History WhatAnIdiot / DeathNote

'''To Make Matters Worse''': Light writes it in the Death Note that she will kill herself, in a way that no one will ever find her body. L, upon realizing she's missing, understands that she must be dead, but her parents don't. In the film adaptation, Naomi is smarter than this in not giving out her name, period, and suspects Light from the start. It's only by the fact that she and Raye had already planned out their wedding tzhat Light had the presence of mind to find the church where the ceremony was planned.

* Raye Penber is an FBI Agent currently tailing Light Yagami. While tailing him, the bus he and Light (and Light's date) are on gets hijacked by a known criminal. Light says he has an idea, but needs to know that whoever is behind him (Raye) is someone he can trust and not an accomplice of the guy. (Unbeknowst to Raye, the entire hijacking is a plan devised by [[ChessMaster Light]] to find out his name and face)\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Raye Penber, as an officially trained FBI Agent, to ''know'' what a stupid idea it is to give his real name and identity to a target that is currently ''under suspicion of likely being connected to a mass-murderer'' and perhaps show him a Fake ID or an FBI badge to him giving him proof of his validity while concealing his true identity at the same time.\\
'''Instead:''' He freely shows his ID to Light, giving him his real name and face to deal with, which ultimately allows Light to manipulate him into finding out the names and faces of the ''other'' FBI Agents currently in Japan for the Kira case and get them killed.\\

'''Predictably''': Ryuk only writes one name: Light Yagami. Cue MassOhCrap from Light, Yagami and Soichiro.

'''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 catch the culprit.\\

'''You'd Expect:''' For them to report this fact to the government and persuade them to either blur out the suspect's faces during any past reports or not reveal their full names to the public during a live report in order to minimize the rate of Kira-related murders. If the Kira murders continue to rise due to internet, then the police try and trace the suspect whoever hacked the criminal database and potentially find the culprit.\\

'''Or:''' He could forfeit ownership of the Death Note to Ryuk. That way, with no knowledge of the Death Note or his actions, Light would be free to leave.

'''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 her Misa was simply controlled by Kira the whole time and that he made her lose memory of everything, which would explain her strange behaviour, 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 L commits suicide to admit defeat or something. Alternatively Rem could probably control L to confess to being Kira the whole time, 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, Light can write in Higuchi's name without L noticing, and Light 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.

'''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 actually 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 actually kill Higuchi unnoticed in order to regain his memories, in other words he has to be in such a situation where hopefully everyone actually knows Higuchi's name, Light can write in Higuchi's name without L noticing, and Light actually 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 actually 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 actually found the notebook and Light regained his memories as perfectly planned, assuming the Task Force was actually a group of reasonable 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.

'''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 her Misa was simply controlled by Kira the whole time and that he made her lose memory of everything, which would explain her strange behaviour, 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 L commits suicide to admit defeat or something. Alternatively Rem could probably control L to confess to being Kira the whole time, 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:''' The Task Force are fully convinced that Light and Misa are innocent, which results in Light using Rem to kill L. On top of that, to add another layer of idiocy, the Task Force even decide to elect Light as the new L.\\
'''Additionally:''' This was the end goal of Light's whole gambit during the Yotsuba arc. In other words, he was banking on the Task Force being total idiots.

'''Instead:''' Mikami jeopardizes his and Light's lives and goes to the real notebook, knowing full well he was being followed.

'''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 make 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.\\

'''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. Hell, he doesn't even need to have this whole real notebook/fake notebook plan, he really just needs to organize a raid on the warehouse either using Takada's bodyguard 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.\\

'''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.\\

'''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 too. 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.

'''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:''' 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.\\

'''Additionally:''' This was the end goal of Light's whole gambit during the Yotsuba arc. In other words, he was banking on the Task Force being total idiots.

'''Instead:''' The Task Force are fully convinced that Light and Misa are innocent, which results in Light using Rem to kill L. On top of that, to add another layer of idiocy, the Task Force even decide to elect Light as the new L.

'''To Make Matters Worse''': Light writes it in the Death Note that she will kill herself, in a way that no one will ever find her body. L, upon realizing she's missing, understands that she must be dead, but her parents don't. In the film adaptation, Naomi is smarter than this in not giving out her name, period, and suspects Light from the start. It's only by the fact that she and Raye had already planned out their wedding that Light had the presence of mind to find the church where the ceremony was planned.

'''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.

* Thanks to L's initial investigation, the police force deduce that Kira need a face and a real name in order to kill someone.\\

'''Instead:''' He ''taunts'' Kira by explaining ''everything'' he ''just'' did and what he ''just'' learned. Thus, this reduces the information that can be used to convict Kira (as millions of people just learned it) and also forces Kira (and by extension Light) to up his guard, making him harder to trap. 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.

'''You'd Expect:''' For her to quickly suspect that Light is Kira or at least realize that he is stalking her and tell him off. Failing that, she could knock him out with her capoiera moves and run as far away from him as possible to her intended destination.\\

'''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.\\

'''You'd Expect:''' For them to report this fact to the government and persuade them to either blur out the suspect's faces during any past reports or not reveal their full names to the public during a live report in order to minimize the rate of Kira-related murders. If the Kira murder continue to rise due to internet, then the police try and trace the suspect whoever hacked the criminal database and potentially find the culprit.\\
'''Instead:''' Nobody considered 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.

'''You'd expect:''' Light realize this was 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.\\
'''Instead:''' He writes his name in the Death Note right then and there and, big surprise, it ''was'' a trap. Now, not only did L figure out his MO and limitations, but he pinpointed his 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 worked.\\
'''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 reduces the information that can be used to convict Kira (as millions of people just learned it.) but also forces Kira (and by extension Light) to up his guard, making him harder to trap. 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.

* Shortly after Raye's death, Naomi Misora has just found out a 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:''' That she quickly suspects that Light is Kira or at least realize that he is stalking her and tell him off. Failing that, she could knock him out with her capoiera moves and run as far away from him as possible to her intended destination.\\
'''Instead:''' She apparently suspects ''nothing wrong'' at the very man who followed him and worse, she ''[[TooDumbToLive give away her ID to Light]]'' in spite of his behavior. She ended up getting killed for it and thus the potential information that could catch Kira is lost forever.\\
'''To Make Matters Worse''': Light writes it in the Death Note that she will kill herself, in a way that no one will ever find her body. L on realizing she's missing understands that she must be dead, but her parents don't. In the film adaptation, Naomi is smarter than this in not giving out her name, period, and suspects Light from the start. It's only by the fact that she and Raye had already planned out their wedding that Light had the presence of mind to find the church where the ceremony was planned.

* What makes it worse is that Light (having learned much about the death note such as how you can only write down a in one death note) didn't use these rules for a backup plan.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Light would write his own name down but schedule his death many years in advance to make sure he survives the encounter.\\
'''Instead:''' Light underestimates Near and assumes his plan would work from the start. Leading to him being exposed as Kira and killed by Ryuk.

* What makes it worse is that Light (having learned much about the death note such as how you can only write down a in one death note) didn't use these rules for a backup plan.
'''You'd Expect:''' Light would write his own name down but schedule his death many years in advance to make sure he survives the encounter.

'''Instead:''' Nobody considered doing any control in the Kira killings and the death tolls continue to rise with noone being able to identify the culprit for 5 years.

* Shortly after Raye's death, Naomi Misora has just found out a crucial information regarding the Kira case and decides to report it to L regarding this. However, suddenly he is intercepted by Light Yagami and after she gives out a false name, decides to follow her for some reason.\\

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

'''You'd Expect:''' Raye Penber, as an officially trained FBI Agent, to ''know'' what a stupid idea it is to give his real name and identity to a target that is currently ''under suspicion of likely being connected to a mass-murderer'' and perhaps show him a Fake ID or an FBI badge to him while not showing his identity at the same time.\\

** Thanks to L's initial investigation, the police force deduce that Kira need a face and a real name in order to kill someone.\\

** 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.\\

** 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 worked.\\

** 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.\\

** Raye Penber is an FBI Agent currently tailing Light Yagami. While tailing him, the bus he and Light (and Light's date) are on gets hijacked by a known criminal. Light says he has an idea, but needs to know that whoever is behind him (Raye) is someone he can trust and not an accomplice of the guy. (Unbeknowst to Raye, the entire hijacking is a plan devised by [[ChessMaster Light]] to find out his name and face)\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Raye Penber, as an officially trained FBI Agent, to ''know'' what a stupid idea it is to give his real name and identity to a target that is currently ''under suspicion of likely being connected to a mass-murderer'' and perhaps have a spare Fake ID or similar on hand.\\

** Shortly after Raye's death, Naomi Misora has just found out a crucial information regarding the Kira case and decides to report it to L regarding this. However, suddenly he is intercepted by Light Yagami and after she gives out a false name, decides to follow her for some reason.\\

** 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.\\

** 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!\\

** 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.\\

** 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?\\