Any fan of Death Note would likely remember just how ruthless and cunning the protagonist (or is it antagonist?) Light Yagami truly was throughout the series. Despite being an ordinary college student, Light’s discovery of the Death Note awakened his twisted sense of justice, opting to use its deathly powers to rid the world of criminals and create his own version of a utopia.
Despite L’s interference in any version of the series, all of Light’s incarnations in the anime and other media display that same relentless desire to eliminate everyone who gets in their way. However, certain depictions of Light’s character do hit the mark of the way he’s meant to be portrayed as a character. How do his incarnations fare in terms of bringing Light to life?
Spoiler Alert
7 Netflix
Nat Wolff portrays Light, now named Light Turner, in the Netflix adaptation of Death Note. Although the story and setting are switched to American counterparts, Light Turner also has his intelligence lowered and is depicted more as an average high-schooler. However, he’s also depicted as someone intelligent enough to at least complete homeworks for others for payment. As part of his rather innocent persona, Light Turner shows hesitation to kill law enforcement and isn’t as confident, allowing L to use his detective skills to catch up to him.
Moreover, it’s interesting how Light Turner seems to use the Death Note more for personal gain than his original counterpart’s more messianic vision. He uses the Death Note to kill a criminal to impress his love interest. And it’s only thanks to Ryuk and Mia (based on Misa Amane) that Light starts forming his “utopia.” Funnily enough, Light Turner only picked “Kira” as a moniker simply because he thought the Japanese-sounding nature of the name would throw off the police.
6 Video Game (Jump Force)
With various worlds from Shonen Jump media slowly merging into one in the Jump Force game, Light Yagami soon realizes that his Death Note lost the ability to “kill” people. Curious and angered at the same time, Light and Ryuk are forced to help the J-Force, a team of Shonen Jump’s protagonists, into preventing the antagonists from merging the Jump Worlds.
However, Light doesn’t fail to amuse gamers, as he acquires an Umbra Cube at the end of the game. He expresses his desire to use it to “make the world a better place,” implying that Light in Jump Force remains as diabolical as his other counterparts. Unfortunately, his overall involvement in the game is overshadowed with the megaplot happening around him.
5 Drama
Masataka Kubota depicts a rather more “ordinary” Light Yagami in the television drama, this time with the character being not as ambitious nor as intelligent as his original counterpart. Instead, this Light Yagami is an ordinary college student that wants to become a civil servant. However, his discovery of the Death Note did make him envision a utopia to call his own, but with the responsibility it entails being far more than he’s expected.
Unlike his original counterparts, Light in the television series is much more emotional and prone to outbursts. He also cries when he feels cornered by L, something Light Yagami from the original series wouldn't necessarily do.
4 Films (Death Note, Death Note: The Last Name)
Tatsuya Fujiwara depicts Light Yagami in the films, which for the most part stayed as accurately as possible to the plot except towards L’s death. When Rem “kills” L and Watari, Light also tries writing his father’s name in the Death Note but fails. And when he is exposed as Kira, Light begs Ryuk for assistance - with Ryuk instead writing Light’s name in his own Death Note. Light dies in his father’s arms, with Light begging his father to believe that Light only became Kira to “put justice” into practice.
Despite how accurate Fujiwara’s depiction of Light stayed with the anime, the actor did admit in interviews that it was difficult portraying Light’s intelligence in the film. After all, unlike L, Light didn’t have any signature mannerisms, which meant a huge deal of Light’s emotions would have to be acted through his face.
3 Musical
Portrayed by various singers in the musical, Light Yagami from the Death Note musical is extremely similar to his original counterpart, at least up to a point. In the original story, Light volunteers to confine himself along with Misa to prove his innocence, but Light in the musical refuses to do so. Instead, Light has his final confrontation with L soon after, which leads to Light convincing L to kill himself in a way that Light intended.
The musical does show Light’s mercilessness similar to the original story with L’s death. Here, Light leads L to a warehouse where L shoots Light in the leg with a gun. Light reveals this was his plan all along: make the world think L is Kira and Light simply caught him in the act. Afterwards, Ryuk decides Light can no longer entertain him and kills him.
2 Manga
Although lacking the appeal of live movement compared to his other incarnations, Light Yagami from the manga is by far the most accurate of all his counterparts. After all, Light in the manga is the “truest” version of the character as envisioned by series creators Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. Although seemingly an ordinary young adult, Light Yagami soon proves his own version of a genius-level intellect, with his twisted worldview worsened with his acquisition of the Death Note.
It’s thanks to the manga that his other incarnations managed to get a “framework” of his personality. However, aside from the anime, none of his incarnations would truly encapsulate the level of megalomania and messiah complex that Light would display throughout the scope of the series.
1 Anime
When one thinks of Light Yagami, chances are they would hear either Mamoru Miyano or Brad Swaile’s voices, who both served as his voice actors for the Japanese and English dub, respectively. While the anime accurately depicts Light’s personality and full extent of actions from the manga, it’s the anime that truly helped breathe life into the character from the perspective of a television series.
It’s thanks to the anime that viewers can get a full grasp of Light’s ingenuity, especially when he has to think on the spot and participate in the many mind games that L created to catch him in the act. Moreover, it’s the anime’s depictions of Light’s thinking episodes and episodes of megalomania that truly encapsulate how terrifying he has become since his usage of the Death Note and adoption of the Kira persona.