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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | Yes. Just as I planned, I'm going to sell the Death Note. | „ |
| ~ Minoru stating his plan after reuniting with Ryuk, 2 years later. |
| “ | But if you tried to do the same thing now, you'd get caught. That was ten years ago. A different era in the human world. There's a security camera on every street corner now, and in every train car. Cars and buses also have dashcams. They're also more sophisticated at investigating cybercrimes, so if Kira tried to get his message out online, they'd track him down right away... and the police have tabs on all cell phones. Untraceable messages online only happen when TV shows and movies need to write it that way to make things dramatic. But I'm sure Kira would have come up with a way to do it that still works in this day and age. | „ |
| ~ Minoru Tanaka to Ryuk, explaining the complications of operating as "Kira" the same way as what might have worked in the past. |
Minoru Tanaka (also known anonymously as A-Kira) is a fictional character from the Death Note universe, being the protagonist of the one-shot manga "Death Note: Special One–Shot," which was published in 2020 as a sequel to the original Death Note series. Minoru is introduced as an extraordinarily intelligent but academically mediocre high school student who is chosen by Ryuk to inherit the Death Note, a supernatural notebook that allows the user to kill anyone whose name is written in it. Unlike his predecessor, Light Yagami, Minoru takes a more unorthodox approach to the Death Note, choosing to auction it off to the highest bidder rather than wielding its power himself.
What Makes Him Magnificent?[]
- Minoru is portrayed as more realistic and relatable than his predecessors, as rather than possessing ideological goals to the point of delusion, Minoru is only interested in financial gain. He doesn't display any hubris or overconfidence that Light previously exhibited until the end, and he appears to take into account the practical implications and risks associated with the Death Note.
- On that note, he is effectively the most successful Death Note user. Despite acknowledging the challenges of using the Death Note in an age where everything is recorded and monitored, Minoru bypassed the heightened security successfully, exploiting the limitations of Ryuk's movements to infiltrate a TV station and using it to deliver messages on live broadcasts.
- His series of messages managed to provoke entities as wealthy as entire nations, specifically a bidding war between the United States and China, with the US winning with a bid of 1 quadrillion yen which equates to over 900 billion US dollars.
- After receiving the money, Minoru avoids any risk of implication by arranging for the money to be equally distributed to the bank accounts of every Japanese citizen and erasing his own memories of the Death Note, eliminating any and all traces leading back to him.
- He manages to keep his identity hidden even from Near, the successor to L and one of the most brilliant detectives in the world who was responsible for defeating Light Yagami previously, marking the first time Near lost a case after taking the role of L.
- He only meets his fate due to supernatural interference, as the Shinigami King added a rule to kill whoever buys or sells the Death Note and retroactively makes an example out of him despite it already being too late to change his plans.
- Despite his untimely death, the consequences of his actions live on, as his plan resulted in a significant boost in Japan's economy by financially securing its citizens. He also effectively revitalized Kira's name in an unanimously positive light, which is a contrast to the original Kira's divisive stance of being either revered as a god or being considered one of history's greatest villains in documented history posthumously.
What Makes Him a Baddie?[]
- As it's been stated in-universe that the country that wields the Death Note would establish dominant power, Minoru's decision to auction the Death Note to the highest bidder among nations could be seen as a recklessly dangerous move that jeopardizes world stability. The country that secures the Death Note gains the power to kill anyone, effectively throwing international relations into disarray.
- When Tanaka receives the notebook first, he seems to consider the idea of being Kira in his head, before quickly dismissing it due to the fact it'd be so hard to be Kira without getting caught.
- This idea is further supported by the fact that despite Tanaka stating that schools and the like had been teaching that Kira was evil, Tanaka refers to Kira as 'The Kira who eliminated war and greatly reduced crime rates' - given how he was taught, these are 2 incredibly strange things to refer to if Tanaka disagreed with Kira. Ryuk even thinks Kira is 'treated like one of the greats' after hearing this. It'd be incredibly strange for any normal human to refer to the positives of dictators we're taught to despise, but these are Tanaka's first words about Kira.
- Tanaka is very clearly aware of the fact that America having the Death Note is highly dangerous. Ryuk tells him Light's entire story - so Tanaka is clearly aware of just how far someone who wants power would go. Tanaka just doesn't care.
- Tanaka isn't forced to sell the Death Note or even keep a hold of it. He isn't the first owner, so Ryuk wouldn't kill him if he gave it back. Tanaka's deeds are done purely out of greed.
- Although Tanaka seems to initially care about the notebook getting into the wrong hands, as this is one of the reasons he chooses to go with his plan to sell the Death Note, he clearly subverts this later on when he outwardly tells America and China 'not to worry' about using the notebook peacefully.
- Tanaka's decision to give up the notebook and lose all of his memories once selling it seems to emphasise his lack of care for what America would do with it. Rather than even holding onto a piece in case it went wrong, he completely gave it away.
- The notebook being in the wrong hands could be extremely damaging for America itself. If a president was put in power, they could theoretically stay in power for as long as they wanted, because the notebook gives them the perfect way to get rid of anyone against them. Furthermore, this could put even more fear into the people and cause the wrong people or parties to stay president.
- Tanaka distributing the money out in Japan seems like a decision done more to make himself harder to trace than with any true good intentions. This is made even clearer when Near even points this out, and further clear through the fact that Tanaka made sure his share was increased.
- Tanaka's actions would have likely been horrific for the Japanese economy. They would have led to localised hyperinflation, currency devaluation, inequality and more. Even if Tanaka's actions didn't affect the Japanese economy in this way, it's likely unemployment would skyrocket due to the fact not many people would be too displeased with the billions of yen they had, so the country would find it much harder to provide services to the nation. While you could excuse Tanaka, given how young he is when making his plan, this still further shows his lack of care for anyone else in the story. Even if the economy was initially 'booming', it's incredibly likely that this wouldn't last long and even if it did, the country would be screwed either way.
Trivia[]
- He and L Lawliet are the only characters from Death Note (not counting Jump Force version of Light Yagami) to be Magnificent Baddies.
- He is the only Death Note MB who takes on a Kira identity.
- His actions lead to the addition of new rules to the Death Note by the King of Death, impacting its future use.
External Links[]
- Minoru Tanaka at the Death Note wiki
- Minoru Tanaka at the Villains wiki