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Thoughts on Death Note episodes 18 - end

Death Note Notes, Part 2

I finished watching the Death Note series on the internet over Turkey Break. My earlier observations remain with no major modifications. I don't want to spoil the ending for those of you who are still watching, but I do want to talk a little bit about a few trends that I see in Japanese pop media.

#1 The Thriller.
As I said before, this series masterfully juggles suspense, fantasy, and thriller elements into what I consider to be the epitome of good anime: It does what live-action movies can't do, it does what novels can't do, and it has a great soundtrack. So fun.
On another note, I think that many viewers of this anime (myself especially) have been so thoroughly trained to consider the Greek Tragedy to be Good Form that we can't help but get sucked in. According to Greek Tragedy formula, Light is a Tragic Hero because he comes from a "good," noble family, is good-looking, smart, attractive, and has a Tragic Flaw : Hubris (in English: Pride). At the end, you definitely see that his pride (or arrogance) is what gives him away.

#2 The Japan/USA/Europe Universe - I'll call it JUSE.
The JUSE Universe doesn't bother to consider the impact of JUSE Universe's actions on the rest of the world, and doesn't consider the agency of the non-JUSE world to be relevant or meaningful.

If you look at the teams that are fighting Kira, you have:
  1. the Japanese police team headed by L/Kira/Light Yagami,
  2. the US-based SPK - CIA officials headed by N (Near), and
  3. the Europe-based mafia team headed by M (Mello)

Obviously, in terms of where the infrastructures of power are located, it makes sense that the three teams are where/who they are. But just as they don't explain WHY it's evil to kill all criminals that appear on the nightly news, they don't explain why this three-pronged configuration might be problematic.

A blond, blue-eyed version of President Bush thanks Kira in one of the final episodes for ending all wars and major crimes. Speaking for the entire world (not just the U.S.) he publically states that he will not endorse any efforts to stop Kira. While this is clearly a jab at the incompetence of current "world leaders," it is also an affirmation of the fact that the U.S. is the most powerful nation on the earth. Also, I find it pretty childish to think that just by killing all criminals on the nightly news all wars will come to an end. There are many different kinds of wars, many of which are not recognized by the media. Duh.

#3 the Message

  • As usual, there is a pretty strong message about working together to defeat an opponent or pull off some unimagineably hard task (like capturing Kira).
  • The usual targets are also attacked: Mega-corporations and Big Media - the propagandistic and ratings-driven media are harshly criticized by Death Note, as is the totally cliche power-hungry corporate heads.
  • Incompetent, self-serving politicians are also criticized, as are bullies in schools.

These are all to be expected.
What is totally missing, however, is a critique of the military, of police forces, bosses who bully their workers, etc. unless you want to argue that Light Yagami and his father both represent the best and worst of the police, since it's their unshaken faith in the system that leads Light to world conquest. But I would argue that what is being criticized is less the police system and more their attitudes of inflexible straight-and-narrowness.

If you liked this series though, and want something a little more well thought out (but a little less wild-entertaining) I highly recommend Paranoia Agent by KON Satoshi, which I mentioned in my last post. This is another suspense-thriller anime series (SASUPENSU/MISTERI-) with social commentary. You get to watch more Japanese neurosis and wonder if it really is all that "Japanese" per se. At least he talks about workers' rights.

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