there was nothing in particular and he started thinking of some ideas and filled these ideas with more detailed plots such as the rules of the notebook and the God of Death.
After a quick round of questions and answers, the interviewer asked Ohba why did he not have Mellow kidnap Misa. Ohba chuckled and said that Light would not have been bothered if she lived or died, which seems like a fair description of Light as a character. Ohba further explained:
“Since the beginning, Light had always loved his family. He believed that they were good and righteous, the perfect citizens for his new world. Despite his Utopian aim of wanting to become the god of justice, he cared about the welfare of good people like Soichiro and Sayu. On the other hand, Misa had killed before, and because of that, Light saw her as a bad person and would have left her for dead. Hence, the person who was to be kidnapped by Mello could not be Misa.“
Light’s belief that his family was inherently good interfered with his decision to aim of wanting to become the god of justice. However, this belief did not extend to Misa since she had killed before and this changed Light’s view about her. Hence, Misa was sidelined by Ohba because her involvement would not have brought any changes.
Why Was L’s Death So Abrupt?
L was a beloved character and his abrupt death shocked many fans, some going as far as to say that the show turned boring after L’s death. At the turning point of episode “Silence”, L came dangerously close to exposing Misa Amane as Kira. As a result, Rem killed both Watari and L by writing their names in the Death Note. L died of a heart attack and collapsed into Light’s arms, allowing him to see Light’s smug smirk that confirmed what he knew all along – that Light was Kira.
When questioned about L’s abrupt death, this is what Ohba said:
“L’s death was initially just an option. It was after the story had reached the point in which Misa was captured that everyone in the editorial team felt that “L’s death” was the way to go. That was how I reluctantly let the character go.“
Ohba further explained that if one lone investigator were to replace L, the battle between him and Light would have differed from the battle between L and Light. Hence, Ohba decided on a 3-man fight. He left the character design to Obata, only requesting him to keep the essence of L in the characters of Mello and Near. He had also initially thought of introducing the two characters as L’s sons, but finally decided against it.
You can watch Death Note on Hulu.
