#whether or not you think his charmingness is successfully depicted is another matter maybe

[13eyond13]

I feel like some of the "Light is NOT socially adept" discourse rn is based on the fact that people just personally don't like him because of what he does secretly in canon, or don't find him as charming as he's supposed to appear to others in canon. I fall more into the category of people defending him as the opposite though, and that's mostly because I think the point of the story is to show how a guy who has everything going for him and doesn't actually have a tragic backstory or a lot of deep dark antisocial tendencies or problems could actually also wind up being one of the worst people you've ever met if he ended up with something like a Death Note in his hands at age 17. Right? Not necessarily because I think everything Light does is excessively polite or incredibly suave, but because I think he'd easily trick me with his regular politeness and good looks and achievements / the usual facade he puts up around others. One of the strongest things about this series to me is the lack of troubling backstory for Light. I think the story wouldn't really make a lot of sense or be as good if he was mr. socially oblivious and delusionally vain who can't actually make friends or impress anybody or fit in.