[Contains Spoilers from Death Note]
When a substitute teacher walks into your class on the first period of a Monday morning, one of the prime thoughts in your mind is that it grants you the opportunity to catch up with your buddies, and narrate how your weekend went to them, unless of course you have incomplete homework due next period. However, that very morning, it seemed like I had built castles in the air, since there was a colossal damper to my plans - my friend preferred to read “Attack on Titan”, a book that I then thought to be subpar as it was classified as a manga series. I glared at my companion as I felt my lips crease into a contemptuous smirk, and I would like to believe that he turned around to glance at me within seconds since my frustration was evident to him. He shrugged, and with a hint of attempted nonchalance in his voice, he proceeded to tell me how I might enjoy the storyline if I tried it. My incorrigible self regarded this as his grim attempt to change my opinion, leading to me telling him how I would never stoop down to reading manga or watching anime. In response, he grinned from ear to ear, and softly chuckled to himself while shaking his head in amusement, which was enough of an indicator of the fact that he would have the opportunity to laugh several years later.
For years that followed, numerous acquaintances were appalled by the fact that I had not given anime or manga a fair shot yet. Externally, these reactions were only met by an eye-roll from my side - but there was something interesting that I noted. The plenitude of my friends suggested that I begin by watching an anime called “Death Note”, as they felt I would resonate with the main character and the theme in general. After four years of constant botheration, I finally gave in, and decided to watch the first episode. Needless to say, I was absolutely awestruck and astounded, since I never believed that an animated show could have such a dense plot - a true battle of wits between an idealist who was blinded by his hubris, and a detective with a touch of fundamentalism. The anime had somehow wrapped everything I love into a neat advent calendar of thirty seven episodes, and I was pleased to watch every single one of them.
I was wonderstruck by the mind of Tsugumi Ohba, who came up with the masterpiece that I was so impressed by. Light Yagami, the main protagonist of the series, is perhaps the only fictional character upon whom I have experienced an intense crush. My obsessed mind even bought Light Yagami pins to adorn my pencil cases with - to this day, I still do not desire to forget the shrewdness and strong convictions he held as a character. This fantastic experience led to me watching many more anime, such as Assassination Classroom, Kuroshitsuji, Code Geass, Kakegurui, No Game No Life, Akame ga Kill!, My Hero Academia, and of course, Attack on Titan (in my defense, the irony of life is cruel).
Being a person who takes pride in being inveterate, I was even more stunned by the fact that the concept of a notebook that can be used to kill people had influenced me so much. There is no halt to my humour which involves various scenarios and concepts from Death Note, and this is owed to the fact that I have watched Death Note eleven times so far, just because I missed seeing Light Yagami alive.
Given the fact that I watched the anime on Netflix, it was only obvious that I would stumble upon Netflix’s take on Death Note - a movie that left me chagrined, as it was not honourable to the original diegesis. To begin with, the film was entirely whitewashed, since the Japanese characters were replaced by American actors. Presumably, this is the reason behind why the characters “Light Yagami” and “Misa Amane” were renamed to “Light Turner” and “Mia Sutton” respectively. Believe it or not, these were the least of my concerns.
As a person who has always valued others on the basis of their intelligence, I was more than infuriated to see how Light Yagami’s Netflix counterpart was an imbecile, who would never be able to get away with his acts like the original character did. Light Yagami came up with an intensive plan to shield the Death Note, which involved a drawer with a decoy diary and a secret compartment. The compartment housed a tiny hole, within which an ink reservoir needed to be inserted, as the receptacle was surrounded by a circuit, which would burn the Death Note if the partition is forced open through any other means. The reason this plan holds a special place in my heart is since it was depicted as early as the second episode - and sets the theme for Light’s explicit attention to detail. On the other hand, Light Turner is portrayed to be a shallow character, who is moronic enough to carry the Death Note in a school auditorium, and gullible enough to share it’s power with a girl he barely knew.
An important personality trait in Light Yagami is the fact that he is depicted to be a logical and focused man with one goal in mind - getting rid of criminals so he could be the creator of a new world. This meant he had no time or energy for romantic links, however, Light Turner and Mia Sutton are depicted to fall in love within days of meeting each other, and this is not only an unjust portrayal, but also extremely unrealistic. The movie changed the plot significantly by making Misa’s Netflix counterpart to be far more smarter than Light, which turned the tables in an unfavourable way. The condescending and levelheaded L was turned into a dramatic douchebag who chased Light across cafes. All in all, I was disappointed to witness how the image of something I loved was tarnished in the worst way I could possibly imagine.
My attachment to Death Note, and Light Yagami in particular, stems from a wide array of places. Although it’s been a year since I watched the anime, my fascination with it is not over yet.
On a related note, schoolmates deduced my interest in anime from my school email profile pictures, and a few of my observant acquaintances were quick to make remarks pertaining to my sudden change of opinion.