fndmfrenzy

[fndmfrenzy]

sooo i finally got the polish death note manga :-) i wanted to make a post comparing translations, but i didn't catch anything particularly interesting. it was mostly annoying, some scenes had a bit different (confusing?) meaning and sometimes the vibe was different. but who am i to say it's not actually closer to japanese version?

but there's a part that i want to compare between english and polish translations and also the japanese version. (also i'll add some translation details that amused me).

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

their titles are simplified to VP (for most) and head (Higuchi and Shimura). Mido and Takahashi actually have two titles, Mido's both a VP and a director and Takahashi's a VP of two departments? i guess? (which is not correct, but more about this later)

what they got right: Higuchi and Shimura being lower on the ladder then the rest, Takahashi and Mido holding two titles.

also later when namikawa's talking about higuchi he just says that he's been demoted before. but the japanese text mentions his previous positon.

POLISH TRANSLATION

the print quality is so bad that the text won't be visible if i take a photo/scan it so here's a transcription (+my translation to english):

Takeshi Ooi Dyrektor Yotsuba VT (Director of Yotsuba VT)

Masahiko Kida Kierownik działu planowania w Yotsuba Lights (Manager of planning department at Yotsuba Lights)

Reiji Namikawa (his bio is almost unreadable in this release... also his name's translated wrong LOL. hello Renji) Szef pierwszego działu sprzedaży (Chief of first department of sales)

Arayoshi Hatori Kierownik działu promocji i reklamy (Manager of promotion and advertising department)

Suguru Shimura Kierownik działu zasobów ludzkich (Manager of human resources department)

Eiichi Takahashi Kierownik działu planowania materiałów oraz dyrektor Yotsuba Home (Manager of material planning department + director of Yotsuba Home)

Kyosuke Higuchi Szef sekcji rozwoju nowych technologii (Chief of new technology development section)

Shingo Mido Kierownik działu strategii i marketingu oraz dyrektor Yotsuba Finance (Manager of strategy and marketing department + director of Yotsuba Finance)

there are some differences between the translations. i really like the title they gave higuchi and i like the consistency with showing that takahashi and mido are managers and directors (board members) at the same time.

mistakes: pfftt they translated kida's department wrong, lights instead of rights... also ooi is now a director for some reason? and shimura has the same title as others, even though he should be lower.

here's namikawa talking about higuchi:

he mentions that higuchi went from being a department manager to a section chief (kierownik działu -> szef sekcji). which is more faithful to original than english translation haha.

JAPANESE (and my translation :3)

ok actually after some research i found out that it's hell to translate while keeping all their titles relative to each other XD in japan their titles have very strict meaning and hierarchy, but localising it is quite the challenge...

let's just focus on titles.

this is a neat little thing i found, showing the structure of a company. from the top it's: 取締役 (Torishimariyaku) – Board Director 執行役員 - no one has that title so it's not important here 部長 (Buchō) – Department manager 課長 (Kachō) – Section manager 係長 - also not important

and oh, looking at our group: torishimariyaku - Takahashi and Mido hold this title. bucho - that's almost all of them: Takahashi, Mido (cause they both have two titles), Ooi, Namikawa, Kida, Hatori kacho - Shimura

soooo about Higuchi huh. he's a 室長 (Shitsuchō) and from i found it's a bit harder to place on the ladder.

here's info from japanese wikipedia:

The term 室長 (shitsuchō) refers to the person in charge of a “shitsu” (室), which is a section or office within an organization such as a company, government agency, or ministry.

Unlike positions such as 部長 (buchō, department manager), 課長 (kachō, section manager), or 係長 (kakarichō, subsection chief), whose ranking is almost universally fixed regardless of the organization (for example, it’s almost unheard of for a buchō to be below a kachō, or a kachō below a kakarichō, even though there’s no legal regulation mandating this), the rank of shitsuchō varies significantly by organization—especially between government agencies and private companies.

In private companies, it's common for a shitsuchō to be ranked between a buchō and a kachō, or sometimes on the same level as a buchō. In the former case, a shitsu is typically a division slightly larger than a section (課, ka); in the latter, a shitsu might be a smaller section that still carries substantial responsibility. There are also cases where several sections (課, ka) fall under a single shitsu.

Conversely, there are also private companies that, similar to government agencies, place shitsu (offices) below sections (課, ka).

In any case, because there is no legally or socially established ranking definition for the shitsuchō title, its upper rank limit is difficult to pin down.

sooo we know that in yotsuba shitsucho is below bucho (since higuchi used to be a bucho before demotion), but it's uncertain whether he's above or below shimura (kacho). i'm gonna assume above, since wikipedia says it's more common.

when it comes to translating: all those words (except torishimariyaku) are made with two kanji, where the second one 長 (cho) means a person in charge, and the first kanji means the structure they control.

an issue i have is that both 課 (Ka) and 室 (Shitsu) can be translated to section.

my proposition: 部 (Bu) – Department 室 (Shitsu) – Office 課 (Ka) – Section

here's my literal english translation (not doing proper localization, it's too hard):

Takahashi: VP of Material Planning Department and Director of Yotsuba Home

Mido: VP of Corporate Strategy Department and Director of Yotsuba Finance

Ooi: VP of VT Business Department

Kida: VP of Rights Planning Department

Namikawa: VP of First Sales Department

Hatori: VP of Marketing Strategy Department

Higuchi: Head of the New Technology Development Office (previously VP of Development Department)

Shimura: Manager of Personnel Section in Human Resources Department

i added a distinction in title (the hierarchy goes VP->Head->Manager) but it's mostly superficial, could all be replaced with "head of [organizational unit]" but i didn't want to be too repetitive.

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now onto more stupid things i wanna talk about (it's just gonna be me dissing the polish tl, huh).

the misa higuchi date made me cringe so much in polish lol. i don't fault the translation cause it's decent, but i just haaate how it sounds.

so he calls her misa-chan in japanese. in english the honorific is skipped cause they don't have any similar structure in their language. uh in polish we kinda do, the closest thing to -chan would be to use a diminutive. it just usually sounds very wrong with non polish names (words). (i don't read much polish manga, but for example in mha bakugo's nickname kacchan was translated to katsuś. fun fact. and it does sound very strange) well, in misa's case it's not that bad, cause he calls her "miśka" which is an actual polish nickname for the name michalina. idk i just don't think it fits misa but that's my pet peeve...

the other thing is the -san honorific. in polish we translate it to pan/pani (sir/madam) and we use the honorific with every verb (unlike the japanese who only use it with name) so it shows up a looot. it just sounds very stuffy and emphasizes the age gap (maybe that was the goal?). i guess the pl version is more in line with jp one.

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ok now something i like :P a thing i like about polish is our swear words. both english and japanese have very little swear words and i feel like when localizing to polish you can really show off.

(i'll only compare with english, i'm too tired to look for the japanese swears. probably it's mostly クソ)

so in english higuchi is only saying "damn it". in polish there are a couple different things he says: "szlag", "cholera (jasna)", "kurna", "kurrr...". the two last ones are not actual words, just a softened version of our most versatile swear - kurwa (in this context it's just used as an expletive). let him say kurwa! i recon if i was doing the translating it would get very vulgar (lol). but there's probably language restrictions since dn is for all ages.

[fndmfrenzy]

i ordered some gashapons to make a higuchi themed gacha pouch! i'm so happy with it 💜

some details about my choices: -slide phone instead of a regular flip phone, since higuchi has a similar one -a smith & wesson revolver miniature, the same brand higuchi has -vol 6 of manga because that's where higuchi appears most (+i like the purple color scheme)

[fndmfrenzy]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HIGUCHI!! ❤️❤️ 6/06 ❤️❤️

He'd be 53 today, right?

[fndmfrenzy]

On Our Fellow Man We Prey - A Higuchi Kyosuke playlist. Listen on Spotify or YouTube.

Briefly annotated tracklist under the cut.

Troglodyte by Viagra Boys when everybody was a monkey / they had to fight just to survive / and now you got yourself a weapon / you think you choose who lives or dies

This Boy by Franz Ferdinand i see losers losing everywhere / if i lose i'll only lose the care / that i have for another / i am complete, invincible / if i have one principle / then it's to stand on you, brother

Heart of a Lion by The Griswolds steve levine was stepping on me / dressed to the hilt in armani / steve was the head CEO of / cheap assholes and petty woes

Get Over It by OK Go oh, it's such a drag, what a chore / oh, your wounds are full of salt / everything's a stress, and what's more / well it's all somebody's fault

Tough as Nails by Oingo Boingo (as Danny Elfman) in the office, things get rough as action is diminished / staring at a paper, he is lost inside his head / dreaming of a battlefield with guns and ammunition / all around the bodies of the wounded and the dead, and the dead

Insubordination by Voodoo Glow Skulls call my bluff, use your power / everyone knows you're the man of the hour / write me up, send me home early / in the end you're giving me what i asked for

We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful by Reel Big Fish we hate it when our friends become successful / and if they're no doubt, that makes it even worse, and / we can destroy them / you bet your life we will destroy them / and if we can hurt them, well, we may as well

One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces by Ben Folds Five now i'm big and important / one angry dwarf and / 200 solemn faces are you / if you really wanna see me, check the papers and the TV / look who's telling who what to do

Ugly by Fishbone boy, you've got no reason and you've got no sense / your stupid lies, it just makes me wince / your face is twisted and your mind is warped / you scare me sick 'cause i just want to get out

Evil Eye by Franz Ferdinand oh, what's the color of the next car? / (it's red, you bastard) yeah, red, you bastard / don't believe in god, but i believe in this shit / not me, i like to bring them down

Desire by Everything Everything i want this planet and i want it now / to beat like an anvil 'til the poison's out / i am a pencil-pusher with the pencil-pusher blues / what the hell do i have left to lose?

Genocide by The Offspring dog eat dog, every day / on our fellow man we prey / dog eat dog, to get by / hope you like my genocide

Head Like a Hole by Nine Inch Nails head like a hole, black as your soul / i'd rather die than give you control / bow down before the one you serve / you're going to get what you deserve

Munich by Editors people are fragile things, you should know by now / be careful what you put them through / people are fragile things, you should know by now / you'll speak when you're spoken to

[fndmfrenzy]

part 2 to my higuchi post cause i came up with more things to gush about (haha). he's so cute to me i want to shake him.

(moe higuchi for attention)

love his fangs. in general i like how his teeth are drawn. most other characters have flat teeth with (usually) minimal detail. his sometimes look uneven (cute).

i love his walk here, hands in pockets and all. he has so much swagger. he mostly runs (pathetically) in the anime but i imagine him to usually have this typical anime delinquent walk.

i think his eyes are really pretty. i like his eyeliner (haha). plus in animanga i prefer when characters are drawn with smaller irises/pupils cause it's more expressive. his only colored illustration in the manga just shows his eyes... i wish we got more but I GUESS it's fine.

i talked about pronouns in another post but i must confess that i prefer anime guys who use watashi over ore. it gives a softer/more feminine vibe. higuchi uses both but i like that he uses watashi in his thoughts. really moe...

it seems i'm not the only one who noticed it, because i found it mentioned in his pixiv dictionary entry ^^

i know i'm grasping at straws to feminize him (hey, why not). i like him sitting with crossed legs. and not the (more masc) version where you put your ankle on your knee. i even grabbed anime screenshots.

also: i like him drinking wine while the other guys are drinking whiskey at their meeting at mido's house.

ok let's talk about his color scheme. for a while i was convinced he's supposed to have black hair, but the anime made it brown (which i enjoyed, he's red-coded so it makes sense). but he actually is supposed to have brown hair in the manga as well. in the colored ver. i like how they made his highlights brown to show this (while the characters with black hair have grey highlights). so it feels kinda wrong to see the game ver. with black-grey hair lol.

i like how the colors of his shirt and tie are swapped in the manga and anime, both palettes are nice. i guess the grey shirt is more special so i think i like it more? but the game colors are really fun. i have to draw him with this color scheme more (i did it for the cover for this post!). i feel like purple and red are both colors that fit him.

his birthday is on 6th of june and he got the death note on the 14th of june. isn't that just the worst birthday present? haha.

i'm not enough of an mbti nerd to diagnose anyone but the people on personality database say he's an ESTP. it's actually close to misa's ESFP (i think it should be similar if it's just one letter off? thinking vs feeling. but it gets more complicated when you actually look at the function stack).

also i immensely enjoy the concept of unhealthy mbti. it just bascially means you're an asshole. so in my opinion higuchi is an unhealthy ESTP. here's some stuff i found when looking it up. source: people on reddit and website psychologyjunkie.com (don't treat this stuff too seriously i think mbti is just good fun)

here's some people comparing unhealthy ESTPs and ESFPs. it's literally higuchi and misa?? man, what a duo.

some more stuff that fits. hm, i also like that he's an extrovert but he's terrible with people. very funny. most of his coworkers are introverts, save for takahashi and hatori and yet the introverts like namikawa have better social skills.

another funny thing i've seen mentioned by some japanese people is how complicated the first kanji (卿) in his first name is and how difficult it would be to write in the way light did. light's just too good lol.

[fndmfrenzy]

i spent far too much time on this for a joke that's definitely been made before

[fndmfrenzy]

what if instead of killing people yotsubas met for mahjong every friday.

namikawa - he's good at shogi so how about another japanese game. good at bluffing and reading people's waits. he'll riichi a crap hand and force everyone to fold. somehow always gets multiple dealer repeats

higuchi - decent. he gets really tilted especially when his hand is good but hatori wins with tanyao nomi. hates folding. acts really annoying and condescending when he rons someone

takahashi - higuchi invites him so he isn't the worst. barely knows the rules so he keeps getting hit with chombo

shimura - good at defense, but folds too often. the only one to score a yakuman.

hatori - calls a lot, which annoys higuchi. his wins are usually cheap. once he opens his hand too much he can't defend so he often deals in

ooi - never opens his hand, usually wins big (mangan+)

kida - always plays to his outs even if it means sacrificing value. trusts suji too much and gets ronned by mido

mido - always chooses evil waits, so people will deal into him (suji, honors). often stays in damaten

skill level

best: namikawa, mido, ooi

decent: higuchi, shimura, kida

bad: hatori, takahashi

[fndmfrenzy]

higuchi death note appreciation post where i dump all my favorite higuchi things (mostly manga, some anime mentions). it's gonna be long, self indulgent and probably not that interesting.

here's all the moments where he's being rude to his coworkers. mainly takahashi and shimura. (also talking shit about his coworkers to misa)

i like this convo with rem, where he gives his motive rant. shame it was cut from the anime, but i get why they did it. also mostly unrelated but i think it's funny that out of all the people who act as kira light would be the only anti-kira one if he wasn't kira. like, if they never had anything to do with the notebook, but kira still existed: misa, higuchi, mikami and takada would still be pro-kira, but light definitely wouldn't if it wasn't him doing the killing :P

oh i love this panel. he's so silly

also: higuchi being so obviously kira at the meetings. bro do you think you're good at hiding it??? you're shit

special mention for L calling higuchi an idiot. light, you're too nice.

oh they read him. it's actually so embarrassing.

oh brother, this guy STINKS. everyone hating on him, so real. and he believes rem, misa and mido are on his side but they're actually not.

he's the biggest murder fan. his only rival for that title in death note is light (and maybe mikami? but mikami mostly kills criminals while light and higuchi target their opps)

i like the whole misa interview. there are no thoughts in higuchi's head. he seems really bored. isn't it in his interest to find out more about L? does he actually not gaf cause he wants to talk to misa in private anyway? or he's pretending to be disinterested to avoid looking sus? is he just stupid?

also something i thought about: higuchi going to the bathroom at the same time as misa and it not being relevant at all. in universe it's a coincidence (i mean misa decides after him so that's not the coincidence, but HIM going in the first place is random) but it's VERY convenient for rem. since she HAS to follow him the conditions for her to actually be able to talk to misa have to be very specific.

if misa was the only one to leave to the bathroom higuchi would notice rem going after her, since she's always near him. so higuchi goes first. i imagine rem waits outside (that's actually funny... think of the hijinks of girl shinigami & guy combo. ever though why light-ryuk and misa-rem are boy-boy and girl-girl? yeah i don't know what point i'm trying to make) or she could even stay in the meeting room and that's fine. so when he gets back she's either already there or she comes back after him but before misa (the second option seems more realistic since rem and misa have a whole ass conversation there, but it's more suspicious). did i think too much about this? probably.

btw i love how he looks in those panels. he looks so ugly lol. ugly-cute. somehow endearing.

the whole date with misa is amazing. misa is making it so awkward and it's awesome. like, from his perspective she wanted to go out with him but then she keeps calling him a creep. he's trying to play it off, but damn. misa you'll always be famous to me.

i actually prefer this scene in the anime, cause it feels longer. also love higuchi looking nervous after coming out as kira. they made him look more rapey in the anime, lunging at misa, but i like how they both look in this shot so it's forgiven i guess.

also i wonder if they actually went for dinner or were they too excited about kira stuff. misa would probably want to leave after getting the evidence, but isn't it weird? ohba i need answers.

this exchange is funny to me. wedy being annoyed that higuchi owns so many cars and L knowing the exact number. yeah i like that higuchi is a car guy.

bonus trivia: his car is a Porsche 911 and the gun is a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolver. i think they have different models and i don't know which one exactly he has (my knowledge about guns is zero and they all look the same to me).

him being lefthanded is a cute little detail. like, i don't know why would you give a side villain a trait like that? well, i guess i could say the same about all the little trivia we get in the guidebook about the side characters or even the yotsuba character profiles in the main manga where they say what school they went to or their hobbies. it makes the characters feel more human/complex, i like it.

anyway, the only inconsistency with higuchi being lefthanded is him using the phone. it's usually in his right hand (i wouldn't hold the phone with my non dominant hand). my answer is artistic liberty. and i think it's basically confirmed since a lot of righthanded characters (namikawa, light i think?) for some reason hold the phone with their left? or maybe i'm the weird one and it's normal to hold the phone with your non dominant hand.

not related to him being lefthanded, but when he shoots soichiro he's holding the gun sideways. it's called the side grip and wikipedia states that: "Shooting a gun in this way has no practical benefit under most circumstances and makes proper aiming very difficult, but the style has become somewhat popular in hip hop culture and among street criminals [...]". it's meant to make him look cool and like a gangster. is he doing it on purpose? maybe he saw it in a movie (cute...)

higuchi yelling at the guy from yoshida pro. i love the voice acting here in the anime. i really like both his japanese and english voice... death note dub is good but i deffo prefer watching og ver.

classic kira stuff: predicted killings to prove you're kira. pages above show misa, higuchi and light doing it. i know it's a pretty obvious thing to do but i think it's fun.

the whole plot to catch higuchi is great. ofc it's my favorite part. i love him panicking and just making his situation worse. i kinda feel bad for him cause he's getting played badly.

there's so many things here that i like. higuchi being pragmatic enough to write matsui's name after his fakeout death. him realizing he can't ask his coworkers for help without revealing he's kira. him weaseling out of getting surrounded by 4 people and shooting soichiro. THE CAR CHASE. the car crash (lol). btw he looks relatively unharmed after crashing his car like that.

also i love the way he drifts his car in the anime. it looks way too cool. making a lame guy do something cool is fun.

his last ditch effort hostage/attempted suicide plan. i get secondhand embarrassment everytime. i love how he realizes it's ridiculous and gets so resigned and tries to pull the trigger (sad those panels were cut from the anime. actually a lot of characters' internal thoughts were cut and i wish that wasn't the case)

actually it's kinda sad that the only thing that matters to him is his job. guy doesn't have a life outside it lol. like, he's more afraid of losing his position at yotsuba than idk... getting executed for being a mass murderer?

special mention for light writing down higuchi's name with blood. it's more of a cool light thing, but i'm including it in my higuchi post (if i were to make a light one it would be the whole manga). i love love this scene. helicopter light is awesome.

i like matsu mimicking higuchi here. even using the left hand.

[fndmfrenzy]

Since I'm still obsessed with Death Note, and never got over my obsession with Kaiji I've thought of a little thing for fun: a crossover AU! It takes place in Kaiji universe but all characters are replaced by Death Note characters. The plot is also mostly taken from Kaiji. I just love to imagine DN characters in those gambles :^)

Spoilers for Death Note and Kaiji (part 3-6 included) under the cut. I suspect most Kaiji fans have seen DN but I don't want to spoil Kaiji for the DN fans :^) (watch and read it it's soo goooood)

First things first: the world is not supernatural so both the Death Notes and shinigami don't exist. Teiai company still exists and serves as the main "antagonist". Sometimes a DN character replaces multiple Kaiji characters, or multiple DN characters replace one Kaiji chara.

Light (unlike Kaiji who is forced to gamble because of his debt) starts gambling because he's bored. He also has the second motive of taking down Teiai, because he's anti capitalist and that's his idea of justice. The Teiai CEO is a mysterious person named L, and nobody has ever seen their face.

Also: I didn't want Teiai to be TOO evil in this AU, since L is the one in charge of it, so they don't do death gambles. That's not saying much since the debtors and the underground mines still exist... Just bear with me, Light is the good guy here (Kaiji) so L HAS to be the bad guy (Hyodo).

Light's first gamble happens on Espoir. He sneaks on the ship, unlike debtors who got invited. Tonegawa's speech is given by Naomi Misora, who in this AU replaces both Tonegawa and Lind L Tailor (I wanted to use him, but he's such a non character that his role can be done by Naomi). Naomi introduces herself as L and Light really wants to gamble against her but he needs to make a name for himself first.

Light plays restricted rock paper scissors against his first victims. Nobody dies in this AU but they go into even bigger debt.

Light gets invited to another gamble, brave men road. This probably needs to be reworked in the AU because it's too deadly originally. I think it's still a more physical game, but without the risk of death. His opponents are FBI members (here they just belong to Teiai). Light wins and they get fired.

Naomi wants revenge for her fiance that Light defeated and Light wants to gamble with L so they agree to play E-card. I think, unlike in Kaiji, here only Light is cheating (somehow). Light wins and meets the actual Teiai CEO, L Lawliet/Ryuzaki. They gamble with the tissue box raffle and L outcheats Light and wins.

L admits that he's watched Light's previous gambles and wants him on the team, because if left unatended Light might bring Teiai a lot of harm.

L is very anti cheating in this AU, despite always cheating in his gambles. The rest of Teiai doesn't cheat though, and L hunts down people that do. He suspects that Light is cheating as well, but he can't prove it. He wants Light close to him so he can see him cheating.

Light's first task and "test" before joining Teiai is to inspect a casino subservient to Teiai and its owner, Misa Amane. L thinks that she's rigging the machines. At first Misa is trying to prevent Light from winning, but somewhere along the way she falls for him and rigs the pachinko in his favor. (I thought of a background for this: her parents were Teiai debtors and when the debt got too big they killed themselves. Misa was hired by Teiai to work off their debt. Somewhere during Light playing the pachinko machine he gives a speech how he hates Teiai and wants to destroy them and Misa starts to support his cause). Light fights with the bog (BTW the bog is designed after Rem. Shinigami don't exist in this AU, but it's a nice nod. Maybe instead of man eating bog it's called god of death or something.) and wins the jackpot. L suspects that Light only won because of Misa's rigging, so they must be conspiring together. Light's winnings are seized and Misa is fired.

Both Light and Misa are thrown into Teiai's underground mines, where debtors have to work off their debt. Soichiro learns that his son was a gambler behind his back, but he thinks he doesn't deserve the mines. He pleads to L and L gives Light another chance to prove himself (he was planning to anyway, because he doesn't have concrete evidence of Light cheating), by playing chinchiro against his closest employees (Soichiro, Aizawa, Matsuda). Light wins by cheating and officially becomes a member of Teiai. Misa is also freed from the mines.

Misa moves in with Light and his parents. The atmosphere is tense, Soichiro (replacing Sakazaki) is very dissapointed by Light for being a dirty gambler (but... Soichiro works for the gambling company too? maybe he didn't want Light to follow into his footsteps) and Misa is very clingy despite the lack of interest from Light (the park date scene with Mikoko and Kaiji plays exactly the same).

Some time passes and L approaches Light with a job. He wants Light to gamble against the president of a rival company, Yotsuba. Their profits have been rising and L suspects foul play is involved. With Higuchi as Muraoka and L as Kazuya, Light plays minefield mahjong. Turns out Higuchi is cheating, so Light has to outcheat him to win. Namikawa fills Miyoshi's role in giving hints to Light, but unlike Miyoshi he's not on president's side. He knows he used dirty tricks to get his position and he wants to bring him down. Helping Higuchi (as Maeda) can be any of the Yotsuba men who aren't too antagonistic towards him in canon. Maybe Ooi? Or all of them. Maybe he has some dirt on them and they're all forced to help him. Anyway, Light wins and bankrupts Higuchi.

After the gamble L wants to spend time with Light. I don't think the whole Kazuya hen happens, but they talk about their ideologies and agree to gamble together.

ONE POKER. A special gamble where the loser dies. Well, can die. This time Light outcheats L and the Teiai CEO dies. Light now has in his posession over 2 billion yen he won in this gamble.

Teiai doesn't believe he owns the money legitemately so the chase begins. Light runs with the money. He allies himself with Mikami and Takada (as Chang and Mario), who support his goal of bringing down Teiai. The new Teiai CEO is selected and it's Near. Near also replaces Endo, leading the chase after Light (along with Mello, who is unafiliated with Teiai. Maybe he was next in line and he wants to prove he's better than Near).

And that's the plot for now :^) I swapped the underground arc and pachinko arc to fit Death Note plot better, and skipped some events.

[fndmfrenzy]

Death Note’s primary characters are not particularly good people — and if that sounds like a massive understatement, that’s because it is. From superdetectives who employ human rights violations to solve their cases to career criminals to outright mass murderers, all of our leads are willing to go to immoral lengths to achieve their goals, even (and especially) those who claim to be acting in the name of justice. That’s a given; if anything, that’s part of the appeal. What sort of person, then, could claim the title of Most Hated Death Note Character?

Chances are, you already know the answer: It’s Higuchi Kyosuke, Head of Technological Development for the Yotsuba Group and, more importantly, the Third Kira. (If you’re wondering, I do have the results of my own completely unscientific survey to back this up — and if you seek out your average Death Note fan, chances are they’ll be in agreement.)

Higuchi is hateable by design. Externally, he has extremely sharp features and an unnerving grin, appearing unconventional at his best and downright monstrous at his worst. Internally, he is an unpleasant man who delights in using mass murder to achieve his goals. He is very thoroughly a villain, and it’s difficult to say anything good about him.

Death Note fans often paint Higuchi as a man who is obsessed with money above all else and cares little for morals. In some ways, that’s the natural thing to think — he isn’t exactly the type of character who invites close inspection — but it isn’t actually true. Money is only a secondary desire of Higuchi’s. 

What Higuchi Kyosuke really desires is status, stemming from a deep insecurity and an obsession with how others perceive him. 

When Light tasks Rem with finding a new Kira, he lists certain requirements for the job, and they’re relatively simple: The new Kira must be greedy enough to use the notebook for his personal gain, he must have a decent amount of societal status, and he must be willing to continue the regular executions of criminals. 

Higuchi’s role in Death Note is thus defined by those three factors; they’re what Rem uses to choose him in the first place. We don’t see exactly how long she observes Higuchi for before she chooses him, and we don’t see what he does to check off these three requirements, but we know that Rem ultimately gives Higuchi the notebook. Then, in Chapter 43, L theorizes that the Yotsuba Kira is “a stupid coward who can’t do anything on his own.” 

Higuchi lives up to both of these descriptions well, and we can assume that he’s been a shady person even before Rem gave him the Death Note, considering he’s connected to people like Kaneboshi Ginzo who Higuchi himself refers to as a bad person.

The specific qualifier that the placeholder Kira is “greedy” can mean a lot of things, though. One would generally assume it refers to a desire for money above all else, and since Higuchi’s actions as Kira focus on improving the Yotsuba Group’s profits (and, thus, his own profits), it might appear at first glance that pure cash is all Higuchi is after. This, however, isn’t the case.

Namikawa’s assessment of Kira’s goals provides the first look into what Higuchi is really after.

Namikawa assumes that the Kira they’re dealing with is the original, but other than that, his observations here hold water. If Higuchi really were after money above all else, it would be simple enough for him to use the Death Note to get rich(er) quickly. He chooses not to — in fact, Light finds in Chapter 43 that no deaths to the specific benefit of any of the Yotsuba members have occurred since murders began, meaning that Higuchi hasn’t made any kills that benefit him more than his colleagues or directly give him money. (This is shown in the image before Namikawa, if you missed it.)

What Namikawa realizes is that the Yotsuba Kira is actually after social status; above all else, he wants to be respected and looked up to by those around him as a man of authority and talent. What’s more, Higuchi goes out of his way to call these goals stupid when they’re laid out in front of him and the rest of the group.

If he weren’t Kira, he’d have no reason to say this; what use would there be in insulting the motivations of a mass murderer with the power to easily kill him? All he’s done is make himself look suspicious by reacting this way. Most likely, he views Namikawa’s comments as an attack that he has to rebuke; even if he can’t directly out himself as Kira, he can at least let it be known that he personally is above such petty goals as social status. He wants his colleagues to think he’s unconcerned with these things in order to disguise that they matter to him so much; he realizes, on some level, that it’s pathetic to be so obsessed with status and wealth. According to Mido in Chapter 50, this is a regular occurrence. 

Of course, Higuchi would never admit any of this in front of his colleagues. In private, however — or at least when only Rem is around — it’s a different story. 

First, in Chapter 46, when talking about his plans to marry Misa, Higuchi lists money, status, and a beautiful wife as the three things he’ll have gained through the power of the Death Note. What’s particularly interesting here is the comment about others being jealous of him for those things. He’s not just after some extra money, a higher position in the company, and Misa’s hand in marriage for the sake of it; he wants other people to envy him. In his mind, social status and enviability are tied together — perhaps because he’s an intensely envious man himself.

Then, in Chapter 51, while contemplating how to kill Matsuda, Higuchi mentions “fame and fortune” as the two particular things he’s after. Again, though, that isn’t the most interesting thing here — what’s interesting is that the consequence about being revealed to be Kira that he’s so worried about is having to leave Yotsuba. If Matsuda announces that Higuchi is Kira on live TV, surely this’ll catch L’s attention and lead to Higuchi’s arrest and possible execution. But no — Higuchi spares no thought to the possible end of his life as a free man. He’s concerned about being driven from his job in disgrace. The implication here is that Higuchi’s reputation and status are more important to him than his own life.

That’s pretty extreme. Why would Higuchi’s reputation matter so much to him that even his own survival doesn’t merit mentioning? Why is Higuchi pursuing social status so obsessively in the first place when he already descends from a wealthy family and works as a high-ranking executive at a large corporation? He clearly has a decent amount of status already; that was one of Light’s requirements to Rem for the stand-in Kira in the first place, too. 

Higuchi cares deeply about his social status and how others perceive him because he’s deeply insecure — about his status, yes, but also about his intelligence, motivations, and more. He habitually compares himself to those around him and comes up short. This feeling of inferiority drives him to use the Death Note in order to compensate. 

The death meetings themselves are fundamentally evidence of this. Bringing a group of colleagues together to decide who to kill gives Higuchi some additional resources and ideas, but that’s all. The meetings are more of a liability than anything else; the more people who know that Kira is working for Yotsuba, the more people who might crack under pressure or otherwise slip up and alert L or the police, especially when those people’s lives are actively being threatened. On top of that, the meetings are being held at the Yotsuba office, where someone could listen in — as Matsuda does. The cons outweigh the pros by far. 

The only reason Higuchi would choose to operate this way is if he was convinced that his own skills and intelligence weren’t enough to act as Kira on his own. One might argue that the other seven were there primarily to serve as scapegoats if it ever came down to it, but then, why specifically invite people like Namikawa and Mido who have a reputation for intelligence if not to hear their insights? Insecurity is the only reason Higuchi could have chosen to operate as Kira this way.

His insecurities bleed through into more than just the way he plans things and functions as Kira, though. His interactions with those around him, namely his colleagues, is constantly colored by them.

The first line in all of Death Note immediately attributed to Higuchi — the one that establishes his character — is spent insulting Takahashi, and then not-so-subtly threatening him right afterwards.

(These panels also point out that Higuchi has chosen mostly younger executives to attend these meetings. Perhaps he's disdainful towards his older, more old-fashioned colleagues.)

The insecure bully character type is not exactly uncommon; we’ve seen it all before. Some teenager who isn’t sure of himself takes it out on the kids in his class, especially those lower on the social food chain than he is, in an attempt to soothe his own internal struggles and make himself appear better than them. Higuchi is pretty much the embodiment of this representative teenager, except he’s a middle-aged businessman and doesn’t have the excuse of adolescent angst on his side.

This is the moment that tells us who Higuchi is — not as Kira, but as a person — and he follows that example for the rest of the story. It’s as much a pattern as anything can be for a relatively minor character, and it’s clearly been happening for longer than we as the audience are able to see. Takahashi is the most common victim, and he’s also the easiest target since most of the Yotsuba guys seem to think lowly of him — none as transparently as Higuchi, of course, who calls him an idiot every chance he gets. 

Other common targets include Hatori, the Yotsuba president’s illegitimate son who doesn’t seem to grasp the gravity of the Kira situation until it’s too late, and Shimura, the only member (presumably) hailing from a working-class family whose colleagues treat him dismissively due to what they believe to be paranoia. 

Some of the rudeness directed at Shimura in particular is in response to things that could threaten Higuchi, like calls for Kira to reveal his identity, but there’s a greater underlying thread here. Together, Takahashi, Hatori, and Shimura are the least respected of their group (except for maybe Higuchi himself). They’re acceptable targets, and next to them, Higuchi can make himself look intelligent, respectable, and level-headed. Maybe he can even convince himself that he really is if he tries hard enough. As Mido and Namikawa mention while discussing who Kira might be in Chapter 50, this behavior is nothing new. His colleagues expect this of him enough to realize that people like Takahashi are only in the meetings at all for the express purpose of making Higuchi look better.

Every so often, Higuchi will toss out a dismissive comment about the group as a whole, often for their perceived careless handling of the killings. 

This is pretty rich coming from the guy who complains about the routine Kira murders keeping him busy and kills people who committed crimes under extenuating circumstances because he can’t be assed to do any extra research. More than that, though, it’s an attempt to posture; Higuchi wants to appear aloof and condescending in front of his colleagues so that they take him seriously. It doesn’t work, generally speaking, but the effort is there. Outside of these broad comments, though, he avoids taking shots at those with more status within their group than him.

Except, that is, for Namikawa.

Higuchi isn’t constantly rude to Namikawa like he is to Takahashi; in fact, he agrees with him on occasion (though not until after people like Ooi and Mido have already done so). Still, he does get short with him sometimes, which is interesting for a man who is generally polite to those like Ooi and Mido, whom he acknowledges as more talented and intelligent than him.

Notice that Higuchi is criticizing Namikawa here for acting superior — the very thing that Higuchi himself is constantly doing. Not that Namikawa seems particularly bothered.

That’s what makes Higuchi’s perception of Namikawa particularly interesting: Higuchi dislikes Namikawa, but in many ways, he mimics him. Namikawa is aloof and often condescending, but he never directly insults a colleague to their face. Higuchi tries to act aloof and instead just makes himself look like an asshole. Namikawa tends to come across as very relaxed, closing his eyes and leaning back in his chair and talking with his hands. Higuchi himself is fairly high-strung, as his eventual breakdown reveals, but he certainly puts on a show of acting relaxed, like a crude parody of Namikawa’s mannerisms. The best example of this is directly after Namikawa’s little speech on Kira’s true goals. I used this image a bit earlier, but I’ll include it again here for easy access.

There are so many levels of posturing going on in this panel. It isn’t even funny (except it is). 

Higuchi’s simultaneous imitation of and scorn for Namikawa cements him even further as a deeply insecure individual. It all comes down to envy. 

Namikawa is everything Higuchi wants to be but isn’t. Like Higuchi, Namikawa was born to a wealthy family, following in the footsteps of his father to become a high-ranking executive within the Yotsuba Group. Unlike Higuchi, Namikawa is composed and in near-complete control of how he presents himself, which has led to his reputation as one of the Yotsuba Group’s most talented and intelligent executives — all this while being 30 years old, the youngest of any of the executives present for the meetings. Not to mention he’s very conventionally attractive.

Higuchi wants to be like Namikawa, but despite his best efforts, he just isn’t. Even with his clear envy and dislike for Namikawa, though, he invites him to the meetings because he values his insights. Although Higuchi clearly doesn’t want to admit it, he believes that Namikawa is more intelligent than him — and he does admit it, at least on some internal level, just by merit of placing Namikawa on the meeting’s roster. Surely that must sting.

Higuchi’s attempts to appear relaxed and above-it-all go beyond just his imitations of Namikawa, too. Fake laughter seems to be a favorite of his, especially during the date scene in Chapter 48.

His insecurities show in a few other ways throughout the Yotsuba arc, too. For one thing, he has a habit of talking about how Kira works to his colleagues. He disguises this as theorizing, but it’s still suspicious for someone as notably uncreative as Higuchi to make too many spot-on jumps in logic. Using his knowledge of Kira lets him try to gain respect by acting more clever than he is, and he can’t help himself.

Speaking of acting suspiciously, Higuchi is really enthusiastic about killing people. One might expect this from the guy acting as Kira, but he doesn’t do a very good job of hiding it, either. As brought up before, one of his establishing lines is a veiled threat to Takahashi, and things don’t get better from there. Later on, Higuchi is first to suggest killing Matsuda. Then, he implies to Hatori’s face that Kira will kill him for his outburst — and he goes on to kill Hatori the next day.

He initially wants to kill Misa when Aiber-as-Coil tells the conspirators that she might know L, although he seems to change his mind in favor of marrying her in order to control her Second Kira powers. While in private with Rem, he implies that he plans to kill the remaining members of the meetings after he uses his status as Kira to become company president, although the wording is somewhat ambiguous. During his race to find Matsuda’s real name, he considers killing pretty much everyone involved before Rem talks him down, and the fact alone that he owns a gun (which is very illegal in Japan) is pretty telling. 

Before any of those, though, mere moments after taunting Hatori for what will be his death, Higuchi tries to insist that his colleagues should have Kira kill Eraldo Coil, which prompts Mido to react as such:

Possibly the most succinct response to Higuchi as Kira anyone has ever given — and, what’s more, the wording here implies that this is a regular occurrence, possibly even more than what we’ve seen over the course of the arc so far. Like a high school bully, Higuchi berates those he perceives as weaker than him; also like a high school bully, Higuchi grasps onto the first thing that could possibly give him power and lords it over everyone else. When he has the power to easily kill other people, he becomes obsessed with killing. Again, it’s amazingly suspicious, but he’s so desperate to use the Death Note to soothe his feelings of inferiority that he can’t (or won’t) stop himself.

Higuchi is an incredibly insecure person, then; that much is clear. But it isn’t just that — his job at Yotsuba constantly exacerbates his fears that others are above him. Not only is he less talented than most of his colleagues (a fact that most people around him seem to know), but he’s technically ranked lower than most of them.

Higuchi’s official title is Head of Technological Development. Other than Shimura, Head of Personnel, the other six are all higher-ranked Vice Presidents, including Takahashi, Hatori, and Namikawa (of course). What’s more, this wasn’t always the case. Higuchi used to hold a higher position within the company — presumably that of a Vice President, as I believe the original Japanese text states — before he was demoted.

Namikawa notes Higuchi’s habit of insulting others, which we’ve already discussed and which points directly to his insecurity. For a man like this, who secretly doubts his own abilities and obsesses over how others see him, demotion must be a staggering blow. That likely contributes to why the Higuchi we see during the Yotsuba arc is so concerned with status, on top of his already-existing insecurity; he has to prove he isn’t the incompetent fool that he believes his colleagues see him as. It’s also worth noting that Shimura, as the Head of Personnel, likely had a hand in Higuchi’s demotion; perhaps that’s part of why Higuchi seems to dislike him.

For what it’s worth, Higuchi isn’t wrong in believing his colleagues dislike him. Mido and Namikawa prove time and time again, particularly in Chapter 50, that they view Higuchi mostly as a petty, incompetent idiot. Takahashi clearly doesn’t like him much, either, as the most frequent victim of his bullying; Shimura, who is similarly mistreated and suspects Higuchi of being Kira, also obviously dislikes him. That’s already the majority of the Yotsuba executives we’re acquainted with. Although we don’t see Hatori react to Higuchi much, Higuchi’s occasional derision towards him and willingness to revel in his death indicate that they have an at least somewhat negative relationship. Ooi and Kida don’t get much of a look in at all, but Ooi generally plays a neutral leader role, so that’s par for the course on his part. 

In short: Higuchi’s posturing falls completely flat, and his colleagues largely see him for what he is, or at least find him unpleasant.

So how much does all of this talk about insecurity really matter? Enough to drive him to use the Death Note, sure, but Higuchi doesn’t seem like a very morally upstanding person anyways. Actually, it’s cause for something even more drastic than murder: It’s very nearly cause for suicide.

At first he’s only holding the gun to his head for show, but his finger clearly trembles over and squeezes the trigger as he thinks about his prospects. Watari shoots his hand at that moment for a good reason. If another few seconds had gone by, there might not have been a Kira to arrest.

When Higuchi says here that his life is over, one might read that literally; Higuchi is about to lose his freedom and potentially his life when L arrests him as Kira. Think back to Higuchi’s reaction to the Sakura TV special, though; he certainly wasn’t concerned about being arrested or executed then. He was scared that he would have to leave the company with a tarnished reputation. Here, when he says “my life,” he’s talking figuratively about his career and reputation.

It isn’t the thought of capture that nearly drives him to shoot himself. It’s the thought of having his reputation ruined — of being exposed to the world not only as a murderer, but a man who committed murder (many, many murders!) to compensate for his own personal failures. Is there anything more pathetic than being exposed like that? Could a man like Higuchi ever allow himself to live in such a reality? No. Death is a more welcoming option for him at that moment.

It’s clear that Higuchi is motivated by status more than money, and this desire for status is driven by a strong need for validation in the face of deep insecurities. Underneath the veneer, Higuchi doesn’t seem to think of himself as particularly smart or talented, or even as very likable. Why, then, does he think he deserves the success that the Death Note could bring him?

Simply put, Higuchi genuinely thinks of himself as a good person.

In Chapter 38, Higuchi provides a lot of insight into how he rationalizes the murders to himself, although we don’t know it’s him yet. It seems like he was pro-Kira even before being given the notebook and views the deaths of criminals as a good thing, particularly corrupt businessmen since they damage the economy. The irony is lost on him, apparently.

What’s more, Higuchi seems to believe that the world now depends on Kira in order to enforce justice, citing the doubling of crime rates after Kira’s disappearance. In his mind, he’s carrying out a necessary service for the world while the original Kira slacks off. 

The work he’s doing is heroic, and he doesn’t mind doing it because he’s a good person. Since he’s such a good person, doesn’t he have the right to use this power to get himself the respect that he’s always deserved? 

It’s also worth mentioning that Higuchi is the only Kira who shows any real respect for his shinigami, or shinigami more generally. Compared to Misa, Mikami, and especially Light, it’s almost shocking how polite he is with Rem. He never insults or lashes out at her the way he does with his colleagues, and while this could be because he’s afraid of her, he doesn’t really seem afraid. In fact, he talks freely to Rem about his motivations and goals with remarkably little posturing, and he actively solicits her advice, which he takes into account even when he doesn’t listen to it. 

He even goes so far as to praise her on occasion, which is extremely abnormal for him.

It’s almost… healthy? Normal? Something adjacent to it? Although Rem still hates him, of course.

The fact is that Rem is a shinigami, and, as we’ve seen, Higuchi avoids lashing out at those he acknowledges as higher up on the social ladder than him (save Namikawa, for reasons previously discussed). It’s also worth mentioning that Higuchi’s house is remarkably empty, and he’s never referenced as having any social life outside of work. Perhaps he’s relieved to finally have a confidant; perhaps he’s simply deferring to what he realizes is a higher power. Higuchi seems to have a certain respect for social order, and maybe he mistakes this respect for decency. 

Higuchi’s treatment of women in general is interesting for somewhat similar reasons. He’s clearly a sexist, desiring Misa’s hand in marriage in order to show her off as a pretty object of jealousy and generally acting lecherous during the model scene. He very much seems to view women primarily as accessories to his own desires. (Rem, of course, is exempt from this as a shinigami — assuming Higuchi knows her gender in the first place.)

Higuchi isn’t actually a straw misogynist, though. He seems to be very concerned with treating women well — or making sure the women he’s around know that he treats women well. He’s not exactly subtle about that.

This behavior is consistent throughout his date with Misa, whenever he’s not busy thinking about Kira stuff. Practically the first thing he does when he sees her is offer to buy her a car. He’s generally deferent to her, letting her decide where they go on their date and going along with all her ideas regarding how to prove to each other that they’re Kira with a surprising amount of receptivity. While he might partially be trying to impress her because he wants the Second Kira on his side, this behavior started before he found out Misa might be the Second Kira. He really is just like this. He literally calls himself a gentleman at one point.

It’s posturing, for sure, but it’s a different kind of posturing than when he’s around his colleagues. He’s still going after validation, but it’s not just respect that he’s after; he wants to be liked. Higuchi really wants women to like him, so he makes a show out of being chivalrous. We know he actually isn’t — he considers killing Misa multiple times, and besides, a truly chivalrous man wouldn’t need to say it over and over again — but perhaps he’s convinced himself. Higuchi respects women, so that’s just another reason he’s a good person! This is why he deserves success!

With this in mind, we can paint a fairly detailed final portrait of the Yotsuba Kira.

Born in 1972, Higuchi grew up largely during the 1980s, a time of economic prosperity for Japan. His privileged upbringing offered him a view of what life had in store for him as a successful adult, and he likely expected to glide into the business world like young men were doing in that decade. 

Then the economy crashed during the 1990s, and, suddenly, Higuchi’s future wasn’t as easy as he had hoped. His father’s fortune and status within Yotsuba were enough to secure him a high-ranking job in the company, but not without effort — effort that was clearly not enough for him to measure up to his more-talented colleagues, especially the younger Namikawa. Perhaps he had noticed a similar inferiority to his peers earlier in his life, but he certainly notices it now.

It gnaws at him, of course; already feeling robbed by the economic situation, he now begins to see enemies in his colleagues, and any self-doubt that had existed inside him before begins to grow. He needs to seem talented and composed, so he tries to act like he is; he needs to feel better about himself, so he tries to show his superiority to others. He fails at both and becomes crueler and meaner in the process. He believes that he is a good person, and he can justify even the worst of his behavior to himself because he believes he deserves to act out some, when the world and the system are so set against him. 

Maybe he had a rebellious streak before, but now it begins to develop into a disdain for his elders and for the powers that be — the same powers that allowed him to work at Yotsuba in the first place, but he isn’t willing to think of it that way because he’s the real victim here. It’s almost enough to tempt him to counterculture — his haircut, after all, is hardly suitable for a businessman — but he doesn’t have enough confidence to fully break away from the corporate world, especially when it’s so tied to his identity now. What else can he do anymore? He has to succeed.

But as he becomes more desperate for success, his attitude worsens. He’s demoted for the very behaviors he had been using to cope with his insecurities, as well as for his poor leadership skills. It burns. 

When Rem offers him the Death Note, his answer is a no-brainer. He’s already pro-Kira, so he thinks he’ll be doing everyone a favor — a big enough favor to justify using Kira’s power for himself on the side. After all, he needs to succeed. He needs status and respect. He needs the men he envies to envy him in turn. He needs to be the man he always thought he’d be by now. For that, he would do anything. Everything else has failed so far, but now he’s unstoppable.

Perhaps if Higuchi had never gotten the Death Note, he would’ve inevitably snapped in some other way, violent or otherwise. Perhaps he would have lived a quiet, mediocre life, unfulfilled and miserable. Perhaps, by some miracle, he would have changed. 

But none of that comes to pass.

At the end of the day, Higuchi Kyosuke dies like a dog. The greatest legacy he leaves behind is his failure in the face of men much more talented than he could ever hope to be.

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[fndmfrenzy]

I rewatched Death Note focusing on the japanese 1st person pronouns the characters use (because I'm an otaku and I find it interesting). I'm not an expert, so I'm mainly going to point out everyone's pronouns and add a little analysis/opinion based on what I know or read online about their usage. Some characters probably won't get explanations because I have nothing to say. Also: since this is a piece of fiction the pronouns can tell us more about someone's personality. Also: I can only analyze the formality of the pronouns not the rest of the speech, because I don't know japanese that well!

Warning: like half of this post is about Higuchi because he's funny to me. And I included all of Yotsuba, who are pretty minor characters.

Kira Task Force:

Light Yagami Starting with Light as the main character, his pronoun of choice is 僕 (ぼく/boku). Boku is typically used by boys and young men. It's considered polite and humble. If I'm not mistaken only 2 other characters in Death Note use boku (Matsuda and Hatori from Yotsuba). It's a fitting pronoun for the perfect student and son, Light Yagami. It also gives a funny contrast to his ego-driven Kira speeches.

There is a couple of situations when Light uses 私 (わたし/watashi) (because it's gender neutral, and more... neutral in general). It's when he acts as L or Kira on the phone with someone, so in situations where he's trying to hide his identity.

L L uses 私 (わたし/watashi). It's gender neutral and usually used by men in formal settings. L comes accross as wanting to sound polite (he always uses honorifics for people, even correcting himself one time when he forgets to do so with Matsuda).

He yells out "Matsuda", but then corrects it to "Matsuda-san". He also calls Light "Light-kun" or "Yagami-kun". It's a funny contrast that he cares about this, because otherwise he isn't very polite (especially to Matsuda).

In the anime (sadly I don't think he uses any pronouns in that scene in the manga) when he calls Matsuda (who's in Yotsuba building) and pretends to be his friend he uses 俺 (おれ/ore).

Matsuda As I said earlier, he uses the same pronouns as Light - boku. He's the youngest member of the Task Force (save for Light and L) and his pronoun gives him that youthful feeling.

One situation I've heard him use a different pronoun was when he got busted by the Yotsuba Group, and introduced himself with 私 (わたくし/watakushi) - an even more polite version of watashi. Oh, he also uses watashi on Sakura TV, for similar reasons to Light's usage of watashi.

Soichiro Yagami 私 (わたし/watashi). I don't think he's ever shown using a different one? We only see most of the Kira Task Force at work, so it's expected that they all use formal pronouns.

Aizawa 私 (わたし/watashi). Except for when he's quitting the Task Force, then he switches to 俺 (おれ/ore). Ore is a masculine informal pronoun, considered more rude and rough. He's angry at L and it shows.

Mogi 私 (わたし/watashi), I think, but he doesn't talk much.

Team Kira:

Misa Amane Misa's main pronoun is her name. She basically talks about herself in 3rd person, which might sound silly in english, so most translations don't include it. It's cutesy and childlish and she probably does this as part of her idol persona.

She also uses 私 (わたし/watashi) at times (which is basically the most common pronoun used by women). As I mentioned before, it's considered formal when men use it, but for women it can be both formal and informal. Well, she uses it formally (when it's weird to just use Misa) for example in the Yotsuba interview. And of course, just like Light she uses watashi when posing as Kira (on the tapes in Sakura TV, on the phone in the 2nd part of the series).

Here's Misa using watashi during the interview:

Teru Mikami 私 (わたし/watashi)

Kiyomi Takada 私 (わたし/watashi)

Shinigami:

Ryuk 俺 (おれ/ore)

Rem 私 (わたし/watashi)

Yotsuba Arc:

Most of my research comes from Yotsuba arc (like all the specific examples above...) so I'm including the Yotsuba Group guys. But first, others from this arc.

Aiber 俺 (おれ/ore) usually, 私 (わたし/watashi) when acting as Eraldo Coil.

Wedy 私 (わたし/watashi)

Yotsuba Group: First I have to say that we see them most of them only at work, so they're going to use formal pronouns.

Hatori 僕 (ぼく/boku), but he uses watashi once when keeping watch on Matsui.

Takahashi He doesn't use any in the Kira Meetings (because he doesn't talk much). I'm pretty sure I heard him using ore (maybe at the party?), but I couldn't find it in the manga.

Namikawa 私 (わたし/watashi)

Mido 私 (わたし/watashi)

Shimura He actually is only shown using 俺 (おれ/ore). Even at the meetings. He's a very unassuming guy, so I feel like there's a contrast with him using the informal ore with his coworkers, when most of the others use watashi.

Namikawa and Mido still use formal watashi, even when the three of them are hanging out at Mido's house. The only one using ore is again, Shimura.

I think thanks to his kind personality his usage of ore gives a sense of familiarity, instead of sounding crass.

Ooi 私 (わたし/watashi) in the meetings. In a call with Kida, he uses 俺 (おれ/ore). I want to add that in a work setting ore can be used by people that are either older or in superior positions. Ooi is the oldest in the group, and de facto leads the meetings, but idk if it means anything. Maybe he uses watashi with the group, but ore one-on-one? Maybe that's the etiquette?

Kida 私 (わたし/watashi)

Higuchi We get more scenes with him and we get to see him switching pronouns. One of them is 私 (わたし/watashi). He uses it in those situations: - talking to Rem (and/or himself). He seems to respect her so he's usually formal when talking to her. This might be also him talking to himself, but since Rem's there let's assume it's at least half-aimed at her... Anyway, here Higuchi talks about marrying Misa:

Even when giving this ego-driven speech (again, about marrying Misa and some more...) he uses watashi:

Talking with Rem in the car:

- thinking. He's kinda inconsistent because he thinks with both watashi and ore. Mostly watashi though. Maybe he uses ore when he feels more confident? Here after confessing to Misa he's Kira:

And some more:

At least in two of those he's like "my life is over, i'll lose my job... oh and go to jail and maybe die... but my job...!"

- in formal/business setting. Ok that's a stretch, but before making this post I was convinced he used it more in the series. We can assume he would in a formal situation, but it doesn't happen in the manga so I have no proof. Huh. Here he pretends to be a lost businessman before shooting Light's dad:

Then there's 俺 (おれ/ore). It's typically used by men around family and friends. It can sound cocky, and indicates a sense of masculinity. Situations where Higuchi uses ore include:

- talking to coworkers. Higuchi doesn't talk that much during meetings and if he does he doesn't use any pronouns. I was wondering if he's more like Ooi (watashi during meetings, ore outside meetings) or Shimura (always ore). I think it's the second based on these two panels:

At least I think it's him talking to Shimura? This moment was cut from the anime so we don't know who's saying it, but it fits Higuchi (and the person saying it uses ore so that excludes most of the people there). The panel below it shows him responding to Mido with ore.

Below are other moments he uses ore with coworkers, during the Misa interview and on the phone with Mido:

Like with most things Higuchi does I think he's going for nonchalant, but it comes across as sloppy and disrespectful. Just look at him here:

His chair is so far back, he's leaning in it with crossed arms. He's trying to show how much he doesn't give a fuck about this interview... Even if it's in his interest to get info about L from Misa! Talk about posturing.

- date with Misa, including his Kira confession. I think it's common for men to use ore when talking to women they're pursuing? I've read about a shoujo manga where the male lead usually uses watashi, but it's a big moment when he switches to ore with the female lead to show he's serious about her (/interested in her romantically).

- thinking. This one happens before he confesses he's Kira:

And he uses ore after making the eye deal when he's like "I'm invincible" (lol). I don't know what to get from this, but there's like 3 panels where he thinks with ore as compared to 6+ with watashi.

Wammy's house:

Near 私 (わたし/watashi)

Mello 俺 (おれ/ore). He's the odd one out when compared to formal L and Near. Well, he is a thug and works with the mafia.

Matt 俺 (おれ/ore). I was surprised to find it so easily considering his lack of screentime.

[fndmfrenzy]

made some gifs for myself, maybe someone will like it. part 2 maybe when i watch the rest of the episodes? if there's any cute/cool moments

[fndmfrenzy]

matching pfps

[fndmfrenzy]

i've been obsessed with ywpd for two weeks now, so i made myself a shipping wheel...

mdsk is the otp and an endgame friendSHIP. i just know they will be friends by the end and it makes me happy

i didn't include ships including 3+ people, but i do like midosansaka and kinfukushinara or whatever's the name of that foursome lol

and i REALLY like (childhood) friends so ships like kabu x danchiku, kuroda x izumida or shinfuku immidiately appeal to me. they feel right

but also i don't have an opinion on many ships because i haven't seen much of them

clean picture under the cut

[fndmfrenzy]

i couldn't find any neat source on the pronouns characters use so i made my own.

i'm not an expert on japanese pronouns, but i think in general it goes like this:

ore - more masculine/confident vibe, used among male peers

boku - more polite and less "threatening" i'll say. in anime usually used by less confident characters

so among the boku users: onoda has low confidence, we know izumida is a goody two shoes, and komari was raised in a strict environment so it fits all of them

i think it's endlessly amusing that midousuji-kun uses boku... because he is NOT known to be polite (he calls his seniors by -kun) so instead it gives him a very boyish charm. i think i read somewhere that younger boys usually use boku? idk idk that's the vibe i'm getting and it's very cute

[fndmfrenzy]

hmm i got into milgram lately. my faves are haruka, mu and kazui, but i have thoughts about kazui since his voting is open rn. i think he's innocent and i voted innocent, but seeing how close together the votes are, i'm kinda curious to see him end up guilty. i see no reason to vote guilty myself, but i'm secretely hoping guilty will win... it might be interesting. either way i'm interested in his character and where will he go in the next song

[fndmfrenzy]