What If the Death Note ending was reversed (SPOLIERS)

N

Neferpitou

Stand User
After finishing Death Note I wonder what would happen if Light actual had succeed and defeated Near and killed everyone who stood in his way. What would have light have done next? I am not sure what his next step would be myself?
 
I don't understand your question when the answer is obvious?

If no-one stood in his way, he would've ruled the world; using his powers to manipulate the world so he'd make it to the top of the Japanese police.
 
Given Light's rapid escalation of his plan to include the elimination of anyone who stood in his way, and his wish to eventually rule the world openly as Kira and as a living God; I'd say he would have gone on to punish people for smaller and smaller slights and things he considered 'wrong' until he was almost universally hated. His rule would have collapsed and he would likely have been killed, the world returning to the way it was before.

In fact, dying for his cause without seeing it through to the end was likely the best ending for him, as well. As we see at the very end, it made him a martyr for his supporters.
 
It is conceivable he could maintain a grip on power for some time before his ultimate demise, but Light has one fatal flaw Big Brother doesn't: He actually exists.

Even if he could manage to rule until his death, he would have to pass on the Death Note to someone else to rule after him. What are the chances someone granted that much power would share his vision for the world? His 'perfect world' was always a fallacy, not least because he was not a God, and had human failings which were all too evident.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
ayase said:
Given Light's rapid escalation of his plan to include the elimination of anyone who stood in his way, and his wish to eventually rule the world openly as Kira and as a living God; I'd say he would have gone on to punish people for smaller and smaller slights and things he considered 'wrong' until he was almost universally hated. His rule would have collapsed and he would likely have been killed, the world returning to the way it was before.

In fact, dying for his cause without seeing it through to the end was likely the best ending for him, as well. As we see at the very end, it made him a martyr for his supporters.
Click to expand...

I couldn't imagine him ruling the world openly as Kira as it would be to much of a risk. He though once he took out L his problems would be over but then Near and mellow entered the picture. Who knows if another gifted individual would come out of that school as it was quite a few year after before near/mellow made their moves.

Also take into account if other death notes entered the world he could be taken out instantly if was known as kira.

After a little think about it, I think he would still be Kira behind the scenes and have someone as direct spokesman for himself but keeping his identity secret from even his spokesman.

The interest thing is would he carry on being L or/and stay in the police or just fake his own death. Would look awfully suspicious if someone found out he was the only one of either investigation team to survive was him. It would be easier to carry on being kira if you counted as one of the dead, as you not going to investigate dead man. He will still be able to get all the names he wanted posted on TV as could always threaten police chief to reveal them or face death.
 
I only watched the anime, which I thought was great. I've heard the manga is better but because I enjoyed the series so much I'd rather leave it at that.

Back onto the subject. I was rooting for the reverse. I guess it seems fairly obvious when you think about it. I'd say that L would be too smart to reveal himself as the megalomaniac ruler of the world. He'd rule from the background, for the conspiracy theorists out there, a kind-of illuminati-like figure. His downfall would more than likely be down to his own madness in the end.

You could turn it into another end of the world anime series if it had gone the other way.
 
To revive the topic somewhat:

As the Death Note is only a notebook, so evantually it must run out of pages to use. Would light evantually have to ration page use from what he normally uses, being more choosey on who to elimnate.

Unless he can get new book from ryuk, its seem to rule out him passing the Death Note to new owner just before he dies of old age.
 
Dave said:
To revive the topic somewhat:

As the Death Note is only a notebook, so evantually it must run out of pages to use. Would light evantually have to ration page use from what he normally uses, being more choosey on who to elimnate.

Unless he can get new book from ryuk, its seem to rule out him passing the Death Note to new owner just before he dies of old age.
Click to expand...

Lex Luthor:WRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOONGGGGGGGGG!!!!111 =P
Sorry couldn't resist, but the Death Note How to Read handbook says that the Death Note never runs out of pages. It is a supernatural artifact after all. I guess it's like the tardis. A lot bigger on the inside. Or maybe after a while the first names written disappear.

It's a bit silly but a necessary caveat really.

However, I seriously doubt someone as power hungry as Light would willingly give his Death Note to anyone unless he truly had to. HE wants to rule the world and become a god, dying doesn't factor in to his plans.
 
Sparrowsabre7 said:
Lex Luthor:WRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOONGGGGGGGGG!!!!111 =P
Sorry couldn't resist, but the Death Note How to Read handbook says that the Death Note never runs out of pages. It is a supernatural artifact after all. I guess it's like the tardis. A lot bigger on the inside. Or maybe after a while the first names written disappear.

It's a bit silly but a necessary caveat really.
Click to expand...

I see, a very cheap solution to the problem, but it expand an existing plot holes even deeper. It already would be near impossible to duplicate the death note completely like when they made the fake one at the end of story in one day. But also taking account it being hold infinite number of pages would it impossible to replicate LOL.

Sparrowsabre7 said:
However, I seriously doubt someone as power hungry as Light would willingly give his Death Note to anyone unless he truly had to. HE wants to rule the world and become a god, dying doesn't factor in to his plans.
Click to expand...

Light was only human so eventually he would die of something even if it was just old age. I guess the best solution would be to careful choose and adopt an young child who suffered torment at young age. So they have deep mental urge to stop people committing wrong doing. He would never tell his adopt child about death note while alive but it arrange it in his will so they would take possession once he had died.
 
Dave said:
Sparrowsabre7 said:
Lex Luthor:WRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOONGGGGGGGGG!!!!111 =P
Sorry couldn't resist, but the Death Note How to Read handbook says that the Death Note never runs out of pages. It is a supernatural artifact after all. I guess it's like the tardis. A lot bigger on the inside. Or maybe after a while the first names written disappear.

It's a bit silly but a necessary caveat really.
Click to expand...

I see, a very cheap solution to the problem, but it expand an existing plot holes even deeper. It already would be near impossible to duplicate the death note completely like when they made the fake one at the end of story in one day. But also taking account it being hold infinite number of pages would it impossible to replicate LOL.

Sparrowsabre7 said:
However, I seriously doubt someone as power hungry as Light would willingly give his Death Note to anyone unless he truly had to. HE wants to rule the world and become a god, dying doesn't factor in to his plans.
Click to expand...

Light was only human so eventually he would die of something even if it was just old age. I guess the best solution would be to careful choose and adopt an young child who suffered torment at young age. So they have deep mental urge to stop people committing wrong doing. He would never tell his adopt child about death note while alive but it arrange it in his will so they would take possession once he had died.
Click to expand...

Lol, yes, but I think it probably appears to have a finite number of pages so...ok I don't really have an answer for that =P but it was already a bit of an asspull that it happened at all, let alone Gevanni did it in a single night.
 
Always found Death Note a brilliant Idea but not as well executed as it could have been. There many plot holes and silly moments like the replicating the book in 1 day or putting explosives in his room to guard the Death Note.

It suffers from being in a weekly magazine with very tight deadlines. Should have been released monthly magazine and a lot of these errors and plot holes could be ironed out.

Another thing about the ending was what if Mikami was told to keep a sheet of Death Note on him at all times and only use it at the critical time. Their plan of copying the death note would have been useless LOL.
 
Dave said:
Always found Death Note a brilliant Idea but not as well executed as it could have been. There many plot holes and silly moments like the replicating the book in 1 day or putting explosives in his room to guard the Death Note.

It suffers from being in a weekly magazine with very tight deadlines. Should have been released monthly magazine and a lot of these errors and plot holes could be ironed out.

Another thing about the ending was what if Mikami was told to keep a sheet of Death Note on him at all times and only use it at the critical time. Their plan of copying the death note would have been useless LOL.
Click to expand...

True haha but Ohba admitted himself that he didn't have the end planned out from day one, he just took it as it came.

I think had it been envisioned as a self contained series and planned from the start before writing it could have been perfect, as it is I still think it's goddamn awesome and I'm not gonna let a few niggles bother me (I've ignored far worse lapses of character judgement in movies/anime =P)

p.s....actually your ending is actually brilliant =P better yet mikami could've made some torn out pages into a fake notebook (as in a fake normal-lookingnote book, with regular pages substituted for DN pages and then used that) ...ah the road not taken =P
 
I think I am bit harder towards Death Note than other Manga as it's more serious & mature story being told. I can forgive other works as they tend to be light heart affairs where mistakes can be easily repaired over the course of the story.

Still Its an impressive achievement with weekly time scale they where facing. But it would improved immensely in monthly publication as extra time would improve it no end. Good example of the extra time to improve a piece of work is the the ending of Live Action Death Note which I find is better than either Manga/Anime versions endings.

I always found it a bit strange that they never did a What If Death Note chapter showing what if light had actual won. I guess it not in Japanese in culture to do this but it has happen with things like Evangelion as an example.
 
Hmm that would've been cool. And I do like the live action ending (though I think as whole the production values are lower) but I think it kind of undermines L's character, but maybe that's just me.

And I know what you mean, but I think it bends plausibility just enough to get away with it. If there were no supernatural elements at all and no ridiculously ridicuously intelligent characters then I'd be harder on it too. It's all about whether or not something seems possible in the realms of the world created.

If aliens/ mecha started appearing that'd be a definite no-no =P but I think it just skirts being "OH COME ON!" territory =P
 
I think the absolute opposite as I don't think the movie undermines L character at all, in fact I think it reinforces his character. My reasons: Both L & Light are fighting for their own justice, both believing they are just. While Light is not willing to sacrifice half his life span to carry on his justice, L sacrifice his own to solve the case. I don't think there no way more you could believe in your own justice than to sacrifice yourself for it. In turn L proves he believes more in his ideal than Light does and in turn proving he is the more righteous of the two

I think the Movies are a bit faster paced and tell the story you need to know and doesn't drag on like the Anime does. I haven't read the Manga version yet only watched the Anime version but I say I prefer the live action version to anime series. Which is first for me as live action manga/anime adaptations are normally so-so.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Dave said:
I think the absolute opposite as I don't think the movie undermines L character at all, in fact I think it reinforces his character. My reasons: Both L & Light are fighting for their own justice, both believing they are just. While Light is not willing to sacrifice half his life span to carry on his justice, L sacrifice his own to solve the case. I don't think there no way more you could believe in your own justice than to sacrifice yourself for it. In turn L proves he believes more in his ideal than Light does and in turn proving he is the more righteous of the two

I think the Movies are a bit faster paced and tell the story you need to know and doesn't drag on like the Anime does. I haven't read the Manga version yet only watched the Anime version but I say I prefer the live action version to anime series. Which is first for me as live action manga/anime adaptations are normally so-so.
Click to expand...

Ah, excellent point, very well-reasoned. I guess it wasn't so much as undermining the character as.... I dunno, it just didn't sit right with me, I felt that killing him off was a big thing for the series to do because it was so unexpected.

I guess I don't know what it is that irks me about it haha. It's a great alternate ending, but I guess I'll always see it as just that; an alternate ending. I think the live-action film wasn't different enough from the main story to make it work as it's own entity, so I still see it as an alternate interpretation, rather than the differences between the "Trigun" anime and manga, where ffor the most part they are completely different and so you can see each one as it's own entity.

That might make sense to no one but me though XD

But I really like you explanation, it certainly is good reasoning behind the ending. I think it's just, endings aside the two "Death Note" movies just didn't do it for me, I didn't enjoy either as much as the anime series, and the less said about "L: Change the WorLd" the better =P (though it was enjoyable in a Adam West Batman kind of way, L typing for the lolz)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Maybe you didn't like the Death Note live action ending because: both had to die, so it not clear victory to either party and more of a draw. I guess maybe you would preferred an ending that match the manga or one where L got a complete victory without need to die for it. The way it end for me was easily better than conclusion of duel between them in the Manga or the actual finale with near.

As a battle between such evenly matched opponents would need one to be willing to sacrifice something to get the edge to win. As for me it felt cheap to gain a victory without losing something in return like Light did over L in the manga. Always found the way they killed L in the Manga a bit too easy and simply, he had sacrifice nothing to achieve victory so felt a bit hollow to me.

Be fair I haven't read the Manga edition in full to give it full dues, it could be better than live action film to me. But unless the Anime is million miles away from the Manga It won't match the films to me.

Another thing I like about live action films over the Manga is portrayal of Light of himself. He was simply too nasty a person in the anime, I always felt great hatred towards him how found such amusement when he sent that women to her suicide. Far enough he had to kill her but he could have been a little more respectful towards her instead of cheaply taunting her as walking to her doom. It not like he had a deep cited hatred towards her.

The Light in Live action was not nasty person to begin with but was changed because of the power of the Death Note. But still had some emotions left when he had to sacrifice his girlfriend to gain victory in the first film.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Dave said:
Maybe you didn't like the Death Note live action ending because: both had to die, so it not clear victory to either party and more of a draw. I guess maybe you would preferred an ending that match the manga or one where L got a complete victory without need to die for it. The way it end for me was easily better than conclusion of duel between them in the Manga or the actual finale with near.

As a battle between such evenly matched opponents would need one to be willing to sacrifice something to get the edge to win. As for me it felt cheap to gain a victory without losing something in return like Light did over L in the manga. Always found the way they killed L in the Manga a bit too easy and simply, he had sacrifice nothing to achieve victory so felt a bit hollow to me.

Be fair I haven't read the Manga edition in full to give it full dues, it could be better than live action film to me. But unless the Anime is million miles away from the Manga It won't match the films to me.

Another thing I like about live action films over the Manga is portrayal of Light of himself. He was simply too nasty a person in the anime, I always felt great hatred towards him how found such amusement when he sent that women to her suicide. Far enough he had to kill her but he could have been a little more respectful towards her instead of cheaply taunting her as walking to her doom. It not like he had a deep cited hatred towards her.

The Light in Live action was not nasty person to begin with but was changed because of the power of the Death Note. But still had some emotions left when he had to sacrifice his girlfriend to gain victory in the first film.
Click to expand...

No actually I quite like that they both died, I thought it was pretty cool, I guess I can't place my finger on it.

I agree it was a "hollow" victory for Light, but I think that was kinda the point, death is cheap.

Also I disagree totally about Light, I think the meaner the better. I also am not sure about him feeling bad about sacrificing ..Shuri was it? He looks all deep and contemplative at the end, but I don't know if he truly cared.

And I've started the manga, don't bother. If you didn't like the anime because of the long pacing you'll like the manga less. It's even longer in places but otherwise near identical.

OH! One thing that was cool about the end of the first movie though was that L was eating the same crisps as Light had been, I thought that was a neat "oh snap!" moment, like L had known all along.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Well I am stumped to know what you didn't like about the ending to the live action movie lol.

It fair point to underline the point that death is cheap but it doesn't feel right to end such an epic confrontation in such a way. I think the death is cheap motiff has been done that many times in death note that it doesn't need to be used on L to get this point across.

The problem I found with the anime was Light from moment you meet him he was a nasty piece of work. No bulid up of character what so ever, while in the live action you at least see he grow into a darker character.

While having him completely dark from outset can be a good thing to do it screws up later developments. I am referring to when he purposely loss his memory but become a completely different person to the one we saw at the begin at the series, which makes no sense.

Well with a Manga you can read it at whatever pace you feel like. If you find a section a bit boring you can skim read it to get better parts.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Back
Top