On the Power of Judgment

I believe you are aware that the premise of Death Note is the power the protagonist, Light Yagami, has; namely, to kill anyone he wishes. He wishes to use this power to rid the world of crime and thus he has the best of intentions. However, is an inevitable result of this power tragedy? And what are its implications for Justice and morality? Is it just to kill a criminal? Would it be just for me, if I had this power, to kill men like Osama ben Laden, Muqada al-Sadr, O.J. Simpson, and the like?

I ask this question primarily because the greatest reason I am drawn to Death Note is the similarity to Light that I have - I am worried that did I have this power, I would act precisely as he acts. It may turn out that this is just fine and therefore this is a good thing. But if it is evil and unjust then I truly have something to worry about.

I know that followers of the Way are forbidden to take revenge, as clearly stated by St. Paul and other apostles and even by Our Lord Himself. But is this really revenge? It is killing men who should die! It is killing men who are destroying our world and rotting its very core! How is this so wrong? Do we not authorize the State to do such things? Why then would we forbid such vigilante justice?

The largest impasse that can be raised against using the power of a Death Note for me is the assertion that it is nothing more than another attempt at playing God. Once again, if God does not factor into the equation, I think it is perfectly justified. If I had the opportunity to kill Pol Pot, Stalin, Mao, Castro, Ho Chi Minh, Hitler, Hussein, or renegades like al-Qaeda and Hezbollah, I would do so in a second and without hesitation. But God is in the picture and it is His presence that makes me uneasy. Would it be justified for a Christian to act in this way, playing God? I am inclined to say no but am worried that I would kill them anyway if I had the chance.

Am I a potential mass murderer? Or is it absurd to even speak of it as murder, at least in an unjustified sense since anyone would accept a very clear distinction between killing Pol Pot or others like him and killing innocent people for sport. When a State executes a criminal, is it murder?

Anime Repertoire

Here is a partial list of anime films and TV series I have seen, in roughly chronological order: (partial in the sense of my not remembering completely what we watched in the Anime Club)

• Spirited Away
• Princess Mononoke
• Lain (fragments)
• Akira
• Grave of the Fireflies
• Lain (complete)
• Millennium Actress
• Cowboy Bebop (incomplete)
• Howl's Moving Castle
• Castle in the Sky
• Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
• Paprika
• Steamboy
• Galaxy Express 999
• The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
• Outlaw Star (incomplete)
• Neon Genesis Evangelion
• Death Note

As you can see, it is a fairly good list. I return and edit this post by including other films and such, but this is a good starting point. As stated earlier, I am watching Death Note at the moment, and it is very good. It's very very dark, but very good. A fine series. I can see why Kat likes it, but it's really disturbing sometimes - even more so than Eva!

All of these are worth watching, and most are exceptionally fine; anime classics indeed. If I were a rich man, I would allocate myself an anime budget of ten dollars a month. But instead I am a broke college student who throws all of his money at Weigle Hall and will graduate with at least $20,000 in debt as far as he can see. So it's Internet watching and copyright-violating downloads for the time being. This is second-best, but this second best is pretty bloody good if you ask me.

Pilot

Like many anime enthusiasts, I am starting a weblog on the subject. I am surely not the first one to do this, but have been inspired by no one and no thing save my medium itself - Anime. I have become completely enamored of it, and am very excited to begin this blog.

I first saw anime some time last year (2007) with Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away. His masterpiece, Princess Mononoke followed suit in the next few weeks. And then last fall, as a freshman at St. John's College, I saw many anime films and TV series - almost all of Miyazaki's work, Cowboy Bebop, Haruhi, Eva, Outlaw Star, Millennium Actress, and I am now in the process of devouring Death Note.

Welcome to my secret interest.