| abstract
| - The youngest and most inexperienced member of the Japanese Task Force, Matsuda was Soichiro Yagami's protege before the series started and is the only member of the force to both consistently believe in Light's innocence and even show some sympathy towards Kira's cause. Unlike his teammates, he prefers not to do things 'by the book', instead taking risks -which is often heavily criticized by his colleagues. Along with Mogi, he is the only member of the Japanese Task Force to see the Kira case through from start to finish, with no breaks: Light joined late; Ukita, Soichiro, L, Watari, Wedy and Aiber die; and Ide and Aizawa both quit briefly. Tropes associated with Matsuda:
* Action Survivor
* Adorkable
* Ascended Extra
* Audience Surrogate: He's the character most unsure about Kira's morality. Less centrally, in several scenes he is also the one to express annoyance or confusion over things such as L's odd behavior (the cell phone scene comes to mind) and L's and Light's rather obscure back-and-forths.
* Author Avatar
* Berserk Button: Insulting Soichiro, as Light finds out:
* Berserker Tears: He weeps openly as he shoots Light up.
* Beware the Honest Ones
* Beware the Nice Ones/Beware the Silly Ones: He's the one that stops Light from writing Near's name by shooting his hand, followed by shooting the rest of him, and would have killed Light had the others not intervened. And to think he was the only one that sympathized with Kira.
* Black Shirt: Interestingly, Light sees him this way. When he shoots Light to keep him from killing Near, Light is flabbergasted. Out of everyone, he expected Matsuda to side with him.
* Break the Cutie: He might be kinda dumb, but is more or less a nice person who tries his best even if it doesn't work. Then, the poor guy has his idealism, mentors, and self-esteem slowly demolished throughout the series.
* Brown Eyes
* Butt Monkey: The other characters - Aizawa, L, Light - tend to make disparaging comments about Matsuda.
* Captain Obvious
* Chekhov's Gun: The ending isn't the only time he pulls a gun - he's a pretty good shot. Of the task force members, he's the most likely to do so.
* Cloudcuckoolander: He has his moments.
* Color Coded for Your Convenience: Official color seems to be yellow.
* Cowardly Lion
* Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: But you gotta wait a long time for him to become un-hidden.
* A Day in the Limelight: He gets an episode to himself during the Yotsuba arc.
* Distress Ball: During the Yotsuba arc.
* The Ditz: Matsuda is a normal guy, if a little goofy and impressionable; his contrast with the likes of L and Light is very obvious.
* Dumbass Has a Point: His theory in the manga epilogue chapter. He suggests that Near used the notebook to control Mikami to make sure Mikami and Light would make no changes to the plan at the Warehouse. In short, Near cheated. While we never learn for sure if he's right, the fact that "Near cheats" and is the "more dishonest" of him and Mello is confirmed by Word of God.
* Exact Eavesdropping: During the Yotsuba arc.
* Faking the Dead: In order to continue the investigation against the Yotsuba Kira.
* Fearless Fool: Matsuda just kind of assumes that things will work out well.
* Foil: To Light and L.
* Greek Chorus
* Horrible Judge of Character: He adores Misa and, later, Kiyomi, and supports Light completely, even when the rest of the task force begins to turn against him.
* Somewhat. The only one that he believes is innocent is Light, and that's mostly rooted in three things: the fact that they're similar, the fact that they're friends, and Soichiro Yagami being like a father to him. Like Aizawa said, it's not that it was impossible, but that they didn't want to believe it when they thought of the Chief. It was even worse with Matsuda because they were even closer friends.
* I Am Spartacus: In the manga, Mello demands to know the identity of the second L so that he can kill him if the trade for the notebook goes south, threatening to kill Sayu if they don't comply. Matsuda saves Light and his dad from that dilemma by hijacking the keyboard and telling Mello that he's a stand in for L.
* Idiot Hero: While not the protagonist, he certainly fits this.
* Improbable Aiming Skills: He's shown more than once over the course of the series to be something of a crack shot
* Just Trying to Help: The poor guy...
* Leeroy Jenkins: During the Yotsuba arc L warns the others, "Be sure not to act impulsively out of panic or haste." Matsuda didn't get the memo. His "unpredictability" rating is 10/10.
* Let's Get Dangerous: When he shoots Light up.
* Other instances count as well; during Light's and Misa's confinement, Sayu's kidnapping, and the task force's raid on Mello's hideout, Matsuda demonstrates an ability to get down to business.
* Loony Fan: Towards L, Light, Misa, and, from afar, Kiyomi.
* The Matchmaker: He always seemed to want Misa and Light to be together; later, when Light "investigates" Kiyomi Takada, he's quite enthusiastic about it.
* The McCoy: To L and Light.
* My God, What Have I Done?: Done in understatement at the end of Relight 2, after finding Light's body.
* Nepotism: The manga explains that this is why he has a job despite being more or less incompetent at it.
* Nice Guy
* No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Gives one to Light at the end of the series.
* Not So Different: Among the most honest characters, in that he admits that he "can think like Kira, too."
* Phrase Catcher: "Matsuda, you idiot."
* Plucky Comic Relief: Matsuda is one of the characters who eagerly engages in joking and teasing.
* Revenge: When Near offers to write Mello's name in the notebook, he's the only one who says to go for it, since Mello indirectly killed Soichiro.
* He didn't shoot Light for being Kira. He did it because Light insulted and mocked Soichiro, who had been Matsuda's hero.
* Ship Tease: With Sayu. Also for some reason he gets really excited about Light dating Misa and Takada.
* The Slacker: "All you ever do is watch TV." The thirteenth volume explains that he dislikes slow and steady work.
* Suicidal Gotcha: He falls off of a building for L's plan.
* This Loser Is You
* True Companions: To the Yagami family. He's a family friend and Souichiro has him over at their house before the events of the Kira case. Souichiro is his Mentor, he crushes on Sayu, and he is enthusiastic (almost to an unhealthy degree) about everything Light does explaining his rampage when learning that Light is Kira.
* Unstoppable Rage: At the end. Considering the living hell Light Yagami put the poor guy through, some would rate this as Matsuda's finest moment.
* Vitriolic Best Buds: with Aizawa, who's always yelling at him.
* The Watson
* Why Are You Looking At Me Like That?: During the Yotsuba arc when L mentions that they need someone who Kira will think he can kill easily.
* Who's Laughing Now?
* You Get Me Coffee: Poor guy.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)