Detectives Solving the Kira Case

About

Detectives Solving the Kira Case refers to a series of memes and fan art that explore the idea of various fictional detectives trying to solve the Kira case from the anime series Death Note. In October 2023, the format achieved popularity on X after a user posted Tumblr Grid in which detectives were ranked by their ability to solve the case and to intuit the mechanics of the Death Note.

Origin

In the Death Note manga and anime series, Light Yagami, also known as Kira, is a serial killer who uses a supernatural notebook to kill off criminals by writing down their names and time and method of death. In the series, genius detective going by the name of L is able to eventually track down Kira, learn his identity and figure out the way the killings are done.

On August 5th, 2021, Redditor DapperSkeleton1 posted an image of detective Columbo from the crime drama television series of the same name paired with the monologue in which he solves the Kira case. The post (shown below) received over 990 upvotes in the /r/TwoBestFriendsPlay^[1] subreddit in two years.

On November 18th, 2021, Tumblr^[2] user reused the image from the post, writing that Lieutenant Columbo would have easily cracked the Kira case. The thread, which was continued by other users contributing dialogue that could have been said by Columbo at that moment, received over 22,000 reblogs and 31,100 likes on Tumblr in two years.

On November 24th, 2021, voice actor Gianni Matragrano posted a video titled "Columbo in… 'Death Note'," which was based on the Tumblr thread. The upload (shown below) received over 1.8 million views on YouTube^[3] and over 5,500 reposts and 17,000 likes on X^[4] / Twitter in two years.

Spread

On October 15th, 2023, X^[5] user @akie_works posted a Tumblr grid which distributed several dozen famous fictional and real detectives, including Columbo, Harry Dubois, Sam & Max, Phoenix Wright, Frank Drebin, Benoit Blanc, Detective Pikachu and others, depending on whether they could solve the Kira case and intuit the mechanics of the Death Note. The post (shown below) garnered over 17,900 reposts and 62,000 likes in four days.

The post was followed by various memes in which users imagined fictional detectives trying to solve the case and questioning Light Yagami. For example, on October 16th, 2023, X^[6] user @imranzomg posted a meme that imagined Phoenix Wright from Ace Attorney making a guess that Light Yagami has been killing people with magic. The post (shown below, left) garnered over 4,500 reposts and 19,000 likes in three days. On October 17th, 2023, X^[7] user @DSPStanky posted a Disco Elysium meme referencing I'll Take a Potato Chip and Eat It, gaining over 4,600 reposts and 19,900 likes in two days (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References