Death Note: Symbolism

[Flame_guy3]

I'm sure many of you are aware of Death Note? It's a famous manga, anime and live action movie. The animes and mangas being the more famous.

 

 

 

I've seen the anime and was amazed.. i couldn't stop watching and ended up finishing the whole series in less than 2 days. It was nearly 2 days just spent sat on the couch, going to sleep late, getting up early, finishing meals as quickly as possible just so i could watch it all.

 

 

 

The amount of symbolism and philosophy in this material is phenomenal, something i find lacking in a lot of animes and mangas. I could compare it to Shakespeare; A modern Shakespeare.

 

 

 

Questions to people out there who've seen the anime all the way through:

 

 

 

1. The Shinigami eat apples even though they need not eat anything to survive. In fact apples are to them what alcohol/cigarettes are to humans. I came to the conclusion that they used apple rather than any other fruit because of what Adam and Eve ate to get kicked out of the garden of eden; an apple. An apple the forbidden fruit and desires i think represents power - The shinigami is the snake which tempts our desires. The chance to be God tempts Light and he takes the apple but eventually ends up being eradicated from the world (garden of eden). Please tell me if you think im right in thinking this or if there's something I got wrong or anything you could expand on.

 

 

 

2. Near and Mello represent the two halves of the first "L". Mello represents the aggressive side which will go to any lengths to achieve his goal, willing to kill. Near represents the dominant side of "L" who does not believe the end justifies the means, will not kill to aid him in the investigation. When the man who owned the orphanage asked them to co-operate on the Kira case Mello refused. Instead even competing with Near.

 

 

 

Am i right to think that one of these sides of a human being must die in order for the other to flourish? At the end Kira was caught due to strong suspicions from Near and a sacrifice of Mello's own life which also provided evidence for Near. Therefore Near succeeded in foiling Kira due to Mello's death. Near had everything right except for the crucial piece of evidence that could only be obtained from Mello.

 

 

 

I don't know how to explain what i thought on this in real words or how to sum up its symbolism but if someone has a good way to put it.... ill be sure to add it to the main convo.

 

 

 

Something I've picked out (not neccessarily symbolism):

 

 

 

The name of the main character 'Light', could be seen as somewhat ironic. Light meaning purity, good, clarity etc is the exact opposite of what his actions are seen as by the characters who have set out to stop him. Light, in the eyes of the likes of 'L' is seen as evil and does not inhibit the characteristics of someone pure or good. This maybe a reason for the creation of the name 'Kira' to portray the darkness of Light. The wording for this is difficult, I might re-work some of it later to make it clearer.

 

 

 

Someone please correct me on this if I'm wrong, I'm just taking a stab in the dark at this. This maybe loosely linked to your theory of one side having to die in order for the other to flourish. In order for Light to execute his grand plan he had to act more on what the Kira side of him would do (evil). This would mean that he would have to sacrifice the Light (good) side of himself for his plans to work and act more on the Kira (evil) side of himself to flourish.

 

 

 

I can't think of many other points to post up but i will at some point when i remember (been a couple weeks since i saw it :P)

[Shadow MC]

Just a small note first. It might be good to put spoiler tags on some of the things you've said as some people may be watching Death Note and don't want to be spoiled and the same for people who may be interested in watching Death Note :wink:

 

 

 

It has been quite a while since I finished watching Death Note, I too was addicted to watching it as much as you. Although there isn't a whole lot of action going on in the anim̮̩̉̉, the sheer brilliance of the plot and how each section of the story unfolds and is executed is enough to keep you on the edge of your seat leaving everything but the craving for more.

 

 

 

It's interesting that you saw this symbolism in the the anim̮̩̉̉/manga, I knew that there was a lot of heavy stuff taking place in the series such as the conflict between good/evil (Light and L), right and wrong (using the death note for good/evil) etc. I didn't pick out a whole lot of symbolism from it, maybe I don't remember from seeing it so long ago but the Adam and Eve thing you've picked out there sounds intriguing, I may have to look into this further :

 

 

 

Something I've picked out (not neccessarily symbolism):

 

 

 

The name of the main character 'Light', could be seen as somewhat ironic. Light meaning purity, good, clarity etc is the exact opposite of what his actions are seen as by the characters who have set out to stop him. Light, in the eyes of the likes of 'L' is seen as evil and does not inhibit the characteristics of someone pure or good. This maybe a reason for the creation of the name 'Kira' to portray the darkness of Light. The wording for this is difficult, I might re-work some of it later to make it clearer.

 

 

 

Someone please correct me on this if I'm wrong, I'm just taking a stab in the dark at this. This maybe loosely linked to your theory of one side having to die in order for the other to flourish. In order for Light to execute his grand plan he had to act more on what the Kira side of him would do (evil). This would mean that he would have to sacrifice the Light (good) side of himself for his plans to work and act more on the Kira (evil) side of himself to flourish.

 

 

 

If I can think of a way to sum up the symbolism that has appeared in Death Note I will post it but at the moment my mind is at a loss from all the complications of the series and not having seen it for such a long time. But, if anyone else has any theories or could summarise this for me, be my guest :)

[Nom]

Love Death Note :o

 

 

 

[hide=spoilerz]Interesting points you brought up there. I am intrigued by the whole apple thing. I always regarded it as an irony, that something so pure and healthy was the Shingami parallel to alcohol/other drugs. You took it a whole lot further. Interesting.

 

 

 

On your second point, I agree as well, and I thought of that myself while I was watching it. However, in the anime they did state that alone, Near or Mello was incapable of catching Light, but working together they were greater than L and were able to finally do so, although one did die in the process. Sort of a greater than the sum of its parts idea.[/hide]

[rushrock]

Before I read the posts: There are absolutely no spoilers in any of these posts, right?

[Nom]

Before I read the posts: There are absolutely no spoilers in any of these posts, right?

 

 

 

Lol. Yeah right. If you haven't seen the anime and want to, go watch it now and don't be reading a thread discussing it in its entirety :wink: .

 

 

 

Although for courtesy's sake I'll hide mine.

[otori]

found this while looking up death note stuff

 

 

 

On September 28, 2007, two notes stating "Watashi wa Kira dess" (I am Kira, with "desu" being the more literal and correct transliteration of the verb) were found near the unidentified remains of a Caucasian male. Nothing was found on or near the victim besides these two notes. Belgian police are investigating the matter further.

[rushrock]

^ Alrighty NOM, I shall ignore this thread. :wink: :P

[Flame_guy3]

Something I've picked out (not neccessarily symbolism):

 

 

 

The name of the main character 'Light', could be seen as somewhat ironic. Light meaning purity, good, clarity etc is the exact opposite of what his actions are seen as by the characters who have set out to stop him. Light, in the eyes of the likes of 'L' is seen as evil and does not inhibit the characteristics of someone pure or good. This maybe a reason for the creation of the name 'Kira' to portray the darkness of Light. The wording for this is difficult, I might re-work some of it later to make it clearer.

 

 

 

Someone please correct me on this if I'm wrong, I'm just taking a stab in the dark at this. This maybe loosely linked to your theory of one side having to die in order for the other to flourish. In order for Light to execute his grand plan he had to act more on what the Kira side of him would do (evil). This would mean that he would have to sacrifice the Light (good) side of himself for his plans to work and act more on the Kira (evil) side of himself to flourish.

Good points ill post that in the first topic post, and sorry rushrock it does contain spoilers :P.

 

 

 

Also i don't know HOW to put the spoiler tags so if you could just instruct me that would be great lol.