Memes / Death Note

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I: The memes written on this Death Note page will eventually be mutated.

II: These memes will not take effect unless the reader has the series in mind when saying them out loud.

• The meme. [[labelnote]]Explanation:The explanation behind the meme.[[/labelnote]] ^ExplanationLike this.

Original memes

• I AM THE GOD OF THE NEW WORLD ^ExplanationLight's ambition to rid the world of evildoers leads him to proclaim himself "the god of the new world". The over-the-top delivery of this phrase (especially in the English dub) inevitably led to much fan attention.
• "I'll take a potato chip.. and EAT IT" : Quoted for over-the-top narm.^ExplanationThe anime features a scene where Light eats a potato chip in slow motion with dramatic music, which became an internet meme. Then the English dub of it aired with him giddily declaring in his mind "I'll take a potato chip... and EAT IT!". While the scene plays out similarly in the original, the nutty laughter that English voice actor Brad Swaile used saw its revival.
  • Live Action version of that scene.
  • Mutated into the more generic "I'll take a [noun]... and [VERB] IT!"
• How to Swim: A video parody using clips from Death Note's narm-tastic ending.
  • Originally created on 4-chan as a parody manga◊
  • Matsuda won the Olympics. [1]
  • Even funnier now, given one of Mamoru Miyano's recent roles. And the seiyuu even admits that he can't swim.
  • [2]a fan-dubbed version
• "Just as planned": Catchphrase of Light Yagami, often used to indicate that one has successfully pulled off The Plan. And not just any gambit, a Gambit Roulette Memory Gambit that cements Light's status as The Chessmaster.
  • Originally created on 4-chan.
  • Further mutated into "Just according to keikaku^*Keikaku means "plan"" as a way to make fun of bad scanlators who don't translate simple words. This has spread to other fandoms.
    • Y en espanol.
  • Sometimes "KEIKAKU DOORI" is used as well, though not as popular as the English or half-English versions.
  • In Japan, Light's expression itself is a meme, with people drawing various characters making the same expression.
• Blaming Kira for celebrity deaths, particularly those in June 2009.
  • Later combined with the popular "When you see it"◊ image meme.
• Death Note Drinking Game: Take a shot when you hear "Boku wa kira janai" (I'm not Kira).
• Kira's laugh in the last episode, often written as "*giggle, snort* Muwahahahahaha *wheeze * muwahahahahaha *wheeze* muwahahahahaha..."
  • soda^ExplanationImmediately after this laugh (technically after a long pause), Light finally responds to Near's challenge proper with "sou da (そうだ)", which translates to "that's right" in English. The way it is pronounced sounds exactly like the word "soda", as in the drink, and in late 2022, various clips of the line, cut off before Light says "boku wa Kira da" (僕はキラだ, which translates to "I am Kira"), popped up taking the line out of its original context (so now Light laughs maniacally before quietly adding "soda").
  • Later mutated into depicting other famous figures◊ as Kira by dubbing over them with the laugh.
• Mello's love of chocolate has spawned fan works.
• Writing... has never been so epic! (cue sparking pen)
• The second opening, What's Up People, has spawned a number of parodies across the web.
  • VOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO^ExplanationThe Japanese fandom's interpretation of the long scream in the beginning. You can actually find videos where comments fill the entire screen...which would lead into...
  • POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORN^ExplanationThe English fandom's "Misheard Lyrics" version of the opening. Said Misheard Lyrics is also memetically popular.
    • WHITE PEOPLE^ExplanationSimilarly to the above, how the song's name, which is sung very fast, is misheard.
  • Later combined with Mello's love of chocolate to produce "What's Up Chocolate".
  • DROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGUE^Explanation"Drogue" is the French word for "drug". This "misheard lyric" became popular in 2013 when Joueur du Grenier used it as a Running Gag for a filler video where he talked about superheroes on television, starting from an episode of Captain Planet which premise was, you guessed it, drugs. Every time the situation seemed farfetched, he showed this sequence of him (with a toupée) and Seb headbanging on the theme.
• Deathsponge Notepants: Invaderzim1000's YouTube edit of Spongebob clips to match Death Note, both subbed and dubbed. The originals have been taken down, but they have been reposted on other users channels.
• A number of images from 4chan have begun circulating, including:
  • "Sorry, I don't speak moron"◊
  • "I fucking love this wall"◊
  • "Welcome, please sign in"◊
  • "When I'm pissed I spit boomerangs cause I'm fucking hardcore like that"◊
• I'll solve your little mystery.◊
• "You can use this blanket." *pauses for several seconds and then throws it*
• Teru Mikami's Delete-Gasm. Look it up on YouTube. He's got the flashing eyes, eagle sound effects, AND slow-motion.
• Matsuda! You Idiot!
• Near going into the avatar state. ^ExplanationIn one episode the room spins around and shakes while Near's eyes glow white.
• L saying "Bang."
• The 2017 Netflix film gives us Light Turner. The Fairly OddParents! jokes ensue, including Deathly GodParents.
• On every video on YouTube, there're at least two or three comments saying "If ___ had ____, then Kira/L would have won!", variations being Facebook, Twitter, or even scene-specific instances such as "If Light had gone to the bathroom, Kira would have won!"
• A common fan method of making fun of Light Yagami is to point out that his last name backwards spells out "I'm a gay◊".
• L(A)DIES ^ExplanationFans also found the hidden "spoiler" on the word "Ladies" due to one picture of the ladies toilet sign had the letter A removed. The episode in question was dubbed "Ladies Night". Similarly, the death of Mello is known as "Melodies" for a similar reason.
• "[X] Note" is often parodied as an alternative book such as "Life Note" and other similar mutations.
• A popular meme is to debate what fictional Great Detectives could defeat Kira. Usually, the sillier and more comedic the detective, the more likely it is that they can solve the case (driving Light bananas in the process, of course).
  • Kira vs. Columbo is one of the more popular ones. Generally Columbo wins because he specializes in upper-class killers who think they're too smart or powerful to suffer consequences, and no one knows his first name. For example. DEATH BATTLE! would eventually bring this to life as a special bonus episode.
  • A widely-circulated matchup is of Frank Drebin somehow bungling into exposing and arresting Kira...then deciding to mark the Death Note as his property by writing "Light Yagami" on the first page.
  • Kira vs. Benoit Blanc, usually won by Benoit for the same reasons as Columbo, although in this case it's because Kira can't figure out how to spell his name.
  • Kira vs. the Scooby-Doo gang, as discussed here. They win, since Fred is a trap master and would be able to disable the booby-trap in Light's desk, Velma is a certifiable genius, Daphne can deal with Misa easily, Shaggy never goes by his real name, and most of all, the Death Note doesn't work on Scooby-Doo since he's a dog!
  • Kira vs Harry Du Bois, usually involving Inland Empire, Half Light, and Espirit de Corps immediately locking on to Light, while Light is stumped writing Rafael Ambrosius Costeau or Tequila Sunset into the book to no effect.
  • One version of this meme resulted in a chart grading various detectives on their ability to both solve the Kira case as well as their ability to figure out how the Death Note works. Naturally, Columbo ranks the highest on both categories. (Who ranked last in both categories? Leonard Shelby from Memento.)
  • There's a Tumblr blog where people can vote on if someone could catch Kira, and if they'd survive.
• The various shots and clips in the first opening of Light and L dramatically facing off against each other tend to be used as a shorthand for intense rivalry.
• The scene of L revealing that he's L to Light and intensely staring at him at Light struggles to not react has been used to denote someone knowing for sure that there's something wrong or suspicious about someone or something, or on the flip side, someone desperately trying to hide something from someone who's suspicious of them.
• There are various Gag Dubs of L and Light doing mundane things during the second arc and turning them into mind games.
• "LIGHT THAT'S NOT HOW THE FUCKING BOOK WORKS" ^ExplanationA meme where Light or someone filling his role specifically tries to take down large, vague groups, or even entire countries, with the note, prompting Ryuk to scream at the oblivious user that the Death Note just doesn't work that way.
  • "HOLY SHIT LIGHT YOU WERE RIGHT" ^ExplanationThis eventually mutated into extremely bad audio and video quality voiceovers of Light using the Death Note on various groups, such as the IRS, DMV and ATF, only for it to actually succeed and create a utopia due to Rule of Funny, prompting Ryuk's shocked response as PNGs of the entire cast sit together.
    • "LIGHT YOU FUCKING IDIOT" ^ExplanationA further mutation of the above where Light instead kills off groups or people that are considered positive influences, creating the exact same situation but hell on earth instead of a utopia, prompting Ryuk to call him out.
• "Light gay as shit I would've gone crazy" ^ExplanationA commonly repeated phrase used to comment on Light's complete lack of sexual attraction to Misa, drawing the conclusion it's because he's not straight.

Collisions with other memes

• The "What Would Jesus Do" jewelry and bumper stickers commonly purchased by Christians have intersected with Death Note to create What Would Kira Do merchandise.
  • He'd take a potato chip... AND EAT IT!
• Death Note intersected with popular meme "The Game" when Near announced that we all had lost.
  • Later grew to include fanfiction and fanart.
• Portal's popular theme song, "Still Alive," done to DeathNote
  • L's love for cake vs. "The Cake Is a Lie" from the same game.
• Dr. Horrible also had a popular song remixed for Death Note.
• The Omega Kawaii L Song is a remix of FFVII's "The Cloud Song".
• The Scissor Sisters' "I Can’t Decide" Doctor Who meme with L as the Doctor and Light as the Master...
  • there are plenty of these though. This one's got a lampshading that Siddoh has no friends.
• Someone mixed Mikami's Catchphrase with Marisa Stole the Precious Thing.
• Katy Perry's awesome song "I kissed a Girl and I Liked It" meets Light
• This musical number set to Tik Tok by Kesha. Also what Light's last name spells backwards in English.
• A common saying for new fans is who the fuck is Matt?
• Got a long list of ex-lovers / They'll tell you I'm insane / But I've got a blank space, baby / And I'll write your name [3]
• "No. You're NOT a gamer."^ExplanationA crossover with a dubbed copypasta of an angry rant from a gamer about who was or wasn't a "real gamer", the audio was immediately placed over Light's Villainous Breakdown because of how the voice actor also sounds like he's losing it.
• "Light, an old woman bumped inta me in da grocery store. Spilled Almond Milk all over me robe! Now I've got to go back to da cleaners. If only someone would do something about MRS. BETHANY STEVENSON here I took a picture"^ExplanationA comment on 4chan after someone proposed a crossover where Light got Grim as his shinigami instead. It proved popular enough to get fan animations.