How an Unsatisfying Ending Can Ruin a Show

Death Note has become one of the most ubiquitous shows people recommend anime newcomers to watch. It plays out like a thriller, each episode full of twists, reveals, and desperate tactics as Light Yagami attempts to avoid the authorities and implement his twisted vision for the world.

Its highly engaging hook relies on the methodical intelligence and mind games of its main characters, which makes the way it ultimately ends feel highly unsatisfying. Light is defeated not by superior intelligence, tactics or a refutation of his ideals, but by the combination of his own arrogance and what ultimately feels like a plot device. In addition to the way Light was defeated in Death Note, the ending also feels unsatisfying because the ideas behind the character’s motivations were not fully resolved. The ending of Death Note teaches a lesson for shows about how all the hard work built up through excellent storytelling can evaporate if the ending fails to deliver a satisfying conclusion.

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Life After L

The Narrative Is Unable To Overcome the Strength of Its Original Premise

People watching the show for the first time are often drawn to the opening dynamic between Light and L. We spend a good portion of the early parts of the show slowly following their chess moves towards each other. The narrative seems to be building toward a final confrontation between the two, resolving their differing views on justice.

Indeed, the beginning episodes show a dual monologue between Light and L in different locations, each delivering their alternate views on the subject. The audience is invited to see how they are on opposite sides, but still hold their ideas about justice as absolute.

In the end, Light defeats L by manipulating the Shinigami Rem into killing him. The battle of wits is seemingly won by Light, but their ideas about justice are unresolved, and the show keeps going despite L’s death. Now the show is given the insurmountable task of giving the story a satisfactory conclusion through characters introduced halfway without L, making it a more difficult sell for the audience.

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Light Yagami’s Defeat

Defeated Physically but Not Intellectually or Spiritually

After L’s death, the anime skips ahead for around four years to show us how things end. During that time, Light had been allowed to roam freely like Kira, but the story still needs new antagonists who can stop him. The problem for the new characters Near and Mellow is that they had much less time to develop and ended up feeling like cheap imitations of L.

While they could serve as suitable stand-ins to challenge Light’s actions for the plot, they never rose to the level L did before. Earlier philosophical discussions about the nature of justice, lying, compassion, and potential for the future are not addressed in the way Near and Mello ultimately put a stop to Light. This makes the ending fail to live up to the promise of the beginning episodes, souring the experience upon a rewatch and leaving viewers wishing these questions were more deeply addressed.

The other reason the ending felt unsatisfying is that we never see Light truly defeated intellectually. In the anime, it seems it was only by luck that Near happened to discover the location of the real notebook because of a mistake by Mikami, something that was ultimately out of Light’s control. While this oversight can somewhat feed into the theme of Light’s arrogance as his downfall, it doesn’t feel like a satisfactory way to “beat” him. It also doesn’t help that the details of how the final confrontation plays out are rushed and somewhat vague, creating doubt in just how clever Near’s plan actually was and how much fell into his lap because of the convenience of the plot.

When revisiting Death Note, the exhilaration of the early episodes feels noticeably hampered by the knowledge that all the excitement will ultimately not pay off. Light seemingly accepts his fate with a sense of dignity and peace, and the viewer is left restless with an unsatisfying conclusion.

Death Note can be streamed on Netflix