Yamamaya (post: 1488968) wrote:Likeable is pretty subjective. Not to mention that some characters aren't meant to be likeable.
So no mention of Light's god complex, boredrum, selfishness, competitive nature then? I fail to see how his only characteristic is his intelligence. L is simply an apathetic Light. He has a vague sense of justice, but mostly just does things out of boredom and a silly childish desire to compete and win. The main difference between Light and L is that L actually admits he's totally just doing this for himself while Light tries to deny that he's childish. In addition, Light isn't apathetic like L.
My main issue with this post is that you assume that the writer want you to root for L. The writer is just showing the battle between an apathetic genius and an active genius with a god complex. You are never given any indications as to who you are supposed to root for at least in the story.
If we aren't supposed to root for L or Light, then there isn't anyone to want to win. Neither Light nor L are people you should like, as you can see from their character traits you described, but a story needs to have people you should like. You read because you want the people you like to go and win. Again, Matsuda and Soichiro are both good people that you have a vested interest in seeing win.
Consider Fullmetal Alchemist's main character, Ed. When we first see him, he isn't exactly a nice guy. He's brash, rude, and maybe even a little arrogant, but as we see him we also see a young man who loves humanity and is looking out for the best of other people, even at the cost of his own happiness. We learn to like him and care about him, even want him to succeed. If none of the characters in Death Note are meant to be likable, then that is a failure on the manga's part.
I found that enjoyable though. And to be fair, they did show what the world that Light was ruling was becoming like after [SPOILER]the death of L[/SPOILER]
I would like it more if it was portrayed in a more ridiculous way than it was, though that would clash with the dark mood it was trying to convey, and, well, again, if it was happening with someone I cared about. The suspense of it would be much better if I actually cared about the characters.
I never thought about the manga being sexist, but I can see why you say that. The only female who really had any degree of the intelligence exhibited by the lead cast was Naomi. However her husband Raye Penbar was rather sexist with his "get back in the kitchen" attitude.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not some raging feminist or anything. If there's a female character who is dumb/useless, I'm not going to get mad and call it sexist or anything because there are a lot of male characters who are useless/annoying. But Death Note is the first time I noticed that every single female aside from Naomi, a bit-part minor character, was useless and was only there to hold back Light, even I can see the sexism.