Greatest anime heroes

Post Reply New Topic

I think it depends. His ideal became his obsession, and once L died he had pretty much achieved his goal. He had the world under his control for about 5 years or something like that. He used everyone as a tool to keep his ideal world alive (though I don't recall him ever putting his own family in danger) but it was necessary in order for him to succeed.

The question is whether his methods were okay or not. On one hand his actions destroyed many people's lives. On the other hand he created an almost crime-free world. Does the end justify the means? That's something people will have to decide for themselves.

Is megalomania necessarily a bad thing? Light thought he was God. He was certainly better than most people. Highly intelligent, naturally good at everything. Plus his power and the will to use it to better the world sets him apart from others. Does it matter that he may have been slightly delusional? He was still thinking of the greater good.

The only problem is that even from the start he obviously wanted to exercise his power over anyone that got in his way. L suffered from the same thing, and it got them both killed.

It would probably be more accurate to say that heroes don't exist in Death Note. Light was the closest thing to one though.

"All living creatures have the power to be brought back to life [as in return from denial and seclusion, not literally] and the will to go on living. Anywhere can be paradise, as long as you have the will to live. After all, you are alive, so you always have the chance to be happy." -- Yui Ikari, End of Evangelion

Yeah but that's a load of crap though.

I think that Light lost his way, he started out with ideals, a wish change the world for the better, but as soon as he realised that he killed someone he was no better than many of the criminals he hated. But out of denial that he is that bad he convinced himself that these criminals deserved to die, and that he should be the one to kill them, he belived himself above everyone else and created a god complex. Worse still rather than do it discretly, he did it so much that he was bound to be noticed, and that people would bow to him out of fear, he killed the first person that openly 'mocked' him on tv, that is being a tyrant, not a hero.

Definition of hero from dictionary.com
1. a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.
2. a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal

I am reminded of 2 people from the same series. The first was not happy with the limits of the world that most belived, he had seen the horizon, but at the time was to young to go into it, as he matured he grew confident and brave, and never failed to tell everyone that there was more to the world than the cieling they trusted. His one true friend is the second character, he saw this boy had spirit that was hidden a fear born from grief. The first man never wavered when a giant monster sudenly broke into their world, instead he stood in front of everyone that thought he was crazy, and pointed to beyond the conifnes they previously belived. While the previous leader was fallen in fear he grabbed a weapon and told the monster to go, proclaiming himself the leader of a group that nothing but his courage to be backed up. While the other ran, the two characters joined a hero had also fallen with the monster. Short story is the first character gave the courage for the second that meracously won the battle. Through sheer will the first character wrestled controlof the same power as the monsters, showing to other people that they too can fight on even ground.

The two kept fighting stronger opponentsn and get each time rising up, though along the way the first one fell, all the followers that the first character brought were afraid that the second would not be able to lead them, and for a while they were right. The second character did not understand how he could win when the first character died despite his seemingly infinite bravery, but upon an impossible situation the second character did not give up in getting to something he learnet to protect, and we learnet the first's bravery that inspired many only came from the second's will to not give up. From there he disovered the spirit within him that pulled him up and overcome anything he saw. He took on armies, kings, the world, a galaxy, the universe itself, each time facing an equel amount of despair, though finding that a universe is by all matters an impossible obstacle. Just when it was a hopless situation where they were held by their fears, hopes and doubts the first one returned, his one message being do you want to be in a world that someone created to control you, where you do not truly move forward. The second quickly punched his leash in the face, he had a universe to change and inspire. Through sheer will and fighting spirit they moved galaxies and fought a nature of the universe, freeing man kind and inspiring legions of planets with their bravery.

@ The Perfect Storm: Yeah, and that's a load of opinion.

This thread has a disturbing lack of Goku.

I'm just saiyan.

Lol sorry. It's just that 'life lesson' or whatever is a bit unrealistic. I shouldn't have said anything.

@Bradleigh: Light wasn't as bad as the criminals he was killing. He was purging the world of rapists and murderers. It's a bit different. When you are planning to 'save the world' from crime you really don't have any option to be discrete. Light recognised this and jumped straight into it. The guy he killed on TV, the one standing in for L or whatever was his enemy. He seemed to want to kill Kira and allow criminals to continue unchecked. It wasn't entirely about being mocked.

When you have such a massive plan for the world you can't afford to let one or two people stand in the way of that. He was doing what had to be done to keep his plan going. He was a tyrant but he was motivated to provide a better world for people to live in.

Whether killing criminals or not is a good or bad thing is open to interpretation. Many governments still do it. Many people still want it. Death Note did a good job of showing both those views.

I have sympathised with Light's cause, but do you think that even Light would have liked it? Look at the part where they show what Light was like when he realised that he killed the guy, he totaly freaked out, he knew that it was moraly wrong, but convinced himself he was doing the right as how could he possibly be a criminal. When Light lost his memory he was on the side of Kira, he was quite afraid that he might be him, his Kira persona was not drawn by his morals, but the fact he used the notebook to kill. If he truly was a hero he would not have tried to elevate himself as a god of a new world.

You could probably say that he is as much a hero as Ra's al Ghul.

He was a little freaked out at first because he had no idea it would actually kill someone. He rethinks his morals after that. I wouldn't call it denial. It's just that he realises he can actually do some good in the world.

However! He did try to rationalise his first kill later. I remember a conversation (probably with Ryuku) where I think he says something like "the death note compels you to try it at least once" or something like that. He was convinced he was drawn to it.

I think to do something on such a grand scale you sort of have to elevate yourself to something more than a normal person.

When Light lost his memory he went back to 'normal'. He was against Kira. Of course he would be.. he lost all of his memories, and especially the one thing that caused him to change. Kira was counting on this.

Akira Takizawa from Eden of the East. He saves hundreds of thousands of people from missile attacks.

Spike is the s**t man! he's freakin bad-ass!

And I agree with the indecision about Ghost in the Shell. They are all great characters.

hmm heros.... tough one.
ichigo kurosaki, bleach
haseo, dot hack gu
kite, dot hack original
naruto
spike from cowboy beatbop
now i have a problem with the whole idea that L was a hero thinking. he wasnt a hero he was a anti villian. he may have been right in doing so but he tortured misa amane and light... what if he was wrong though? would he still be a force for justice in the world? that plus L did things more on a interest base then a justice base. think about the beginng when wammy brings L into the interpol meeting and how everyone saw him. there had to be a reason for this.
That being said Light was evil. and a villian... though if im honest he might qualify as a anti hero character. he wanted his justice. not anyone elses. to exist. dont forget he killed the fbi agents just because they were trying to find out just who kira was. that at least to me isn't the sign of a hero. and as for his intetions.... kill off all the bad people because they make life unpleasant. yeah thats not right either. sure the world would be more peaceful without those people living in it. but in someways we really do need them to exist as both a standard that we can stand against and as a way to see just who we are. its like the arguement without light there is no dark. with no evil there is no good.

^

Whether the killing of criminals is right or wrong depends on the person making the judgment.

I think Vash the Stampede from Trigun was a great hero, I mean the guy was pratically a saint because he absolutely refused to kill anybody yet he always managed to control the situation by defeating the badguys and saving the innocent, even though he unintentionally caused massive destruction which led people to believe he was a badguy and he had a huge bounty put on his head. I think he was just a really good guy with a big heart who was misunderstood by everybody due to the horrible things his brother Knives did that he took the blame for. Also he's one of the few anime action heroes who I didn't get the impression that he was a complete sociopath.

not true or by your logic then a serial killer is perfectly justified in his choice to kill people. or a racist person has the right to kill what he is racist against. ect

i can agree to that. though who knows he was able to focus exclusivly on the pain on his finger to break out of the mind control of one of the villians. you cant do that unless on some level your a little crazy