overanalyzing death note ep28 comment

(Meant for YouTube but first half keeps being auto-deleted without explanation.)

There is something more I can say about Misa in this episode, and it tracks to the topic of the Savvy Guy Energetic Girl trope. And I do need to provide SPOILER warning since I do want to talk about the live action drama version as well.

agentattorney9851 brought up that Misa was finding the whole time skip to be fantasy life, and with the way Death Note is designed, that's actually a good point. Let's look into why Savvy Guy Energetic Girl had become a popular trope. As we know, the standard gender stereotype is women wanting marriage and men wanting their fun, and that's where ceremonies come in, to involve that trade in a healthier fashion. But what happens when "wedding night" becomes "revelation night"? Women would at that point want to find a guy who won't abuse that aspect. In theory, this would be sound logic. In practice?

Misa has put Light on a pedestal, and it's all the result of her backstory that Death Note was interested in glossing over, that her parents were killed by a burglar who was killed by Kira--worth noting is that the burglar being targeted for killing Misa's parents was actually deliberate in the live action drama because Light actually was drawn to Misa there and actively attempted to protect her, something I can get back to. She sees "Moon Yagami" uniquely not having his lifespan listed and find out through search he was a Tennis champion and is an honors student, while noting (in the manga at least) how serious he looked, giggly about as much especially with him being attractive. She finds him to be somebody who can protect her. And yeah, Light can protect Misa, just like Ryuk can kill people to keep Light free. I'll get back to this before I break the tone I'm wanting to maintain right now.

So things happen, and eventually, Light gets one over on "mean ol' L" and Misa gets to have Light all to herself. No more dealing with the "bad guy", no more dealing with competition in other girls. Misa now has Light all to herself.

At least, things seem that simple to her.

We as the audience recognize that Light is only interested in having a deputy Kira who has the Reaper Eyes. Who better than somebody who had already killed in the name and interested service of Kira before even seeing the attractive university student's serious-looking face. It does help that Light may actually have VERY subconscious attraction toward Misa anyway, at least going by the detail that Light was so impressed by Misa's explanation skill that he had to remind himself that falling in love is "how most idiots screw up." But reality is harsh. If Near were to claim Light to be nothing more than a crazed serial killer, I would not blame him, because Light doesn't do a good job showing welcome empathy, or even suitably redeeming empathy, even if yeah, as you point out, he would prefer to avoid ANY scenario where it's his life and designs, or his family--and we ARE talking about Light as Kira, not the amnesiac Light from the Yotsuba arc.

The big point is that Light and Misa are intent on living in a fantasy, no matter who has to pay for it. I can at least agree with drama version Light's remark in his "I Am Kira" speech on this key point:
"All people have the right to pursue and find happiness. But all of that can come to a sudden end because of a handful of rotten humans. You've seen many such victims, haven't you? And it hurts every time, doesn't it? You've all felt frustrated by your helplessness, haven't you?"
And when Break The Cutie is a trope for a reason and is VERY likely to hit the Genki Girl in particular, by God do I agree with having the sentiment at all. It's simply that I am recognizing as anybody with sense would that Light's answer doesn't work, because he's still forcing a viewpoint onto others with violence, in a disconnected manner at that. I have seen people argue that the Death Note is "ultimate power" but what can it even do that won't even involve people's deaths, other than maybe finding out people's real names which still costs the user half their remaining lifespan for that much? We don't know what Light would do with something like the Dragon Balls, and he might still be selfish with their usage to worse effect, but I wouldn't be surprised by a case of Enlightened Self-Interest that actually would have the bonus of not bugging anybody like Kira's pursuers. He may have a prince personality, but he does have SOME degree of fashioning himself as a shepherd even if he sucks at it.

This all comes back to how important it is to show actual diligence at more than pragmatism. Death Note is solid at showing that the mess degenerates into a lack of honor among thieves, and why that even happens. Light and Misa, in their failure to understand what one Dr. Kimble (from The Fugitive) did understand, are quick to potentially consider killing their own allies as security risks, Light barely being lucky to being effectively immune to this happening to him by Misa, and Misa is willing to kill a friend of hers if Light deems it necessary. At the end of the day, they're not going to have a boy saved from mis-diagnosis in the middle of their escape efforts. Even if yes, the police do have a NASTY habit of being aggressive--and I experienced as much this March when the police slammed me onto the ground of my parents' house, dragged me onto the street, and suffocated me for daring to protect my dad's ashes--Light and Misa ultimately make their choices for their fantasy lives, no matter how tainted the fantasies are at that point.

It's ultimately why Misa is that scared, broken mess we are witnessing with Light being needlessly abusive, a far cry from the shot we get at 20:27 with Light giving the impression of this sharp handler for his mighty girl.

Now why is the Savvy Guy Energetic Girl trope so important with this? Well, I did point out that Misa, as the Genki Girl, gets her dream guy in Light, the Deadpan Snarker prince. The Savvy Guy Energetic Girl trope is desirable, but a lot more people would be happy with the ending of Star VS The Forces of Evil if they cared only about that, and I know I wasn't happy with it for keeping Star as a broken mess who ended up going into an incredibly stupid action to the detriment of the world, because hey, as long as Marco and Star can be together. Yeah, uh, not like this, it doesn't work and I even called out as much right after the finale finished airing. Here, Light and Misa, in the wake of their own fantasies, limit their genuine regard toward others, and it's what has them pulling actions that have the law enforcement finding them as needing to be stopped.

We can contrast from other Savvy Guy Energetic Girl pairings where both members are moral and compassionate. We have Robin and Starfire in Teen Titans 2003, and we have Izuku Midoriya and Ochako Uraraka in My Hero Academia. Heck, we can even argue Lelouch vi Britannia and Shirley Fenette in Code Geass.

As somebody who would have the material to be an expert on the subject of Light finding being a shepherd to be fun regardless of him sucking at it, I can provide some points involving my intended game's story. The protagonist of the story, as I basically state, IS amorous, and it's easy to believe he's just being meta in who he goes for, but even though his interest in fun in being a shepherd is around, he IS genuinely not wanting to see ladies get hurt, despite some anger about girls abusing him that's in high gear before he meets the MPDG, and it's why he would be happy if he could be open without hurting them, because he realizes not being open hurts them anyway, it's just that he's not given an alternative option that would guarantee effectiveness. He also does still supply his direct allies with maneuver direction and spellwork, something he'd have to for addressing some of the nastier threats he would come across, so there's your "Savvy Guy" part.

As for the MPDG in the story, as the obvious "Energetic Girl", she's going to seem oblivious to anything that she should know about and it's going to be why the protagonist will feel that he has brainwashed her via his omissions to the point where he'd be melancholic about how she would only ever leave his side with a broken heart, but I don't think anybody, especially people who have watched ReBoot (if you remember that, I'm obviously thinking of AndrAIa) would really be surprised that she would know the entire time about the protagonist's more carnal interests, a point that her character would be designed around to show that no, being in love with the flawed protagonist doesn't make her stupid at all, and instead it's clear to anybody in the know that what she is doing is stimulating the protagonist's conscience while retaining a position where she can use magic touch maneuvers to check his more potentially scary aspects. Of course, as the gesture of deliberately being a Morality Pet for a Chivalrous Pervert is something that should be treated as subjective, I'll still want to leave it ambiguous whether her primary motive for child soldier recruitment or even how much she is thinking with it would be more happy socialization, having younger subordinates to provide to the protagonist who already would be wanting to find a way to keep them from losing their lives to the horrible situation, or even directing them to people who can help them readjust to peaceful times.

And there-in lies the key point of all of this. This Savvy Guy Energetic Girl setup in the story for my intended game would ultimately manage the *_earning_* part of Earn Your Happy Ending. We have an amorous sorcerer who ultimately protects those around him from the start, even protecting the MPDG on their first meeting and then some, and even pulls an honorable attempted self-sacrifice that puts an end to the Big Bad's world-threatening designs, and it leads to him living to enjoy a happy marriage with a lady who actually has been wanting his (ahem) fireworks from the day they met. We have the aforementioned lady, the MPDG herself, an incredibly charismatic figure who I should mention is built like a Paladin in terms of battle stats, guarding him when he has nothing and even going as far as to risk her life to keep him safe because she has faith in his better side, and it leads to her having a happy marriage with the world's savior where she has actually mixing in lighthearted jabs at his character to show for the "price" of marriage.

What do we have with Light and Misa? Well, because Misa didn't think the long term through, we have a Genki Girl turned into a meek mess, and Light doesn't do ANYTHING to curb his frustration when blatantly shouting toward Misa when she was only attempting to help, regardless of Misa being too unfocused on the task Light assigned to her. Hopefully without giving too much away, I can be sure that Light and Misa both meeting bad ends, something I don't think surprises anybody, doesn't DIRECTLY have anything to do with all of this, but we are covering a dynamic that would never have helped them whatsoever.

A disabilities daycare center in Pinole, CA named Pathway to Choices (which I went to before as a client, and funnily enough, a blond-haired staff member, pictured on the place's Yelp page, was a Genki Girl, 12 years older than yours truly no less, before she was overworked into lifelessness) has this saying: by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. And gosh did Misa fail to prepare.