Yagami
Sunrise, Softness and a God Complex
After a long night of studying, I drove to the petrol station by the river, to treat myself to celebratory ice cream for making it through the night. As the sun began to rise, I thought about the beginning of the book of Genesis and Death Note; an anime I had once watched. Somewhere between God and anime, my thoughts wandered to power, ego, and just how beautiful the sky looked that morning.
Sunrise
The sunrise brought on two schools of thought: Genesis and Death Note. One about creation, the other about judgement and fatal punishment – both about Light.
The sunrise may have brought clarity, but it also brought confrontation. I found myself thinking about Light Yagami, not just the character, but what he represents: the danger of trying to own the light, instead of simply being it.
What happens when we try to own light instead of being it?
God Complex
Light Yagami is a high-achieving student who gains the power to kill by writing names in a notebook. He believes he can use this power to rid the world of evil; but he slowly loses his soul in the process.
Obsessed with his own sense of justice and power, Light Yagami unknowingly embarked on his journey to becoming “a god”. Light begins with arguably noble intentions: he wants to eliminate crime and create a better world. But his sense of justice quickly turns into a god complex. With unchecked ego, pen and notebook in hand, he started to believe he was god. Yagami held his warped version of “the book of life” and with his pen, decided who lives and who dies. He went to the most extreme lengths to ensure that he got to hold on to that power, hurting both friend and foe. Yagami became the judge, jury and executioner.
Unchecked ego — that was the beginning of his demise. By the end, he was no longer the boy who wanted to rid the world of evil; he became the evil.
Softness
Cookie crumble ice cream in hand, staring over the river at the break of day; I think I just wanted to remember that I’m alive and worthy of life. This poem came from a moment of realisation: how easily we forget the light we carry within ourselves and the responsibility we have to acknowledge and honour its origin.
A visual extension of my reflection:
A Sonic Descent and Rebirth
This playlist is a mirror to the soul of this piece. Each song marks a stage in the journey: from the brokenness that creeps in when we mistake control for divinity, to the soft reawakening that comes with remembering who we are and where our light originates. Like Yagami, we descend into ego. Unlike Yagami, we return.
