Closest to society’s ideal of a ‘righteous’ character, is Light’s father. In the anime, different characters present different levels of morality framed by their motives and beliefs. Parallel to moral skepticism, no reader’s opinion on morality in Death Note is necessarily correct and it is impossible to define what is good and evil. As a reader subject to the same societal forces as the characters in the anime, we are lead to develop our own beliefs on the moral acts of the characters and judge them as we see fit. This blurred boundary presents the aforementioned moral ambiguity in humanity and encapsulates the reader. The use of right and wrong in this case is arbitrary in that they are stereotypical concepts applied by societal beliefs. From the very beginning, this theme is omnipresent in the anime’s conflict: Light Yagami is performing ‘right’ in the world by ridding it of evil criminals but paradoxically performs ‘wrong’ in slaughtering human beings. Moral skepticism is the concept that humans do not, and can not, have knowledge of morality (Sinnot-Armstrong, 2006). As a whole, Death Note portrays the notions of skepticism and ambiguity in human morality. Taking the concept of acting as God, the anime questions morality and projects upon the psychology of society. Tetsuro Araki’s anime, Death Note, (adapted from Tsugumi Ohba’s manga), is a thriller that dives into the human psyche and blurs boundaries between right and wrong, good and evil.
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