Death Note's Original Hero Was Much More Powerful Than Light Ever Was

Summary Death Note's original protagonist was Taro Kagami, a kind middle schooler lacking Light's darkness.

Taro possessed the Death Eraser, a powerful ability, exceeding Light's abilities in the end.

The Death Eraser was removed due to the creator's dislike of the invention, ensuring all deaths were final in Death Note.

Death Note is one of the biggest names in anime and manga with a truly captivating and horrifying premise. The series follows Light Yagami, a high school student with a bright future turned malicious serial killer. When he got his hands on a book called the Death Note, he suddenly developed the power to kill anyone as long as he wrote their full name down, as well as pictured their face.

Light is considered one of anime's worst killers, with a remorseless approach and a disgusting lack of empathy. Although he began his journey as a caring student who was focused on his education and college prospects, the Death Note's power corrupted Light, and he grew into a maniacal murderer. He asserted that his intention was to free the world from crime and senseless killings, but ironically, he rapidly morphed into the very type of person he swore to eliminate at all costs. He has certainly earned a monumental reputation in the anime community, but Death Note's protagonist could have been very different.

Related Death Note Is Still Popular Today, But Not For The Reason Fans Think Despite being almost 20 years old, Death Note is still one the most easily recognizable anime of all time, for one unexpected reason.

The Original Concept For Death Note Had a Kind-Hearted Middle Schooler As The Protagonist

Not only was Taro Kagami younger, his values and personality greatly differed from Light's as well

Surprisingly, the idea for the award-winning series actually went through major changes before the final version was unveiled. In an early edition, entitled "The Taro Kagami Story," Tsugumi Ohba described an extremely different story with the Death Note journal, exploring how things could have turned out had the Death Note fallen into better, more moral hands than Light's. Taro Kagami was a middle school student who also simply happened upon the journal one day and began journaling in it daily, which inadvertently led to multiple deaths. Upon learning the truth, though, Taro expressed genuine horror and remorse, unlike Light.

The Taro Kagami Story was published in the Weekly Shonen Jump Issue No.36, in 2003. It was received well enough that the story was picked up for serialization, leading to Death Note's debut four months later.

Unlike aspiring "god of the new world" Light Yagami, Taro did not want anything to do with the Death Note. When another student began using a Death Note too, Taro got involved and put a stop to the cruelty, showing his dedication to true justice, not a misguided, self-imposed version like Light's. Light only stopped using his Death Note when his life ended, but Taro refused to utilize his Death Note for harm the moment he learned of its true ability. The young hero is certainly a better and more commendable person than Light, but he may also be more powerful too.

Related Death Note: 10 Hidden Details About The Main Characters In The Anime Everyone Missed Death Note had a lot going on throughout the show, so it's very possible that you missed some of these while watching,

Taro's Power Surpassed Light's Due To One Remarkable Ability

Taro was able to bring back the dead with the "Death Eraser"

Astonishingly, Taro's abilities gained through the Death Note were far superior than Light's because he possessed a unique skill that was scrapped from the final version of Death Note. After Taro accidentally murdered his classmates by writing in the book, Ryuk offered him a solution, something called the Death Eraser. The Death Eraser is extraordinarily powerful and allows Death Note users to revive those who were killed simply by erasing their names from the pages. Taro utilized this invention to revive his classmates and even undo Miura's killings, another student with an additional Death Note who murdered others.

Although Taro is scaringly powerful with the combined powers of the Death Eraser and the Death Note, he does not take advantage of these godlike abilities. Once his mistake became evident, he immediately discontinued his usage of the journal and even stopped a fellow student from being lured into the Death Note's trap. If Light Yagami had been offered access to the Death Eraser, he would have dreamed up many clever uses for the device to ensure he was never caught by L and the task force, suggesting this could have been the one factor Light was missing.

The Death Eraser Could Have Helped Light Win

With this additional ability, perhaps Light could have achieved victory in the end

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Thankfully, Light was caught at the end of Death Note, but with the Death Eraser included in "The Taro Kagami Story," perhaps he would have succeeded in his violent and tyrannical goals. It is truly interesting that Taro had access to an even greater power than Light, but chose a completely divergent path. Taro went back to his normal life, choosing to give up the Death Note and follow the path of a typical student, while Light gave up everything in pursuit of his self-proclaimed goal to become a god, which unfortunately led him to evil and a sad death.

Considering both characters and stories, Taro is indeed more powerful, because of the Death Eraser, but had both characters been given the same exact set of stipulations with the Death Note, including access to the Death Eraser, Light's evil ambitions might have led him to become truly unstoppable. He could have caused even more horrific consequences, including a larger number of deaths, succeeded in his wicked plan, and grown even stronger than Taro was. However, the Death Eraser was completely removed from the final edition of Death Note, which went on to become a well-known anime and manga series.

Creator Tsugumi Ohba Removed The Death Eraser From Death Note

The creator didn't like this early concept

Although Ohba included the Death Eraser in "The Taro Kagami Story," it didn't have a place in the well-known Death Note series. He claimed he "didn't really care" for the invention, so in Death Note, characters remain dead once they die, with no hope of being revived. This made the stakes a lot higher, especially when Light was attempting kill important characters like L and his own father, because all deaths were final and irreversible. Even without the Death Eraser ability, Death Note is one of the most compelling, horrifying, and well-written manga series of all time.