What's in an OP? - Death Note's Heavy Christian Symbolism 

Lol The teacher is Ryuk in human form xD

THATS IT IT HIS FAULT

Don’t forget how Light was sitting like a cliche anime protagonist and Ryuk wanting some drama

True

Yeah this is big brain time

I will take this comment... *AND LIKE IT!*

I will take this reply...AND LIKE IT!

@@RatChad I will take this reply to a reply... AND LIKE IT!

@@devenbattish5701 I will take this reply to reply to a reply... AND LIKE IT!

@@ionlydrinkjesusmilk7256 I will take this reply to a reply to a reply to a reply to a reply... *AND LIKE IT!*

Lmao

Because Jesus dried Juda's feet, too, even if he betrayed him. Same with L and Light, I think?

@@maranegrii4780 Damn that makes a lot of sense

The Ultimate Weeb :3 yes,you’re right

@@perke7456 it is lol L symbolises Jesus

And the last 11 are not? Edit: What I meant was the whole thing was a masterpiece, even if the quality worsened at _some_ parts.

You cant imagine my disappointment in the last 12 eps! Especially the final ep 😓

what the fuck the last episode is the best episode in the whole series and i agree that the first half is better but still with many flaws and imperfections حسام عبدالقادر

@@aleksatomic3167 Tbh it left me disappointed! I expected its going to end with Light getting caught and ryuk writing his name but the events that led to this made the outcome feel forced or cheap! Things like mikami disobeying a direct order from his god or Light shouting like an idiot when he tries to write near name on a scrap or not having a back up plan?! Light the person who defeated L making these mistakes felt unbelievable

@@tomstarmot nope! Light ordered mikami to not make any move before the meeting

plot twist

@I so wanna die he would just burn it i guess.

Rimuru Tempest no way you fool, L would experiment with that thing all day.

was looking for this

I mean if you think about it after L died.... He was L...

dang I never read into this stuff I just thought wow cool op xd

@@inkllama5445 yeah where the fuck was Lind in the OP

InkLlama Even though Light thought Lind was an innocent, he still didn’t kill an innocent man. Raye and Naomi were actually completely innocent, and light knew it

@@ThePapaDragon Yeah right

I feel it was the first time Light completely turned evil. When Light killed the criminals, he had a reason (ethically wrong, but a reason nevertheless). Light killing Lind L Taylor symbolises his destabilisation. Taylors speech was deliberately created by L to goad Kira into killing him. On the other hand, Rey and the other FBI agents were murdered by Light proactively. It wasn't even true self-defence. In all honesty, Light would have been better off if he didn't kill Rey, and I'm sure he could've figured it out. The Death Note is magic, and people don't see what they're looking for. Those killings were symbolic of Light's belief that he is right because he is God. Naomi's death is somewhat different. She had information pertaining to the Kira case that would almost certainly incriminate him, or at least cripple his ability to kill. However, the way he killed her and taunted her at the end shows how evil and depraved he has become. I like to compare Light's fall from grace with that of Macbeth. Much like Macbeth, Light first kills in righteousness, without the intention to become evil. Light kills Taylor much like how Macbeth kills Duncan. They both then fall into an endless spiral of murder to protect themselves and lose their conscience and morality with each murder.

Yes, exactly. Jesus foreshadows and predicts His death multiple times. Also, Jesus calls Judas out in the middle of the Last Supper in front of the rest of the disciples.

Bro don t give bible spoilers man

Nope...L never trusted him....Light just outsmarted 'world's greatest detective'

YES PERFECT

@@fl1xy785 best comment here lol

nonamed _ ray Wasn't completely innocent. He tried to catch kira.

AwesomeExplosion FTW cause kira evil.

No. He killed lind l tailot who he thought was a detective.

GreyArc VG lol Lind L. Tailor wasn't an innocent man

arun kumar for light he was.

Because he can't stand windows.

phoxxentswrath BADUM TSS

phoxxentswrath LMAO

same, i'm pretty stupid so these kind of symbolism is too far from my thoughts xD

Literally I thought the heavy handed symbolism was just a cool thing they threw in cause it looked cool. I'm a fool

yes

it was in tokyo ghoul too, it must symbolize something beyond chess i think, like,,,,,,,,,, i really have no idea but im sure it does

@@ziinepctnkaya5969 a checkered pattern commonly symbolizes a balance of good and evil because of the contrasting black and white. It's common in freemasonic temples. It's interesting how at one point in the OP the checkered pattern is red and black. Red, the color of initiating one's self into corruption and black, representing evil(as I said earlier). Then it's followed by light crashing into the ground and shattering, as if it's representing that his fragile mortal form combined with his corruption and the dark nature of his actions have resulted in his downfall.

First 26, yes. The rest of them, no. After L died, the show noticeably declined, and the ending didn't live up to expectations. It wasn't terrible, but after everything going on with the whole series, it fell short. Still a good anime though.

nice observation man!

fuuucking hell the layers just dont stop

@@turnleftaticeland you gotta really ask yourself, do you think whoever came up with the opening really thought up ALL of these references, or do you think some of them are intense contemplation from others?

I can't express how much a masterpiece of a shot that is . Like god damn . The way they both face down and staree at each other is absolutely great!

Utkarsh I. It's Death Note. The one Anime you have to put a lot of thought into just to follow along. Boi.

Utkarsh I. *Cheers*

! ! ! ! I Love your profile photo ! ! ! !

Many works of art including anime always have a lot of thought put into it... A lot, just like this OP, and its great because it really makes you appreciate it more

Theirs no proof it means any of this but this is called literary analysis. God bless!

Because he's... Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeviiiiiiiiiil

Red oni blue oni

Blue represents his first good intentions, and red is the evil

wow you noticed it

turning from Justice to Justice huh >.>

and as basement said, ryuk is in the sunlight at first. before meeting light

Or yagami means im a gay

夜神月

He is not that far from being an actual god. He posses the power of The God.

Shinigami = God of death Yagami = God of night

Nate Blazek HMmmMMMMMM

and also a pen.And doesn't light with the angel behind him gives a similar picture drawn by michael angelo or someone ..... i don't remember but that picture had a human with 4 arms and 4 feet in the same directions as shown

@@moviecrew3336 vitruvian man

Woahh I didn't catch that

@@izzywizzy2673 me neither lmao

I see them as literal reflections of the modern "current" world. Death note is a tale about morality, and how it's white, black and gray hues intertwine and interact with the world itself. Placing light onto tops of buildings cements his position as a god "of justice" but it also ties the allegorical story of Death Note back into our world. It's story might not apply in real life, but it's themes do.

This makes more sense considering the elevator animation.

That's really good analysis

soul shield brilliant

soul shield It could also be a symbol of Light's rebellion- he ascends the tower to become the God of the New World but to do so, he stands in opposition to another God in the judicial system.

so many many cocks so many many cocks from rngland

ikr

Yeah I recently rewatched the show and now listen to this song almost daily

I'm surprised there are no replies taking about how you are everywhere.

@@zacharypreval3186 Well now there is.

You again

Hello again! So, how have you been since your last appearance in the videos I’ve been watching?

I literally see you in every damn video i watch

Yess100%

Might be Icarus, with the sun and him falling to his death bc of his ego.

Or it could be a reference to misa

@@Sh6sTh6Smok6 how is it misa?

How did I not notice this?!

buneter eating it

buneter One of the seven deadly sin? Or god's omniscent presence?

buneter Ass

buneter comedy

*A N D E A T I T*

Yeah, probably a quill

It's Niizuma!

It's probably referring to death note.........or maybe death note refers to that XD who knows

Good eye! I never noticed that before. Also, he describes the painting behind him as "Renaissance style," but to me it seems more like a vague allusion to William Blake... all those "Red Dragon" figures and the like.

I just saw that too

Ooh interesting! I’m a sucker for Icarus references in media so this is a great interpretation by my standards

The whole opening was on meth lol

Ryuk without apples*

Simna ibn Sind very interesting!

NICE

yagami backward is imagay

So what you’re saying is that this is Light’s opinion of himself: “I’M THE LIGHT BRINGER! I’M THE F*CKING UNIVERSE!”

Simna ibn Sind Also the Kanji in Light's last name is, in his own words,'Night and *god.* Pretty weird, right?'

Thank you

I’ve watched the whole anime like 7 times in total lol it’s my favorite by far

THANK YOUUUU- the entire time I knew Near existed, but all I knew is that his eyes were like L's, he had white hair, and played with toys, and I thought his name was N So when that death happened, I knew he would be Near by, and I got extremely excited and I wasn't disappointed and just like L, he became a major comfort character for me. I love Near and Mello and just Death Note in general :')

Good afternoon to you too, as well as anyone who did stop watching after episode 26

I watched passed 26, but I wish I didn't

yeah exactly

he specifically says he's going to do the second one another time

I thought that *before* watching the video.

same

Yea me too

Oh snap i never noticed that.

@@somaraid yeah!

timestamp?

@@nope4909 11:05

Someone mentioned that it might be Icarus actually, since the sun is behind him. Icarus fell to his death bc of his ego. And Icarus was human like Light. I think this idea works better than Lucifer.

Kirai senpai still fuckin waiting

Samuel Jackson waiting...

FU

Loading...

Yea i spent an hour searching for it....

i want to order a lettuce sandwich please U knew that...But suspected if that's the reference

@@ChimeraLotietheBunny what u mean

SPOILER: a lot of people stopped watching after L died though

That's when I stopped watching, but this video made me want to pick up Death Note again. I started from the beginning, and now I'm all the way to episode 24.

I waited to watch. Did in 2015 now its one of my top anime.

Only if they like detective stories though with lots of internal monologues. This series always spark debates on morality which makes it so relevant today.

For newbies, my first recommendation is Rave Master. It's good (SAO), not overwhelmingly long (One Piece), covers the basics of its genre without requiring you to already be familiar with it (Madoka).

Pfftt let's me make it more sense and simple First staredown : World perspective towards them. The Battle of Kira and L. (Whos going to be defeated in Mind Deathbattle) Second staredown : Their own perspective. The Battle of Justice ( as they want to proof each other that their action is justice). (L want to arrests Kira for his Justice while Kira want to eliminates L from his way to Justice.)

This is actually a really good analysis! That makes a lot of sense, honestly. I just appreciate how ell does the zooming animation is

OH. MY. GOD!!! AAAAAAAAAAAA- I really hope i can get such a deep understanding of things as you and Geoff Thew has, its impressive and makes we appreciate great shows like this as much as they deserve, its awesome! It is being able to understand all of what is being expressed in this work of art!

Could you elaborate on this more? I’d love to read it

*S k Y S c R a P e R*

😂😂😂

Lmfao 😂😂😂😂

I thought it was OK as well.

I thought the ending was good with Ryuk killing Light with his one weapon and Light realizing how far he has fallen. However, everything building up to it (which is basically everything after L's death) was terrible. But that's just my opinion.

Ranger Linkseye I wouldn't say Death Note after L's death was bad, just not as good as when he was alive. L was one of the reasons the show's first half was so good. His and Light's rivalry to achieve each of their own respective sense of justice were what kept the show super entertaining. I didn't really like how they tried to make Near like a kid version of L when he really wasn't.

the ending was good. but it was even better in the manga. Near and Mello didn't feel like shoehorned in

Glad that I'm not the only one. The live action movies were fine, too imo. The TV Drama, however....

YUP. I think verbal typos are becoming, like, my thing.

+Mother's Basement Good video anyway, can't wait for the next

Damn, I was about to comment that, but it was the first comment I saw when scrolling down. Lol

+MrSlaide Jesus-kun

Vanilla Fox don't suit ya, go find another.

The FBI are a bunch of lolicons true XD

That is really funny tbh

I’m just gonna guess ur talking about the part on the 2 op when light looks at the sun;-; I didn’t even look yet tell me if I’m wrongxD

Yea that is true and Lucifer is Latin. The word Lucifer can also mean morning star.

@@shanestrickland5006 have you seen the lucifer show

@@dimitris1601 No I haven't

@@shanestrickland5006 u should

@@dimitris1601 Thanks for the recommendation i will keep it in mind.

But really it's really bad

not really deciding anyone else's opinion, just stating their own

Jewell TH you don't have to say "in my opinion" before you talk, when someone says what they think about something, its obviously their opinion lol

Jewell TH "Totally excuses you deciding someone's opinion for them" "Not stating an opinion" (being desperate and petty)

Jewell TH i quoted you because you said that he wasnt stating an opinion, then when i said that he was for the second time, you said that i was "randomly spouting bullshit" anyway man, i dont want to debate with you, grow up if shit like this triggers you as much as it does. its just a comment on youtube, no need to get offended lol

Lucifer would probably be in hell and the shinigami realm is not hell so probably not

@@wuskraken6187 it was just a fun What if

Nick Edelmann the

nah man thats light and kira :D

RoyalViolin That's L and Lawliet duh

Why would Icarus’s feathers be black? And why would they suddenly switch from Christian mythology to Greek mythology?

God Of Air

I was also kind of disappointed by death note it's still amazing but it only got worse after episode 16

+Lily i've never actually finished deathnote I only got to episode 18 XD After that I just lost interest

It only got worse after L died. Specifically that moment. L dying isn't bad, it is just the final good moment before the quality of the story went down.

+Dorian Costley that's just how Jump mangas tend to be. They're supposed to go on as long as they remain relevant (they can go on forever if they're popular enough, just like Bleach), so they're usually the kind that tend to suffer from seasonal rot and end on an unsatisfactory note once the editors decide its time to cancel it. that being said, I really loved death note and I really commend Tsugumi Ohba for ending it the way it was meant to this whole time. I just can't help but wonder if Mello and Near were meant to be part of the mix from the beginning or they were shoehorned at the editor's request.

On a semi-related note, I wonder how Eichiro Oda, the author of One Piece,or Hirohiko Araki, the author of Jojo's Bizzare adventure, can keep producing good content, where nearly all other long runners suffer decay (or, in the case of HxH and Berserk, long hiatuses, which is better because a rushed bad thing is bad forever, ).

Still waiting in 2020.

welp

Still waiting 2021

@@cyberduck9022 Still bloody waiting haha

@@jessicapandapaw178 haha lol

9:45

plot twist! L was Light all along!

Everyone knows what he meant -_-

LOL, pipo berber

Shit theory light and L both has the letter L in it... Light is L

But then the way L died sucks if it were to be the actual ending of the show.

Not really. It would have a sense of finality. Light would have won and L would have lost. It would have been a great ending if it cut to Ryuk writing lights name in the indicating while he does win over L, nobody wins over death. It would have been a way better ending than the garbage that is season 2

True Facts

+Ash Not True Facts

+darkfur3 L dying because Rem loved Misa would have been a terrible ending. It completely cheats L because of divine intervention. To have the whole show be a battle of wits and then have a shinigami end it almost deus ex machina like would have been even worse than Light losing because his underling messed up. If Light actually outsmarted L then it would be satisfying. But he only outsmarted Rem.

Thats cool

Its the most appropriate conclusion when a human plays god.

Azraelseraphim Exactly, plus Ryuk killing Light is so apropiate.

Masked lunatic Its funny because Ryuk told Light at the very beginning how it would play out in the end.

lmao it was the most unimaginative ending possible

Nope

He's touched on this back in his DBZ retrospective, pointing out that his inability to actually speak Japanese and reliance on other peoples' ( not uncommonly dodgy ) translations means he doesn't really feel as if he can speak on the lyrics in detail.

***** I thought OP/ED songs were all made specifically for anime…

+ALAKTORN A lot of the time, they just get bands to make songs for the ops or use new ones without making them specifically for the shows. There are exceptions, as these ones probably are and all of the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure op's, but the majority only have a similar tone to the series their paired with.

sometimes they are, sometimes they arent

ALAKTORN well I know none of the Bleach ones were.

"Mythology" nice

@@pelluski Triggered Christian.

@@GodisgudAQW No u

@@pelluski I'm not a Christian, if you couldn't tell. But I didn't expect you to be able to make such a complicated deduction. Using logic might be a sin.

@@GodisgudAQW r/woooosh

Inspector Spinda underrated comment lmao

Inspector Spinda Yo momma.

@Whited Out a vampire love story that make me want to die.

Stay in the light

@Whited Out stay safe. i hope don’t search it-

+Forj Flynn (Syed Faisal Faheem) very accurate

Madness

+Forj Flynn (Syed Faisal Faheem) I came out early, I was only 6 months.

Forj Flynn I am happy I came out early, nobody wants to be born in september, medical issues aside~

What happens if you're born in September?

thecreatorofthedark like a machine printer? probably not they dont have a mind to immagine the face of the victim

r r What if someone printed using Death Note paper with the intent to kill? It'd probably be faster and more efficient to use it that way

@@anhsu4854 When you write a name you have to imagine the face while you write, If i print off 100 names I am not the one writing it, cannot think of 100 faces while its printing with accuracy

Lol you just can't kill anyone with any other page

RanRazzle well you can print both names AND faces...

I agree completely XD

I second this! :D I love those openings, especially the first!

yeah I wish I liked that show more. Watched it online a long time ago and at the end of one of the early arcs the site I was watching it on ended up skipping to the second season (part of the answer arcs i think. Whatever you want to call it) Ended up getting a lot of info before I really picked up what happened due to how the show is segmented. Then the question arcs turned into just watching ppl die instead of a mystery. Killed my enthusiasm.

+flaurne Personally, I can still go back and rewatch it even though I know what's going to happen because I enjoy the whole premise. But I can totally see what you mean.

Sterling Muse yeah, when your first viewing is what takes the hit it gets harder to get involved with the show.

Damn

You can also interpret Genesis 1-3 as being a Literal account of Creation and the origin of The Universe

The apple was already an established mythological symbol in the Mediterranean long before the spread of Christianity. Just look at the eleventh labour of Hercules to see it.

adaption3 wasn't apple a joke Latin translators used for the bible?

adaption3 wasn't apple a joke Latin translators used for the bible?

I think the latin word for "evil/bad" and for "apple" were very similar

Robby H. Malus and mala right? Went to a Catholic high school.

yeah yeah! Cause Light becomes L, and L has to face against Kira, so he's basically fighting himself!!! (joking)

+Twinflame Byond that jerk will never be L!

***** same

That's just obvious to most people. The apple is one of the most commonly known representations of sin and temptation.

You would think a lot of this was obvious and yet here we are

I mean they take great pains to show apple = Death Note. Hell, Ryuk handing Light the apple is fairly prominent. I don't think Basement spent too much time on that because it wasn't really all that obscure.

Love how I was stating something I thought was cool (not many of my friends who are Atheists noticed this detail) and am getting attacked by silly fan boys. Nice.

Just because some things are obvious to some cultures and religions, those that follow other ways may not pick up on it believe it or not.

That's what I did. What do you mean Light faces new rivals and ends up dying? No he doesn't, he kills L and takes over the world.

But then L dying because the power of love would be terrible.

But I also disliked L's death

+musictiggers then your shit out of.luck.for a.finale.

New antagonist? But the antagonist never changes in Death Note. It's always Kira. :P

Watched Fullmetal Alchemist/Brotherhood yet? I found those phenomenal.

Yuna McHill FMAB is greattttt

@@natanickii99 Totes.😁 But I have to admit I liked FMA too, even though the ending was much more heartwrenching. I haven't gotten around to watch the Conqueror of Shamballa, but I hope I can do it soon, even though I know I'll cry like a sissy...

@@yunamchill9169 i havent acc watched FMA because ive heard that FMAB is better. will consider watching it. ooh conqueror of shambala?? i havent even heard of it, will try to watch it too. is it any good?

@@natanickii99 I'd recommend you giving FMA a shot. It's darker and grittier than FMA:B with a bleaker ending, but it's very good as well. Conqueror of Shamballa is a sort of sequel to FMA, resolving the ending, but be warned, it's supposed to be quite sad. I haven't watched it yet either, but the general public seems to like it.

+the mastercube showing a diametric opposition between L and Kira. Red's a hot, passionate color, blue is cold and calm. Red is associated with death and danger also I thought it was kinda obvious but maybe I should have touched on it in the video

+Mother's Basement but why is misa blue? she is also really passionate for kira and light.

+the mastercube Calm and cold-- didn't she die (commit suicide) maybe it'd represents she's in heaven? Same with L possibly. Bit vague but only a thought.

It probably represents her not having joined with Kira yet.

Might also be a reference to the red oni vs blue oni contrast trope.

When I read your comment, I started thinking of something else. The wind being more like...the tacit God-like forces warning him to stop, go back, push him into the correct path one again, but Light fighting the laws anyway to surpass them.

I thought the wind was Light's struggle of getting close to L, since the scene after that would be L and Light looking at each other under a underground facility.

It was at 9:48

-____-

A TON of anime reviewers and otakus don't speak Japanese, and it is stated nowhere that the ability to speak Japanese is a qualifying factor to be a devout anime fan. I do understand your...annoyance though, because as someone who knows some Japanese, it is ultimately cringing to hear wrong pronunciations, especially of names that are seemingly easy to pronounce.

Xiran Wang It's one thing to be a weeb that can't speak Japanese, it's another for one who calls himself the Anime Pope to be that painfully off in his pronunciation. Especially since his comment "...excellent voice acting in both Japanese and English" implies that he has watched the JP version, and that his ears work.

'Pope' in the sense of 'good at christian symbolism as well'

+Angolin Well, I think again, one does not need to be able to speak Japanese to recognize excellent voice acting. Authentic, moving portrayals of emotion transcend language.

I think people tend to overlook that L's death and Kira's eventual failure were related incidents. It was because of L's death that Light was presented with four years of judging unopposed and a seemingly inadequate rival, Near. Probably the most important line in the Yellow Box at the series' conclusion is when Light thinks to himself that Near is below him, when in fact Near got a lucky break in Mello and managed to get a step ahead. The truth is that L was more than just a rival for Kira, he was someone who kept Kira in check. L had demonstrated many times over that in addition to being as smart as and more experienced than Light, he also had the support of multiple organizations. Light knew that he was fighting an uphill battle, and had to always double-check himself. All he had to have done before the final scene was spend maybe 20 minutes preparing in case Near found out about the notebook swap. And even in the final scene, he could have just laughed off Mikami as a convincing actor, hired by Near. Hell, even afterwards, he could have gone quietly into custody and found a better time to write out the SPK and investigative team's names. However, he had become too full of himself and had become too accustomed to being the one in control.

on the second half, light wasnt as smart as he was when L was alive.

in the last chapter matsuda expose a theori about Near using the death note to manipulate Mikami and win the final figth, and this is so logic, but in the anime, they cut the last chapter so people dont understand how Ligth lose against N when he win against L.thats why people dont like the ends. also Ligth wasnt as smart in the second part, cause he dont aknowledge his opponent.

I agree but light got way too cocky knowing it was just kinds and thinking L was the formidable opponent that he beat and the rest were bottom barrel crap

The reason I hate the second half was because near knows everything already without evidence it is like he have watched deathnote and also light was not that smart when he was fighting against L.

L should be the one to kill light

CODA All of it is the best anime

Nope it makes whole series look futile and makes u question what was the purpose of show? Everything went futile with the most hated character in the show claiming victory There should have been something creative.