Entertainingly Detestable Wiki
Advertisement
Entertainingly Detestable Wiki
Entertainingly Detestable Wiki
451
pages
in: Mature, Male, Anime Entertainingly Detestable,
and 114 more

Light Yagami

Sign in to edit
"Mature Content Alert!"

The mature subjects or situations covered in this article are not suitable for younger audiences. If you're 18 years or older or if you feel comfortable with more mature themes being, then feel free to view this page at your own discretion.

“ This world is rotten, and those who are making it rot deserve to die. Someone has to do it, so why not me? Even if it means sacrificing my own mind and soul, it's worth it. Because the world… can't go on like this. I wonder… what if someone else had picked up this notebook? Is there anyone out there other than me who'd be willing to eliminate the vermin from the world? If I don't do it, then who will? That's just it: there's no one. But I can do it. In fact, I'm the only one who can. I'll do it. Using the Death Note, I'll change the world. „
~ Light Yagami about his goals.

Light Yagami is the main protagonist villain of the Death Note franchise. He is an overachiever at the school he attended. When he found the Death Note, he decided to commit murder by killing multiple people in his vision of justice and eventually became Kira. Light is the son of the Soichiro Yagami and the archenemy of L Lawliet.

In the Death Note anime, Light was voiced by Mamoru Miyano in the Japanese version (who also voiced Doma), as well as Brad Swaile in the English dubbed version.

His Qualities[]

What Makes Him Entertaining?[]

  • He is an exceptional genius, being an overachiever at his school who later becomes a criminal mastermind who changes the entire world.
  • Although he is a totally selfish mass murderer, his characterization involving his ambitious motive, has not only been fascinating to fans, but even debatable on rather if his methods were for the best of society, as crime was going down in fear of them being killed by Kira for their villainous deeds, and the moment when Light died, crime rates were gradually going back up, which makes the debate on if he was right or wrong more controversial.
  • He has tons of iconic musical themes in the anime, that are top notch glorify of his entertainment factors.
  • Light is highly perceptive of his environment and can tell if anything is off. When local law enforcement agency suspected that he was Kira and that they were surveilling him in his house, he pretended to be a normal student who is studying hard for his exams.
  • He has numerous unintentionally funny moment.
  • His evil actions inspired other people to take up the Death Note and become Kira. He essentially became an idol to individuals like Misa Amane who loved him and a messiah-figure to Teru Mikami who saw him as a god.
  • He was brilliant enough to out-maneuver and keep up his guard against his enemy, L Lawliet, who was one of the most brilliant detectives in the world. He was able to continue his murders while also making strategical moves to try and uncover L's identity and kill him.
  • At one point, he pulled a long-term plot against L by having his memories wiped to try and lower L's and other's suspicions of him in an attempt to try and kill L.
  • He succeeded in killing L after their long-drawn conflict.
  • Light, under the anonymous alias of Kira, becomes very popular among many people in the society who came to idolize and respect him.
  • He is able to keep up with the highly intelligent, Near, as the latter tries to come after him.
  • He sometimes makes dramatic gestures and tone that is unintentionally comical to the audience such as when he says: "I'll take a potato chip and eat it!".
  • He has an iconic villainous laugh that is highly received on both his japanese and english voice actors.
  • In his last moments in the anime, he has a beautiful scenery humanizing his characterization, with sympathy on how he saw who he could have been had he not have taken the Death Note, and possible remorse for killing L, as seen in a ghostly hallucination of Light's last vivid imagery.

What Makes Him Detestable?[]

  • He was an egotistical individual who saw himself as a god of the world because he had the Death Note. As such, he also viewed himself as justice itself, despite the fact that he was committing murder. When he is challenged by others like L who tried to bring him to justice, he is shown to have homicidal fury against those individuals.
  • He has poor judgement to deduct on if the named criminals are actually criminals, such as going by what the media or police files have gathered, but the worst of it was when he made an example to Raye, in killing a guy who was repeatedly charged with sexual assaults, but by Light's words, there was no evidence to support the fact that the guy was a rapist, meaning Light may have murdered a man who was being framed, and not a real criminal on that subject.
  • Light murdered Raye Penber, when he tries to investigate him. He also callously murders his wife, Naomi Misora, after the latter tricked her and coldly revealed his identity to her.
  • He never respected or cared for Misa Amane and only used her to further his agenda. This is in spite of the care she showed him. He inspired others to become Kira and kill people.
  • Light shows a lot of sadism in killing his own enemies and can act very arrogant, such as: laughing maniacally after killing Lind L. Tailor (although Lind L. Tailor was indeed both a criminal and a death row inmate, Light was not aware of it at first); intentionally exposing his identity to Raye Penber and Naomi Misora before their death and watching as they could do nothing about it; viciously smiling to a dying L when Rem kills him; openly announcing his victory 40 seconds after Mikami writes Near and everyone's name on the death note (which ironically leads to his own downfall).
  • In the anime version only, Light gloats at L in his grave, going as far as to claim that he has won, further fueling his ego.
  • He contemplated killing his own sister in order to further his plans.
  • When Misa offered Light a drink, he smacks it down the floor over his loss of one of the death notes taken by Mello.
  • Kills Takada by burning her alive through the Death Note.
  • As the series progresses, Light loses all his redeeming traits and initial noble intentions while his already enormous ego and god complex get inflated by his series of victories, resulting in him becoming blinded by his arrogance, turning into a smug snake. This eventually causes his downfall, and even by the first Chapter and Episode, his psychopathic desire to cleanse the world was already alarming.
  • Light does not take his defeat lightly or with any dignity. He had a villainous breakdown when he realized his plans are foiled. His defeat was way more pathetic in the manga version when he pleaded Ryuk to write all the agents names and pleading not to die.

Trivia[]

  • Light is the current icon for the rewrite template, which is reference to him being shocked that no one has died after 40 seconds.
  • He is an interesting example of in-universe entertainingly detestable, as Ryuk wanted someone to make him less bored and entertained over his how far Light would go with using the Death Note, meaning Ryuk is sadistic enough to be entertained by someone willing to use utterly detestable actions.

External Links[]

Navigation[]

            Entertainingly Detestable

Light Yagami | Ryuk | Teru Mikami | Beyond Birthday

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
Advertisement