What’s your ideal light and misa dynamic? I love anything where there’s romance involved. They’re so unrequited and incompatible I can only take them seriously when they’re platonic.

hmmm well, when i look at misa's character, i see a few different directions i could enjoy seeing her character go (and thus, their dynamic).

the first is that of the devout kira believer, who is manipulated by light through her utter devotion to The Cause (not light himself). it's not inherently bad writing for their relationship to be very one-sided, so long as misa's devotion is written in a way that primarily informs Her as a character and doesn't just exist to make her a useful prop for light to wield.

the death note musical is the perfect portrayal of this, and i consider it Mandatory viewing for anyone who wants to see the only official depiction of misa amane that's actually an important and well-written character.

in the source material, misa's dedication is supposedly because of how kira dealt with her parent's murderer but she never feels genuinely invested in that. the musical, however, truly brings that motivation to life and makes you understand why she is willing to go so far for kira, no matter how it hurts her. it's a beautifully tragic take on the character, and the narrative really respects her

a clip, for motivation to go watch it (you can download the full thing here. my personal favorite is the 2015 kakizawa hayato version but they're all good)

but for a longer format like the original manga, i'd like something more like walt and jesse's dynamic in breaking bad. where light is definitely manipulating her but in general their dynamic is somewhat more even (and even genuine to some degree). misa's not just being quietly accepting of light's bullshit, is willing to question their partnership, isn't afraid to be mean and argue with him, so light has to work a Lot harder to get her under his thumb, and not piss her off enough for her to come after him.

then in the most canon divergent direction, a misa that's actively antagonistic, where she retains the more threatening aspects of her character from her initial appearance, being way more willing to kill and way more flippant about it than light is, casually threatening to kill him if he does something she doesn't light (and of course, "if push comes to shove, i've got the eyes so im stronger"). initially putting on the image of the fangirl to manipulate him w/his underestimation of her, any initial claims of justice quickly fall apart and it's clear that she is in this for the power trip, and a similar fascination in light's whole *gestures* like L is (albeit from the opposite end). so i'd like that dynamic to develop into more of a very tense ally-ship where they are working together right now but know at some point the other will come for their throat.

honestly the closest thing we've got to this angle is the netflix adaptation, which im against like morally (absolutely sick to not even allow asian actors to audition) but as a movie i um. actually kinda enjoyed. it's not like profound or very well written but i thought it was schlocky fun, and "mia"+light's fucked up romance is compelling conceptually. keyword conceptually. i'd like to see an alternate universe where it was good.

ANYWAYS. those are my rambling please do not take them too seriously i am just throwing thoughts out there