Anime Theory: Death Note Is MENTAL! (Death Note Theory) 

Honestly I think Misa's problem is mostly trauma. She witnessed her parents' murder, she was almost murdered herself by a crazed stalker, and then when Kira killed the criminal that murdered her parents she became obsessed with him and will do anything for him.

I'm a simple death note fan. I see death note. I like it.

Glad to see someone talking about psychopathy properly. I'm tired of people misusing the term. I'd say that Light and Karma (AssClass) are the best written psychopathic/sociopathic characters I've seen in any media.

The reality is that nobody is perfect both Kira and L were geniuses but they had their flaws too I don't think people like Death note bc of this I bet most of them did't even notice the mental illness

Please check out my second channel if you have time. I'm making some interesting content. ;) ru-vid.com/show-UCY-1l56gCcZpANHf03ToSCw

I'm pretty sure L and Near also have sensory integration dysfunction, or sensory processing disorder. Symptoms include odd facial expression (L's made some rather weird faces throughout the series), odd posture (I don't think I need to explain this), pickyness with with food (L only eating sweets), and routine fidgeting/playing with objects (L playing with food, Near twirling his hair and playing with toys) Plus, it's especially common among people with other conditions such as Asperger's.

I never realized how much I relate to L until today.

One thing about Light everyone forgets, despite the show displaying it plainly in lettering, is that anyone who owns a death note is basically possessed by its original owner. A God of Death. Light is a morally righteous and upstanding guy without the influence of Ryuk. We see this clearly when he loses his memory. If you own the dvds like I do in the cut away scenes they just show you the rules and tips written in the Death Note. It plainly says the thing about possession. Though it is never said aloud in the show. It is put on screen

Interesting call on L being a Marf, hell most people have never even heard of it. I have Marfan syndrome myself and regularly cosplayed as L seeing as I almost perfectly match his proportions, me being only 1 inch taller and ten pounds heavier but otherwise identical features so for what it's worth there's definitely some weight to that argument. As an aside, Marfan syndrome can actually have some very serious health ramifications relating, coincidentally, to the heart, particularly a risk of an aortic dissection. Those suffering from Marfan syndrome also commonly have scoliosis so 2 for 2 on that theory

You're actually wrong @ 0:55, for Mikami did indeed die in all adaptations of the franchise! Anime? Dead! Manga? Dead! Animated Films? Dead! Live Action Films? Dead!

Just a correction: none of these can be classified as illnesses since it isn't something you get or can be cured of, and illness is classified as something that stops you from living a normal life as part of the society, which none of these do, not even psychopathy, because not all psychopaths are criminals, so the three can be better classified as disorders ( which is the medical term for it) ( Anti-social personality disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) I have Aspergers and i'm not really offended by it since it's just common miss labeling, but I am aware that people get offended when they are called sick so just saying to avoid sadness spread information i guess. P.S.: I can't say anything about the physical part because I'm not well informed in that subject, apparently I have scoliosis but i don't know anything about it. P.P.S.: I think the way that L holds things is more linked to his sensory issues, because that is very common in people with autism,( Asperger's syndrome is now considered part of the Autism Spectrum)

i love this, and i love how you pointed out that they aren't representing these mental illnesses in a malicious way, but actually making characters who have them be relatable, funny, and cool individuals that people admire. awesome video !!!

I guess it's no wonder L was the character I identified with the most. Death Note is also handy for practice and research for a psychology degree. I'm going to have to ask my teachers about that...

Light seems to have NPD more than Psychopathy, which is Narcisism. He began with a Messiah complex before seeing himself as a god which will rid the world of evil and rule as the embodiment of Justice. He only cares about himself, and would even kill his family to further his goals. He has no regrets and uses his wife as a tool. Also, he's extremely intelligent and can lie with ease.

The main problem is that with marfan syndrom, which I have, joints are weaker and so therefore the type of martial arts and the way he sits would be way harder for someone with marfan.

i guess it's no wonder I felt so similar to L. It's because I too, probably have Asperger's. I haven't been officially diagnosed but everyone in my family thinks I have it and after reading into so much about it I don't think that there is much I can do at this point to deny it. Literally just waiting to get the diagnosis from a doctor.

I guess I relate most to L because we both have crippling OCD that controls our lives...

I read a youtube comment(forgot the name and video, sorry) which basically said that he probably has some joint disorder or something, and basically he sits like that because the pressure on his joints calms him

I know a guy who was born with both scoliosis and bilateral thumb hypoplasia. Can't get any worse than that...

His "God complex" could be closely linked to narcissism which is also found in psychopaths.

I don't think Light was a psychopath until after he used the Deathnote and got a taste of its power. As they say: power corrupts and absolute power, corrupts absolutely. At least that's how I see it.

Another one for light is paranoia. I mean he was willing to blow up his room to prevent anyone seeing the death note

I will like to see a theory on how much energy the super tengen toppa gurren Lagan create in the last fight agains the antispyral.

Also those commenters are wrong. Mikami did die in the manga. Matsuda reveals that Mikami died in prison shortly after.

For light I agree but he would be a sociopath not a psychopath. Psychopaths are born there like that from birth but sociopaths are made. As in he wasnt like this till he got the book

I wont mind waking up to L.

2:56 Fan girls: BLASPHEMY

Only thing that kinda rubs me the wrong way is that autism/aspergers is not a mental illness it's a neurological disorder

I have Aspergers, and it's interesting how they portray L. I also has ADHD, but I'm not chronically bored and I wouldn't half my lifespan in the 2 seconds it's offered. I just find Misa annoying, and everyone finds Misa more annoying than me.

Am i the only one who felt like they had some mental ptoblem for days when they saw Light's death..?

Great job on this one! Can't wait for that Higurashi video

Technically these days aspergers doesn't exist, according to the dsm5. It is now apart of ASD (autism spectrum disorder). L is certainly an autistic. He is high functioning. The thing with L is even though they don't really show it in the anime. I wouldn't like to get him started on his favourite topic. Because you won't be able to get him to shut up, otherwise. High functioning autistics feed on topics of their interest. L's interest is obviously criminology and may also be some psychology thrown into the mix as well. I too have autism and I can relate with L a lot. I too feed on criminology. Even though there were scenes in death note that I would like to hit L over the head. Being a detective, he should know NOT to touch the evidence with his bare hands. When he received the tapes from the second kira. He handled the envelope with his bare hands. Way to go L you just contaminated the evidence. I also think that Chief Yagmai also did this. Guys you're detectives, and L your the best detective and yet you contaminated your evidence. Next time L use gloves. The other give away with L being autistic is, you watch him closely next time and look at his eyes. He very rarely look at anyone directly in the eyes, not even Watari. L may look at someone in the eyes, but watch closely he would look at the ground, or the wall, or his food. But never looks at anyone's eyes. When Light forced L to look at him directly in the eyes, I reckon that Light made L feel extremely uncomfortable. L needs stimulates as well. That's why he plays with his food, chew his nails or play with his toes he's self soothing. L also wouldn't like many people to be around him. Not that he doesn't trust people, but he feels uncomfortable being around people. Autistics aren't social butterflies they prefer their own company. With his addiction to sweets, that'll do with his sensitivity. Autistics are very sensitive to certain stimuli. It isn't unheard of for an autistic going after sweets. But I think there's more to it than taste. I think that L only likes soft foods. Look at the food he eats. More often than not they're all soft. You don't see him sucking on a gob stopper you don't see him eating an apple, you don't see him eat hard biscuits like an ANZAC biscuits. Instead he eats cakes, bananas, rock Mellon aka cantaloupe, macaroons and tiny teddies. All of which are fairly soft. It's the texture not the sugar that L likes. With me when I get a meal it has to be extremely hot, so hot that I end up getting burns in my mouth. It's a stimulant. With me I prefer to eat extremely hot food, if I'm not burning my mouth then I am not enjoying my meal. My family has nicknamed me volcano mouth because of it. Even if a meal is fresh from the oven I have to zap it in the microwave. I think to a much lessor extent that N too is on the spectrum. But he doesn't have ASD as bad as L or me for that matter. What gives that away, is that N has a massive imagination and he loves playing. Autistics don't do this. Autistics do have imagination, but if you have a child on the spectrum and you give them a toy, they will stray away from it, they won't take it to another child and play with it. Autistics primarily don't know how to play. And I'll bet that L too couldn't play as a child. However, N and L are very repetitive. Everything has to be done a certain way. N playing with dice. You look closely at the tower on each individual side of the structure. The faces of the dice are certain number of dots. N doesn't put them up their randomly, he's very precise.

light is not a psychopath he’s a sociopath he’s obsessed with people knowing about his work and following him

Interesting stuff about L and Misa and believable to their characters. As far as Light is concerned though word of the creator has stated that he was the way he was because the Death Note itself corrupted his mind. If he had never picked it up he would have gone on to graduate as the top student in Japan and become a great cop on the same level L was. Now, because he did come into possession of the Death Note he clearly did become the world's most dangerous psychopath but honestly it seems more in line with possession than mental illness. If anything, I see him having an extreme case of narcissism. Make what you will of this.

I think light could be considered a narcissist to an extent

I thought 'god complex' is a mental disorder, or at least a symptomp of one. Megalomania the clinical term if I'm not mistaken.

I think Kira was that bad...He killed people who were wrong at least 90% of them. Most people are aversed to change that's why they think he's bad. Except for the part where he went all psycho, if he remained sensible and killed by proper judgement then it would probably have been ok.

The plot tells you they're mental in the head anyway

Matsuda is my favourite charachter

Light's a sociopath, not a psychopath.

Hey, DuoReview, in the next Death Note review, are you going to expand on Light/Kira's Anti Social Personality Disorder (ASPD)

Don’t we all have masks we wear while we are in the public eye? Excluding of course... you know... the pandemic.

Can you please do a Code Geass theory? Thank you in advance! ^-^

w0uIdnt Iight be a sociopath

matsuda is my spirit animal

Hundreds of thousands of deaths.

and let's not forget the fact that misa has Stockholm syndrome

I thought Light was a sociopath - he felt horrible initially, but quickly grew callous and uncaring, so he developed the syndrome. Psychopaths are born, sociopaths are made. Or is this a case of Light 'wearing the mask' too well and convincing himself of his humanity?

Is it just me who, when watching death note, wanted to also be L's friend because I felt sorry for him?

Misa has more than ADHD. Would have liked to see you look more into Misa's dependence and subservience to Light, her willingness to be used.

Interesting how you theorize that L may have Aspergers. People with Aspergers tend to be "light" sensitive.. get it? L is sensitive to Light?? I tried to make a funny..

Misa also has dependent personality disorder.

Interestingly, I felt like the one exception to Light's indifference towards people was L. Despite their roles as adversaries, Light seemingly respected L more than he did anybody else. He even got upset by Near wearing a mask of L, perceiving it as an insult to his memory. My guess is that Light and L were the closest thing the other ever had to a friend, or at least an equal, somebody who understood how they thought and felt. We know L basically said as much but judging from Light's demeanor whenever he brought up L, I think it's fairly safe to assume he felt the same way. Now granted that may be because - as I think Light states at some point - not having to constantly make moves to counter L's takes the challenge out of being Kira. Still, since Kira is essentially Light's true identity, one could see how he might feel a connection with the only person who has ever engaged - or rather been able to engage - with him on that level.

i think L is holding the phone so weirdly not because he has some physical issues with his hands, but because he is disgusted by the bacteria, that is also why he never presses the phone on his cheek because he tries to minimize contact lol

Actually Mikami did die in the Manga. 10 days later but he did still die, so your good.

If L has scoliosis, how the fuck is he so good at tennis?

L's back disorder thing could just be him having disregarded his long-term health in his past when he was completely invested in cases. Same thing with the sugar habit I guess; non-stop fuel for non-stop fully immersive investigation.

I would most definitely want to wake up to L's face in the middle of the night.. o.o

You should do a Theory about L's past

I rewatch the anime once a year

I have Asperger and I'm not offended Have a great day :>

L weird way of standing and picking up things made him look even cooler He was made in a very realistic way, he was a genius but not perfect....

to be precise, Light Yagami is a sociopath, because psychopaths are born whereas sociopaths are made. and he became a sociopath after he got the death note

well, I am a fan of L and guess what, I have Asperger's syndrome x3

another thing that supports the idea that L has asbergers, is the semi-monotone voice, and all of the constant fidgeting. Light however, is a sociopath, with a MAJOR god complex (which he develops the more he uses the death note).

I think L just has really bad posture, not any disorders.

What is a normal anime character ?

I honestly started crying when you said L probably has Asperger's. Death Note was my favorite anime in middle school, and I was diagnosed with Asperger's last year. I knew I had a lot in common with L, and it was so nice to hear that someone recognized what he had. So I'm crying not because I'm upset, but because I'm so glad that you saw this and pointed it out.

Light is a textbook sociopath rather than a psychopath, though both have shared qualities.

One of the death note books explains some of L's quirks as a result of the strain that comes with the title of "L": "Who could comprehend the man who had lived his life, and had to live confronting all the lives ended prematurely, the tears of the grief stricken survivors, the devaluing of life as a daily reality. How was it possible to measure the pain of such a man? Was it a strain so heavy that L's back curved under all its weight? Was it an agony so terrible as to leave the indelible dark circles around his eyes? Was it a feeling so bitter that every bite he took needed to be coated in sugar? The chronically rounded shoulders, the inevitable dark circles, the eccentric tastes---L suppressed the pain of being a champion of justice, but the evidence of the pain was molded into his very body."

I thought Misa would have some sort of obsessive disorder since she endangers herself purely because of an obsession. I guess that could be linked to ADHD but I feel like there's a separate condition.

Not a bad video, but one minor nitpick, its not pronounced ass-burgers, its pronounced Ah-Sper-gers. Its a common misconception, just wanted to mention that ^_^

Honestly I just think L's back looks like that because of the way he always sits lol

Light actually isn't a natural psychopath, the Death Note corrupted him and turned him into one. When Light lost his memory of the Death Note, we got to see the real him, and he's actually kind, caring, helpful and motivational. It's really sad that the Death Note turned this good person into a monster, and also ended up killing him.

as a person who has had scoliosis surgery i just wanted to say this as you got it wrong. severe scoliosis can kill you. just takes decades and is beyond painful.

I love L as a character I really connect with him and I also have aspergers syndrome

2:55 fangirls triggerd

I like to believe Light has a God Complex (which isn't technically a mental illness, but still), L has OCD (ish) and is germaphobic, and Misa has ADHD.

L lied Light is not L’s friend just because of the Kira case

2:56 I mean, there aren’t many faces you’d want to wake up to in the middle of the night.

I'm like L. I have Aspeger's as well.

I really love Death Note ;~; It's gonna be once in a million to find another good anime like this again and never get bored of it.

Mental or not .. I love it 😂

5:00 I knew there was a reason I found L so relatable! He's the same as me.

Death Note is my absolute favorite anime ever, and L is my absolute favorite anime character of all time. One of my favorite things about the series is that the characters are so unique. For example, L is a genius detective who sits with his knees to his chest, eats sweets almost constantly, does not sleep a lot, and holds things in a different manner than those around him. He is also very interesting in the way he talks and acts, he is very gentle but at the same time, very strong and will give everything for what he pursues. I think these combinations of characteristics and features are the most interesting and compelling of any character I've seen. I have always been able to relate to L more than any other character, and I think the Death Note creators are absolutely genius for putting this much thought and depth into their character designs. The anime is made by its characters, who are all so interesting and different and intriguing in their own way. The anime is a work of art to me, and the characters are works of art in their own right too :) Thank you for the awesome video, I just found your channel and I am binge watching your theories, they are so good and thought provoking! Keep up the good work ^-^

7:12 this is why L never seemed like a psychopath since L finally found a “friend” in Light.

Thank you so much for doing this video. Having Borderline Personality Disorder, the portrayal of mental illness is one of the reasons I love Death Note and use it as therapy. It is very rare people are brave enough to talk about it Xxx

Light has a grandiose sense of self, almost total narcissistic personality disorder, as well as psychopathic tendencies. He believes he is flawless, and his mind is likely fraught with delusions of grandeur. He definitely believes himself to be the epitome of human perfection. And well why not? It's easy to see how such visions of himself were formed. He's always been on top. Even where we first meet him, in high school, he was championed as the brightest student. This was perhaps elevated when he met L, someone who was actually able to contest Light and even match wits with him. Light, then not only had to prove to L that he wasn't Kira, but he had to prove to himself that what he was doing was right. In his mind, he really did believe what he was doing was correct, as per his psychosis. For most of the anime, he rationalizes what he's doing as "justice", or rather an effort to create the "perfect world". Of course he believed he was the only one who could actually do this. Whether his mental illnesses were latent or not, I don't think we can make any quick assumptions. True, he may have been conditioned to his narcissism by his family and peers, I don't think the same can really be said of his psychopathic and delusional ideals. In fact, once he has the death note, I'd argue that his personality does a complete 180. He isn't his old self, so to speak. I don't know if this means the death note itself triggered many of the disorders he already had, or if it created these in Light once he found out just how powerful it could be. As interesting as it all is, we could arguably do whole case studies based on the characters in the anime. I believe they suffer from more mental illnesses than this, and you've barely scratched the surface. Imagine what kinda research paper that would end up being, yeah?

It feels like you're completely ignoring any contextual reasoning for the characters to act the way they do. L's social behavior could be attributed to being raised in a closed off environment to become a detective. Misa has experienced multiple traumatic events, in addition to being a young pop-star. Did you just google mental illnesses and pick one for each? This video feels lazy, and shows a lack of understand for both the illnesses you're describing, as well as the characters in the show.

This channel is too lit for me to handle.

By the way, was light always a psychopath or did he develop it?

in between first and last

The way Death note characters would have died if there was no death note : L: Diabetes Near: Loneliness Light: Old age Misa: The man who tried to kill her at first and whom gelus killed(consider gelus didnt kill him) Mello: Mafia and drugs. Matsuda: Being a stupid jerk.

Me and L are so alike we both have Aspbergers

Awesome video as usual! Just so you know for future videos though, while psychopathy is a legitimate mental condition that needs to be monitored, the term "psycho" is actually considered a slur among the neurodivergent, so you may want to be careful about using it in the future. Also it should be noted that Asperger's syndrome (now more commonly referred to as ASD or Autism Spectrum Disorder) is not actually classified as a mental illness, but is truly a developmental disability. Otherwise, you're pretty much spot on! Keep up the awesome work.

Misa is, like... textbook borderline. She ticks so many of the criteria it's wild, and all or most of it can be traced back to the severely traumatic experiences (PTSD, much?) she went through prior to the start of the series. Impulsive behavior, black and white thinking (her extreme idealization of Light vs her devaluation of many other characters, for example), self-destructive tendencies, fear of abandonment, feelings of emptiness, etc etc... There's a lot to be said about Misa's psychological profile.

Just wanted to note that your speculation that L has Marfan syndrome is possible but not quite for the reasons you specified. Marfan does not only affect the fingers and toes, it affects the entire body in various ways. Including often causing scoliosis(in roughly 60% of cases) as well as the lithe, frail build L seems to have. The syndrome that you were thinking of which affects only the fingers and toes, is Beals syndrome. Not your fault though, people confuse them a lot. Great video, just felt like I should comment, as someone who has Marfan syndrome.

L has Insomnia, which you can see because of the bags under his eyes other than that I don't think he has any of the physical deformities you mentioned. For instance the finger one doesn't make sense L just holds stuff weird because the authors wanted to make him odd and quirky. Also L just has bad posture not scoliosis I know because I know a lot of people who have it and L can stand normally. Although your points were pretty interesting, but I'm surprised you didn't mention L's insomnia.

I don't think L has scoliosis. I just think he slouches just because it feels natural to him. I myself have aspergers and I have always slouched. It feels natural to me. But then again who knows.