Death Note/YMMV

"L: It's the least I can do to atone for my sins. Light: ...Do as you wish."
 * Alas, Poor Scrappy:, in the anime. Doubles as an Alas, Poor Villain.
 * Alas, Poor Villain:
 * Adaptation Displacement:
 * "Death Note? Man, I love that anime/movie. What, there was a comic book?"
 * Individual scenes are subject to this as well, even amongst fans who know the manga. The infamous "potato chip" scene was understated and matter-of-fact in the manga, but bring up potato chips in reference to Death Note, and people either recall the over-the-top Japanese dialogue from the anime, or the even more ridiculous English dub of the same scene.
 * Alternative Character Interpretation: Everyone, humans and shinigami, but especially the main characters.
 * Taro Kagami from the pilot chapter.
 * Also, anyone in the main story. Is Light a psychopathic depraved lunatic with delusions of godhood who kills people indiscriminately for a reason which has been inherently deconstructed? Or is he just a nice guy trying to do the right thing and is in fact the second coming of Christ? Similarly, with L: is he a brilliant chessmaster with a desire to stop a mass-murderer, a talent for reading human nature like an open book, and a genius that surpasses Light (considering he didn't have a Shinigami and all...)? Or is he just a paranoid neurotic who manipulates and schemes to destroy the heroic Light and ruin the utopia that he is trying to create, and is in fact the anti-christ in human form? Apparently either interpretation will get you ripped apart by someone on the right forum...
 * As for Light himself,
 * Some people also noticed after  Light acted like he had multiple personality disorder. You can supposedly see it in his eyes: when his eyes are slanted he's Kira and when they're round again he's switched back to Light. Of course, near the end of the series,   Re-watch the scene in the anime when   Light's eyes switch from pointed to wide while he's falling out of the chair, and   Also he does tend to dissociate from his actions as Kira, even when he doesn't need to, for instance, in the manga when he explains to Ryuk: "If I blow it, Kira may have to kill his own family."
 * There's also the question: Did Light really have a "perfect life" or did he have a crappy childhood?
 * Also, in the anime, while running away, he saw a younger and more innocent version of himself. So did Light die trying to escape arrest, or was he brainwashed and snapped out of it while running away and thus, tried to find a place to hide to die alone]].
 * Mello. Is he an overly-emotional Chaotic Good guy with an inferiority complex who's tired of being Always Second Best, or is he an evil selfish Axe Crazy Manipulative Bastard? Or both? Yeah...both.
 * Near.
 * He openly states that good and evil are purely subjective concepts, and whilst this doesn't necessarily disqualify someone from being Good or Evil, he never shows any inclination towards either, pursuing Kira both because it's what L would do and in order to avenge L. in the manga,  However, this detail is omitted from the anime, and in general the focus of his character is more on becoming L's successor than avenging him.
 * On that last point: while Word of God states that ,
 * This is complicated further by the fact that Obha has spoken more favourably of him, describing him as "blessed from above" with L's brainpower, so it really is open for interpretation.
 * Souichiro Yagami. Word of God states that he is the only character that truly fights for justice. He is quite definitely determined to catch Kira for the sake of justice, but also objects to L's more unorthodox (and less savoury and lawful) methods. However one may question just how "just" threatening an unarmed civilian at gunpoint really is. Not to mention
 * Raye Penber's Stay in the Kitchen line. Is he a misogynist, or does he just want his future wife to live a normal life as a housewife so she will no longer be in the risky trade as a law enforcement officer?
 * From the live action movies there's Light's girlfriend (lol what?) Shiori Akino. Is she a) genuinely clueless or b) she knows / suspects Light is Kira and is in denial or c) she knows / suspects Light is Kira and is trying to talk him out of it.
 * Americans Hate Tingle: And Italians Hate Light Yagami.
 * Misa Amane is way more accepted in Japan, Europe and South America than in North America. If she could see fan reaction to her, she'd probably wish the NA Death Note fandom was more like the Batman fandom; she'd be more popular then!
 * And the Fandom Rejoiced: Shane Black has been hired to direct the American Live Action Adaptation.
 * And as a fan of the manga, he said "NO!" to Executive Meddling-induced Adaptation Decay. Awesome.
 * Anvilicious : The power to kill is evil.
 * Ass Pull: Mello and Near also come almost entirely out of the blue, in contrast to the usual pains the story takes to show the plans in action from start to finish.
 * Complete Monster: Light is arguably in this trope's territory by the end of the series. It's clear he's cast off all altruistic qualities, committing murders in the name of pure self-deluded egomania instead.
 * Not to mention.
 * Word of God names Mafia leader Rod Ross for the much competed title of "Evilest Person in Death Note". To beat out Serial Killers, mass nurderers, torturers, terrorists, rapists, greedy bastards, and monsters that enjoy watching human suffering for the lulz, you must be doing something right... or rather wrong. Seeing how absolutely nonchalant he is about Mello's various atrocities definitively indicates just how soulless he is, and gives you the impression he's seen (and done) much worse in the past. In general, he comes off as the most repulsive person during that phase of the story, even moreso than Light.
 * Crazy Awesome:
 * Movie-L has a high-tech getaway car. And it's a bright pink Angel Crepe van.
 * Also Light and Mikami emphasis on CRAZY.
 * Creepy Awesome:
 * Let's just say this series has a Cast Full Of Creepy Awesome.
 * Mikami has some great moments. Killing Demegawa and his cohorts in the anime is accompanied by writing even more epic than Light's. The eagle sound effects and flashing multicolored lights aren't the things that make the scene; that smile of his, however, is.
 * Crowning Music of Awesome:
 * The songs Japanese band Maximum the Hormone did for the second opening and closing credits.
 * Nightmare did a great job too.
 * Low Of Solipsism, which plays whenever Kira is on a killing spree, and Death Note, which plays at various moments in the series, both qualify as well.
 * Don't forget L's theme (A and B).
 * Special mention also must go to "Domine Kira".
 * Basically, any of the epic classical music played. Leave it to Death Note to make writing in a notebook fucking EPIC. Or eating potato chips.
 * Coda ~ Death Note, the music played over the credits of the final episode. That scene really wouldn't have had the same power without it.
 * Die for Our Ship: Misa and Takada for getting in the way of L and Light. Takada gets this from Light/Misa shippers as well, some of whom actually cheered when, even though he was only using both of them. To a lesser degree, Halle for getting in the way of Mello and Matt or Mello and Near.
 * Draco in Leather Pants: Any of the series' protagonists, to varying degrees.
 * Dying as Yourself: Arguably, Light Yagami (in the anime). When he saw a younger version of himself, it's possible that he was brainwashed and broke out of it. Therefore, it's possible that he realized what he did and was trying to find a place to hide and die alone.
 * Ending Fatigue: The second arc. Protip: it's worth it just for the finale.
 * Escapist Character: Light is handled well enough to be this rather than a Villain Sue.
 * Ensemble Darkhorse: Matt. He has very few panels in the manga, but is very popular in the fandom. Also Beyond Birthday and Naomi Misora.
 * Evil Is Cool: Most of the... umm, "less heroic" characters, especially Light. Ryuk, Mello and BB also qualify.
 * Evil Is Sexy: Light Yagami, Misa, Mikami and Mello.
 * Fanon Discontinuity: Many, many fans would like to forget that  Others like to ignore the bits involving Near and/or Mello. Some even take that a step further and pretend the second season as a whole never happened. And there is yet another group of fans who would very much like to believe that
 * Fashion Victim Villain: Poor Mello actually thinks he looks intimidating in that outfit.
 * Faux Symbolism: The apples. The artist assumed they were there for their religious significance, but the writer just put them there because he thought they were cool. So he claims, anyway.
 * Not to mention the first opening credits that make us think that Light is going to do something really just and noble. Heck, the first time you see him he's reciting Scripture perfectly in class. Two episodes into the series, you know better.
 * Throughout the series, there a number of images that just happen to resemble crosses. And in the first opening credits sequence, Misora is seen holding  Raye Penber's body, looking uncannily like La Pieta art.
 * The first opening credits also shows a split-second image of Light laying on what appears to be a stained-glass window (in the second opening, this is repeated, only Light is shown more as a festering corpse).
 * Also in the opening credits is an image of Light handing Ryuk an apple, in what appears to be a crude mimicry of Michelangelo's ceiling painting of Adam and God (With Light as Adam, giving the apple more symbolism, and Ryuk as God, being flanked by Shinigami rather than cherubim). Also note how, in this image, Light has THAT chain handcuffed to his wrist, which leads off-screen. Is speculated to mean that the image may actually be larger, including L attached on the other end.
 * Foe Yay: Tons of it. L seems to get this with all his enemies-with Light above all others but also with Misa, and Beyond from Another Note at least on B's side. B is very obsessed with him. As for Light and L the two compliment each other's methods and skills all the time, and regard each other as worthy adversaries. L evokes feelings in Light that he feels for no one else. L is the most important person in Light's life  And of course, there's that infamous foot massage in the anime, which must be seen to be believed.
 * Faux Symbolism: The apples. The artist assumed they were there for their religious significance, but the writer just put them there because he thought they were cool. So he claims, anyway.
 * Not to mention the first opening credits that make us think that Light is going to do something really just and noble. Heck, the first time you see him he's reciting Scripture perfectly in class. Two episodes into the series, you know better.
 * Throughout the series, there a number of images that just happen to resemble crosses. And in the first opening credits sequence, Misora is seen holding  Raye Penber's body, looking uncannily like La Pieta art.
 * The first opening credits also shows a split-second image of Light laying on what appears to be a stained-glass window (in the second opening, this is repeated, only Light is shown more as a festering corpse).
 * Also in the opening credits is an image of Light handing Ryuk an apple, in what appears to be a crude mimicry of Michelangelo's ceiling painting of Adam and God (With Light as Adam, giving the apple more symbolism, and Ryuk as God, being flanked by Shinigami rather than cherubim). Also note how, in this image, Light has THAT chain handcuffed to his wrist, which leads off-screen. Is speculated to mean that the image may actually be larger, including L attached on the other end.
 * Foe Yay: Tons of it. L seems to get this with all his enemies-with Light above all others but also with Misa, and Beyond from Another Note at least on B's side. B is very obsessed with him. As for Light and L the two compliment each other's methods and skills all the time, and regard each other as worthy adversaries. L evokes feelings in Light that he feels for no one else. L is the most important person in Light's life  And of course, there's that infamous foot massage in the anime, which must be seen to be believed.

"When Beyond Birthday committed his third murder, he attempted an experiment. Namely, to see if it were possible for a human being to die of internal hemorrhaging without rupturing any organs. Specifically, he drugged his victim so they fell unconscious, tied them up, and proceeded to beat their left arm thoroughly, being careful not to break the skin. He was hoping to bring about enough hemorrhaging to cause death from loss of blood, but this attempt ended, sadly, in failure. Blood congested in the arm and it turned purplish red beneath the skin, but the victim did not die. He simply shook, convulsed, and remained alive. He had been convinced the blood loss incurred was enough to kill someone, but apparently he had underestimated the matter. As far as Beyond Birthday was concerned, the actual method of murder rated fairly low on the amusement scale, and it was never more than an interesting experiment. It did not particularly matter to him whether it succeeded or not. Beyond Birthday simply shrugged, and took out a knife..."
 * Fountain of Memes: Light
 * Funny Aneurysm Moment: A certain pratfall toward the end of the first season plays very differently by the end of the second.
 * Cosplayers Love Misa: She's generally more popular within the Cosplay fandom than the rest of the anime fandom, due to how easy it is to cosplay her and how the many teenage girls in the cosplay fandom can relate to her (albeit not completely). In fact: Francesca Dani, one of the most populat cosplayers in the whole world, has Misa among her most popular cosplays.
 * God Mode Sue: L in the films.
 * He's Just Hiding:.
 * Ho Yay:
 * Kira/Light with L, . See also Foe Yay.
 * Also Light with Ryuk and Yamamoto.
 * Ryuk follows him everywhere and is notorious for invading his personal space. He is often seen lounging around in Light's bed. They live together for years . As for Yamamoto, he still hasn't given him a New Year's card!
 * Also Near and Light. From the moment Light first talks to Near   Near keeps calling and harassing Light at odd hours of the day and night and hanging up. Near has a habit of making some very unsettling facial expressions when thinking about what he's going to do with Light and in the manga   it's dripping with rape metaphors.
 * Mello, with Matt, Near and Rod.
 * Teru Mikami with Kira/Light.
 * Touta Matsuda with practically every male cast member.
 * In one of the movies, F with L.
 * In Another Note B with L. B is very obsessed with L
 * Iron Woobie: Soichiro Yagami. He's the most decent man in the series, but he has to suffer due to his son’s and L's actions.
 * Jerkass Woobie: Depending on your view, Light, Misa, Mikami, Mello, Beyond, and even Takada could qualify.
 * Les Yay:
 * Rem has a one-sided affection for Misa, although it MAY be purely platonic (Rem claims this is the case, but who knows...)
 * Averted in the English dub of the movies where Rem is a male.
 * Misa and Takada's catfight where Takada asks Misa out for dinner.
 * Takada and Halle, seeing how Halle has somehow won Takada's complete trust.
 * Halle and Misa- there's their fight-scene together...
 * Launcher of a Thousand Ships:
 * Mello, if to a lesser extent than most examples.
 * Fandom takes Light's canonical ambiguous disinterest in girls to mean he'll do Anything That Moves provided it is tactically advantageous (or L-sexual).
 * L is shipped with the Kiras, the Wammys, and the entire taskforce.
 * Likewise Near is shipped with everyone and his toys.
 * Lawful Stupid: Team Kira's philosophy is "You broke the law-DIE!"
 * Ehh. It depends who you’re talking about and whether it’s the manga, anime, for film. In the manga and anime people often think of Kira in religious terms, or just feel relieved that crime rates around them drop significantly. In the anime you hear people saying ‘I’mma tell on you to Kira!’ which makes you think these might be either little immature kids or woobies who detest their bullies. In the film you get a girl who says on television, ‘Kira, kill my parents~!’ All in all it seems that Kira want to cleanse the world, and he certainly delivers: as time goes on he gets larger and larger support, and in his final speech he mentions crime rates worldwide have dropped by 70% and wars have stopped altogether. perhaps the lawful stupid are actually Team L?
 * Magnificent Bastard: Light is practically the manga poster boy for this trope. L almost fits the requirements, but he's sorely lacking in charisma.
 * Memetic Molester:
 * Raye Penber is stalking teenage boys for the F.B.I.
 * Ryuk's permanent rape face.
 * Just LOOK at Near's creepy smiles! Also in the manga, how he wanted to
 * Higuchi is a Dirty Old Man in canon.
 * Beyond Birthday often supplies the "hurt" part of Hurt Comfort FanFiction. There's really no good way to take his line in Another Note of "I'm an aggressive top."
 * L never misses an opportunity to install cameras in a bathroom.
 * Light for evidence, see the deleted scene of . Not to mention his Slasher Smile as he says:
 * Memetic Mutation:
 * Exactly As Planned. (Katta! Keikaku doori.)
 * Fauxtivational Poster / Image Macro Note Memes from Macrochan
 * "I'll take a potato chip... AND EAT IT!"
 * Light also moonlights as a
 * "WATER RESISTANCE IS HUGE!!!"
 * Kira is responsible for all the recent celebrity deaths (Michael Jackson, [[media:AW-VinceOfferDN.jpg|Billy Mays]], etc...)
 * Mikami's amazing Sakujogasm...
 * And the crazy Kira laugh in the last episode is something of a meme in itself.
 * And Light's many amusing facial expressions are pretty meme-tastic.
 * Mind Game Ship: Light with practically everyone. The most notable ones are L with Light and Near with Light.
 * Misaimed Fandom:
 * Kira is just misunderstood/it's the Death Note's Fault./Light and Kira are two different personalities./Light is the hero, Kira is the villain.
 * L is adorable therefore he can do no wrong!
 * Moe:
 * Misa Amane is a walking blob of Moe. Pigtails, Gothic Lolita, Zettai Ryouiki, squealing girly voice, all topped off with a Yandere (disambiguation) personality. She's so Moe that she even Shinigami want to protect her. Also, Sayu.
 * Light and L have their moments too. Especially L, thanks to his personality quirks.
 * Moral Event Horizon:
 * Light MEH candidates:
 * Raye Penbar, the FBI agent investigating Light; could be argued as a case of self-defense, but.... Light had criminals executed with righteous self-affirmations, but in this instance, he made sure to get a front row seat where he can catch the victim's eye and gloat before the death. Whether that's more magnificence or bastardry, it sure isn't very nice.
 * Raye's widow Naomi snooped around after his death, but didn't appear to be getting much cooperation from law enforcement agencies, and it's likely her trail would go cold rather than reach any goal. Yet Light took an interest in her with a perverse glee. She was a former investigative official who had committed no crime, yet again Light made it personal, and couldn't resist the opportunity to gloat at the moment she was doomed.
 * Not so much the act itself as much as how he did it.
 * And if the above moment didn't officially thrust him over the line, then
 * Light murdering.
 * The films seem to mark it as either or . The first amazes a shinigami, while the second almost turns Misa against Light.
 * Beyond Birthday's Moral Event Horizon moment is when he kills a little girl in cold blood.
 * Narm: See the "potato chip" quote under "Memetic Mutation" above.
 * Nightmare Fuel:
 * Beyond Birthday; there's a reason he's on the quote page for Cruel and Unusual Death. From the first paragraph of Another Note:


 * From the Pilot chapter, Taro's nightmare. The people he accidentally killed return as reanimated corpses to accuse him and grab at him with their skeletal hands.
 * Hilarious in Hindsight:
 * in Volume 5 of the manga L wonders  
 * In Volume 2 Light declares in his mind "I can't let myself be even remotely suspected of being Kira!" Yeah, good luck with that.
 * We agree, Ryuuk. Humans are fun!
 * No Yay:
 * Ryuk/Light Oh for the love of Kira, NO!
 * Also Higuchi and Misa's car scene. He's 13 years her senior, has her in the car and is proposing, and looks prepared to rape her.
 * 15 year old Mello and creepy Big Guy Complete Monster mafia leader Rod Ross.
 * Near/Light. Just no.
 * Paranoia Fuel: Your life can be ended at anytime just by having some Japanese god write your name in a notebook. Moreover, it's implied that this happens all the time. And, the only fate that awaits you  is nonexistence.
 * Possession Sue: When Fanfic writers get ahold of Light Yagami it's usually this along with a side order of Villain Sue and Mary Tzu...
 * Replacement Scrappy:
 * Near.
 * K
 * Rescued From the Scrappy Heap:
 * Misa during the Yotsuba arc
 * Also in the live action movies, where she's portrayed as a more sympathetic character, with the death of her family being shown as a constant source of pain for her, rather than just being forgotten about the minute she joins Light (who, in the movies, she comes to acknowledge as a monster who doesn't care for her, but she just can't quit him.. Not to mention she has photos of her parents alongside her pictures of Light, openly says she should've died with Mom and Dad, and .)
 * Ron the Death Eater: Soichiro Yagami and Misa regularly in L x Light Fan Fics. Also Rem for  L-centric fics frequently derail Light into an outright Complete Monster. Light-centric often give L the same treatment.
 * Seasonal Rot: Apart from the final episode, the second part of the series,, is almost universally considered to be inferior to the first. Whether this means "quite good, just not as good" or "so bad it never happened" depends on who you ask.
 * Selfish Good, Selfish Evil: L, Light, Mello, and Near are all selfish in their own ways going with the theme of "childish and hates to lose."
 * Ship Mates: Most fans ship Light/L with their Mello/Matt or Mello/Near.
 * Squick: Higuchi's plans to make Misa his bride.
 * Stoic Woobie: L, surprisingly.
 * Tastes Like Diabetes: Misa's attitude gets like this at times, especially compared to the overall aesthetic of the series.
 * Too Cool to Live: This applies to pretty much all the characters that meet bad ends, but especially.
 * They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
 * Ugly Cute:
 * Most of the shinigami. Also L-Takeshi Obata meant to make L look ugly, but he has plenty of fangirls.
 * Beyond, seeing as he's L's
 * Uncanny Valley: Misa on the Volume 4 manga cover artwork.
 * Unfortunate Implications: The ladies in this series tend to be Too Dumb to Live, and with one or two exceptions only have value in relation to the male characters.
 * Unpopular Popular Character: L
 * Values Dissonance: Many western viewers take offense at what they perceive as Raye Penber's paternalistic and condescending attitude toward his fiancée, retired F.B.I. agent Naomi Misora -- and, worse, her seemingly contented acceptance of it. (In the DVD Commentary, her English-dub voice actress Tabitha St. Germain said that that scene was particularly difficult for her.)
 * Viewer Gender Confusion: Mello, in the manga. Rem is female but looks androgynous. Also, Near who is male but is voiced by female VAs in both the original and the English dub.
 * Interestingly, Mello's original name was Near, and vice versa, but an editing error at Shonen Jump saw their names switched around.
 * Wangst:
 * Mello: "IT'S TIME I START LIVING MY OWN LIFE!" *door slam!*
 * THAT'S IT, I'M LEAVING TO TAKE OVER THE MAFIA.
 * Aizawa's "I hate Ryuuzaki and his way of doing things!"
 * What an Idiot!: Naomi Misora . In the manga, Mikami gets noticed by the SPK when he is asking Kira for orders... on national TV. Also, Higuchi.
 * What Do You Mean It's for Kids?: Even plenty of anime fans mistake it for Seinen. It was published in Shonen Jump.
 * It just barely qualifies. Had the manga started when Light was in college, it would be a seinen. Granted, it's more for high school students than the typical 12-15 demographic associated with shonen.
 * The Woobie: Rem, Gelus, and especially Soichiro and Sayu. From the movie, Shiori.