4 ms·

I agree with this completely; Light makes up for what I would say is an inferior deductive ability by using a supernatural item with rules that defy ordinary lo

I agree with this completely; Light makes up for what I would say is an inferior deductive ability by using a supernatural item with rules that defy ordinary logic and reason (L catches on early that such a tool must exist with his TV announcement stunt, but he can't possibly know the ruleset of such an item). The only way Near and Mello end up overcoming this advantage is by: (1) Mello obtaining a Death Note of his own, allowing him to ascertain the real ruleset, and (2) Near not being directly involved in Light's life the way L was, and there not leaking any extra information about himself until the finale. That last bit is especially critical considering L was taken out precisely because he was physically present and therefore had his real name observed by Shinigami eyes. I think the most under-utilized ability of the Death Note in the series is the ability to specify manner of death. Light uses this on occasion, but he could've have made many criminal deaths seem accidental or suicidal in addition to staggering their occurrences in time in order to throw L off from the very beginning.

arugulum 7y ago
>I think the most under-utilized ability of the Death Note in the series is the ability to specify manner of death. Absolutely. This ability is so significant that it completely overshadows the ability to kill people. If anything, the deaths should be treated as an unfortunate byproduct of being able to control people for 23 days in a row.
- chacha2 7y ago
  There were limits to this ability though. All behaviour had to be in character.
  - arugulum 7y ago
    Agreed, but there is still so much you can do. You can make dictators liberalize their countries. You can make billionaires donate away their wealth. And so on.
Kaiyou 7y ago
As far as I remember the only reason Light lost at the end is because a character managed to make an exact replica of a Death Note overnight. A magic book that can hold infinite names. It was this plothole that ruined the ending for me.
- faceplanted 7y ago
  To be fair to him, it's generally portrayed as a generic black notebook with words on the front, and the only way to notice that lack of infinite pages is to write hundreds or even thousands of names.
  - Kaiyou 7y ago
    I was more concerned with the ability to copy infinite or even just a couple of hundred sites overnight.

arugulum 7y ago

>I think the most under-utilized ability of the Death Note in the series is the ability to specify manner of death. Absolutely. This ability is so significant that it completely overshadows the ability to kill people. If anything, the deaths should be treated as an unfortunate byproduct of being able to control people for 23 days in a row.

chacha2 7y ago
There were limits to this ability though. All behaviour had to be in character.
- arugulum 7y ago
  Agreed, but there is still so much you can do. You can make dictators liberalize their countries. You can make billionaires donate away their wealth. And so on.

Kaiyou 7y ago

As far as I remember the only reason Light lost at the end is because a character managed to make an exact replica of a Death Note overnight. A magic book that can hold infinite names. It was this plothole that ruined the ending for me.

faceplanted 7y ago
To be fair to him, it's generally portrayed as a generic black notebook with words on the front, and the only way to notice that lack of infinite pages is to write hundreds or even thousands of names.
- Kaiyou 7y ago
  I was more concerned with the ability to copy infinite or even just a couple of hundred sites overnight.