Nakama Britannica

Tsugami Ohba’s, and Takeshi Obata’s, ‘Death Note’ is a synthesis of a brilliantly dislikeable protagonist and a wonderful exploration of what Moral Philosophy, the philosophy of morality, has been trying to grapple with since its inception: just what is justice? ‘Death Note’ is complemented by a brilliant battle between good and bad. So who is good and who is bad in ‘Death Note’?

As Nargis said “Death Note is one of those animes [or mangas] where you can’t sit on the fence, you have to pick a side. Some see Light as a hero, others as a villain; it all really depends on your point of view.” So is Light justified in his belief that he is creating a better sense of justice for humanity? Or alternately is L justified in his belief that protecting the status quo, in regards to justice as it currently is in the Japan of ‘Death Note’, right?

Who is ‘good’ and who is ‘bad’?

“Kira. I think I’ve got a pretty good idea of why you’re doing this.” L, vol. 1 p. 68.

Homer and Westcott, in ‘Thinking through Philosophy’, define justice as “fairness, equal opportunities for all to make something of their lives, and a way back from the depths for all those who fail.” So in this way justice is redemptive and offers “a way back” to those in need of redemption. Charles Colson, a Christian Evangeliser writing in ‘Justice that restores’, argues that redemptive “justice is impossible without the rule of law, and the rule of law is impossible without transcendent authority.”

So, effectively, L is right to be perusing(ed) Light because Justice can operate within the tight confines of law, otherwise how would justice be administered? This is true consider if people were allowed to carry out their own justice it would end in chaos! What Light is doing is perhaps a manifestation of what could occur if a human had this power over the whole of humanity.

However, what if the justice being administered by a nation is considered wrong by its people? Light is proof that what the Japan of ‘Death Note’ was administering the wrong kind of justice. What sort of justice allows for those who have taken the life of another to be allowed to live? As Homer and Westcott say “It is the ability to use force that compels obedience.”

“This World is a rotten mess. It needs to be cleaned up.” Light, vol. 1 p.42.

Justice in this way is administered in a very utilitarian fashion: it is attempting to do the best for the greatest number. Unfortunately there will always be some for whom justice is never administered in exactly the right fashion. Light is merely trying to break free from that utilitarian morality and back to a mould a justice where, he feels, justice is done. The Death Note is his way of ensuring that justice is done.

Light believes the criminals to be completely evil and not able to be morally just. For example after killing Kurou Otoharda he believes, or consoles himself, that he was “doing a service killing him”. Again the power of the Death Note ensures that the World is cleansed of a man that only existed to do harm.

“…what you are doing is EVIL” L vol. 1 p.68.

How does Light know that man is just going to commit autocracies for the rest of his life? Take the example of Nicky Cruz, once notorious gang leader of the New York Gang Mau-Maus and now reformed character attempting to ensure young people do not live the same mistake he did, should he have been killed for his crimes? Given, he should not have lived a life of crime but now he is trying to prevent young people from committing the same crime. Is killing people really ensuring “a way back from the depths for all those who fail” or just evil?

L appears to believe that justice needs to be done to the criminal who takes a life, “Kira. I think I’ve got a pretty good idea of why you’re doing this”, but knows that killing these people is not “a way back” because in the long run it does not prove much benefit to society. It is also because the sort of justice that Light is concocting is also quite evil by its very nature. It is very much a dictatorial sense of justice where only one moral agent controls what is justice and what is not. This is not a human form of justice; it is a ‘Light’ form of justice.

“They’re the evil ones!” Light, vol. 1, p.68.

However Light’s issue with the state’s justice also becomes clear since the world needs to be “cleaned up.” The issue of justice often branches out to equality. Indeed how can the justice system of Death Note’s Japan treats those who perpetrate the killing of other humans as, relatively, equal to those who have not killed a fellow human being.

Light might take the example of Lindsey Ann Hawker who was killed by Tatsuya Ichihashi in a bath of sand. Ichihashi was put on trial before being released for lack of evidence. Even Lindsey Hawker’s sister, Lisa Hawker, does not wish the police to capture Ichihashi because “she would find out more details about the death” and she wants Ichihashi to “just turn up dead”. Why is he treated as a human being like you and I?

In conclusion, Light’s justice, again, appears autocratic and selfish. Although Alex describes Light as “a twisted megalomaniac, a flawed genius” he is less the latter and more the former. His sense of justice is conceited and terrible, not offering “a way back” nor being redemptive. Conversely L’s defence of the justice of the state, although being described as by Homer and Westcott as being decided whoever “is strongest to rule”, is valid because how could justice operate otherwise? Unfortunately justice is fairly utilitarian but reasonably fair. Just not fair enough for Lindsey Hawker.

Plato, a Greek philosopher writing in ‘Republic’, wrote that justice is an objective, knowable reality, on which the concept of law rests. Perhaps the law needs to become the objective standard by which justice are like the Forms. There is a perfect form of justice. However that would require this “transcendent authority” to work. Even Kant utilised the idea of God as a “transcendent authority” to ensure that morality was always objective and clear cut.

Unfortunately, justice is, like the humanity that spawned it, subjective and varies from person to person. Even within a religion there is an objective standard present, created by a Deity, problems still persist. For example in Christianity was it right for God to order Abraham to kill his son, Isaac? (Indecently, God stepped in to prevent this.)

Justice is not clear cut and although I disagree completely with Light, his sense of justice is appealing. After all it is summed up by Lisa Hawker who wished that Tatsuya Ichihashi would “just turn up dead”.

Information about Lindsey Ann Hawker from BBC. Information about Nicky Cruz can be found here