ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates how the Death Note operates as a tool of execution for criminals, and how Kira's justice differs between Japan's real-world conceptions of capital punishment. It concentrates on how legal systems deliberately and systematically displace responsibility for violent acts throughout their legal actors, and how a rupture in Japan's network of accountability has made timely, lawful justice for the death penalty a near impossibility. The chapter examines how the Death Note overcomes the common obstacles of speed and secrecy that are common criticisms of the Japanese capital punishment system. One of the strengths of Death Note, as a narrative, is the play with moral ambiguity that it presents, teasing consumers with justifications for both supporting and denouncing Kira. Kira's continual use of the Death Note over a period of seven years neccessaily leads to a breakdown of democracy, as democratic process is unable to co-exist with the 'systematic and regular exercise' of a full military power.
