History WhatAnIdiot / DeathNote

'''The Result:''' Light finds out Naomi's real name through the church she and Raye were going to be wed at. Not only does he write her name in the death note, but he also arranges for her to kidnap and ultimately kill Light's girlfriend, Shiori. All this in order to gain L's sympathy and join in on the Kira investigation.\\

'''You'd Expect:''' She'd watch what she says and be sure not to give too much information away.

* Despite being smarter than in the manga or anime, Naomi Misora still has a major TooDumbToLive moment. After Raye's death, Naomi confronts Light and announces to him that she suspects him of being Kira. Giving him an alias in the process.
'''You'd Expect''': She'd watch what she says and be sure not to give too much information away.
'''Instead''': After Light writes her name in his piece of the death note, Naomi smugly taunts Light by telling him that the name she gave him was an alias.
'''To Make Matters Worse''': She had already told Light that she was Raye's fiancee.
'''The Result''': Light finds out Naomi's real name through the church she and Raye were going to be wed at. Not only does he write her name in the death note, but he also arranges for her to kidnap and ultimately kill Light's girlfriend, Shiori. All this in order to gain L's sympathy and join in on the Kira investigation.

* Thanks to L's initial investigation, the police force deduce that Kira needs a face and a real name in order to kill someone.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That the police and government will do as much as possible to prevent Kira from killing any more people. For example, they would order all news relating to criminals be shut down or at the very least, blur out their faces and not reveal their full names during a report. They would also order the people to not show their real names to public and wear either a face-mask or sunglasses to ensure that Kira will not know their face for them to kill and they would also block all criminal-based websites that reveal both their face and real name. If the Kira-related murders to continue to rise in spite of this, then the police try and trace whoever hacked their criminal database and potentially find the culprit.\\
'''Instead:''' Nobody considers doing any control in the Kira killings and the death tolls continue to rise with no-one being able to identify the culprit for 5 years. By the time it's considered, it's a bit too late, and Kira no longer cares about if the named offenders are guilty or innocent.

'''Instead''': Once he kills Lind. L Taylor, whom he only finds out after the fact was a criminal on death row asked to impersonate L, any law enforcement is fair game for Kira if they oppose him. This includes FBI agents and Interpol, whom Light murders in an attempt to intimidate international backup from helping L.\\

* Light starts killing dozens of people with the titular artifact, which requires knowledge of the victim's name and face. Shortly afterward, Interpol makes a broadcast wherein "L", the greatest detective ''ever'', announces that he will be taking the Kira cases. More importantly, he does this while giving his real name and showing his face for what is supposed to be the ''first time ever,'' and is practically ''daring'' Kira to kill him right then and there. There is something suspiciously fishy about this.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Light to realize this is likely to be a trap or probe of sorts and avoid killing the man. Or, if the temptation is too strong, do some research on the name and face to check if its falsified first and ''then'' kill him at a later date. And hell, even if it's not a trap, it'd still be best to avoid killing "L" because killing this person would confirm to the ICPO that there really is someone out there killing criminals.\\
'''Instead:''' He writes his name in the Death Note right then and there and, big surprise, it ''is'' a trap. Now, not only has L figured out his MO and limitations, but has also pinpointed his general location.

'''Instead:''' She apparently suspects ''nothing wrong'' about the very man who followed him and worse, she ''[[TooDumbToLive gives away her ID to Light]]'' in spite of his behavior. She ends up getting killed for it and thus the potential information that could catch Kira is lost forever.\\

'''The Result''': Out of necessity and self-preservation, Light's dad and a small team of police work to stop Kira. L also takes it personally when he deduces that Kira must have killed Naomi Misora, one of his good friends. And in one of the biggest ironies, Matsuda is the one who ends up incapacitating light in the manga and anime, by shooting the Death Note papers out of his hand and screaming that his father believed in his innocence.

'''You'd expect:''' Light to realize this is likely to be a trap or probe of sorts and avoid killing the man. Or, if the temptation is too strong, do some research on the name and face to check if its falsified first and ''then'' kill him at a later date. And hell, even if it's not a trap, it'd still be best to avoid killing "L" because killing this person would confirm to the ICPO that there really is someone out there killing criminals.\\

'''You'd expect:''' That L would come forth to only Interpol and the local police with the information that he has learned from the broadcast, explaining the trap to bait Kira out and that with it, he has narrowed Kira's location down to the Kanto region of Japan. Thus, having successfully baited him into revealing his location, MO, and limitation, he would lower Kira's guard down so that he could then trick Kira into revealing information known only to them and the criminal ([[INeverSaidItWasPoison a common police tactic in real life]].)\\

'''You'd Expect:''' For Light to lay low and let the whole FBI investigation blow over. In fact, Raye thinks that this trail is a dead end and plans to report that Light is not a threat. After all, the busjacking could have gone wrong a million ways. What if Raye suspects something's up with the busjacking? If his fiancee could suspect something, so could he. Or what if Raye reported the incident to his superiors? This could bring a lot of attention to Light. One could argue Raye was forced to show his ID, but he had no reason to whatsoever. Getting accused of being a criminal is not a valid reason to show a suspect his ID because he could always clear his name if him being accused somehow becomes a legal issue. In other words, Light was banking on his agent being totally incompetent.\\
'''Instead:''' Raye tells his fiancee what happened, which caused her to be suspicious and decide to report the incident to L, which would have caused L to suspect Light immediately. It was pure luck that Light ran into her to prevent that, and it was pure luck Raye never told her who he was forced to show his ID to. It's not like it was totally worth killing the agents despite this risk either, because while it did deplete L of his resources, it also resulted in L zeroing in on Light and suspecting him for the rest of the series.

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[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

[[folder: Live-Action Japanese Films]]

'''The Result''': Out of necessity and self-preservation, Light's dad and a small team of police work to stop Kira. L also takes it personally when he deduces that Kira must have killed Naomi Misora, one of his good friends.

'''Instead:''' L sends the FBI to investigate the police, and once the FBI agents die, L manages to narrow down the suspect pool to those Raye Penber investigated, which results in him eventually pinpointing Light as the prime suspect. Meanwhile, Light also fails to cause friction between the NPA and L because a large portion of the Task Force decide to resign instead of investigate L.

'''You'd Expect:''' For Light to lay low and let the whole FBI investigation blow over. After all, the busjacking could have gone wrong a million ways. What if Raye suspects something's up with the busjacking? If his fiancee could suspect something, so could he. Or what if Raye reported the incident to his superiors? This could bring a lot of attention to Light. One could argue Raye was forced to show his ID, but he had no reason to whatsoever. Getting accused of being a criminal is not a valid reason to show a suspect his ID because he could always clear his name if him being accused somehow becomes a legal issue. In other words, Light was banking on his agent being totally incompetent.\\

'''You'd expect:''' That L would come forth to only Interpol and the local police with the information that he has learned from the broadcast, explaining the trap to bait Kira out and that with it, he has narrowed Kira's location down to the Kanto region of Japan. Thus, having successfully baited him into revealing his location, MO, and limitation, he would lower Kira's guard down so that he could then trick Kira into revealing information known only to them and the criminal (a common police tactic in real life.)\\

'''You'd Expect:''' For the Task Force to still be suspicious, if not even more suspicious, of Light and Misa. The 13-day rule is simply not solid enough to clear their names; the Task Force know there are dozens of other unwritten rules so for all they know there could be some loophole they don't know of, or, more likely, Misa's Shinigami could have just been writing the names for her so Misa doesn't necessarily have to die. In short, it's just not as concrete compared to the physical evidence suggesting Misa really is the Second Kira. (And it's also still very likely for Light to be Kira because of this, thanks to Misa's connection to him, Misa herself admitting she saw him in Aoyama, killings suddenly stopping for the first 15 days of his confinement, and there very clearly being a different Kira from before right after the 15-day hiatus was over.)\\

'''You'd Expect:''' That L, who pretty much figured out Light's MemoryGambit and told everyone on the task force about his suspicions regarding it, and who strongly suspected Light as Kira from the very beginning, would be extra careful with the Death Note seeing as how Light is RIGHT NEXT TO HIM and keep the Death Note away from him at ALL COSTS. Unfortunately, he gets distracted by Rem and the various realizations he has regarding her and the notebook, and Light impatiently grabs the notebook out of his hands. But even then, you would at least expect L to try to grab the notebook back from Light as soon as he regained focus and saw Light not holding the notebook, but also acting VERY strange with it. If Light resists, then L can just use that reaction as more evidence against him, and/or just ask one of the other task force members to hold on to it instead. Since the team will be regrouping back at HQ after securing Higuchi, L can read over the rules of the Death Note with the task force while keeping Light away and try to find out how to both solve the case and get rid of the danger posed by the notebook. Even if L doesn't know about all the rules of the Death Note or about the piece of the notebook in Light's watch, you would at the VERY LEAST expect that he would do everything in his power to ensure that Light and the Death Note stay separate and keep a watchful eye on both.\\

'''You'd Expect:''' For Light to lay low and let the whole FBI investigation blow over. After all, the busjacking could have gone wrong a million ways. What if Raye suspects something's up with the busjacking? If his fiance could suspect something, so could he. Or what if Raye reported the incident to his superiors? This could bring a lot of attention to Light. One could argue Raye was forced to show his ID, but he had no reason to whatsoever. Getting accused of being a criminal is not a valid reason to show a suspect his ID because he could always clear his name if him being accused somehow becomes a legal issue. In other words, Light was banking on his agent being totally incompetent.\\
'''Instead:''' Raye tells his fiance what happened, which caused her to be suspicious and decide to report the incident to L, which would have caused L to suspect Light immediately. It was pure luck that Light ran into her to prevent that, and it was pure luck Raye never told her who he was forced to show his ID to. It's not like it was totally worth killing the agents despite this risk either, because while it did deplete L of his resources, it also resulted in L zeroing in on Light and suspecting him for the rest of the series.

* Light starts killing dozens of people with the titular artifact, which requires knowledge of the victim's name and face. Shortly afterward, Interpol makes a broadcast wherein "L", the greatest detective ''ever'', announces that he will be taking the Kira cases. More importantly, he does this while giving his real name and showing his face for what is supposed to be the ''first time ever,'' and is practically ''daring'' Kira to kill him right then and there. There is something suspiciously fishy about this.\\
'''You'd expect:''' Light to realize this is likely to be a trap or probe of sorts and avoid killing the man. Or, if the temptation is too strong, do some research on the name and face to check if its falsified first and ''then'' kill him at a later date. And hell, even if it's not a trap, it'd still be best to avoid killing "L" because killing this person would confirm to the ICPO that there really is someone out there killing criminals.\\
'''Instead:''' He writes his name in the Death Note right then and there and, big surprise, it ''is'' a trap. Now, not only has L figured out his MO and limitations, but has also pinpointed his general location.
* L himself falls into this during the ''exact same moment''. He sets up a trap to pinpoint Kira's location to specific regions of the world. When the double for L dies, L's trap works.\\
'''You'd expect:''' That L would come forth to only Interpol and the local police with the information that he has learned from the broadcast, explaining the trap to bait Kira out and that with it, he has narrowed Kira's location down to the Kanto region of Japan. Thus, having successfully baited him into revealing his location, MO, and limitation, he would lower Kira's guard down so that he could then trick Kira into revealing information known only to them and the criminal (a common police tactic in real life.)\\
'''Instead:''' He ''taunts'' Kira by explaining ''everything'' he ''just'' did and what he ''just'' learned. Thus, this not only reduces the information that can be used to convict Kira (as millions of people just learned it) and forces Kira to up his guard, but also potentially destroys the trap's very purpose, given that from L's perspective, Kira now might perfectly opt to abandon Kanto and retreat to any other place of the world where he will not fall for the same trick again. Light could have been caught ''entirely'' by surprise without Near and Mello having to get involved had L ''not dumped a bunch of evidence that could easily be withheld from the media onto his lap'' and bragged how he just trapped him.
* After his first attempt to kill Near failed, Light Yagami sends the Death Note to Teru Mikami, a definite Kira supporter, with instructions on it.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Light to send a message to Mikami to hide a page of the Death Note on his person, considering he must have had Kiyomi Takada do the same herself, and does so himself (using a trick watch to hide it). This would help him handle emergencies, the number of which had lately been high enough for Light to be tempted to kill Sayu with the watch trick. Additionally, for himself, he would make some extra precautions to ensure that he's not on the brink of defeat again.\\
'''Instead:''' He does not. This is clear from the fact that Mikami has to go to the bank a second time in a single day in the first place to kill Takada. Light, blinded [[AGodAmI by his ego]] and not even instructing Mikami earlier to only enter the warehouse (which has a single exit to begin with) upon hearing a password from him (like what he did in his MemoryGambit), declares his victory in the warehouse too early.

* Light, still being a student, has been keeping his Death Note activities in the afternoon to late evening. L comments upon this, suggesting Kira is a student.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Light would try and dissuade the notion by suggesting that it is just a coincidence and many people may only be able to attack in the afternoon, not just students, being the ChessMaster he is. L's conclusion is actually rather feeble to begin with given how many jobs only allow for free time in the afternoon.\\
'''Instead:''' He begins writing down names to die in a more spread out fashion that day the night before, leading L to deduce that the Kira has insider information about the investigation and prompting him to lock everyone in the same room together, which forces Light to actually get on the team to keep up with his opponent.
* It's the endgame! Light and Near face off in the ultimate battle of wits. The fate of the world rides on these moments. Light's plan? To perfectly recreate the act of using the Death Note with a fake, then ensuring Near swaps the fake for another fake. Essentially, they will have believed that they disarmed him, unaware that they've only captured a harmless copy! Meanwhile, he keeps the ''real'' Death Note hidden away, then replacing the fake with the real one at the last moment! That way, the copy they "know" is fake is anything but! That way, when they allow him to incriminate himself, he'll instead slaughter them all at once, and the world will be his!\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That Light TheChessmaster would keep an eye on the ''real'' Death Note at all times, test it prior to the epic finish, keep several backups stored, maybe lend that page he keeps in his watch to the assassin, and hey, maybe even a grenade or two just in case. As long as they die, however they die, he wins. And even if they don't, they won't have any evidence directly linking him to Kira.\\
'''Instead:''' He puts the original in a safe miles away, under ''no observation'', doesn't bother testing it, and then loudly incriminates himself in front of all of them. Then he tries to use a Death Note (ironically, a functioning Death Note page that could have killed them all had he given it to his lackey instead), in front of several people with much faster guns. Twice.
* Concerning what was written above, not only was there a lack of flexibility in his preparations for the endgame, but Light's plan for the endgame itself was flawed. He had Near intentionally focus on Mikami, while having Mikami carry a fake notebook and hide the real notebook elsewhere in order to have Near swap the fake notebook with another fake, which would allow Mikami to use the real notebook for the final showdown.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' For Light to not devise such a risky plan. The ''moment'' Near even considers the idea that Mikami is carrying a fake notebook, he might go searching for the real one. Near has access to all of Mikami's keys and cards and made copies of them, so there's a very real possibility of Near eventually pinpointing the bank as the hiding place, which would result in him taking the real notebook for himself. Alternatively, Light could have organized a raid on the warehouse either using Takada's bodyguards or some elite squad working under the government. The latter should be pretty easy considering Japan supports Kira and Light could easily have Mikami, posing as Kira, make the arrangements so as to not tip off the Task Force to anything. Now it is true that the moment Near thinks he'll die, he very well might think "I can't get proof on Light anyway, and since I'm about to die, I might as well shoot him", except to eliminate that risk Light could have simply not went to the meeting, and controlled the Task Force using the Death Note to go there.\\
'''Instead:''' Light devises the overly complicated fake notebook plan, and while Light was lucky enough for Near to not suspect anything, unforeseen incidents still resulted in Near getting his hands on the real notebook and eventually defeating Light..
* As bad as the above Death Note examples are, probably one of the worst moments of stupidity in the series occurs at the end of the Yotsuba Arc. The police have caught Higuchi, and neither Misa nor Light have any memory of being Kira, and thus they are not a threat any more. Suddenly, Soichiro and Mogi see Rem after touching the Death Note, and freak out. L asks Mogi to bring the Death Note over to the helicopter, where Light is sitting right next to him.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That L, who pretty much figured out Light's MemoryGambit and told everyone on the task force about his suspicions regarding it, and who strongly suspected Light as Kira from the very beginning, would be extra careful with the Death Note seeing as how Light is RIGHT NEXT TO HIM and keep the Death Note away from him at ALL COSTS. Unfortunately, he gets distracted by Rem and the various realizations he has regarding her and the notebook, and Light impatiently grabs the notebook out of his hands. But even then, you would at least expect L to try to grab the notebook back from Light as soon as he regained focus and saw Light not holding the notebook, but also acting VERY strange with it. If Light resists, then L can just use that reaction as more evidence against him, and/or just ask one of the other task force members to hold on to it instead. Since the team will be regrouping back at HQ after securing Higuchi, L can read over the rules of the Death Note with the task force while keeping Light away and try to find out how to both solve the case and get rid of the danger posed by the notebook. Even if L doesn't know about all the rules of the Death Note or about the piece of the notebook in Light's watch, you would at the VERY LEAST expect that he would do everything in his power to ensure that Light and the Death Note stay separate and keep a watchful eye on both.\\
'''Instead:''' L just sits there as Light regains his memories. He simply asks Light if he is ok, and then reluctantly lets him look over some names from the Death Note. All he does afterwards is give Light a suspicious look, and then immediately goes back to looking at the police handling Higuchi.
* Even worse, shortly after Light has the Death Note, Higuchi suddenly has a heart attack and dies. This is obviously the work of Kira, and the entire task force knows it. What does L do in response?\\
'''You'd Expect:''' L would instantly put two and two together, realize "Hmm... that happened right after I let Light hold on to the Death Note for a while, and I pretty much figured out his whole memory gambit earlier. I guess that pretty much confirms he's Kira", and then put Light into custody until he can figure out exactly what happened and then come up with a plan to end this nightmare.\\
'''Instead:''' L pretty much lets Light go free as if Light is completely un-suspicious, and then lets Light continue his plan, which soon gets both L and Watari killed. Thus, Kira is free to wreak havoc on the world for another four years.
* After Mello found out that Near theorizes Kira is among the Task Force, Mello decides to send Mogi over to the SPK so that Mello could question Mogi from a safe distance while Near, who's also aiding with the questioning, is the only one at risk. This gives Light the perfect opportunity to launch a raid on the SPK because he finally learns their location, and he needs to do it fast because there's no telling what Mogi might say to Near.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' For Light, who literally just got support from the US, a very powerful country with a president who could be threatened very easily, to send a trained and special task force to raid the SPK. They'll have deadly weapons as well as cameras on the off-chance they fail to kill the SPK, which would allow Misa to see Near's face. This method is practically foolproof.\\
'''Instead:''' Light sends a bunch of greedy civilians who support Kira to attack the SPK. They can't even work together, let alone break into the building. In fact, Near got out of that situation pretty easily by distracting all of them with money before the raiders could even enter the building.

* L finds physical evidence on Misa being the Second Kira and detains her. L and the Task Force now strongly suspect Light, and while they don't have any evidence to convict him, there's still the risk of Misa revealing something incriminating. He could simply discreetly kill her with suicide and survive the situation, right? Wrong. There's another threat to consider here, and it's Rem; while she did come up with the solution to wipe Misa's memory instead of killing her, she said she'd kill Light if he doesn't find some way to free Misa, so Light simply cannot sit still.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' For Light to have Rem kill L. The worst that can happen is the Task Force suspecting Light because of the convenient timing but it's better than dying and they won't have enough evidence to convict him anyway. Of course, there's still the issue of needing to free Misa, so perhaps Light could have Rem write down L's name in his Death Note and control him, then have Rem directly send a letter written by her which appears to have been written by Kira. In it, the letter takes advantage of the Task Force's lack of knowledge about Kira and it claims that Misa telepathically told Kira about the whole situation and the Task Force's/L's faces so if they don't comply, he'll kill them. It'll go on to talk about how Misa was simply controlled by Kira the whole time and that he made her lose memory of everything, before saying that if they don't exonerate Misa, he will kill the Task Force one by one and also a bunch of innocent people. Hopefully they do so (especially thanks to L being controlled meaning he can further encourage the Task Force to find everything on the letter credible) and Rem has L commits suicide because he "admitted defeat" or something. Alternatively Rem could probably control L to confess to being Kira the whole time (as some criminal psychologists have theorized), that Misa was merely controlled by him and that she lost her memories, that he'll commit suicide in x amount of days, and that once he dies, his "Kira spirit" will be free and start killing criminals without a human host, which should also hopefully encourage the Task Force to give up on finding Kira for a while.\\
'''Instead:''' Light devises a plan to give Misa's notebook to Higuchi, volunteer to be confined, have Higuchi commence killing sometime after 13 days so that L would eventually be pressured to release him and Misa (which is weird because there's no real reason to release Misa since the Second Kira was never really doing continuous killings the same way Kira was). Then L, Light, and the Task Force work on the case to find the new Kira, and once they do, they'll hopefully find the Death Note, which has Light's fake 13-day rule, something he hopes would clear his and Misa's names since they were unable to kill for over 13 days when confined, and the Task Force totally swallows it. Except for reasons mentioned in the point above, the 13-day rule was a very weak reason to clear Misa's and Light's names and is not as strong as the evidence going for them being Kira, especially Misa. Oh and to top it off, Light decided to make this a MemoryGambit to prevent him from confessing... except Light with his memories could manage that pretty easily and all wiping his memories does is a) Make Light lose total control and awareness of the situation b) Make it so that Higuchi CANNOT die (probably in a car crash or by committing suicide before realizing he'll be caught), otherwise Light would have to kill the first person to touch the Death Note in order to regain his memories (meaning he might have to kill someone on the Task Force, and if it's L whose name Light doesn't know, well...) c) Make it so that Light has to be in a perfect position to kill Higuchi unnoticed in order to regain his memories; in other words he has to be in such a situation where hopefully Light knows Higuchi's name, can write in Higuchi's name without L noticing, and has a good excuse to keep hold of the notebook while it happens. In short, this whole plan relied on Light being lucky enough for Higuchi to not die, for him to be able to kill Higuchi, and for the Task Force to be incompetent enough to actually see the 13-day rule as a good reason for completely clearing the names of Light and Misa. If the whole thing went through smoothly and the Task Force found the notebook and Light regained his memories as perfectly planned, assuming the Task Force was a reasonable group of people, Misa would be confined again, and Light would be strongly suspected again. In other words they'd be back at square one except now the Task Force and L know of the Death Note and even have a copy meaning Light would be at even more of a disadvantage than before.

* Shortly after Raye's death, Naomi Misora has just found out a piece of crucial information regarding the Kira case and decides to report it to L regarding this. The task force is unfortunately busy when she checks in with them. However, suddenly he is intercepted by Light Yagami and after she gives out a false name, decides to follow her for some reason. What she knows is that he is the Chief's son, well-regarded in the office, and a figure that most people trust. Light bluffs that the task force is always closed off, that he is on the task force, and that he can get her on it to reveal her information.\\

'''You'd Expect:''' Light would try and dissuade the notion by suggesting that it is just a coincidence and many people may only be able to attack in the afternoon, not just students, being the ChessMaster he is. L's conclussion is actually rather feeble to begin with given how many jobs only allow for freetime in the afternoon.\\