Warning: This article has spoilers for the thriller anime and movie Death Note. If you plan to watch it, don't continue reading because this article discusses the ending of Death Note.

In Death Note, a straight-A student Light Yagami finds a Death Note, a notebook whose primary rule is that anyone whose name is written in it shall die. Before finding this notebook, Light was headed for law school. His dad is a law enforcement officer who instilled in him a strong sense of justice.

Justice through Fear

Yet, the ability to take justice into his own hands was too enticing. He started writing the names of criminals into the Death Note in order to clean up society, instill fear, and become a "God" of a new world. From the perspective of due process and criminal justice, it's easy to see his actions as wrong. Killing criminals through heart attacks is wrong because it takes away their ability to atone and correct their actions.

However, at the end of the show it's revealed that through Light's purging of criminals, crime rate reaches an all-time low because people are afraid of a higher power judging them. In such a scenario, do the ends justify the means? Is it considered fair that a corrupt person weighing life and death in his own hands leads to a safer world for everyone else? The anime leaves these questions unanswered, but every country has problems with its criminal justice system. The rich and powerful usually get away unscathed. Even abhorrent human beings often get away scot-free because there is an undue burden of proof. Meanwhile, innocent people are sometimes caught up for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. What would the ideal justice system look like?

Light's Biggest crime

Maybe the most telling answer that Death Note gives in its exploration of the gray areas of justice is in the very last episode. An injured Light walks by his past self, the straight-A law student. He doesn't look back, not even a glance. Yet, the final image he sees in the episode is that of the detective, L. Perhaps his only friend. Light's biggest crime wasn't necessarily the cleansing of the world through his twisted sense of justice. It was letting his ego get the best of him, especially when it came to killing someone else following his own sense of justice against Light. Despite the strong sense of twisted justice that Light had, he didn't allow for there to be conflicting opinions in the world that he was creating. It was only his own opinion that had final authority because of the Death Note that he possessed. His justice was unequal, and he was willing to kill a friend over it.