History YMMV / DeathNote

* TheInverseLawOfFandomLevity: ''DeathNote'' is a deadly serious supernatural crime drama with very few humorous moments and a whole lot of pain, suffering and {{Gambit Pileup}}s. The fandom is obsessed not only with [[FoeYayShipping shipping Light and L with one another]], but with generally making flanderized memes where L makes some kind of BatDeduction that easily gets Light to confess that he's Kira.

* SignatureScene: A '''lot''' of them too, primarily from the anime.

** Ryuk appearing in front of Light and seeing Light's note full of names, which serves as a memorable image from their first meeting.

** "I'm L.", a line from when [[spoiler:L formally introduces himself to Light in person, as it completely turns the entire anime on its head and makes L and Light's battle a much more personal one]].
** Light [[spoiler: giving up his Death Note]], and Soichiro's subsequent "test". [[spoiler:Because of Light's MemoryGambit, he manages to genuinely work with L, leading to some intriguing character moments for the both of them. Some fans will even go as far to say that Light should've permanently forgot everything about the Death Note just to have more genuine moments between him and L]].
** Matsuda's ADayInTheLimeLight in the Yotsuba HQ, which is most commonly cited as one of the most memorable moments for an EnsembleDarkhorse character like him.
** "Just as planned!", the famous line uttered by Light when [[spoiler: his GambitRoulette has succeeded and he can finally be Kira again. Also famous in part because of a notorious fan translation error]].[[note]]One fansub had the line as "All according to Keikaku", with a translator's note explaining "'Keikaku' means 'plan'". This unnecessary use of a word that could be easily translated into English was mocked mercilessly by fans[[/note]]
** Mikami killing Demegawa and his cronies, with DELETE. The scene raises many questions, and is a shocking revelation that Light has recruited another person to be Kira.
** The laughing scene. You know the one. The Italian version of this scene gets the most love, but the English one is also iconic.
** For most fans, the scene where they ultimately decided their stance on Light's morality was [[spoiler: the one where he killed Naomi Misora by writing her death in as her killing herself in a way the body could never be found. Unlike his previous killings, he also reveals himself as Kira afterwards ForTheEvulz and is presented in the anime as Light JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope for good]].

* AmericansHateTingle: While non-American fans are more or less accepting of Misa Amane, she's loathed in the USA, with her voice actress's performance being perceived as irritating by most fans, and her character seen as shallow, annoying, and stupid.

* MagnificentBastard: [[Characters/DeathNoteLLawliet L Lawliet]] is the world's best detective and the ArchEnemy and only intellectual equal of [[Characters/DeathNoteLightYagami Light Yagami]] aka Kira. Introducing himself by tricking Light into revealing his location by sacrificing a death row inmate, L goes on to pursue Light with unfettered ruthlessness. With only mundane resources at his disposal, L manages to constantly evade Light's supernaturally-backed attempts to kill him and becomes ever-closer to exposing Light for his crimes. Even when Light deliberately loses his memories of his work as a SerialKiller, L continues to close in on his enemy and is only finally killed when Light convinces a Shinigami to take out L by giving its own life. Having left a fail-safe to inform his successors of his passing, L's posthumous machination leaves Near and Mello the field to finally take down Light, leaving his rival to scream and plead for his life before his own death.

* CompleteMonster: [[Characters/DeathNoteLightYagami Light Yagami]] is a brilliant, [[ItsAllAboutMe egotistical]] student who finds the titular [[DeadlyBook Death Note]] and soon embarks on a quest to [[AGodAmI become the God of a "perfect" world he will create]]. After killing multiple criminals with the Note, Light flies into a rage when a man denounces his public name of "Kira" on TV, gleefully murdering the man on the spot. Once FBI agents investigate, Light tricks one of them into killing the others, revealing himself to one agent to gloat and later forcing the man's fiancée into suicide, cruelly taunting her while doing so. Later, to eliminate his chief pursuer and rival [[Characters/DeathNoteLLawliet L Lawliet]], Light pulls a MemoryGambit where he has the Death Note [[IndirectSerialKiller given to a man]] he knows will misuse it and pulls off a scheme that kills multiple people, including L. After L's death, Light reduces the global crime rate through sheer volume of murders, with a body count stated to be worse than any genocide. Not even lovers or family members are immune, as Light uses one of his two girlfriends as bait for another rival and forces her to burn herself to death, also eliminating any evidence along with her and contemplates murdering his own sister the moment she becomes a liability. When exposed, Light attempts to justify himself as well-intentioned, but is revealed as "[[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist nothing more]] than a crazy SerialKiller''.

** Some Light-centric fics demonize L into a CorruptCop who will go as far as to murder Light in cold blood or even rape him.

** Many fans are displeased by and choose to ignore WordOfGod saying that L calling Light his friend was merely a lie.

** Minoru Tanaka as well. He shyly asks Ryuk some details about the past with a very sweet facial expression.

** The anime's adaptation of the Near/Mello arc has gotten this reaction from a sizable portion of the fanbase, as many major character scenes and moments were cut out of the anime, with Near and Mello themselves suffering the worst of it. According to analyses by manga readers, the anime removed roughly 10 chapters worth of content from Near and Mello, partly resulting in their BaseBreakingCharacter status for anime watchers.

** The anime's adaptation of the Near/Mello arc has gotten this reaction from a sizable portion of the fanbase, as many major character scenes and moments were cut out of the anime, with Near and Mello themselves suffering the worst of it. According to analyses by manga readers, the anime removed roughly 10 chapters worth of content from Near and Mello, partly resulting in their Base-Breaking Character status for anime watchers.

* SeasonalRot: Apart from the final episode, the second part of the anime, [[spoiler:that is, everything after L's death]], is considered by many to be inferior to the first largely due to rushed pacing and plot developments. Whether this means "quite good, just not ''as'' good" or "so bad it [[FanonDiscontinuity never happened]]" depends on who you ask.

* UnpopularPopularCharacter: L is seen as a deviant weirdo and Matsuda as a foolish and easily-manipulated putz by the other characters. Outside the source material, L was a massive BreakoutCharacter for his off-beat design, weird charisma, and over-the-top detective style, while Matsuda is appreciated as a CoolLoser with several action hero moments under his belt, having a solid moral compass in a murky world, and for [[spoiler: being the one who takes out Light in the end]].

* EvilIsSexy: Many of the villainous characters in the series are seen as much more visually appealing than the heroic ones. Obvious examples include [[VillainProtagonist Light Yagami]], [[{{Yandere}} Misa Amane]], [[{{Bishounen}} Teru Mikami]], [[TheOjou Kiyomi Takada]], and [[AntiHero Mello]].

** Some non-French speakers apparently watch the French dub [[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench only because they're]] [[ArousedByTheirVoice aroused by]] the performance of [[EvilIsSexy Mello]]'s voice actor, Creator/EmmanuelGarijo.

** This may or may not have been intentional, depending on when the trend picked up, [[http://akihabaranews.com/2013/08/12/article-en/kira-kira-names-shiny-names-kids-chagrin-many-japan-1701127852 but Light's name is written with the kanji 月, meaning 'moon'.]]. It's a [[JustForPun kirakira]] name.