Curate, connect, and discover
canon light yagami needs no fixing— him being an unrepentant, unsympathetic serial killer deluding himself into believing that he is righteous and just no matter what he does works fantastically for the kind of story death note is. death note is a story about how those with power will use it to hurt others (even if they were brought up having everything they wanted already), will abuse the justice system, and will never, ever take responsibility. light is the perfect protagonist for that.
hooooowever. the 2015 live action jdrama death note light yagami is so, so different. he's...pitiful. he's soft. he's wracked with guilt and emotional and a shaking, whimpering thing pleading for validation. and normally i would hate such a drastic change and hate "declawing" an evil character, but weirdly, i adore jdrama light, because he's perfect for the story he's in.
the jdrama is very different from canon in many ways, and one of the biggest ones is that the focus of it seems to be more "what if a regular person got the death note? how would that affect them?". canon light, from the very first time we see him, is VERY abnormal: he's an untouchable, perfect genius, japan's beautiful #1 student, and while it makes him an interesting character for the events that follow, he's never truly relatable to the audience. but jdrama light is. he's not some highly-lauded ultra mega genius, he's a quiet college student with a job as a food server just trying to get by. there's no fanfare for who jdrama light is as a person, and he cares deeply and desperately about others. and that's the thesis of the 2015 version: what if someone like that suddenly got a weapon of mass destruction? what would happen to them?
canon light does get worse, yes, but on the other hand, he's literally already killed hundreds of people 10 minutes into the first episode and feels zero guilt about any of it. the first episode ends with ryuk saying that his death note usage is already unprecedented and light declares himself god of the new world, and we still have 36 more episodes to go after this. but jdrama light has a true corruption arc, because he was never like this to start. his story is one of an average, kind person who is honestly trying to use the death note for good and feels sick with the guilt of it, slowly succumbing to the temptation of power and going mad with it. he falls apart with the death note in the way any of us would; screaming, howling, and settling into a grim acceptance. i think his characterization is a very worthy addition to the death note universe, and i hope that as long as people go in ready to accept the jdrama for what it is, they can enjoy what it has to say, too.
god just. just imagine being Matsuda dude. imagine. Imagine looking up to someone so much, almost like a father figure, a guiding light of morals you try your best to emulate. And when he dies in front of you, you latch onto his son- imagine that you share his grief, and when he gets over it even quicker than you that's a flaw on your part, because you've always been weak and nobody ever hesitates to tell you. You take the derision and abuse in stride and refuse not to play the optimist because it has to be someone, and, well, that 'someone' always ends up being you. Imagine being so utterly self-sacrificing that people call you a coward. Thousands of hours with a smile, internally conflicted but brave, but so so scared, last man standing, the weak link that never breaks. Imagine that the evil you've spent six years fighting is the same son you've spent six years idolising. Imagine your hands shaking around the trigger. Imagine pulling it.