(Repeated post)
I decided to re-watch this series after a long time, and I can say for sure that it is no doubt one of the greatest tv-series of all time (I purposely say series instead of anime, to emphasize that it should not be bounded by a specific genre or audience). From very early in the show I began to entertain the idea that the story explored the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, particularly his work on morality and moral relativism vs absolutism. As the show progressed, things seemed to flow more and more towards that direction, and I began to see and analyze the series through Nietzsche-an lenses. I believe the entire story is deeply rooted in such themes and philosophy, whether the creators intended it or not. Nietzsche’s ideas are so well ingrained in modern culture that one does not necessarily have to be aware of its influence. I will present some reasoning why I believe Death Note to be a Nietzsche-an story.
I will begin with the notebook. Although it could be interpreted many ways, from this point of view, the notebook is a symbol of judgement, a tool used to distinguish between good and evil in a Judeo-Christian sense, or any other absolutist system of morality. In other words, the notebook is a tool for clear-cut distinctions between those two forces - I emphasize the word absolute, as once a name is written down, there is no going back. Light believes to be the God of the New world, passing judgment on the evil and saving the good (Hell vs. Heaven). However, according to Nietzsche he is just a naive child who’s delusion in the end will succumb on him like a house of cards.
According to Nietzsche, Light’s beliefs reflect a “nay-saying attitude towards life,” that is, a life-negating attitude. And indeed Light does adopt a negative attitude towards life by pursuing a quest that was absurd, and inevitably doomed to fail. There was never any doubt that Light’s attempt to cleanse the world of evil would fail because: 1. There will always be an “L” to go after him; 2. The notebook will eventually run out of pages 3. Light will die as all humans do. Besides that, on the very first episode Ryuk declares that “when the time comes [he] will write Light’s name on his notebook” and kill him. Therefore his end was inevitable and his goal un-achievable, an absurd pursuit towards a meaningless end, regardless of how plausible it might have seemed throughout the way. After all, everything was done for Ryuk’s entertainment (and that's an incredibly powerful metaphor).
Furthermore, it is also stated early in the series that “whoever uses the notebook is cursed to a life of misery and misfortune” which I believe is analogous to Nietszche’s view of a life-negating attitude; by accepting the notebook, in the context of this series, Light adopts an absolute sense of morality, which leads him to a purpose-less life (according to Nietzsche). I seriously doubt that the misfortune refers to Light’s final demise and death (as is the common interpretation), for like it is stated in the anime, all humans will eventually die, and the place they go to is nothingness. Therefore the "misery and misfortune" cannot refer to his failure or to his death. Light assumed a negative attitude towards life, and thus misfortune comes upon him because he adopts an absurd system of beliefs that leads his life into an absurd path.
I also consider Light’s God-Complex, as another indication to his acceptance of an absolute system of morality. God is the most absolute figure, the definition of absoluteness itself, at least in the Judeo-Christian tradition. I understand that the concept of God in east-asian cultures may be somewhat different and resembles more that of Ancient Greece (although admittedly I’m not too familiar with it). However, I think that it is fairly obvious here that when Light want’s to become a god, he refers to a Christian-like God, that is an all-powerful, moral-defining god. According to Nietzsche however, God is dead (no pun intended) because we have killed him.
Another factor which connects Light to the Judeo-Christian ideas is the concept of sacrifice. There are many instances of sacrifice both in scripture and Death Note. Indeed sacrifice is of great importance to such a morality (refer to religious texts, or texts on morality). Light viewed the death of many non-criminals as a necessary sacrifice for the creation of a new world (his father being one of them). He even considered himself a sacrifice, for he gave away his youth in devotion to absolute justice ("I am justice"). Needless to say, these values are obsolete in the eyes of Nietzche - and the authors would agree, since their point of view is ambiguous, yet critical.
In the manga version, once Light has been defeated, Near states that even if there was a God, and clearly presented what was right and wrong, he would still question these values. I think this is a clear reference to moral relativism for which Nietzsche stood for, and is a great conclusion to the story (unfortunately this piece of dialogue is omitted in the anime version). According to Near, and perhaps the creators of Death Note, no one can be certain of morality, and it is absurd to think so. In the end Light’s attempt to create a new world was a meaningless pursuit the only result of which was throwing his life away.
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