Death Note is a brilliant anime, but not really a great of an example of rationality. Tvtropes calls it Xanatos Roulette.
First you start with a smart plan. That can be rational. Then you complicate the plan. It makes characters look even smarter, and still quite rational. At some point the plan is so overcomplicated, so many uncertainties are just assumed, that it’s no longer rationality but plain omniscience and characters “knowing the script of future episodes”. That’s what Death Note is. Light and L overplot, and it’s really fun to watch, and they look really “smart” when it’s well done, but it’s way past any reasonable pretense of rationality.
TvTropes has more examples, like Saw series. They’re all great fun, and not much rational.
Death Note is a brilliant anime, but not really a great of an example of rationality. Tvtropes calls it Xanatos Roulette.
First you start with a smart plan. That can be rational. Then you complicate the plan. It makes characters look even smarter, and still quite rational. At some point the plan is so overcomplicated, so many uncertainties are just assumed, that it’s no longer rationality but plain omniscience and characters “knowing the script of future episodes”. That’s what Death Note is. Light and L overplot, and it’s really fun to watch, and they look really “smart” when it’s well done, but it’s way past any reasonable pretense of rationality.
TvTropes has more examples, like Saw series. They’re all great fun, and not much rational.