“Justice? I am justice! I am the god of the new world, saving it from evil and ridding it of fear. Those who betray God are the evil ones.” |
Light Yagami is the main protagonist of the Death Note film series. Similarly to his original manga and anime counterparts, he was the brilliant, but bored Japanese high-school student, who was bored of his life and was shocked of the imperfect world justice system. After finding the Death Note, He uses it to rid the world of criminals as the vigilante known as "Kira." His crimes attract the attention of the detective, L, and a model and actress, Misa Amane.
Appearances[]
Light in the first film wears a beige jacket, and in the second film, he wears a black jacket. Light's physical appearance is pretty much the same as in the manga/anime.
Character[]
Light's personality is one of the most complicated and hardest personalities of the fictional characters in the entire history. During the first movie, Light is a first year college student studying law. He has a huge frustration of the justice system and has this motivation when using the Death Note. He'll do anything for his conquest of the world, even killing his own girlfriend, Shiori Akino, and trying to sacrifice his own father after having Rem "kill" L and Watari. However, despite his ruthless and cold-hearted nature, Light isn't completely evil. It's heavily implied that he still has some large sense of remorse and something human left. This is evidenced by the facts that he still felt some huge sense of repentance after killing Shiori and he even heavily hesitated when trying to kill his own father. Despite killing Shiori, he still had some care for her and thus Light proved that he wasn't a heartless monster, but still needed to sacrifice her to defeat the Rask Squad and further his justice crusade to purge the world of everything rotten and evil. Also, he geniunely cared about his father and Light was heavily reluctant to write his name in the Death Note. Even when he did this, he still believed this was for the greater good of humanity. Even after being killed by Ryuk, Light showed genuine remorse to his father. His death is treated sympathetically, as he lamented to his father about how he wanted to reduce crime to make him proud, begging his father to understand.
Overall, Light is delusional and misguided, but yet honorable young man, who isn't without honor, morality and repentance.
History[]
Light's background is pretty much the same as his manga counterpart.
Plot[]
Death Note[]
Light is a first-year law student at a university. At one point, he hacks into the government database and finds that the government secretly acknowledges that it is unable to prosecute many criminals. Light discovers the Death Note in an alley during a rainy night after encountering Takuo Shibuimaru in a club. Light uses the Death Note to kill Shibuimaru, though because he does not specify on the cause of death, Shibuimaru dies of a heart attack.
After leaving the scene of the crime, Light meets Ryuk, who admits that he is going to let him keep and use the Death Note given he had left it behind on purpose because he was bored. Light eventually kills his girlfriend, Shiori Akino, and frames her death as a murder in order to join the Kira investigation team as a result of their sympathy.
Death Note: The Last Name[]
Light eventually gives the notebook to Kiyomi Takada. After Takada is caught, Light kills her to recover the Death Note, but it is taken by the investigation team. L states that he will test the 13-Day Rule, a fake Death Note rule designed to prove Light and Misa's innocence. Rem, knowing that L's actions will reveal Misa's identity as the 2nd Kira, writes both L's and Watari's names in the Death Note. Light then proceeds to write his father's, Soichiro's, name in the book, manipulating his father to return the confiscated Death Note.
However, once Light confronts his father, he finds that he is still alive. The investigation team members, including L, reveal themselves. Having already written his own name in the Death Note, they negated Rem's actions, L tells Light that he had just written in a fake note. Light tries to write on a hidden piece of Death Note in his watch as he tries to take it out, but is shot by Matsuda, an investigation member who spots him from above and shot Light in the right calf to prevent him from reaching the note piece a second time. Light tells Ryuk to write the team's names, promising to show him many interesting things, and begins to laugh hysterically.
However, Light stops, when Ryuk shows him that he had written just one name; Light's. which Yagami tries to stop Ryuk, but merely passes right through him. As Light begins to succumb to the effects of the Death Note, Ryuk takes this opportunity to reveal to him that humans that have used the Death Note are barred from entering either Heaven or Hell, instead spending eternity in nothingness. Light dies in his father's arms, begging him to believe that he acted as Kira to put the justice, which Soichiro had taught him since his childhood, into practice.
L: Change the WorLd[]
Light doesn't appear in the movie, but is frequently mentioned throughout the story, because the world still recovered from his vigilantism and L sought to fight the crime, by choosing his sucessors after Lawliet's death.
Light's role is approximately the same in the novel.
Death Note: Light Up the NEW World[]
Light is again frequently mentioned throughout the movie and still left his legacy through his son Hikari Yagami, who was born from him and Misa. His son eventually became next Kira and also tried to destroy the crime by using the death note. At the very end of the movie, in the mid-credit scene, Light appeared and told the viewers that everything that happened in the movie was according to his plan. This line heavily implied that Light was possibly reborn, but it's unknown how he was reborn yet, because the end of the second movie implied that was supposed to just fade from existence, because of him using death note.
Character changes[]
Light is a first year college student instead of a high school student and has a girlfriend named Shiori Akino. In the second film, L fakes his death and Light assumes he won. He finds out that it was staged and L already wrote his name in the notebook. Light is shot by Matsuda and has a breakdown, yelling a Ryuk to kill everyone in the room. Instead, Ryuk writes Lights name and Light dies in his father's arms.
Behind the scenes[]
Light is played by Tatsuya Fujiwara. Fujiwara was 23 years old at the time of the filming of Death Note (2006). He is voice acted by Brad Swaile in the English dub.
Trivia[]
- Fujiwara and Matsuyama became so immersed in their roles that they didn't talk until after production ended.
Quotes[]
- "Let's look for cameras, maybe there's a blind spot"
- "SHOW SOME COMPASSION, BELIEVE ME, I"M NOT KIRA!!"
Gallery[]
Images[]
- Main article: Light Yagami/Image Gallery#Film series images
