It wasn't nearly as good without L. I wish he could have could faked his death somehow and showed up in the later chapters or had his name rewritten in the deathnote and brought back to fight Kira.   See 13 other replies

When I say Light wins, I mean he fulfills his purpose, he has done enough and his reward is that he does not go to hell. It should be obvious that this story is heavily influenced by biblical mythology: Forbidden fruit, angels of death, deadly sins personified by the main characters etc. I think that Light’s character is a mirror image of Jesus Christ. They are opposite buy also the same. JC preaches forgiveness - Light is not a forgiving type, JC was given the power to heal the sick and feed the hungry - Light was given the power to punish the sinners, JC is an agent of God - Light was recruited by the “other side”. Both are hopeless idealists, both are misunderstood and judged to be a danger to society, both were called god by fanatical followers, both try to make the world better, and both die young never completing their goal. Light is a tragic character who was chosen to be the judge on judgment day, he does the job that the shinigami have neglected to do. By the time he is cornered by Near, Light is actually almost done. The DeathNote is almost used up and even with the second Note, Light could not possibly fit all of the worlds criminals and useless people in there. Light persevered as long as he could and when he looses he is mercifully released into nothingness - as promised in the first episode. So there are actually two ways to analyze this story, one is: “Man finds power” and the other is: “Power finds man”, which implies that it was not a coincidence that Light picked up the DeathNote. As for getting his wish, I never thought that light seriously wished to become the tyrant of the new world, I think that by becoming “god” Light means that he wants to create his perfect world, and then live out the rest of his life peacefully taking PRIDE in his accomplishment. Well, he does, manage to make the world better and create enough followers that one day he will get his own religion.   See 13 other replies