It wasn’t just Light’s defeat.
Summary:
- Death Note ends with Light’s complete defeat.
- The criminality rates increased significantly after his death.
- The police managed to get rid of Light, but never fully got rid of Kira.
Death Note has quite a fandom-divisive ending: Light loses to Near, he is shot and pathetic, his dreams of becoming the God of the New world are broken. He dies alone, with no one to care about him by his side.
Light Was Gone
This ending may look like an absolute loss for Light. He didn’t manage to keep his identity a secret, L came back for him in the form of Mello and Near, he failed to create the world he’d been dreaming of and rule it as he desired.
And it’s true, it was really a big loss for Light. His victory over L clouded his mind so much that he started to think he was unbeatable and no one could ever get to him. He started making mistakes that led to his demise. However, this isn’t just his loss.
But Kira Stayed
Kira’s influence on the world was too big, he had thousands (if not millions) of fans all over the globe, a huge number of people respected him and shared his ideas. Although Light’s ways of dealing with criminals were questionable, they were working well: the level of criminal activity was declining while Kira was alive.
And all the detectives noticed it, too. Matsuda was actually the first to mention it pretty early in the series. Of course, it doesn’t mean he approved of Light’s methods, but it was difficult to deny that they made criminals scared and forced them to hide.
But after Kira’s death, the criminality rates went back up. So it can’t be considered a complete win for the good guys, either. They failed to find a way to keep outlaws in control, and everything went back to the point where the series started.
It would’ve been different if the police could find a way to make it look like Kira was still alive. This way criminals wouldn’t be killed anymore, but the amount of crime would still be controlled.
Moreover, even after Light’s death, Kira’s fans stayed loyal to him. They agreed with him and wanted all the criminals gone. People were waiting for Kira’s comeback and still saw him as a god. Which means the police managed to get rid of Light, but was never really capable of ending the cult of Kira and getting rid of him for good.
Light’s identity as Kira was never revealed to the public; they were told that he died fighting Kira. Which also makes him a hero in the public eye. Again, some sort of martyr that was trying to save people.
It can in no way be considered a win for Light, since he always wanted to live a long life and rule the new world he was about to create. But it’s certainly not a complete win for the police and Near, either.