on villains and Death Note
Oct. 6th, 2005 07:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingMy friend Cat once remarked that almost without fail, her favorite character in any story will either die, turn out to be secretly evil, or both. Occasionally she's very lucky and they turn out to be secretly reformed villains instead, but that's about the only break in the pattern.
I can't pick 'em like she can (we don't share precognition over our telepathic link) but I do have a worrying tendency to cheer for the villains and sociopathic types, so long as they're well written. It's like watching fire -- hypnotizing. There's just something about an itelligent, semi-rational person setting out to achieve terrible goals, and making it work, at least up to a point. You ride along with them and release all the impulses you'd never act on in real life.
I also love reading stories in which people have battles of wits, or carry out complicated plans. I'm no good at writing that sort of thing, but I love to read it. (This is not to be confused with mysteries. I like to know what's going on and to watch it unfold. I like watching the clockwork move.)
I think one of the main things I don't like about Harry Potter is that Voldemort is, bluntly, batshit insane and kind of stupid because of it. Oh, it works within JKR's world, but that's not how I like my villains. In Naruto, I find Akatsuki and Kabuto much more interesting than Orochimaru, because Orochimaru is a monomaniac without much subtlety, whereas Kabuto has something ticking away behind his eyes, and Akatsuki is clearly working on a plan at least a decade in preparation. Granted, individually they may be a disappointment, but as a group they have something going for them.
I'm not at all surprised that I am in love with Death Note. Yagami Raito is everything I like reading about -- rational, intelligent, persuasive, gifted at reading and manipulating people, willing to risk it all on slim chances when he has to, composed in a crisis -- and for all that he's a serial killer with a god complex and sociopathic tendencies, he does have reasons for what he does, and on a certain level, it's hard to argue with his logic.
(The fact that Takeshi Obata draws him fairly hot doesn't hurt, either.)
And in L, he has such a wonderful opponent! Those two were made for each other. (Well, of course they were -- they're fictional, and Tsugami Ohba wrote them that way. But still.) As for the new arc, well, while Mello and Near are pressing hard, they just aren't as personally involved with Raito -- their issues are more with each other. So while Raito is still my woobie, he's not being shown at his best. *sigh* I am hoping that this will change.
I am totally not surprised that most fanfic for this series seems to be Raito/L slash. I don't think I could write that -- their minds are too much part of it, and I'm not a schemer on that level -- but oh, when you do it right...!
Actually, I have a sudden urge to write a character study piece for Misa, mostly because I really itch to get my fingers into her mind and explain her the way she isn't really explained in canon. The information is there, but the writer isn't doing anything with it. I want to pull pieces together and try to figure out how she ended up the way she did, and why she's as obsessive as Raito and L. (Actually, all the main characters in this series, with the exception of Yagami Souichiro, are obsessive. I wonder what that says about Tsugami Ohba?)
Hmm. *wanders off, contemplating*
I can't pick 'em like she can (we don't share precognition over our telepathic link) but I do have a worrying tendency to cheer for the villains and sociopathic types, so long as they're well written. It's like watching fire -- hypnotizing. There's just something about an itelligent, semi-rational person setting out to achieve terrible goals, and making it work, at least up to a point. You ride along with them and release all the impulses you'd never act on in real life.
I also love reading stories in which people have battles of wits, or carry out complicated plans. I'm no good at writing that sort of thing, but I love to read it. (This is not to be confused with mysteries. I like to know what's going on and to watch it unfold. I like watching the clockwork move.)
I think one of the main things I don't like about Harry Potter is that Voldemort is, bluntly, batshit insane and kind of stupid because of it. Oh, it works within JKR's world, but that's not how I like my villains. In Naruto, I find Akatsuki and Kabuto much more interesting than Orochimaru, because Orochimaru is a monomaniac without much subtlety, whereas Kabuto has something ticking away behind his eyes, and Akatsuki is clearly working on a plan at least a decade in preparation. Granted, individually they may be a disappointment, but as a group they have something going for them.
I'm not at all surprised that I am in love with Death Note. Yagami Raito is everything I like reading about -- rational, intelligent, persuasive, gifted at reading and manipulating people, willing to risk it all on slim chances when he has to, composed in a crisis -- and for all that he's a serial killer with a god complex and sociopathic tendencies, he does have reasons for what he does, and on a certain level, it's hard to argue with his logic.
(The fact that Takeshi Obata draws him fairly hot doesn't hurt, either.)
And in L, he has such a wonderful opponent! Those two were made for each other. (Well, of course they were -- they're fictional, and Tsugami Ohba wrote them that way. But still.) As for the new arc, well, while Mello and Near are pressing hard, they just aren't as personally involved with Raito -- their issues are more with each other. So while Raito is still my woobie, he's not being shown at his best. *sigh* I am hoping that this will change.
I am totally not surprised that most fanfic for this series seems to be Raito/L slash. I don't think I could write that -- their minds are too much part of it, and I'm not a schemer on that level -- but oh, when you do it right...!
Actually, I have a sudden urge to write a character study piece for Misa, mostly because I really itch to get my fingers into her mind and explain her the way she isn't really explained in canon. The information is there, but the writer isn't doing anything with it. I want to pull pieces together and try to figure out how she ended up the way she did, and why she's as obsessive as Raito and L. (Actually, all the main characters in this series, with the exception of Yagami Souichiro, are obsessive. I wonder what that says about Tsugami Ohba?)
Hmm. *wanders off, contemplating*
Re: A villain I like.
Date: 2005-10-07 02:22 pm (UTC)I do more or less know what happens in other arcs, but have not yet felt impelled to go read them myself. Someday I shall get around to that. :-)
Re: A villain I like.
Date: 2005-10-07 04:15 pm (UTC)Never seen the anime so I don't know when he shows up in that. I usually prefer manga anyway -- typically they're less padded, which is nice.
Re: A villain I like.
Date: 2005-10-07 05:05 pm (UTC)