Matsuda, you idiot! | DEATH NOTE MAD/BAKAYALOID/バカヤロイド |

"Matsuda, you idiot! (Japanese: 松田バカヤロウ!, Matsuda Bakayarou!), sometimes translated to "Matsuda, you asshole", refers to a style of parody series that use the climax scene in the TV animation series for Death Note." (knowyourmeme, 2007)

While the Know Your Meme page has some nice information on the Death Note MAD trend, specifically its history, it is horribly outdated on the information and jokes within the community (not to mention, the translations are bad). For fun, I thought I'd give a more updated 2020 rendition with all the information you need to know.

What is a MAD?

A MAD is a type of parody/remix on a source material, typically anime, that is popular within the East. Think of it as an Eastern form to YTP or YTPMV, as many MADs are musical in nature. Because of their Eastern origin, many are uploaded onto NicoNico Douga (NicoVideo) before YouTube. (More info here.)

For Death Note, the community has given it many names. The list of the most relevant names include:

• Bakayaloid(バカヤロイド, Bakayaroido)
• Bananaloid(バナナロイド, Bananaroido)
• KiraKira Douga(キラキラ動画, Kira Kira Douga)

Misheard Phrases

Besides the visuals, a lot of the comedy within Death Note MADs come from the abundance of misheard phrases. As said, Know Your Meme lists a few of these, but the English translations are either poor or they are missing a number of the jokes.

Character	Original	Misheard
Light Yagami (夜神月)	これはわなだ Kore wa wana da!	粉バナナ or 粉☆バナナ Kona banana!
	It's a trap!	Banana Powder!
	なにしてる Nanishiteru	愛してる aishiteru~
	What are you doing?	I love you~
	父さん Tousan!	ぞうさん or 動画 Zousan! or Douga!
	Dad!	Elephant! or Douga!*
	誰を撃ってる Dare wo utteru!	タレを売ってる Tare wo utteru!
	Who do you think you're shooting at!? (lit: who do you shoot?)	[I'm/you're] selling sauce!
	Touta Matsuda (松田桃太)	バカを見たって済ませるのか Baka wo mitatte sumaseru noka?	カカオビターで済ませるのか Kakaobita de sumaseru noka?
		And now you're saying they are the fools!?	And now you're saying cocoa is bitter!?
		殺す Korosu!	黒酢 Kurozu!
		I'll kill him!	Black vinegar!
Near (ニア)	いいえ iie	イェア i~ea
	No.	Yeah!
Teru Mikami (魅上照)	カミ! Kami!	カミング! Kaming!
	God!	Coming!
	私は仰せのとおりに Watashi wa ōse no tōrini	私はオーセノ＝トーリ二 Watashi wa ōseno=tōrini
	I did everything you told me!	I am Oseno Torini!
Shuichi Aizawa (相沢周市)	血で chide	死ね shine
	[His] blood!	Die! or Kill him!
Takuo Shibuimaru (渋井丸拓男)	俺 Ore	エロ** Ero
	I [am]	Erotic or Sexy

*Though Douga (動画) translates directly as "video", I think it's more appropriate to keep it the same as it is usually used in direct reference to the site NicoNico Douga.

**Technically not a "misheard" line, as this is simply Takuo saying "ore" played backwards. However, it is popular and heavily used, so I thought I'd include it.

Running Jokes and Themes

Considering Death Note has cultivated its own MAD community, there are a few running jokes present within the videos. Not every MAD has these of course, but they are themes that have been repeated at least several times between separate creators. The titles to the following trends are made up by me, as there are no "names" for these jokes. So, humor me as I attempt to describe them :P

 

Takuo is relevant, actually

Few remember the guy from episode one who served as Light's breaking point in testing whether the Death Note works or not. He's the guy who pulls up to a lady with his gang and proceeds to harass her, ultimately getting killed by a truck ramming into him, courtesy of Light. Believe it or not, this man is quite popular within the Death Note MAD community, and is in at least every other MAD. Why? Well, I assume it has to do with his voice, as it does sound kind of funny. Typically his appearance always ends with him getting smashed by the truck.

Light is two-timing!
Already, the titles for these jokes are abysmal, but it gets the point across. As a joke, I've seen Light within MADs be "shipped" with either one of two people: Matsuda or Takuo. Both characters are pretty front-in-center when it comes to MAD jokes. Matsuda, of course, being the one who serves as the catalyst to all of the craziness spawned from the final episode, so it makes sense. Takuo because...well, as said, he's popular as a joke, so let's ship him as a joke! I've seen a few gags where, instead of pulling up to the lady in the first episode, he pulls up to Light instead. Another common practice I see is to loop the footage of Light slamming against the wall but make the background transparent, so it looks like he's kissing somebody (typically Matsuda or Takuo, depending who is the image underneath).

Sudou is relevant, too!
Along with Takuo, Sudou is another episode one character who has seen some odd rises in popularity. If you don't remember, Sudou is the guy who stole some money from a classmate so he could head off to the arcade. The noise of celebration he makes, Whoo! (often spelled as ひゅう!), is used quite a bit. I've seen multiple instances where he takes off flying after making the noise, even one of which that portrays him as the rocket Mello shot off, only for it to come back and blow up his base...Yes, it's as hilarious as it sounds.

Gevanni owns everything
When parodying a source that has credits displayed visually (i.e. the ending to an anime in which voice, writing, and animation is credited; a song video where movie, lyrics, and singer are credited) all these credits will typically be replaced with Gevanni's name (ジェバンニ). For instance:

Movie: ジェバンニ 

Mix: ジェバンニ 

Lyrics: ジェバンニ

So-on and so-forth. The reason this may be is because the line, "Gevanni was able to do it in a single night," said by Near, became somewhat of a joke within the Eastern fandom. Thus, MADs may have adopted this and made it into "Gevanni was able to do everything in a single night." At least, that's my working theory; it's kind of impossible to ever know for sure as trends like these aren't simply made up by one person, but grow overtime. Especially with many Death Note MADs being purged off of NicoVideo long ago, it's hard to find a source.

Near is a DJ
Near, occasionally, will be portrayed as a DJ or "rapper" of sorts. Typically this only happens when he says "Yeah!" (a misheard version of him saying iie) like one would during a song. I've seen many MAD artists give him sunglasses, a sideways cap, and even a gold-chain necklace for when he says this.

Common Sources

While Death Note MADs don't usually stray too far away from episode 37, there are other common sources used that do not come from the final episode. Here is a quick list (and note, of course, all these are within the realms of the original Japanese audio):

• Episode 37 (as a whole)
• Episode 1 (specifically the scene: Takuo showing up to the lady with his gang, then dying)
• Episode 9 (specifically the line: "I am L." (私はエルです, watashi wa Eru desu), L
• Episode 10 (specifically the scene: Light and L playing tennis)
• Episode 17 (specifically the scene: Soichiro staging his killing against Light and Misa)
• Episode 24 (specifically the scene: Light regaining his memories and screaming)
• Episode 24 (specifically the line: "Just as planned." (計画どり, keikaku dori), Light
• Episode 25 (specifically the line: "We should kill him." (抹殺するべきだ, massatsu surubeki da), Matsuda*
• Episode 29 (specifically the scene: Soichiro dies)

*This line is very popular, and is typically cut short, just using 抹殺 (massatsu). It is also occasionally written as 抹☆殺

Of course, these aren't all the references people have used. Other scenes, lines, and episodes have been featured within MADs. These are just the most common ones that I've seen thus far.

Death Note MADs today

As of today, the Death Note MAD trend has slowed down a bit, but it isn't dead. Death Note MADs are still being uploaded onto YouTube and NicoVideo. Oddly, the community has seen a massive increased spike in activity within the Korean fanbase, several years well after reaching its peak in the Japanese fandom. So who knows? It may be going through a revival period.

If you want to watch some Death Note MADs but don't know where to start, simply search バカヤロイド on YouTube. Or, check out this public playlist I've made of my personal favorite MADs that I keep updated. MADs are such a fun, wonderful thing, especially when it's of a series you love :)