Long Winded Posts Are Long Winded
A comment on one of the previous entries here inspired this bout of bullshit insight.
Anyone read or seen A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess? Come on, raise your hands! [shot] Okay, okay! [cough]
Note that all opinions stated here-on-in may just be speculations from different points of view. I do not necessarily agree with everything I say.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth the world is a rotten apple (Look! A pun!) and Raito changes the world using the Death Note. Then he gets killed, and the world goes back to being "rotten." It all leaves a sense of hopelessness. 1. That the world will never change. 2. That evil cannot become good. 3. Those who are evil remain evil. 4. Even those who do change inevitably return to their former way of thinking.
1. "That the world will never change." Raito attempts to change the world for the better by killing off criminals. And for a while, yeah, he's successful. Crime rates all around the world are dropping. People are beginning to worship the god "Kira." People are being good and just--the world seems to have reformed. But then Raito dies. The influence of "Kira" is gone. Despite that the public saw how good the world could be without crime, they returned to their ways. Crime rates rose, higher than ever. In comparison to the mysterious force that was Kira, the police forces of the world are nothing. It happens twice in the series, too. The first time was when Raito was imprisoned. As soon as criminals stopped dying, crime rates shot up. Then, when he died, criminal continued to lay low for a while, thinking it was a repeat of that. Then, the crime rates soared again, and despite Kira's influence--despite showing that the world would be infinitely better without crime--nothing changed. I feel like I can't stress that enough. Nothing changed. Things just got worse.
2. "That evil cannot become good." We know the argument. Killing is wrong. To quote Raito: in a classroom, if the question, "Is killing criminals right?" (Or something to that effect) were raised, of course the proper response would be "No." Death Note brings that argument to a whole new level. We get to see what the effects on society would be. And though the effects are positive in the long run, it doesn't justify the taking of a human life. Raito tries to change that, to show people that killing can be good. And slowly he gathers support for himself, under the facade of Kira. No matter how hard he tries to show people that killing criminals is the only way to save the world, in the end (I stress again), nothing changes. Death is still considered wrong. No one else attempts to take up the mantle of Kira. Killing is only a temporary solution to a problem that will probably never be completely taken care of.
3. "Those who are evil remain evil." There is no hope for criminals. The only way to reform them is to kill them. They have no chance of changing, they show no remorse. Raito may judge fairly in his killing (he does, just re-read some things in the manga), but those who commit crimes out of spite or desire, with no motive that could be considered for a good cause, are ultimately judged to be unworthy to continue their existence, and he kills them. Mikami follows this belief, as does Misa, but they both kill criminals indiscriminately. In Misa's case, she kills to reach her goal (Pleasing Raito).
4. "Even those who do change inevitably return to their former way of thinking." In other words, I'm just restating number three. "Those who are evil remain evil." But this goes a bit deeper. When Raito has his memories taken, his mind is 'purged' of the influence of the Death Note. If, indeed, it did influence him. As we know, he finds Kira's reasonings easy to understand and sympathize with even when he doesn't have his memory of being Kira. It could be that he always thought that way, and the Death Note just gave him a way to act on his ideals.
Either way, he returns to being the innocent Raito we see at the beginning of the series, who threw up when he realized he had really killed two people, and wouldn't have even considered sacrificing his own family for such a silly, unreachable goal as becoming the "god of a new world," as Raito so eloquently puts it. He helps L to catch the third Kira (Higuchi), going through quite a few ordeals to prove his innocence to L (The scene in the car shortly after Raito and Misa's incarceration comes to mind immediately). Even through everything he deals with--and the maybe-friendship he formed with L--when he regains his memories of his escapades as the killer he's been trying to catch for months, he has no second thoughts about becoming Kira again and killing anyone (even his family) who gets in his way.
In the end, with his death imminent, he still doesn't regret it. The only thing he may regret is getting caught.
I drew a few parallels between A Clockwork Orange and Death Note, but at the moment, I can't remember what they are. So, oh well. No, wait, now I remember!
In the end of ACO, Alex returns to his ways as a fucked up little monster, much as Raito returns to being Kira after regaining his memories. But Alex inevitably draws from his experiences in being mind-control-good, and seeing that one former droog of his (whose name I can't remember) and how his life changed for the better when he found a girlfriend and actually went to school--it makes Alex re-think his choice of being a criminal/delinquit forever. And it's hinted at the end that he becomes a good, happy, well-functioning member of society.
Raito doesn't draw from any of his experiences without his memory, and remains cold-hearted in the face of even his dying father; his tears an act. His taste of life without Kira was brief, and while he wasn't under mind-control to act that way, he acts like his choices back then were not his own.
In the end, nothing is gained. Despite everything, he returns to being Kira and does not reform. He dies thinking his ideals righteous. It all leads to a sense of hopelessness in the world. The world will not change/evil cannot become good/those who are evil remain evil/even those who reform go back to being evil.
It comes back to me stressing that nothing changes. Kira could have never stepped in and things would have gone on exactly as they were. If anything, Kira just sped up the process. Instead of it taking years for criminals to figure out that the police were actually weak, Kira showed them that. For Kira, the world pays.
And in the end, everyone dies, and they have no Heaven, nor Hell, to take comfort in. In the end, their efforts are nothing--they become nothing.
The end of the anime differs slightly, though. While in the manga, Raito dies writhing on the ground, screaming out for help from people who aren't there, in the anime, he dies peacefully on the steps of another warehouse.
While the ending of the manga fills us (Or maybe just me) with a sense of despair, the anime gives off the feeling that maybe, in the end, Raito did regret his actions. Staring into the face of the ghost (but most likely a hallucination) of his former maybe-friends, he dies without all the dramatics of the manga. Instead of that hopelessness, one gets the feeling that maybe things can change for the better. Maybe it's not all for nothing. Maybe things do change for the better. (Another paralles I draw. In the end of ACO, Alex realizes that what he did was pointless, or wrong, or something to that effect, and changes. Regrets his actions.)
In the anime, one doesn't see Aizawa and Matsuda talking about how the world hasn't changed--and take note that it's a spoof of the scene where Raito walks home from his prep school, contemplating the filthy humans that suffocate the world, and how someone should do something. One doesn't see the worshippers who gather on the mountain at night to pray for Kira to return and once again pass judgement on those who have commited crimes, those who have destroyed families, for their own selfish gain.
The anime is much kinder. But in my mind, the manga overshadows that peaceful scene. How, irconically, he dies from a heart attack, his name written in Ryuuku's Death Note--the very same death he bestowed upon the rotten people of the world. It's sad and pitiful. It's probably vengeance at its finest, for those who Raito killed.
But it remains that everyone is equal in death, not matter what they do in life. Nothing they do can change the inevitable nothingness that awaits them. In the end, nothing changes.
I'm sure you're tired of that now.
It's a very depressing story, when you read it with this in mind, and I'm not sure what point this was trying to prove. Just a random bout of inspiration and I had to type up my thoughts. Care to share your opinions? Or start a debate? Correct me on some points? Prove me wrong? Add some backing or support to my bullshit?
Please note - none of this is spell-checked.
Anyone read or seen A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess? Come on, raise your hands! [shot] Okay, okay! [cough]
Note that all opinions stated here-on-in may just be speculations from different points of view. I do not necessarily agree with everything I say.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth the world is a rotten apple (Look! A pun!) and Raito changes the world using the Death Note. Then he gets killed, and the world goes back to being "rotten." It all leaves a sense of hopelessness. 1. That the world will never change. 2. That evil cannot become good. 3. Those who are evil remain evil. 4. Even those who do change inevitably return to their former way of thinking.
1. "That the world will never change." Raito attempts to change the world for the better by killing off criminals. And for a while, yeah, he's successful. Crime rates all around the world are dropping. People are beginning to worship the god "Kira." People are being good and just--the world seems to have reformed. But then Raito dies. The influence of "Kira" is gone. Despite that the public saw how good the world could be without crime, they returned to their ways. Crime rates rose, higher than ever. In comparison to the mysterious force that was Kira, the police forces of the world are nothing. It happens twice in the series, too. The first time was when Raito was imprisoned. As soon as criminals stopped dying, crime rates shot up. Then, when he died, criminal continued to lay low for a while, thinking it was a repeat of that. Then, the crime rates soared again, and despite Kira's influence--despite showing that the world would be infinitely better without crime--nothing changed. I feel like I can't stress that enough. Nothing changed. Things just got worse.
2. "That evil cannot become good." We know the argument. Killing is wrong. To quote Raito: in a classroom, if the question, "Is killing criminals right?" (Or something to that effect) were raised, of course the proper response would be "No." Death Note brings that argument to a whole new level. We get to see what the effects on society would be. And though the effects are positive in the long run, it doesn't justify the taking of a human life. Raito tries to change that, to show people that killing can be good. And slowly he gathers support for himself, under the facade of Kira. No matter how hard he tries to show people that killing criminals is the only way to save the world, in the end (I stress again), nothing changes. Death is still considered wrong. No one else attempts to take up the mantle of Kira. Killing is only a temporary solution to a problem that will probably never be completely taken care of.
3. "Those who are evil remain evil." There is no hope for criminals. The only way to reform them is to kill them. They have no chance of changing, they show no remorse. Raito may judge fairly in his killing (he does, just re-read some things in the manga), but those who commit crimes out of spite or desire, with no motive that could be considered for a good cause, are ultimately judged to be unworthy to continue their existence, and he kills them. Mikami follows this belief, as does Misa, but they both kill criminals indiscriminately. In Misa's case, she kills to reach her goal (Pleasing Raito).
4. "Even those who do change inevitably return to their former way of thinking." In other words, I'm just restating number three. "Those who are evil remain evil." But this goes a bit deeper. When Raito has his memories taken, his mind is 'purged' of the influence of the Death Note. If, indeed, it did influence him. As we know, he finds Kira's reasonings easy to understand and sympathize with even when he doesn't have his memory of being Kira. It could be that he always thought that way, and the Death Note just gave him a way to act on his ideals.
Either way, he returns to being the innocent Raito we see at the beginning of the series, who threw up when he realized he had really killed two people, and wouldn't have even considered sacrificing his own family for such a silly, unreachable goal as becoming the "god of a new world," as Raito so eloquently puts it. He helps L to catch the third Kira (Higuchi), going through quite a few ordeals to prove his innocence to L (The scene in the car shortly after Raito and Misa's incarceration comes to mind immediately). Even through everything he deals with--and the maybe-friendship he formed with L--when he regains his memories of his escapades as the killer he's been trying to catch for months, he has no second thoughts about becoming Kira again and killing anyone (even his family) who gets in his way.
In the end, with his death imminent, he still doesn't regret it. The only thing he may regret is getting caught.
I drew a few parallels between A Clockwork Orange and Death Note, but at the moment, I can't remember what they are. So, oh well. No, wait, now I remember!
In the end of ACO, Alex returns to his ways as a fucked up little monster, much as Raito returns to being Kira after regaining his memories. But Alex inevitably draws from his experiences in being mind-control-good, and seeing that one former droog of his (whose name I can't remember) and how his life changed for the better when he found a girlfriend and actually went to school--it makes Alex re-think his choice of being a criminal/delinquit forever. And it's hinted at the end that he becomes a good, happy, well-functioning member of society.
Raito doesn't draw from any of his experiences without his memory, and remains cold-hearted in the face of even his dying father; his tears an act. His taste of life without Kira was brief, and while he wasn't under mind-control to act that way, he acts like his choices back then were not his own.
In the end, nothing is gained. Despite everything, he returns to being Kira and does not reform. He dies thinking his ideals righteous. It all leads to a sense of hopelessness in the world. The world will not change/evil cannot become good/those who are evil remain evil/even those who reform go back to being evil.
It comes back to me stressing that nothing changes. Kira could have never stepped in and things would have gone on exactly as they were. If anything, Kira just sped up the process. Instead of it taking years for criminals to figure out that the police were actually weak, Kira showed them that. For Kira, the world pays.
And in the end, everyone dies, and they have no Heaven, nor Hell, to take comfort in. In the end, their efforts are nothing--they become nothing.
The end of the anime differs slightly, though. While in the manga, Raito dies writhing on the ground, screaming out for help from people who aren't there, in the anime, he dies peacefully on the steps of another warehouse.
While the ending of the manga fills us (Or maybe just me) with a sense of despair, the anime gives off the feeling that maybe, in the end, Raito did regret his actions. Staring into the face of the ghost (but most likely a hallucination) of his former maybe-friends, he dies without all the dramatics of the manga. Instead of that hopelessness, one gets the feeling that maybe things can change for the better. Maybe it's not all for nothing. Maybe things do change for the better. (Another paralles I draw. In the end of ACO, Alex realizes that what he did was pointless, or wrong, or something to that effect, and changes. Regrets his actions.)
In the anime, one doesn't see Aizawa and Matsuda talking about how the world hasn't changed--and take note that it's a spoof of the scene where Raito walks home from his prep school, contemplating the filthy humans that suffocate the world, and how someone should do something. One doesn't see the worshippers who gather on the mountain at night to pray for Kira to return and once again pass judgement on those who have commited crimes, those who have destroyed families, for their own selfish gain.
The anime is much kinder. But in my mind, the manga overshadows that peaceful scene. How, irconically, he dies from a heart attack, his name written in Ryuuku's Death Note--the very same death he bestowed upon the rotten people of the world. It's sad and pitiful. It's probably vengeance at its finest, for those who Raito killed.
But it remains that everyone is equal in death, not matter what they do in life. Nothing they do can change the inevitable nothingness that awaits them. In the end, nothing changes.
I'm sure you're tired of that now.
It's a very depressing story, when you read it with this in mind, and I'm not sure what point this was trying to prove. Just a random bout of inspiration and I had to type up my thoughts. Care to share your opinions? Or start a debate? Correct me on some points? Prove me wrong? Add some backing or support to my bullshit?
Please note - none of this is spell-checked.