#(if she's being honest and not just trying to screw with matsuda there

[aparticularbandit]

So the thing about the interplay between DR0 and DR2 is this - the question of if you went back far enough, could you prevent someone from becoming who they become?

And that's kind of what we see in play out in theory in DR2. If you remove those years from the Remnants, if you remove their relationship to Junko, then they can be - can become - entirely different people.

Which would then beg the question of, well, if you can do this with the Remnants, could it have been done with Junko? And the answer, given in DR0, is absolutely yes. Junko without her memories - Ryoko - is nothing like Junko.

(Which really counters her argument that she was born that way because, clearly, she was not. If she was, then the loss of her memories wouldn't change anything. But it does.)

The question then becomes, well, how far do we have to go? Or, more succinctly, how many memories do we have to remove to make Junko not Junko?

DR0 removes everything but Matsuda. It gives her short term memory loss, and it makes her rely entirely on her memory notebooks. (And, really, I'd argue that it should have removed Matsuda, too, but didn't, which might be a flaw. Kind of like how when Kyoko had all of her memories removed, she could still figure out she was a detective. (And I guess the idea of memories returning gets addressed first in DR1 - because Kyoko slowly remembers her relationship with her father and her grandfather. Junko didn't perfect Matsuda's method; she just shortened the time frame, which made the effects last longer.)) And, of course, when she regains her memories, she immediately reverts back to being herself, as planned. (And maybe this is a form of testing, not of resolve but of...of something else.)

I would expect that Junko would need more than her two years removed, that it would need to go farther back.

But how far? Where is that moment of no return, where Junko becomes, well, Junko?

#musings #danganronpa #dr0 #dr2 #junko enoshima #and this may be discussed elsewhere in the series #i remember in dr0 that junko and matsuda - and ryoko - discuss the building of the sand castle #matsuda believed she destroyed it to make him come out of his house #junko says she destroyed it just for the funsies - to feel despair #and they're in elementary school at the time #(if she's being honest and not just trying to screw with matsuda there #i'd need to go back and check the text again to double check that) #and like #it's clear that junko CAN lose her resolve #she CAN choose to be happy and let herself be happy #so with the sand castle it can be both #idk i just #i have THOUGHTS

[miss-ali-lawliet]

Hello

For the ask game:

3. what do you think about Light? 10, 24 and 25, please.

Thank you for the asks and honestly great questions!! I have a feeling this most is going to be a bit long, so hopefully I can get my thoughts and everything out in a way that’s easy to keep up with!

Also spoiler warning for those who haven’t finished the series!

~~~

3. What do you think about Light?

I honestly have SO many mixed feelings about him, like it’s hard to just be like ‘oh i hate him’ or ‘oh I love him’ because it just isn’t that simple for me personally, which that itself is a great sign of a character since you have to think about that sort of thing with them. Right off the bat though,  I’d like to say that I think Light as a character is phenomenal. He takes the character-type of what many would consider as the ‘perfect guy’ for the main character but twists it in a way that makes the reader/viewer question the protagonist their supposed to be rooting for. 

I also think of Manga!Light and Anime!Light as different people to an extent, as in the manga you watch a seemingly ‘normal’ guy who has issues with the world deal with the sudden power that was thrown on him. I talked about it before in my last ask post, but the scene after Light killed his first person after testing out is a great way to express how he feels, and is one of the few times we really see Light show THAT much emotion. He shows regret and guilt, thinking himself as a murderer and you can tell how it affected him. Anime!Light you don’t get that, and instead he seemed to just take on the task of being Kira and god of the new world without much else thought. I definitely prefer M!Light in comparison to A!Light to say the least, so I’m going to focus a bit more on the M!Light side of things.

I personally found myself wanting to have hope for Light, even though I knew that he wasn’t going to get better but instead worse over time, and honestly it’s probably better story wise to keep him as the ‘bad guy’ who stays bad instead of trying to pull a redemption arc out of no where or something. I have a feeling I’m beginning to ramble, so I’m going to try to wrap this up.

I have a love-hate relationship with Light, because even though I don’t agree with his actions and the tactics he uses to get the ‘perfect world’ he wants, and I do find his thinking flawed and find him very arrogant the more power/ego Kira gains over the world as the story goes on. Yet I find him as a character in general just fascinating. I was definitely more on L’s side of things and found myself enjoying a majority of the scenes where people simple put Light in his place and treat him like a dude with a god complex rather than what he wants/expects. There’s just a lot of thoughts I have about him, but yeah it’s just a love-hate sort of thing for me when it comes to Light. 

~~~

10. Do you ship any characters?

I usually find myself being a bit of a multishipper when it comes to most fandoms, it just depends on the source material and the characters obviously. I definitely can enjoy a lot of the ships when it comes to the fandom, but even if I don’t like a pairing I do my best to remain pretty respectful about it. 

One thing to note is that I can’t really find myself shipping L with anyone in the series to be honest, like I can find myself enjoying his relationship dynamics of characters but with my own interpretations and DR stuff, It’s hard to view him with someone else romantically. 

Some ships I like/don’t mind though (especially when it comes to au stuff as most of these in canon probably wouldn’t work out lol): Matt x Mello, Mikalight, Rem x Misa ig? (more like the concept is sweet i think even though in canon Misa treats her pretty badly and Rem said she doesn’t think of her that way), uhhh. My brain is pulling a blank right now but these are the main ones that come to mind.

Some platonic pairings I enjoy (as there are a lot more of these for me): Matt + Mello, Mello + Near, Matsuda + Misa, Honestly all the task force have really interesting dynamics with one another, L + Watari (obviously in a father/parent way, I just like seeing their interactions), Ryuk + Light, Ryuk + Misa, L + Matsuda’s relationship is honestly pretty funny to me and honestly L’s dynamics with the task force is also interesting as well. 

I think that’s it when it comes to shipping stuff atm

~~~

24. Any headcanons you’d like to share?

Oh! I feel like I have a couple but at the moment my mind is pulling a blank for some reason. Some head canons that do come to mind though deal with my Death Note DRs in some way but they can also be interpreted with the actual series itself, so hopefully this is good enough! Usually I do better with a certain prompt of some sort though for future references though! 

I’ve seen a post a bit ago about Matt and Mello being roommates of some sort at Wammy House and they find themselves in that roommate mentality still when they do room together, and honestly I agree so much with that. 

When Mello leave the Wammy House I see him not contacting Matt or anyone from Wammy House as he turns his focus on his side of the Kira Case, even if apart of him misses them and what he grew up around. Yet he pushes through because he’s stubborn and wants to do whatever he can on his own with the Mafia without involving someone like Matt, probably for his safety. After the explosion though when he has no one on his side, I think that’s when he realizes there’s only one other person he can truly trust and rely on and that’s when he contacts Matt to help him on the case. 

Not really a headcanon as the author himself mentioned that the rivalry between Mello and Near was one-sided and that Near actually liked Mello, I do see both boys sometimes wondering what it would have been like if they didn’t have that rivalry and became friends instead. I honestly see Mello thinking that more towards the end of the case and after the explosion, but at that point he’s probably thinking it’s too late to even pursue a friendship like that with him. 

I like to think that at Wammy House, Matt didn’t really understand Mello’s rivalry with Near and at times questioned him about it at first but he was pretty supportive 

He didn’t have anything against Near though and was pretty indifferent on the whole thing personally, but if it made Mello happy and helped him achieve a goal he had no reason to deny.

Matt in general in general is someone that gives the vibes of not caring about much, but if you’re close to him he is literally SO loyal?? Like if someone close to him has an issue, even if he might make a comment or remark, he is always there to back them up. 

I like to think that over time Light actually enjoys Ryuk’s presence, kind of like a sense of some sort of comfort that he isn’t alone of some sort? Like at first he might have been annoyed and still gets annoyed whenever he acts annoying and distracts him from work, but also I think he doesn’t like hate his company. Probably would rather be around him than Misa unfortunately </3

I think that L and Chief Yagami had a pretty good friendship, or perhaps not friendship but i’m not sure what to call it atm. Like I think L respected him a lot and Soichiro was the same towards him, and I think at times if they decided not to talk about the Kira case it’s usually pretty good for the most part.

It’s not really a headcanon but Matsuda trying his best to get some positive attention for things he does in the case is funny and kinda sweet. Most of the time L probably ignores his antics and doesn’t really feed into it, but there’s like one or two times where he actually does

It’s probably very small, probably something along the lines of “Good job.” or something but Matsuda feels so happy that he even acknowledged him like that and didn’t call him stupid for once. Definitely was a good boost in his mood

I find the thought of Light and Ryuk playing video games early on when he first gets the notebook charming in an almost funny way. Like Light probably either was talked into it by the shinigami or was like ‘screw it, I have nothing else to do atm’ and Ryuk is just happy he can actually do something and not just watch him working 

Light is definitely competitive in games though, like he’ll probably try to act like it wouldn’t matter but like most things with him, but it did lmao

I find the thought of the wammy kids doing things to mess with/annoy Roger so entertaining. Like I feel bad for him, but if I were asked to assist in the pranks or antics I probably would just for his reaction alone

Think that’s all for random misc head canons for now, if you want something more specific just send a request!

~~~

25. Ramble on about whatever you’d like 

Thank you for this one! I usually feel a little guilty whenever I ramble on about things in general, but the fact that some people are interested in my thoughts on things is so sweet!

At the moment though I’m honestly not too sure what to ramble about as there’s a lot on my mind and it’s hard to pick one thing and honestly it can be a bit hard to go through all my thoughts at times. 

But! One thing I will always stand behind that ya’ll have probably seen countless of times so far is that the Wammy Boys deserved better and I will always say it if necessary tbh. Speaking of wammy house though, that comes to mind is that I wish I could learn more about it at times, yet I also enjoy the mystery of it in a way. It’s something I’d be so down to learn more about, but if not I’d be pretty okay with that outcome. Plus just leaves things for fans to interpret in their own ways if they want, and that’s something I definitely enjoy when it comes to the fandom is how they take something vague and turn it into so much more. 

Also speaking of the fandom I’m surprised yet so thankful/grateful for is that the death note fandom is still going on here. It was such a relief seeing that I wasn’t alone in my hyperfixions and thoughts, and seeing all the talent in the art, writing, etc, is just amazing and something I look forward to a lot in all honesty. I’m also just so thankful for the people that take time out of their day to look at my blog in general. You like, reblog, or follow me? I literally want to be your best friend and if I wasn’t so nervous about starting conversations with ya’ll I definitely would have messaged a couple of ya’ll a while ago. Until then I hope you just read this and see me on your blogs and hope my reactions and comments is enough until I get less nervous lmao. 

One last thing before i close the blog off is that I love L with my full heart and I adore Matt and Mello so very much. My favorite lads <3

~~~

Alright that should be it for this post! If you stuck around, thank you!

Some future posts to expect: Matt, Mello, + a f!reader based on the dream I talked about before, some L angst, and possibly something with Light :)

Anyways have a great day/night and here’s a reminder to stay hydrated and eat something if you haven’t already <3

#death note #ali talks #asks #answered #anon #ask game #ask game answers #light yagami #l lawliet #dn #my ramblings #mello #near #matt dn #dn matt #miheal keehl #nate river #mail jeevas #misa amane #ryuk #desired reality #briefly mentioned tho #death note headcanons #death note hcs #touta matsuda #ali writing

[nanamicide]

Red Butterflies - chapter 3

Here is the update, even if I still don’t think anyone is reading this fic here.

Read on AO3 

Juzo Sakakura was sitting on a chair, watching his friend pacing around the room. This was quite an usual occurrence, but this time, Kyosuke seemed more nervous than he usually was. He kept staring at him for a few more minutes, until the white-haired man returned his glance. Then, Juzo lowered his gaze and stared at his hands. Dammit, he thought, he knows exactly how I feel about him but I’m still acting as if I were supposed to hide it – as if he hadn’t told me that it was okay and he did return my feelings, but that I just had to be patient. On top of that, I’m just sitting here, in silence, when I know damn well that something is bothering him. It’s both because of and thanks to me that he’s in this position, but I’m still useless. I really don’t deserve to be his right-hand man, especially not when I’m acting like a silly school boy with a crush on the popular guy. I need to snap out of it.

He did eventually snap out of it, but as always, it was a second too late. Gekkogahara-san, their former classmate, had already made her way into the office. Kyosuke gestured for her to come closer, having her sit across from him, and right next to Juzo. As every morning, it was also Kyosuke who started the conversation going, while Juzo just sat there silently, cursing himself for not being more assertive in his presence and when he needed him:

“How was Kamukura-kun this morning?”

The question remained up in the air for a few more seconds than usual, as if Gekkogahara-san was thinking about what to say. Juzo was once again about to speak when she began typing. The voice of the avatar she used to communicate soon filled the room:

“I think we’ve finally begun to make progress. Kamukura-kun had a very light dream last night, but he didn’t want me to tell you about it. From what I understand, it’s related to video games. He said he saw a pixelated spaceship. There’s only one problem though, he said he doesn’t want to play video games again today. You know, the usual complaint about how boring it all is. Except he’s never made such a request about anything else you’ve had him do over the past year, so there has to be something going on.”

“Thank you, Gekkogahara-san. Was there anything else?”

“Well, I have a request, you know, as your former classmate.” Juzo noticed that she made her avatar, Usami, wink at Kyosuke. Even though she was constantly hiding behind that pink rabbit, he almost envied the confidence she’d gained through it.

“What would that be?”

“Don’t ask Kamukura-kun to play video games—”

“But you said they’re the reason for the recent progress.”

“If you force it on him, you’ll ruin that progress,” Usami’s high-pitched but soft voice explained. “I am as excited as you to see that Kamukura-kun may be secretly experiencing something other than boredom, but I don’t want to rush it. We don’t know what any of it means yet. It could be dangerous.”

Juzo threw a quick glance at Kyosuke, who seemed slightly annoyed with what he’d just heard. Despite that, the white-haired man complied, and told Gekkogahara-san that he would see her tomorrow morning at the usual time. And just like that, their former classmate was gone. It was just the two of them again. Juzo stared at one of the immaculately white walls of the office until he finally decided to speak:

“Are you going to listen to her?”

“She knows better, doesn’t she?”

“But you said that when the Kamukura ordeal would be taken care of we could finally—”

“Enough, Juzo,” Kyosuke snapped. “While it’s true that intend to step down from the position of chairman and to give it back to Kirigiri-san so that I can focus on my….” He paused, swallowing loudly, as if what he were about to say was wrong. “Personal matters, it doesn’t mean that I want to rush any of this. It would be bad if I handed this back to Kirigiri-san without making sure everything has been thoroughly dealt with. Kamukura-kun may not be a threat now, but that doesn’t mean he won’t become one in the future. You know how Kirigiri-san is. He lacks the strength of a true leader. I care too much about this academy to leave it before fully fixing it.”

Juzo’s heart sank as he heard his words. He felt like screaming at him, only to ask him if cared about anything other than that damn academy, and if he even cared about him. He wanted to tell him that they should forget about this academy, but he did none of it. Instead, he just nodded and went back to staring at the wall. He was tired of constantly having to put on this tough guy act, as if nothing affected him, but he had to. He was the Former Ultimate Boxer; the epitome of manliness. He couldn’t afford to let his feelings get the best of him. It had saved them against Enoshima, but it wouldn’t save them again. The only problem was that ever since he had confessed to Kyosuke, it had become harder for him to repress it.

“Very well, what can I do to help?”

Kyosuke slowly paced towards one of the shelves, pulling a file from it. It was labelled ‘Class 77’ and contained the profiles of all the students from that class, as well as Yukizome Chisa’s, their homeroom teacher. He placed the file on the desk and started flipping through it, and stopped on one page.

“This is Nanami Chiaki,” he spoke. “She’s the Ultimate Gamer. From what I have gathered from Matsuda’s notes on the Kamukura project, Hajime Hinata, Kamukura-kun’s vessel, used to be very close to her.” He tapped a finger on her picture, pointing at the hairclip. “I think that’s the spaceship Gekkogahara-san was talking about.”

“Why didn’t you tell her?”

“Because, I plan on going against what she said,” he whispered, now pointing towards the door and making Juzo understand that it was possible their former classmate was spying on them. He didn’t think she was the type to do that, but he knew how careful Munakata-kun was. “I will make sure they keep playing together, even today. But I need you to find out what game that hairclip comes from.”

Juzo wanted to ask him why, or how to go about it, but decided against it. He finally had a good opportunity to impress him again, and he wasn’t going to let it pass. After almost a year of constantly screwing up, he was grateful he had been given a simple enough task. He stood up, facing Kyosuke and lowering his gaze so as to stare in his deep blue eyes.

“I will bring that information to you before the end of the day,” he promised.

“Just don’t be reckless, I don’t want Gekkogahara-san to figure us out.”

Juzo gave his friend a quick nod, and stepped out of the office. In the hallway, he looked out the window. The sun was shining bright, bringing him that extra hope he needed to carry on with his task.

 XXXXXXX

The bell rang, letting everyone know that the day was over. Chiaki stood up and waved goodbye to her classmates as she walked out the door. She stepped outside of the building, smiling as she felt the sunlight hit her pale skin. There was something else she wanted to do today: go home and play video games with Izukura. Despite the fact he’d been calling the games boring the entire time they were playing, she had a feeling that he would be online again tonight, and that she would finally get to beat him and show him that video games were fun. She wasn’t too sure why, but even though she didn’t know anything about the person hiding behind that username, she was intrigued by them. If she were entirely honest, part of her couldn’t believe that they were actually bored last night. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but she felt as though it was all an act. No one around her had ever been bored playing video games after all, not even her most inexperienced classmates.

As she was thinking about which games they would play tonight, she bumped into someone. Chiaki absentmindedly apologized before looking up at the person. All she saw was a mass of muscles, tan skin, and short, wavy green-ish hair. She quickly realized that she’d bumped into Juzo Sakakura-san, the headmaster’s right hand man. At that moment, she almost envied Komaeda-kun’s luck. This would have never happened to him.

“Are you okay?” Chiaki’s eyes widened, as she processed these words. Those were exactly the first words Hinata-kun had exchanged with her when they had first met. In spite of what she had promised herself yesterday, the memories that were suddenly flowing back made her upset.

“Yes, I should have watched where I was going. I’m really sorry,” she replied, walking away as quickly as possible. She didn’t want to be here. The sky was starting to turn a bright orange, just like it had on that evening. The setting was so similar that it was unbearable.

“Wait, you’re Chiaki Nanami, the Ultimate Gamer, right?” She nodded, still unable to face him. “This may be a weird question,” he continued, “but I remember playing the game your hairpin is from as a teenager but I can’t remember its na—”

At that point, Chiaki’s brain tuned out. Why was he asking her about Gala Omega? Why did this moment seem to mirror her first encounter with Hinata-kun? Why was one of the most important members of the academy’s staff so interested in her all of a sudden? Had she really bumped into him, or had he been standing in her way so this would happen?  

“Nanami-san, are you okay?”

“I’m sorry, Sakakura-san, what was the question?”

“What’s the name of the game this is from,” he replied, pointing at her hairclip.

She tried to speak, but no sound came out of her mouth. The air she had inhaled in order to speak seemed to be stuck in her throat, forming a lump that made breathing harder than it had ever been. Chiaki wasn’t sure what was happening to her. She could faintly hear Sakakura-san calling her name, but the world around her seemed to be spinning. She dug her fingernails into her palms, as though she were trying to anchor herself to something. Her vision became blurry and, as she lost her balance, she was surprised not to crash onto the solid concrete beneath her. Instead, she felt something warm. A few seconds later, everything around her turned black. The last things she remembered were thinking about how much she wished she’d never met Hinata-kun, and hearing Sakakura-san muttering something about messing up.

 XXXXXXX

Juzo cursed himself as Nanami-san’s small frame collided with his arms. He had no idea what had just happened, but he got that familiar feeling that always occurred after botching whatever mission Munakata-kun had assigned him. Yet, he knew it wasn’t too late. With all the buzzing from the students of the academy walking back to their dorms, his conversation with Nanami-san, and her eventually fainting had seemingly gone unnoticed. That meant he still had time to take her to the nurse’s office without being questioned by any of his former classmates. If he were lucky enough, Mikan Tsumiki’s shift would have started by the time he would reach the office. The Ultimate Nurse definitely lacked the confidence to go against orders, or to ask any type of question to anyone who gave them to her. It would be easy enough to ask her to hide this from others. Having a more concrete picture of what he was supposed to do now, Juzo rushed to his destination.

He eventually reached the nurse’s office, after what had felt like hours – though in reality, he knew it’d only been a few minutes. He had been on edge the entire time, scanning his surroundings before every step to ensure that he wouldn’t run into Gekkogahara-san, or worse, Yukizome-san. While it was the former that Munakata-kun had asked him to keep this a secret from, Juzo knew that he could always make up a story explaining why he had been with Nanami-san when she passed out if he saw her. That would probably stop her from being too suspicious or reporting anything to their boss. Besides, it was unlikely that she would even recognize Nanami-san, or know who she was. She hadn’t even mentioned her in her report to Munakata-kun. This would be okay. Yukizome-san, however, was too close to Munakata-kun to hide anything from him. She was still, even though he knew the other man had been avoiding her, his girlfriend, and she still called him every night. Juzo knew this because he usually was around when his crush’s phone would ring, and hearing him pick up and talk to her always made his stomach turn. He used to be able to deal with their relationship, but now that Munakata-kun knew how he felt and seemed to reciprocate, things were different.

Juzo gently opened the door to the nurse’s office without knocking, taking a glance inside. Once again, he ruined everything.

“Fuck,” he breathed, just loud enough for the head of blue hair that was inside the office to turn towards him.

“Wh-what happened to Nanami-san?” Tsumiki-san asked, rushing towards him.

Having lost all his composure after seeing Gekkogahara-san in the room, Juzo was unable to lie. “We were talking and she suddenly passed out,” he mumbled before pausing. The Ultimate Nurse had him lay the young girl on one of the beds. “It may be that she’s not eat—”  

“Well,” Usami’s voice chimed in, “this may be nerdview, but maybe whatever you were talking to her about stressed her out. You’re one of the higher-ups, it would make sense. I’ll do a little check-up when she comes to. Munakata-kun is waiting for you, anyway.”

“…Really?” Juzo, hesitated. He wanted to tell Gekkogahara-san that she was wrong, but he knew it was pointless. Besides, despite the fact she was communicating via her avatar, he felt like she knew something already. If she didn’t, she would have asked him what he had been talking to Nanami-san about. Staying here and protesting would only make things worse, so it was better to comply. Things were already bad enough as they were, but there was still a chance that Munakata-kun would never hear about this. “I’ll go then. Thank you.”

#kamunami #izuru kamukura x chiaki nanami

[eyecicles]

Thoughts on canon vs fandom treatment of female characters? Like the source material not having much in the way of female characters in general (at least relatively in the sense that I can count significant/developed female characters on one hand compared to the much larger number of important male characters) and how that translates into fandom treatment of female characters (misa and kiyomi being treated like shit in fanfics, ect). Sorry this is vague I just like your spicy opinions lmao

That’s a very interesting question! …Also a topic I’m very careful with but I do have some thoughts I would like to share nonetheless.

I completely agree that it’s quite obvious that Ohba cares more about the development of his male characters, about making them more unique in their motivations. Large parts of Death Note are about Light manipulating people (not about being accidentally successful and smart because of his ~magical powers~, that’s such an annoying take, honestly). And when you look at how he treats female characters, starting with Yuri, later Naomi, then Misa, Rem and Kiyomi, it becomes pretty clear that both he and Ohba always use the same tactic. Yes, because while writing a sexist character doesn’t make you or your story sexist per se, it’s just the sad truth that Ohba wrote it that way for a reason. (From what I’ve heard about his other works, DN is comparatively mild in the sexism department though)

If you compare that to the much more complex ways Light manipulates male characters, you can see very easily how they’re more developed by default. Not only has Light a much harder time with them, he evades characters like L and Near or even Aizawa, who isn’t a certified genius, by, well, not getting caught until the end.

Actually, I think it’s pretty interesting how characters deal with the fact that Light is Kira. The only female character who figures out his identity on her own is Misa, and she mostly manages that due to her special powers (the Shinigami eyes). Of course Misa is never praised for that and she’s routinely portrayed as dumb, while most of her character is about her obsession with Light… which only poses a problem for a few chapters. 

Very popular fanon but fanon nonetheless: Naomi figuring out Light is Kira. She didn’t; Light told her himself and she’s in fact more than a little shocked by it, and of course, already doomed when she finds out the truth.

Kiyomi is told as well, and she’s a Kira supporter anyway, in love with Light, and relatively easy to manipulate - even though we see her struggling with being ordered to kill people. What’s apparently more of a problem is her questioning Light about Misa, but really, he’s mostly just annoyed and her jealously is something the narrative actively makes fun of (confirmed by Ohba himself).

And I agree that that’s mostly why the fandom finds it so easy to reduce especially Misa and Kiyomi to romance- or sex-obsessed dumbasses who are basically only there to be annoying. I wouldn’t defend that kind of treatment ever, but yes, it’s obvious where it comes from.

It’s more mild with Naomi, and Rem might be the only female character whose motivation is her love for another female character, but most of the main female characters have one thing in common: their character arcs being about love. Compare that to main male characters, and you can tell that the narrative treats love and romance as a “woman thing”. (Even Matsuda, who does show interest in romance, gets a surprisingly interesting and even touching arc. His character is mostly about being painfully average (painfully is the keyword here: the narrative shows much less pity for our average women, actually; they aren’t necessarily average, just not as much as smart as Light which is treated as given), about seeking recognition, about being bitterly disappointed by the person he trusted (Light) and his final moments with Light are ridiculously intense and well-written.)

(Soichiro isn’t motivated by personal love per se, but his “blindness” for who Light really is treated as something tragic and relatable. Soichiro dies, yes, but he’s seen almost as a hero for his strong morals and love for his son. Not comparable to Misa and Kiyomi at all.)

I indeed can’t count the fics where female characters only made an appearance to show the reader how much dumber, or even more evil, they are compared to Light’s love interest (which is usually L or a female OC). And while I don’t see Misa as just a victim of Light, it’s disgusting how people take what those characters are mainly about and make it (+ their personalities) worse than they were in canon. Instead of, you know, giving them more agency. It’s fanfiction, guys, they don’t have to be an obstacle for your ships if you don’t want to. Considering that Light shows no real interest in them either way, I find it even more arbitrary to write them that way.

Even though I’m used to see that kind of treatment, since I’ve been in fandoms for almost 15 years, it still shocks me how nasty and spiteful people can be about characters like Misa and Kiyomi. I rarely see male characters treated like that in fanfics, even when the general fandom opinion about them is a negative one. (The exceptions are unlikeable, ugly, comic relief kind of antagonists like Demegawa)

The fandom can be wildly different depending on where you look; on websites like YouTube or Reddit, it’s definitely more difficult to find people who like them, or people who at least try to see past that one trope the fandom likes to reduce them to. I’ve seen people making fun of their deaths or writing their own gruesome deaths for them, I’ve seen people praising Light to no end while hating Misa for being a serial killer.

While on tumblr, I often see the exact opposite of that. I wouldn’t say it’s just as bad, obviously not, but it’s still worth discussing, I think. It makes a lot of sense to try and make characters like Misa, Kiyomi, Naomi, Sayu, or Rem more intriguing and complex. I absolutely love what “Those” did to Kiyomi for example; it shows very clearly what we could have had with a better (or at least less sexist) writer than Ohba.

But if I’m being completely honest, what I’m not a fan of, is people completely taking everything about a character to make them something they’re 100% not. It’s one thing to make someone more complex, but something quite different to make Misa a feminist and mere victim who only pretended to like Light. I guess that’s partly a personal preference, but something about making a female character just a victim, when they’re canonically not, is a bit… icky to me. I think we can treat Misa with more compassion than Ohba did without making her a mere victim.

And some goes for Naomi; her indeed being tricked by Light, her being naive, yes, even in “Another Note”, doesn’t make her less sympathetic or cool. It often feels like we want to put female characters on a pedestal just so we can allow ourselves to stan them just as much as the male main characters.

I can’t see why Light is allowed to be a complex serial killer you can love or hate, while Misa isn’t. It’s telling how even people who like Misa often seem to feel the need to make her an angel, while Light fans often find it more easy to accept that he’s a bastard indeed. (There are Light apologists as well, but they at least rarely try to reduce him to nothing more than a puppet who got screwed over big time)

Even when female characters are very well-written and developed, like Discworld characters, the fandom often scrutinises them way more harshly than the male ones. But yeah, having a distinct difference in the writing of male vs female characters in a story… definitely makes the fandom react in more extreme ways. 

I would actually love to read more Misa, Naomi and Kiyomi centric stories where they’re allowed to keep their flaws while getting the development Ohba never gave them. And your ask reminded me that I can, want and should write stories like that too, haha.

#answered #anon #death note #misa amane #kiyomi takada #naomi misora #rem #meta