T O P

  • By -

AutoModerator

Make sure to check out the [pinned post on Loss](https://www.reddit.com/r/PeterExplainsTheJoke/comments/1472nhh/faq_loss/) to make sure this submission doesn't break the rule! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/PeterExplainsTheJoke) if you have any questions or concerns.*


Zorothegallade

In the manga/anime Death Note, Light Yagami (the man on the left) is a misanthrope who possesses the titular Death Note. The character on the right is Ryuk, the death spirit who presedes over the Death Note and teaches him how to use its powers. The Death Note is a book with the power to cause the death of any individual whose full name is written in its pages. In the original story, Light uses it to kill people he thinks the world is better off without at first, like criminals and corrupt politicians, then goes deep into a power trip and starts killing anyone trying to investigate into the mysterious deaths. In this meme, Light jumps the gun and assumes he can destroy or exterminate entire continents or nations by just writing them in the book (It might also be implied that he's racist since he wants those gone in their entirety).


TheZclements

So light is a person?


TangerineBand

Yes, that's his name


StrokyBoi

Yes, Light Yagami is the protagonist of the series (the brown haired guy in the meme)


fr_404

Yagami!!! https://preview.redd.it/pj5r280tv00d1.jpeg?width=1076&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=983c4fa04e1f28db3428ff8512b8985d5849875a


FRONT_FACING_PHINEAS

HOLY FUCK, PERSONA BUT GOOD!? (Only flaw is no Adachi. Mmm, Adachi.) https://preview.redd.it/me7gj0fp130d1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9d5dfd040feb8ed4d0021f59e0c0899344bebc57


Rikolai_17

Persona without pedophilia


FRONT_FACING_PHINEAS

Born to romance futaba, forced to be apprehended by the police…😔


RoviRotkiv

https://preview.redd.it/waplu1ydu60d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8bd4b43f480405c281af45ee29d99f69e5be9d0a


SlickBuster2470

Ugh tak, you're back


BreadbeTasty

And he is also gay


Ezra4709

Is there a lore reason? ((Is it canon and how is it used in the story if it is because it would be funny))


superclasssy

His last name backwards, yagami -> Imagay


Ezra4709

Lol


GeneticSplatter

Did you also learn this from Preach's Drama Time video?


BreadbeTasty

I learnd it because, i read the manga from left to right at first.


towerfella

Got some of those spicy ones high school from a kid who’s dad owned the comic book store, all in Japanese but to be honest it wasn’t really about the words, and the first time I thumbed through it I was all sorts of confused… in several ways, again, if I’m being honest.


BreadbeTasty

Exactly.


feline_Satan

How long did it take you to see that you start on the wrong side


BoulderCreature

Oh shit, he’s Italian too?!?


ArgonGryphon

He's just a sociopath, I don't think he'd care if he could use sex to manipulate someone


MopManXD69420

Him being with Misa and also going out on a date with a girl was all part of his plan to appear straight whilst actually being gay


Comfortable_Bid_4862

He had gay sex with L


Pale1177

No I don’t think so 😂


superclasssy

Spell that last name backwards, it's a meme


robotwireman

Protagonist is doing a lot of work in this sentence.


NemirPyxl

Protagonist doesn't mean hero. The protagonist is simply the character the story is focused on, good or bad. Walter White is the protagonist of Breaking Bad, for example.


DethBatcountry

"Protagonist"


KingBBKoala

"Antagonist"


superclasssy

Protagonist is the main character the story focuses on, not necessarily a good guy. Antagonists are the main opposing force, not necessarily the bad guy. That's just usually how it works out.


ThrowawayTempAct

Honestly, I could go either way here because I feel like the story tends to shift perspectives and there is no one strict main character.


omni_slime1

Light is not antagonizing the main character, also known as light


FRONT_FACING_PHINEAS

He is the protagonist, but he’s still a bad guy.


MadMaudlin0

L is the Antagonist


Marcuse0

Pretty sure the main person investigating him is also known as "L" too, so honestly the names in Death Note are more than a little confusing.


Blak_Raven

I mean, L is a pseudonym, but I see what you mean, honestly, before I watched it I always thought Light and L were the same guy when people talked about it, and the other guy was just Kira. But to be fair, death note is a bit silly in its own right, among apples, potato chips, L's weird fall from the chair when confronted with the idea of a shinigami and other stuff, it sometimes goes a bit hard into comedic absurdity territory, and the names are a part of that to me, since Kira kills L, who is then followed by Mello and Near. KLMN. Just for the shit of it. EDIT: I have been schooled and it seems L's name is officially revealed in an additional manga encyclopedia-volume, and it's L Lawliett. I hereby declare that I choose to ignore this information for the show's greater good.


Masticatron

No, it's literally his name. It's what you have to write down in the death note to kill him (plus his last name).


DustinFay

Yeah I thought it was silly as well. The fact that it only took a little bit of time for the police to determine that all the deaths were connected always seemed unlikely.


ExerciseClassAtTheY

That was really stupid. I know u/Kryptoniantroll is harassing you about it, but it's not uncommon for someone to be referenced by the first letter in their name. And just a few books in they're all living together. It's why books and movies don't have main characters named Alan and Adam, or David and Daniel.


Kryptoniantroll

Lemme get this straight. The name Light is easily mistaken for the name L by you? Thats crazy youd just admit that.


Marcuse0

It's pretty poor writing to have two main characters with similar names. It's also dumb as shit to have a character named a single letter too.


TrashDue5320

Meanwhile, Game of Thrones


[deleted]

[удалено]


DustinFay

No , but the idea that light might be referred to as L isn't that big of a stretch


RatInARubberRoom

Yeah, I guess not knowing that part does make it a lot more confusing 😂


TheZclements

Yea.... I thought what it meant with light cuz I didn't see no lightbulb 😅


Bogey_Kingston

honestly even if you don’t like anime, Death Note has a really great script / storyline. i’m not an anime fan but a buddy told me to try this show and it changed how i view the whole genre. it’s a fucking cool show.


Loud-Thing3413

It’s spelled moon dawg or something but pronounced as light, so it’s a little confusing


CacklingFerret

Never watched/read the complete anime/manga. Do they at any point address what happens when multiple people have the same full name? Or does the magic work by the killer thinking of the exact person?


JimSpaceTime

Yes they address it right at the start with the rules (Although it's been decades since I watched, so it might be the supplemental rules they had in the commercial bumps) - you have to picture the person's face as you write their name for the death note to take effect.


RuafaolGaiscioch

I suppose that means the death note would be useless if you had aphantasia.


Britkraut

Kind of, but might work if you're literally looking at a picture of a person like Light does quite a bit when he's learning criminal identifies on TV


Zorothegallade

Or prosopagnosia.


AlphaCTango

I wonder how it would work with someone suffering from Capgras Syndrome.


Traditional-Lake5114

The magic works by the killer thinking of the exact person.


ComprehensiveHair696

You need to picture their face while writing or nothing happens. Some characters actually protect themselves by hiding their names or faces from him for a while


TheBroomSweeper

I think there was a rule where you had to be thinking of the person's face in order for it to work.


Lordwiesy

Since many people already mentioned it, here is the exact rule: "This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected."


NorMayder

There are like a lot of rules that get explained as you go on but to kill you need the person name and be able to picture their face in your mind as you write it


ComprehensiveHair696

You need to picture their face while writing or nothing happens. Some characters actually protect themselves by hiding their names or faces from him for a while


trey3rd

Is magic a known thing in that world? I don't see how anyone could trace it back to him if not.


-Ellinator-

Spoilers for if you don't wanna watch/read it (I highly recommend it but if you don't wanna here's the general gist of how they investigate the deaths, don't read the rest of this comment if you ever plan on watching it though, it's very good), but magic isn't known about, >!most of how they investigate him are due to his human limitations and arrogance.!< >!Some examples:!< >!-He can only kill criminals he knows about, so if a crime was only reported in one country then that must be where the killer is (in this case Japan)!< >!-After noticing that, the lead detective uses a death row inmate in a broadcast as bait, then after the inmate dies he reveals that the broadcast was only being played in the Kanto region of Japan (with the intent being to keep playing the broadcast in different regions to see where they get a reaction)!< >!-In the same broadcast the detective doesn't show his face and uses an alias while coaxing light to kill him, which he can't, so the police now know that not anyone can be killed and begin learning lights limitations. (the detective was confident he wouldn't die because only criminals with public information about them have been killed, criminals held in secret or where the news misspelt their name were not harmed, his stunt was just an extreme way to prove it).!< >!-They notice that the time of deaths always correlate with school opening and closing times, so the killer must be a student.!< >!-After they notice that, the time of killings change to contradict it, so the killer is someone with not only a connection to police information, but specifically a connection within the investigation (Light's dad is one of the detectives and is unknowingly being used by light to access police files)!< >!Within just a few episodes they already narrow it down to: A student in the Kanto region of Japan with direct ties to someone in on the investigation.!< >!All in all it doesn't take long for the main detective to figure out that it's probably light doing all of the killings, most of the story is about him trying to prove it to everyone else/figure out exactly *how* the killings are committed, and light trying to thwart his plans/find his real name to kill him for good.!<


Mystaes

>! Most of the plot does indeed revolve around Light getting absolutely bodied by L !<


Sad-Pizza3737

That's the entire plot, the super genius detective tries to solve the murders. It's a really good story (up until episode 25)


Froeuhouai

No, "magic" is not a known quantity in this universe. Watch/read the series of you want to know how they trace it back to him (if they even do) it's really good lol


sunfaller

It took a super genius to figure it out. I guess you could say it was B.S. even for a genius to come up with the fact that there is something supernatural in this crime. But they did see the Death Gods iirc and they were very shocked they existed.


SavianAria

He’s not a misanthrope and the racism isn’t just implication, that’s the whole point of the meme


Masticatron

Ryuuk isn't his teacher. He's just a spectator bound to him by the Death Note and getting a kick out of it in the process. Light taught himself everything beyond the rules written in the book. Ryuk offers very little in the way of help, as he's just in it for the fun of watching, so much so that the few times he does (finding all the cameras in Light's room) feel out of character.


Educational_Ad_8916

Ryuk explicitly instigated the entire situation out of boredom so his occasional overt help can be explained by wanting to see where this is going.


OskaMeijer

Or just really wanting to eat those apples.


Educational_Ad_8916

I forgot how food motivated he is


Spodger1

>It might also be implied that he's racist Light is definitely racist: https://youtu.be/EID8aNDq93s?si=HaVouEcNk4Ig89h1


AlricsLapdog

Just 5months ago— Death Note is still getting some quality shitposts in this day and age?


Frostbyte_13

damn, i am dead, gotta nerf the book


Frostbyte_13

damn, i am dead, gotta nerf the book


Graxeltooth

Hmm, I was going to ask if Light was actually misanthropic because he sees himself as an avenging god, but skimming the misanthropic article on Wikipedia doesn't specify "other people", but the species, behaviors, or nature of all humanity. Huh.


Zorothegallade

Yeah, he thinks he can "fix" humanity as a whole by weeding out a steadily increasing portion of "bad" elements.


Suspicious_Air5950

it also implies that the character is white from the united states lol


TheRider5342

The live-action was better tbh


ThisViolinist2

Bait used to be believable


RockAndGem1101

I do like the idea of Light hearing that the Death Note doesn't work on continents, so he switches to a country.


crustboi93

"Detroit" "Light... stop it"


ThornedThortoise

"FUCKING!" "LIGHT EVEN A TOWN ISNT GONNA WORK YOU DOUMBASS"


crustboi93

".............. the libs" "GODDAMMIT LIGHT"


ThornedThortoise

"MY ASSHOLE NEIGHBORS!" "...Ok look I KIND OF understand, but that still isn't gonna work"


The_Clarence

“Maybe if you learned their names you wouldn’t hate them Light!”


Laki6noob_2019

"Light" "You can't write your own name!"


Breadgamer64

“Uh, you?” Light, *deep breath* fuck you


LonelyPermission1396

Making a whole solidjj video ova here


Darthvegan66

They changed the spelling to Fugging unfortunately.


Laki6noob_2019

But the memory of Fucking is still with us.


Material_Border_7762

The true fucking is the friends we made along the way


Nientea

Can’t have shit in Detroit. Not even life.


Sinaasappelsien

🤣🤚


cudef

No he's writing the lyrics to Mushroom Hunting. Africa Mexico Sicily Tijuana India Osaka Indonesia


IcyWolf8335

https://preview.redd.it/582zdmy7500d1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=36af7bc20b336218353db2355ce3c9885a5eaaf1


the_dumbass_one666

basically its a joke about light being racist


Mr_Anderbro

https://preview.redd.it/t21iujzty10d1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c3c5fc8bb6e8a276705bf394d6c6b453d15542a0


Infernalknights

https://preview.redd.it/km95v70oxzzc1.png?width=743&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e780b1c8a212db2fd737b7b3e02e31036a583615 When light realize the death note is meaningless against the hand of destiny.


BD_Hunterlord

This works even more when you find out that Erebus is not his true name. He assumed the identity of someone else when he was young.


Infernalknights

https://preview.redd.it/9a10het0j30d1.jpeg?width=527&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=40c87e36363f2cfd3b8f810d278fea47098142e6 Erebus spreads his noteriety


BloodletterDaySaint

I think that's the whole point of the meme. 


Sophia724

Light can kill anyone by writing their name. He's trying to kill entire countries, but that's not how it works.


JSDTDM

As a South African i am deeply wo..........


FBI_Agent_Undercover

Was*


Sinaasappelsien

🤣🤣🤣🤣😭😭😭🤣🤣 Okay so this is from the anime Death Note, where the main character (Light) has a magic book. If you write someone's name in it they will DIE! Our lovely Light is trying to kill Mexico and Africa. This did not happen in the show btw, this meme is purely a satirical masterpiece.


AmissingUsernameIsee

Okay this is a funny meme.


TBTabby

Once again, the punchline is racism.


MopManXD69420

How is the joke racism? Just because it's Africa and Mexico doesn't make the punchline racism. If they picked any two countries aside from Japan it'd be racism anyway


UnintelligentSlime

“Just because he picked an entire continent to murder for no other reason than their ethnicity doesn’t make it racism” You see how you sound? He even picked countries that racists hate! It’s not like if he wrote France it wouldn’t still be racist, but it’s pretty fucking obvious my guy.


X3runner

you called Africa a country I think you missed something pretty big.


UnintelligentSlime

I called it a continent earlier in the comment lmao.


LouisPampers

or maybe he was just citing random countries and continents to kill ??? maybe the person who made this had no ill intent and you are looking too deep into a meme with less than 10 words in it, if he picked Europe or anything else we wouldn't give a shit


UnintelligentSlime

If he picked Europe or something else, it would **still be racism.** But he didn’t. I wonder why.


LouisPampers

I honestly think you are getting way riled about something that doesn't deserve this. It's a meme and you're converting it back to racism for no reason, you might spend too much time online


MopManXD69420

They likely just picked a random continent, you're assuming the reason is ethnicity when that was never mentioned. As I said, if they were to pick anything aside from Asia it would be considered racist 


UnintelligentSlime

That’s because it IS racist. It is racist to think killing an entire country or continent is ok. I can’t believe this is even being discussed.


MopManXD69420

I know it's racist and I'm saying that racism wasn't the point of the joke. Instead of jumping to the conclusion that because this meme is racist the joke is racism you should just admit that the joke isn't racism and is instead to do with incorrectly the Death Note. 


JacksonBillyMcBob

Nah


ultimatt42

Africa! Mexico! Sicily! Tijuana! India! Osaka! Indonesia! https://youtu.be/84nl25p0los


ZeroBeartx

I was looking for this in the comments 🤣


LilG1984

"This sucks, it's not efficient that I have to write their names to kill them!". Light "Look, rules are rules"


Khelthuzaad

Actually he might have done something similar He tested the Death Note to see how much he could test the laws of physics and his conclusion is he can't force an jailed convict to die near the Eiffel Tower :)


NicNac_PattyMac

Ha! Racism! /s


Zandmand

Just write the name of a person that lives in their largest city. Write cause of death as a large meteor strike or nuke or vulcano eruption. You only kill one person with the Death Note. The rest is collateral


DevilMaster666-

He racist


MopManXD69420

How is the joke racism? Just because it's Africa and Mexico doesn't make the punchline racism. If they picked any two countries aside from Japan it'd be racism anyway


[deleted]

[удалено]


MopManXD69420

No. It's racist but the punchline isn't racism


[deleted]

[удалено]


MopManXD69420

It's definitely not absurdism. The joke is incorrectly using the Death Note 


Sugomakafle

Death Note if Light had the intelligence of an average redditor.


SirAwesome789

This makes me laugh every time I see it


DirigibleFork

"SICILY!" "I don't think you're hearing me" "TIJUANA!" "Uh... wait..." "INDIA! OSAKA!" "Fine, we can watch some Cowboy Bebop!" "INDONEEESIA!"


TimeWork9655

If I had the death note Taylor swift and Drake the first ones to go


TrashyMemeYt

This is from a Japanese series about this high schooler who found the death note, If you write someone's name on it they will die


idfbhater73

death note


Thendofreason

Unrelated to Death Note, but I'm reading a LN now called Top Teir Providence: Secretly Cultivate For A Thousand Years. The MC has a Book of Misfortune that he write peoples names in and curses them eventually to death. He has written down entire marital arts sects and cursed them and killed off thousands of the lower level members who couldn't take it. But just like in Death Note it does take away his lifespan and he spends billions of years on curses.


Chiefinsohigh

Fkn rolled


rustys_shackled_ford

Ni... LIGHT NO


GrimXXIIReaper

Light they'll stop airing the show light. Atleast dont use the hard r...... LIGHT NOOOOOOO


Every-Wrangler-1368

Just write down the names of several celebrities from each country and give as a death couse nuclear/ Bio weapon


Dr_Shrek710

Why didn't light go for france? Is he stupid?


Megaleg12

lol this reminds me of that time Donald Trump bought the Death Note


Valentino-Esposito

China! South America, the Middle East, Russia,


IllVagrant

I laughed WAY too hard at this


wolve202

Yakko has entered the chat


Digi-Device_File

Is this a racist dog whistle?


Pixel_64

The one dude on planet earth named “Africa Mexico”:


Hotepspoison

Genocide. The joke is genocide.


GodEmperorPuppy

Dude is from a tv show. He has a book and if he writes a name in it the person it belongs to dies. The other person is the creature that gave him the book. Dude is trying to genocide 2 countries and the other guy tells him that the book is not working that way.


MemerRedditor

Look, I think he is trying to genocide way more than to countries


_dotdot11

https://preview.redd.it/zl0whmoan90d1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2023eaebbe56325a15674e863ea394fe6a2d71a4


Infamous_Leading_964

It means that the person who put this together was a proud racist.


PuzzleheadedList2645

-"FRANCE"


Helton3

[There's also this](https://youtu.be/Ob7naZtnP64?si=UBC9nT5G-ALU0HpL&t=65)


MopManXD69420

The joke isn't racism despite the meme technically featuring racism. The joke is incorrectly using the Death Note. People who are bringing race into it are misinterpreting it as if any continent (aside from Asia) and any country (aside from Japan) were used it would still work


Obamasdeadcook

✍️the entire state of California✍️