WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Platinum End Episode 2, "Hero of Justice," now streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation.
Platinum End is the newest manga/anime series from Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata of Death Note fame, and the protagonist, the young Mirai Kakehashi, finds himself surrounded by surprisingly brutal angels as a battle royale for the throne of God begins. However, for his part, Mirai is no Light Yagami.
In broad strokes, Mirai Kakehashi really is like a more modern incarnation of Light Yagami, and the overall plot contains similar themes and premises to Death Note. Mirai borrows the basic Light Yagami template, then twists it to set himself apart as a distinct and separate antihero to lead Platinum End.
Mirai Kakehashi received a new lease on life when the angel Nesse saved him from himself, and she granted him the wings and arrows of a true angel. Mirai, however, doesn't share Nesse's carefree enthusiasm for angelic powers. He outright refuses to abuse his new gifts; instead, he seeks to achieve true, humble happiness. However, he cannot get rid of Nesse, and neither can he easily back out of the battle royale for God status.
Like Light Yagami, Mirai Kakehashi is an ordinary Japanese high schooler with a supernatural companion who offers tempting gifts, with Nesse being an angelic version of Ryuk the Shinigami. Moreover, like Light, Mirai must consider his own happiness vs. that of everyone else, and he grapples with the serious implications of his new powers and the struggle in which he finds himself. Instead of a battle of wits with L, Mirai must face twelve other God candidates, all of whom have angel powers of their own. Mirai and Light both know that their lives and the world around them will soon be changed forever with powers that humans were never meant to have, but after that, their paths diverge.
In fact, Mirai quickly establishes himself as Light's inverse, including his humility and his stated unworthiness to become the new God. Light's quest to become the "god" of a new world of justice was what drove him, while Mirai identifies with an ordinary and unremarkable lifestyle. Mirai lacks the resolve and courage to take part in the battle royale at this point, and to him, if he must fight, something has gone wrong. However, he cannot give up his angelic powers or retire from the God candidate game early, so he must soon reconcile this game's rules with his lack of motivation. Conversely, Light would have relished this challenge.
More broadly, Mirai tells Nesse in Episode 2 that no human deserves the power of an angel, and he fears what people would do with such gifts. Already, the comedian Tonma Rodriguez abused his red arrow abilities to gather a harem of admirers, until the mysterious Metropoliman dispatches him with a single white arrow. Mirai believes that humans have a responsibility to not use supernatural powers, while Light believes that people like him have a responsibility to use them tirelessly to change the world. While Light's character was exciting because he drove the story forward, Mirai leads the story with his intriguing struggle between what he wants and what he must do in this heavenly battle to the death.
