Death Note Roleplay discussion
Death Note Questions
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Light: If this phone rings, I'm dead! (beat) Wait, what am I thinking; I can just turn it off.
◦Death Note seems to be entirely based around the idea of trying to avoid the Idiot Ball, to the point of paranoia. All the plots this troper has read in the manga so far involve a ton of "I'll do this but what if they think that and maybe he's trying to trick me so I'll do this but what if he knows I'll be doing that or maybe he expects me to know he'll know I'd be doing that so he expects me to do otherwise." And since both Light and L think like this, most of the time they're actually JUSTIFIED in their paranoid thoughts.
◦Death Note seems to be entirely based around the idea of trying to avoid the Idiot Ball, to the point of paranoia. All the plots this troper has read in the manga so far involve a ton of "I'll do this but what if they think that and maybe he's trying to trick me so I'll do this but what if he knows I'll be doing that or maybe he expects me to know he'll know I'd be doing that so he expects me to do otherwise." And since both Light and L think like this, most of the time they're actually JUSTIFIED in their paranoid thoughts.
examples of Narm (A Narm is a moment that is supposed to be serious, but due to either over-sappiness, poor execution, excessive Melodrama, or the sheer absurdity of the situation, the drama is lost. The moment is often found funny by fans. It can be extremely subjective.
It is named for the famous scene in the last season of Six Feet Under, where the main character Nate suffers a brain embolism. He suddenly grabs his right arm and repeats "Numb arm!", but it quickly becomes "N'arm! N'arm!" Despite being the climax of one of the best shows HBO has ever created, the scene was overwhelmingly found by fans and reviewers to be funny rather than sad.)
Light eating a potato chip in Death Note in slow motion, to Ominous Latin Chanting no less. The guys at Adult Swim realized this and made it the episode's promo. The English dub has Light's "I'll take a potato chip...and eat it!" delivered in an even more dramatic voice than in the original, and added maniacal laughter; whether this is deliberate Lampshade Hanging or unintentional is unknown. Still, this being a Subjective Trope, many fans consider the Epic Potato Chips(tm) scene awesome. Really awesome.
◦Mikami's catchprase of "DELETE! DELETE! DELETE!" is another cross between awesome and narm. It would help it if didn't sound like he was channeling Strong Bad.
◦Mikami's death in the anime. It would have been more dramatic without all the High Pressure Blood. Seriously. It's like a freaking geyser.
◦Matt dying was absolutely hilarious. So anticlimactic, and it came right as he was suggesting that he wouldn't be killed because he could tell the angry mob useful things! His status as a Red Shirt-wearing Ensemble Darkhorse was icing on the cake.
◦The extreme facial expressions used by Light and Mikami all throughout the final episode manage straddle the line between Narm and Nightmare Fuel.
◦Rally Connors introduces himself to Soichiro under the alias 'John McEnroe'. There should have been a scene with him saying "Light Yagami is Kira!? YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!" And throwing something.
■Considering he's the first sign the task force gets of Near's existence, the moment is a good, hearty tennis is still in season.
◦A certain clip from AMV Hell 4 undermines Death Note's second OP.
■There was something to undermine in the first place?
◦A kid threatened bullies with the gem "Leave me alone or I'll put your names on the Internet!"
◦"I want to tell you I'm L." Really anticlimatic there, L.
■Errr, that was the entire point of that moment. To screw with Light.
■This happens in the dub because the way L would say "I'm L" in Japanese equals: "Watashi wa L desu." The significance of L and Light's Japanese Pronouns is a whole nother matter; for now, the main problem is this is a much longer phrase to try and awkwardly match.
■The scene was better in the manga, where the reader just sees "I am L", rather than hearing it over a few seconds, then immediately sees Light's reaction.
◦A certain foot-washing scene is supposed to be a Biblical reference, but even this Yaoi fangirl just finds it awkward more than anything else.
◦Misa's suggestions that L was a stalker and her asking to go to the bathroom were most likely supposed to be disturbing, but they came off as funny given Misa's ditzy personality.
•Light's crazy laughter
It is named for the famous scene in the last season of Six Feet Under, where the main character Nate suffers a brain embolism. He suddenly grabs his right arm and repeats "Numb arm!", but it quickly becomes "N'arm! N'arm!" Despite being the climax of one of the best shows HBO has ever created, the scene was overwhelmingly found by fans and reviewers to be funny rather than sad.)
Light eating a potato chip in Death Note in slow motion, to Ominous Latin Chanting no less. The guys at Adult Swim realized this and made it the episode's promo. The English dub has Light's "I'll take a potato chip...and eat it!" delivered in an even more dramatic voice than in the original, and added maniacal laughter; whether this is deliberate Lampshade Hanging or unintentional is unknown. Still, this being a Subjective Trope, many fans consider the Epic Potato Chips(tm) scene awesome. Really awesome.
◦Mikami's catchprase of "DELETE! DELETE! DELETE!" is another cross between awesome and narm. It would help it if didn't sound like he was channeling Strong Bad.
◦Mikami's death in the anime. It would have been more dramatic without all the High Pressure Blood. Seriously. It's like a freaking geyser.
◦Matt dying was absolutely hilarious. So anticlimactic, and it came right as he was suggesting that he wouldn't be killed because he could tell the angry mob useful things! His status as a Red Shirt-wearing Ensemble Darkhorse was icing on the cake.
◦The extreme facial expressions used by Light and Mikami all throughout the final episode manage straddle the line between Narm and Nightmare Fuel.
◦Rally Connors introduces himself to Soichiro under the alias 'John McEnroe'. There should have been a scene with him saying "Light Yagami is Kira!? YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!" And throwing something.
■Considering he's the first sign the task force gets of Near's existence, the moment is a good, hearty tennis is still in season.
◦A certain clip from AMV Hell 4 undermines Death Note's second OP.
■There was something to undermine in the first place?
◦A kid threatened bullies with the gem "Leave me alone or I'll put your names on the Internet!"
◦"I want to tell you I'm L." Really anticlimatic there, L.
■Errr, that was the entire point of that moment. To screw with Light.
■This happens in the dub because the way L would say "I'm L" in Japanese equals: "Watashi wa L desu." The significance of L and Light's Japanese Pronouns is a whole nother matter; for now, the main problem is this is a much longer phrase to try and awkwardly match.
■The scene was better in the manga, where the reader just sees "I am L", rather than hearing it over a few seconds, then immediately sees Light's reaction.
◦A certain foot-washing scene is supposed to be a Biblical reference, but even this Yaoi fangirl just finds it awkward more than anything else.
◦Misa's suggestions that L was a stalker and her asking to go to the bathroom were most likely supposed to be disturbing, but they came off as funny given Misa's ditzy personality.
•Light's crazy laughter
examples of 'spell my name with an S'
•Light Yagami from Death Note is an odd example, since most fans assumed it sounded so odd it had to be Raito.
◦Some scanslations had trouble with this, as they had gone with the Raito name, then had to switch to Light half way through the series (as more official translations became available). Ditto with Near and Mello, who were written as "Nia" and "Merro" in some scanlations at first.
◦That's just the tip of the iceberg. There's also Sidoh/Shidou, Jealous/Gelus, Lester/Rester, Gevanni/Giovanni, John Mackerenshaw/the decidedly narmful John McEnroe, Larry Connors/Rally Connors, plus the fact that the manga itself changes one of the FBI agents' already ridiculous names partway through.
■Don't forget Hal Lidner/Hal Ridner/Halle Ridner/Halle Lidner/Harinda.
■It's Raye Penber, strangely enough
•Light Yagami from Death Note is an odd example, since most fans assumed it sounded so odd it had to be Raito.
◦Some scanslations had trouble with this, as they had gone with the Raito name, then had to switch to Light half way through the series (as more official translations became available). Ditto with Near and Mello, who were written as "Nia" and "Merro" in some scanlations at first.
◦That's just the tip of the iceberg. There's also Sidoh/Shidou, Jealous/Gelus, Lester/Rester, Gevanni/Giovanni, John Mackerenshaw/the decidedly narmful John McEnroe, Larry Connors/Rally Connors, plus the fact that the manga itself changes one of the FBI agents' already ridiculous names partway through.
■Don't forget Hal Lidner/Hal Ridner/Halle Ridner/Halle Lidner/Harinda.
■It's Raye Penber, strangely enough
•Thirty Xanatos Pileup: And how!
◦The vast majority of them are by one person, too
Thirty Xanatos Pileup
alt title(s): Xanatos Casino
Solidus: I'll leave you alive, Jack, because you're still manipulable!
Fortune: Speaking of manipulation, it's time for me to steal Arsenal since I've been manipulating you from the start!
Solidus: Actually, I tricked Ocelot into manipulating you into manipulating me!
Ocelot: Fools! I've been manipulating everything from behind the scenes!
Magic Hand: But actually, I've been manipulating you!
Raiden: Alright, this has officially become a load of crap.
— Toastyfrog, Metal Gear Solid 2 thumbnail theatre
The good guys' plan seems to be playing right into the hands of the Big Bad. But The Hero realized that something was bound to go wrong, and secretly enlisted the aid of a secondary villain who would just love to take over as the Big Bad. But when the big moment comes, he sides with the Big Bad after all... oops! No, that's actually the hero's girlfriend in disguise, so she can get close enough to the Big Bad to finish him off. But then where is the other villain? Turns out he's off putting the real plan into action... but what's this? It would seem he's got more than one betrayal on his mind. Fortunately, the hero's best friend, who everyone thought was in a coma, was keeping a close eye on him the whole time...
Every once in a while, it seems like every character is trying to run a Xanatos Gambit at the same time, generally on everyone else, all while the Spanner In The Works messes it up more. When all these convoluted plans are put into motion at once, the storyline is thrown into chaos and even the most Genre Savvy fans can't predict how it will all end, resulting in a massive Thirty Xanatos Pileup. Expect lots of I Know You Know I Know. Expect the losers' gambits to become Vizzini Gambits.
Be prepared to make a flow diagram to keep up with everyone's scheme.
Psychological thrillers are more likely to have these. Part of what makes them interesting are these "scheme battles."
The name of this trope comes from the inevitable result of a NASCAR race at Talladega or Daytona: someone puts a wheel wrong, then hits another car, producing a thirty car pileup, a scene of chaos only surpassed by a collision of Xanatos Gambits. (Note that neither version necessarily needs to involve anywhere near thirty units- this one was more like half that- but it just sounds cooler to say it that way.)
Now, if there's some porn about the car pile up, then it's a Thirty-four Xanatos Pileup. (Lame!)
Compare I Know You Know I Know.
Death Note, it's basically over 40 episodes of Xanatos on crack
◦The vast majority of them are by one person, too
Thirty Xanatos Pileup
alt title(s): Xanatos Casino
Solidus: I'll leave you alive, Jack, because you're still manipulable!
Fortune: Speaking of manipulation, it's time for me to steal Arsenal since I've been manipulating you from the start!
Solidus: Actually, I tricked Ocelot into manipulating you into manipulating me!
Ocelot: Fools! I've been manipulating everything from behind the scenes!
Magic Hand: But actually, I've been manipulating you!
Raiden: Alright, this has officially become a load of crap.
— Toastyfrog, Metal Gear Solid 2 thumbnail theatre
The good guys' plan seems to be playing right into the hands of the Big Bad. But The Hero realized that something was bound to go wrong, and secretly enlisted the aid of a secondary villain who would just love to take over as the Big Bad. But when the big moment comes, he sides with the Big Bad after all... oops! No, that's actually the hero's girlfriend in disguise, so she can get close enough to the Big Bad to finish him off. But then where is the other villain? Turns out he's off putting the real plan into action... but what's this? It would seem he's got more than one betrayal on his mind. Fortunately, the hero's best friend, who everyone thought was in a coma, was keeping a close eye on him the whole time...
Every once in a while, it seems like every character is trying to run a Xanatos Gambit at the same time, generally on everyone else, all while the Spanner In The Works messes it up more. When all these convoluted plans are put into motion at once, the storyline is thrown into chaos and even the most Genre Savvy fans can't predict how it will all end, resulting in a massive Thirty Xanatos Pileup. Expect lots of I Know You Know I Know. Expect the losers' gambits to become Vizzini Gambits.
Be prepared to make a flow diagram to keep up with everyone's scheme.
Psychological thrillers are more likely to have these. Part of what makes them interesting are these "scheme battles."
The name of this trope comes from the inevitable result of a NASCAR race at Talladega or Daytona: someone puts a wheel wrong, then hits another car, producing a thirty car pileup, a scene of chaos only surpassed by a collision of Xanatos Gambits. (Note that neither version necessarily needs to involve anywhere near thirty units- this one was more like half that- but it just sounds cooler to say it that way.)
Now, if there's some porn about the car pile up, then it's a Thirty-four Xanatos Pileup. (Lame!)
Compare I Know You Know I Know.
Death Note, it's basically over 40 episodes of Xanatos on crack
•Light's crazy laughter ................ it just freaks me out...
•Victorias Secret Compartment (Takada kills Mello with pages of the Death Note hidden in her bra. Shouldn't have let her have that blanket, huh?)
◦While we are on the subject, where exactly did Takada keep that second cellphone that Light told her to keep on her person?
•Viewer Gender Confusion: Mello, at least in the manga (while the the anime tried remedying this by giving him an overly-masculine voice and slightly less effeminate features), and Rem (who even was voiced by a man in the second film adaptation and her true gender not mentioned within it, much to the further confusion of fans).
•Villain Protagonist: Light.
•Walls Of Text: The manga, partially because of the very nature of the story, partially because Ohba made sure it had 108 chapters.
•Well Intentioned Extremist: Light who starts out with killing only prominent murderers, but then jumps off the slippery slope and begins killing anyone who gets in his way. Though he does state his intention to get around to killing people who harass others or are 'immoral' in the first episode.
◦Also applies to Kiras X-, a lawyer who not only kills criminals but extends his punishment to people who have atoned for their crimes and "those who do not use their potential" — that is, lazy people and C-, the aforementioned unseen Death Note writer in the manga sequel who kills adults over the age of 70, later 60, in order to unburden the youth of Japan.
◦Also, while L is the leader of the good guys while he's alive, he does some morally dubious things during his quest to stop Kira.
◦And then there's Mello, who wants to be L's successor in the worst way. His actions (which include joining the Mafia, kidnapping Sayu, and indirectly getting Soichiro killed) are so ruthless that he's not much better than Light.
◦And then you have the debate over whether Near controlled Mikami with the Death Note or not, based off of Matsuda's theory in the final chapter. Word Of God also states that Near is a "cheater" and less innocent than he seems compared to Mello
•What An Idiot: Naomi Misora giving Light her real name. "God, this woman is stupid! I can't believe she fell for this."
•What Do You Mean Its Not Awesome: Justified on occasion — writing in a notebook deserves amplification when it kills someone forty seconds later. Also, those were probably some really good potato chips.
•What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: L washes (and massages) Light's feet shortly before dying.
◦Not to mention the 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.
•With Great Power Comes Great Insanity
•Woman In White: Near. Although he's male.
•The Woobie: Rem.
•Words Can Break My Bones: If you write someone's true name into a Death Note, they die.
•You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Light does this all the time, as does Mello. Ryuk returns the favor to Light at the very end.
•Xanatos Gambit
•Xanatos Roulette: Trainloads and trainloads of people get mercilessly Xanatosed all the time. The "Exactly As Planned" one is arguably the most (in)famous.
•Xanatos Planned This Anime: Let's just sum it up as this.
•You Kill It You Bought It
◦While we are on the subject, where exactly did Takada keep that second cellphone that Light told her to keep on her person?
•Viewer Gender Confusion: Mello, at least in the manga (while the the anime tried remedying this by giving him an overly-masculine voice and slightly less effeminate features), and Rem (who even was voiced by a man in the second film adaptation and her true gender not mentioned within it, much to the further confusion of fans).
•Villain Protagonist: Light.
•Walls Of Text: The manga, partially because of the very nature of the story, partially because Ohba made sure it had 108 chapters.
•Well Intentioned Extremist: Light who starts out with killing only prominent murderers, but then jumps off the slippery slope and begins killing anyone who gets in his way. Though he does state his intention to get around to killing people who harass others or are 'immoral' in the first episode.
◦Also applies to Kiras X-, a lawyer who not only kills criminals but extends his punishment to people who have atoned for their crimes and "those who do not use their potential" — that is, lazy people and C-, the aforementioned unseen Death Note writer in the manga sequel who kills adults over the age of 70, later 60, in order to unburden the youth of Japan.
◦Also, while L is the leader of the good guys while he's alive, he does some morally dubious things during his quest to stop Kira.
◦And then there's Mello, who wants to be L's successor in the worst way. His actions (which include joining the Mafia, kidnapping Sayu, and indirectly getting Soichiro killed) are so ruthless that he's not much better than Light.
◦And then you have the debate over whether Near controlled Mikami with the Death Note or not, based off of Matsuda's theory in the final chapter. Word Of God also states that Near is a "cheater" and less innocent than he seems compared to Mello
•What An Idiot: Naomi Misora giving Light her real name. "God, this woman is stupid! I can't believe she fell for this."
•What Do You Mean Its Not Awesome: Justified on occasion — writing in a notebook deserves amplification when it kills someone forty seconds later. Also, those were probably some really good potato chips.
•What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: L washes (and massages) Light's feet shortly before dying.
◦Not to mention the 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.
•With Great Power Comes Great Insanity
•Woman In White: Near. Although he's male.
•The Woobie: Rem.
•Words Can Break My Bones: If you write someone's true name into a Death Note, they die.
•You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Light does this all the time, as does Mello. Ryuk returns the favor to Light at the very end.
•Xanatos Gambit
•Xanatos Roulette: Trainloads and trainloads of people get mercilessly Xanatosed all the time. The "Exactly As Planned" one is arguably the most (in)famous.
•Xanatos Planned This Anime: Let's just sum it up as this.
•You Kill It You Bought It
a bunch of random stuff that fans come up with involving death note...
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php...
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php...
okkkkkkkkkim still confused by mellos gender
hes a boy, but very gay looking...
just like Light, spell his name backwards: Ollem... ok, maybe not... Leahim Lheek... still no... oh, well...
actually, its im-a-gay, but ya...
L
The greatest detective in the Death Note world, he's called in to work on the Kira (as Light is known) case. While he nearly corners Light several times, his opponent manages to best him. Dies at the hands of Rem, but not before transmitting his findings to Near. His real name, revealed in an encyclopedia of the series (How To Read 13), is L Lawliet.
Tropes associated with L:
•Bunny Ears Lawyer (Give L a bowl of candy, and he'll work for two nights straight. Three, if he has to)
•Draco In Leather Pants
•Do Not Adjust Your Set (He sets up the initial one, identifying himself as Kira's sworn enemy)
•Expy (of Sherlock Holmes somewhat, according to Obata.)
•Foe Yay
•Foot Focus (L goes barefoot except when outdoors. Plus, that infamous anime filler scene between him and Light)
•Great Detective
•Knight Templar (Approves of torture and such to solve cases)
•Looks Like Cesare
•One Letter Name (In fact, it's his real name.
•Raised By Wolves (He has very poor social skills)
•Red Oni Blue Oni (L is blue against Light's red)
•Sweet Tooth
•Worthy Opponent
•Xanatos Gambit (The Do Not Adjust Your Set one above being only his first in the series)
Near
L's true successor, and the one who truly takes down Kira in the end. Runs the SPK, a force from the USA specially designed to unmask Kira. Like L, he also suspects Light to be Kira (and suspects Mikami and Takada to have something to do with him as well), yet despite having every right to do so, refuses to incarcerate Light and Mikami and use the lack of deaths following as evidence. The closest thing that the one-shot comic three years later has to a main character, and drives C-Kira to suicide with words alone.
Tropes associated with Near:
•Bunny Ears Lawyer (Near loves playing with toys just as much as L loves sweets)
•Cross Dressing Voices (Near is voiced by a woman in both the Japanese and English versions of the anime)
•Heroic Albino
•Insufferable Genius: In addition to many fans hating him, there aren't many people in the story itself that can stand Near.
•Meaningful Name (His real name, Nate River, is supposed to symbolize how his talents flow from L like a river flows from the sea)
•Older Than They Look (He's not supposed to more than a year younger than Mello, but look at his physique, face, and voice and try telling that to people)
•Raised By Wolves: Even more so than L, to the point where he is apparently unable to make his own travel arrangements. How To Read, the series encyclopedia, points out that this a significant weakness, as he can only make full use of his brilliant mind when surrounded by support because his basic social and living skills are so bad.
•Shut Up Hannibal: He rejects Kira's ideals entirely, especially after confronting an implicated Light, though a [[Discontinuity/Anime later omake at least shows that he respected Light slightly, considering a lesser new Kira to be subpar in ideals and methods.:]]
•Replacement Scrappy: He just ain't L, and some fans can't quite accept that.
The greatest detective in the Death Note world, he's called in to work on the Kira (as Light is known) case. While he nearly corners Light several times, his opponent manages to best him. Dies at the hands of Rem, but not before transmitting his findings to Near. His real name, revealed in an encyclopedia of the series (How To Read 13), is L Lawliet.
Tropes associated with L:
•Bunny Ears Lawyer (Give L a bowl of candy, and he'll work for two nights straight. Three, if he has to)
•Draco In Leather Pants
•Do Not Adjust Your Set (He sets up the initial one, identifying himself as Kira's sworn enemy)
•Expy (of Sherlock Holmes somewhat, according to Obata.)
•Foe Yay
•Foot Focus (L goes barefoot except when outdoors. Plus, that infamous anime filler scene between him and Light)
•Great Detective
•Knight Templar (Approves of torture and such to solve cases)
•Looks Like Cesare
•One Letter Name (In fact, it's his real name.
•Raised By Wolves (He has very poor social skills)
•Red Oni Blue Oni (L is blue against Light's red)
•Sweet Tooth
•Worthy Opponent
•Xanatos Gambit (The Do Not Adjust Your Set one above being only his first in the series)
Near
L's true successor, and the one who truly takes down Kira in the end. Runs the SPK, a force from the USA specially designed to unmask Kira. Like L, he also suspects Light to be Kira (and suspects Mikami and Takada to have something to do with him as well), yet despite having every right to do so, refuses to incarcerate Light and Mikami and use the lack of deaths following as evidence. The closest thing that the one-shot comic three years later has to a main character, and drives C-Kira to suicide with words alone.
Tropes associated with Near:
•Bunny Ears Lawyer (Near loves playing with toys just as much as L loves sweets)
•Cross Dressing Voices (Near is voiced by a woman in both the Japanese and English versions of the anime)
•Heroic Albino
•Insufferable Genius: In addition to many fans hating him, there aren't many people in the story itself that can stand Near.
•Meaningful Name (His real name, Nate River, is supposed to symbolize how his talents flow from L like a river flows from the sea)
•Older Than They Look (He's not supposed to more than a year younger than Mello, but look at his physique, face, and voice and try telling that to people)
•Raised By Wolves: Even more so than L, to the point where he is apparently unable to make his own travel arrangements. How To Read, the series encyclopedia, points out that this a significant weakness, as he can only make full use of his brilliant mind when surrounded by support because his basic social and living skills are so bad.
•Shut Up Hannibal: He rejects Kira's ideals entirely, especially after confronting an implicated Light, though a [[Discontinuity/Anime later omake at least shows that he respected Light slightly, considering a lesser new Kira to be subpar in ideals and methods.:]]
•Replacement Scrappy: He just ain't L, and some fans can't quite accept that.
•Are there gods of other things? If so do they also use magic notebooks?
◦Given that we never see any, it's pretty doubtful. Though that does make me flash back to a fan fic with Semegami and Ukegami. You can probably guess what their notebooks do.
■Wouldn't it make more sense for both of those to be covered by the same note.
◦Debu Note.
•Since you aren't actually saying it out loud, would it be possible to use a Death Note to kill Candle J
◦Hope you at least went with the satisfaction of your question being answered.
◦Could two people working in tandem kill that person? That is, if someone finished writing in his name before the 40 seconds had elapsed would the Death Note kill Candle J
◦Yes, but that still wouldn't stop him from kidnapping you in the 40 seconds between you writing his name and his death.
◦"Dies by any means immediately after the final stroke of the 'k', above, is completed." Got that for ya.
■Unfortunately, he'd still be able to kidnap you, sort of like a headless chicken will run around for a few minutes.
■Besides which, you don't get kidnapped until after you've fully said Ca-..his name. So you wouldn't need two people working in tandem, just one. The downside being, as mentioned, that you'd still get kidnapped in the time before Candle Jack dies. Wait, da
•Why does everyone consider the period after L's death to be worse, I found it even more gripping, I like the 3-way element, and I found Near to be more sympathetic than L (not to mention he was clearly more intelligent, this is proven by the fact he wins)
◦Because there's less direct interaction between the characters, we never see any of Near's thought processes (unlike L's), making everything he does seem a little like an Ass Pull , and because Light appears to lose all the levels in badass he acquired in the first half, and makes really stupid and out of character mistakes (like not giving Mikami any real sheets. Seriously, WTF?)
■You'd like the manga better. For all your points, and especially the second.
◦I personally also enjoyed the three way element and I also really like Near. As for why others don't, a lot of people were really invested in L, and the manga and anime have opposite problems at this point: the manga has a lot of walls of text because of how complicated everything has got, slowing it down (I didn't mind this that much because I like slow-burning stuff) whereas in the anime, everything is compressed to the point where it's really hard to figure out what's happening, and also to the point where a lot of things like Near's logic leaps (as mentioned above) don't make as much sense. For example, compare Near's realization of X-Kira's identity in the manga and anime. In the manga there's a whole double page dedicated to it and it makes sense, in the anime it seems to come out of nowhere and makes it look like Near's just a lucky guesser.
•Misa. That is all.
◦She crazy. I think that just about explains everything.
◦You forgot sexy.
•Hey, if L does nothing all day but eat sweets and solve mysteries, why didn't he have a NATURAL heart attack of his own accord?
◦He practices capoeira, remember. That probably keeps him in shape. But on a similar note, shouldn't he and Near have a massive vitamin D deficiency from lack of sunlight?