Light Yagami At The Olympics — Japanese coach writing in notebook with broadcast nameplate reading Light YAGAMI

Light Yagami At The Olympics

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Published October 17, 2026

Light Yagami At The Olympics is a parody image of Japanese football coach Hajime Moriyasu writing in a sideline notebook, relabeled as the Death Note protagonist with opponents' names crossed out. First made in December 2022 after Japan upset Spain at the World Cup, the edit exploded during the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics when Instagram and Twitter reposts fooled some viewers into believing Japan actually had a coach named Light Yagami.

anime manga football memes photoshop memes olympics memes doppelganger memes

Overview

The joke works on a single visual pun: Hajime Moriyasu, head coach of Japan's national football team, was photographed on the sideline writing in a small notebook, and someone realized that looked exactly like Light Yagami jotting names into the Death Note1. Edits of the photo relabel Moriyasu as Light Yagami and add crossed-out country names such as Germany and Spain in a jagged font that mimics the anime's title card3.

Most versions use the same base photo, so the format is more of a recurring caption gag than a template. Common captions declare that an opposing team is doomed because the coach has already written them down, and some posts went so far as to claim that Japan's actual coach was named Light Yagami, which required fact-checker explainers to debunk7. Death Note fans in the replies often added that writing a wrong name does not kill the target, extending the bit into comment threads.

Origin & Background

Platform
Reddit (origin) / Instagram and Twitter (viral spread)
Creator
tengenmv
Date
2022

Japan defeated Spain 2 to 1 in the group stage of the Qatar World Cup on December 1st, 20221. Moriyasu was repeatedly caught on broadcast cameras scribbling into a small notebook during the match, a habit that generated its own Japanese press cycle about the notebook's maker2.

Two days later, on December 3rd, 2022, Redditor tengenmv posted the first known Light Yagami edit to the subreddit r/WorldCup, replacing Moriyasu's caption with Light's name and striking through Germany and Spain in a Death Note style font3. The post sat at roughly 1,700 upvotes while the broader meme stayed dormant for more than a year7.

How It Spread

The image resurfaced during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, when anime accounts began recirculating it alongside Japan's football matches. On July 28th, 2024, the Instagram account @animelif3_ reposted the edit with the caption "It's over for other Olympic Teams," collecting more than 3.1 million likes within two days4.

The same caption appeared the next day on Twitter from @SABO_SHINJI4, where it collected over 22,000 retweets and 184,000 likes in a single day5. On July 29th, @SABO_SHINJI4 posted a follow-up tweet with the real photo of Moriyasu, clarifying for confused readers that the original was a joke edit, not footage from the Olympics6. The image was also crossposted to r/memes on July 28th under the title "They better not display names now"8.

The wave of fooled viewers prompted explainer coverage from outlets covering pop culture and sports, which walked readers through the Death Note reference and confirmed that Moriyasu, not a character named Light Yagami, coached Japan at the games7.

Timeline

2022-12-01

Japan beats Spain 2 to 1 at the Qatar World Cup; Moriyasu is filmed writing in a sideline notebook[1].

2022-12-03

Redditor tengenmv posts the first Light Yagami edit of Moriyasu to r/WorldCup with Germany and Spain crossed out[3].

2024-07-28

Instagram account @animelif3_ reposts the edit during the Paris Olympics with the caption "It's over for other Olympic Teams," collecting over 3.1 million likes in two days[4].

2024-07-28

A crosspost titled "They better not display names now" lands on r/memes[8].

2024-07-29

Twitter user @SABO_SHINJI4 posts the same caption, hitting 22,000 retweets and 184,000 likes within a day[5], then clarifies in a follow-up tweet that it was an edit[6].

2024-07-30

Fact-check pieces explain the Death Note joke after some viewers believed Japan actually had a coach named Light Yagami[7].

Frequently Asked Questions