L x Reader oneshots 1 // series 3 • Death Note

Death Note fandom retrosepctive from a vertean L simp.

Not a oneshot, but I want to talk about this. I find it interesting. Long post warning tho, 3000+ words.

Since death note (specifically L) has been my hyper fixation for seven years (as of 2021) now, it's so surprise I've seen all the sights and been around the fandom for a long time. The franchise itself releasing with the manga in 2003, it makes the series almost old as me an 18 year old. it also 18 years old and counting.

So, how has the fandom changed over those 18 years and what are the good and bad parts of the fandom?

Let me disclaim here that DN is by far one of the least toxic fandoms I've been in. And apart from a few dramas here and there I've seen or been in, it's rather chill.

So, let's get into it.

The 2000s.

2005 October 4th. The manga is released into the world in English and other languages other than Japanese. The manga first ran in shounen jump weekly back in 2003, but was Japanese only.

At first, like any new release the audience is small. And while it did have a rather dedicated fan base at the time, mainly in japan since it was only on Japanese until then. it really took off after the anime released in 2006 along with the first two live actions (death note and death note the last name).

Early 2006 fandoms were a fucking war zone. Anything and everything flew, anime culture was vastly different and so was pop culture in general. The fandom having exploded world wide thanks to the anime release in 2006, it was quickly named a golden anime of the 2000s for its massive success. You couldn't go to an anime con without seeing a million Light, L and Misa cosplayers. And since cosplay was just starting to really boom worldwide at the time too, many of said cosplays definitely weren't the best quality back then, but hey, it's the fun that counts.

These were the days of the Yaoi paddle and glomping still being a thing at cons, and not banned like they are now.

And of course I can't mention the early 2000s era without the internet at the time. MySpace, fanfic.net etc. the MySpace emos loved Death Note for its dark aesthetic, L's emo hair and Misas goth outfits. You'd see many MySpace emos copping the hot topic merch and having DN profile themes. I wonder how many people attempted to cut their hair like L's emo cut back then.

Fanfic.net too this day holds a lot of DN fics, but they're all very old and since fanfic culture has changed since then too, a lot are the ones with a/ns in the middle of the damn chapter with no grammar and punctuation lol. But of course there are some good ones lurking out there.

Deviant art was also the place to be back on these days. You'd find fuck tons of fanart both good and questionable on there along with cosplays taken on cameras making it clear it was the 2000s.

Tumblr released into 2007, ask blogs both in cosplay and through fans art were made and hold relics of the fandom to this day.

This era of the fandom continued for the rest of the 2000s. L change the world releasing in 2008 gave the fans the content they desired. Expanded the lore and kept them alive.

This was the era of doujins, inescapable DN cosplayers at conventions, MySpace emos and fanfics with zero grammar. The best boy war of L vs Light that still goes on today started, the fandom would not give Misa or Near a chance for stupid reasons and the amount of problematic ships that were swept under the rug was insane *cough* lawlight *cough* yagamane.

But that was just fandom culture in the 2000s.

The pros and cons of the early 2000s era.

Pros:
-lots of content! New canon content was being made, the DN universe was expanding and merch was dropping left and right.
-big cosplay community. Seriously, I've never seen so many DN cosplayers in one place before.