Death Note

Death Note

Death Note (デスノート, Desu Nōto?) is a Japanese manga series created by writer Tsugumi Ohba and illustrator Takeshi Obata. The series primarily centers around a high school student who decides to rid the world of evil with the help of a supernatural notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it. Death Note was first serialized by Shueisha in the Japanese manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump from the first issue in December 2003 to May 2006, with 108 chapters in total. The series has been published in its entirety in 12 tankōbon volumes in Japan and in North America. The series has been adapted into a pair of live-action films released in Japan on June 17, 2006 and November 3, 2006, and an anime series which aired in Japan from October 3, 2006 to June 26, 2007. Also, a novelization of the series, written by light novelist Ishin Nishio, was released in Japan on August 1, 2006.

Light Yagami

Light Yagami (夜神 月, Yagami Raito?) / Kira / (second) L
Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano (Japanese), Brad Swaile (English)
Tatsuya Fujiwara (movie)


Light Yagami as he appears in the anime.
Light Yagami, also known as Kira and the second L, is the protagonist (an anti-hero) of the manga and anime series Death Note. He is an extremely intelligent, but bored, young man who finds Ryuk's Death Note by sheer chance. In the Japanese version of the anime he is voiced by Mamoru Miyano, and in the English version of the anime he is voiced by Brad Swaile.
His height and weight are 179 centimeters (5'10") and 54 kilograms (120 pounds), respectively, which puts him at the same height as L (if L stands up in a proper position). His blood type is A (see Japanese blood type theory of personality). His name is also a play on the theme of good and evil in the series, as Light is his first name, and Yagami is written with the kanji for "night" and "god".
Light constantly tries to evade the suspicion of L while both maintaining his identity as Kira (Japanese pronunciation of the English word "killer"), and cleansing the world of crime. The fact that he is a genius also adds to his notion that only he is fit to judge humanity and steer it on a proper moral course.
Light, born on February 28, 1986, is a third year high school student (12th Grade) at Daikoku Private Academy (大国学園, Daikoku Gakuen?) who also attends supplemental classes at Gamou Prep Academy in the beginning of the story. Light has a father, Soichiro Yagami, who is a member of the investigation team opposing Kira. In addition, Light has a mother, Sachiko Yagami, and a younger sister, Sayu Yagami.
In Spring 2004 Light becomes a first-year student (freshman) at To-Oh University (東応大学, Tōō Daigaku?), becoming one of two freshman representatives; L is the other freshman representative. During a tennis game with L at To-Oh, spectators reveal that Light was the junior high school tennis champion in 1999 and 2000; After his 2000 victory, Light quit tennis as he entered high school.
When L is finally able to corner him, Light puts his master plan in practice. He temporarily gives up the Death Note to Ryuk, erasing his memories of his time as Kira. Unaware of the fact that he was the original killer, he accepts L's offer to join the investigation to hunt down Kyosuke Higuchi (the third Kira, who was given the Death Note by Rem, under Light's instructions). When Higuchi is captured, Light touches the Death Note, and regains his memory of his time as Kira. He then proceeds to kill Higuchi, and manipulates Rem, who dies in the process, to kill both Watari and L.
Light is later nominated by L's investigation team (who are unaware that he is Kira) to act as L, due to the fact that they cannot reveal the death of the real L to the world. Light also takes over the role of L's assistant, Watari. Now able to act as both Kira and L, Light can continue killing criminals while leading the investigation team in circles. His secret identity as L is soon discovered by the Special Provisions for Kira, President Hoope, and Mello's gang. Light joins the Japanese Police Force's Intelligence Department in April 2009, believing that no one can stop his plans. Near and Mello eventually appear before him, trying to accomplish what L could not: to expose Kira's true identity, and bring him to justice.
Ryuk is looking at Light with the Shinigami Eyes, revealing Light's real name and remaining lifespan (in Shinigami time).
In the end, the combined efforts of Mello and Near, combined with a large miscalculation and miscommunication on the part of Mikami and Light, force Light to reveal himself as Kira. In the final clash between Near and Light at a warehouse, all is revealed and the Kira case comes to an end after six long years.
In the manga version, after completely losing his head and characteristic cool over the prospect of being arrested, and in complete desperation after his attempts to write Near's name down are thwarted by Tota Matsuda, Light begs Ryuk to help him. Ryuk reminds Light that he is on neither side, and fulfills his earlier promise to write Light's name in his Death Note, thus ending Light's life.
In the anime version, Light manages to flee the warehouse after Mikami commits suicide. Near instructs the team that there is no reason to pursue Light given that there should be no more hidden Death Notes, and Light's wounds would prevent him from getting far. Despite this, Shuichi Aizawa, Kanzo Mogi, Hideki Ide and Matsuda follow Light but are unable to find him before he dies on the staircase of a nearby warehouse due to cardiac arrest from Ryuk writing his name in his Death Note. As Light slowly closes his eyes, an apparition of L appears before Light, mirroring Light standing over L in episode 25 at L's death. At the end of the Director's Cut the last line Ryuk says is, "Isn't that right, Light?"
In the film, a few changes were made to Light. At the film's beginning, Light is a first-year university student studying Law, instead of still being a high school genius, as in the beginning of the manga and anime. Light's motives differ; his boredom trait does not exist, and he instead uses the Death Note out of frustration from the perceived failures of the Japanese justice system. Light, prior to his discovery of the Death Note, hacks into the government database and finds that the government secretly acknowledges that many criminals are unable to be prosecuted. Light discovers the Death Note in an alley during a rainy night after encountering Shibuimaru in a club and throwing a law book into the rain in a rage. Light meets Ryuk after killing Shibuimaru. Light has a girlfriend, Shiori Akino, who attends his university. Light kills Shiori at the end of the first movie to gain sympathy from L.
After Rem "kills" L and kills Watari, Light writes his father's name in an attempt to kill him, an attempt that ultimately fails. The endings of both the second movie and the manga are similar. In the second film, after being exposed as Kira, Light asks Ryuk to write the names of the team members in the book during the climax. The police shoot but do not kill Ryuk as he writes in the Death Note. Light laughs until Ryuk shows Light the Death Note, revealing that Light's name was written in the book. Light tries to stop Ryuk, passing through the shinigami. Light dies in his father's arms, begging him to believe that he acted as Kira to put justice, which Soichiro had taught him since his childhood, into practice. He is portrayed by Tatsuya Fujiwara, best known for his role as Shuya Nanahara of Battle Royale.

L

L Lawliet (エル・ローライト, Eru Rōraito?) / L / Hideki Ryuga (流河 旱樹, Ryūga Hideki?) / Ryuzaki (竜崎, Ryūzaki?) / Eraldo Coil / Deneuve Voiced by: Kappei Yamaguchi (Japanese), Alessandro Juliani (English) Ken'ichi Matsuyama (movie)

L Lawliet as he appears in the anime. L Lawliet, commonly referred to by his alias "L," is a character in the manga and anime series Death Note. He is considered the world's greatest detective, and he takes on the Kira investigation in the first arc. In the anime, L is voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi in the Japanese version and Alessandro Juliani in the English version. His date of birth is Halloween of 1979, making him 25 when he dies on November 5, 2004. His height and weight are 179cm/50kg (5'10"/110lbs.), which would have meant he was severely underweight. It is implied that L was a former resident of Wammy's House, one of Watari's orphanages, as well as a safe haven and educational facility specifically for intellectually-gifted children. Therefore, similar to Near and Mello, L's abilities were discovered while living there, and he is most likely an orphan.

L, who also uses the aliases Hideki Ryuga, Ryuzaki, Eraldo Coil, and Deneuve, the latter two for which he has developed reputations as the second- and third-best detectives in the world, is quite secretive and only communicates with the world through his assistant Watari. He never shows his face to the world, instead representing himself with a capital L in Cloister Black font. After meeting the Kira investigation team, he requests that the task force refer to him as Ryuzaki for discretion. Even the Kira investigation team never learns his true name. His disheveled and languid appearance masks his great powers of deduction and insight. He tends to second-guess everything he is presented with, and is extremely meticulous and analytical. He has several quirks such as preferring to crouch rather than sit, eating only sweet foods like desserts and fruits, and holding items very delicately. L stayed in England for five years, and during that time he was the champion in tennis for the England Junior Cup. L also secretly assumes the identities of the world's second and third best detectives, (Eraldo Coil and Deneuve respectively) a fact he and the Kira Investigation Team members keep to themselves. L suspects early in the investigation that Light Yagami is Kira, but can not obtain any concrete evidence. In several situations, Light's seems to be proven innocent by the circumstances, but L remains skeptical.

If Light were Kira, the case would be solved, and L has trouble letting go of this simple and complete solution. Because of his initial suspicions of Light, L decides to join To-Oh University, the university that Light attends, using the name of Hideki Ryuga for investigative purposes. After L introduces himself as Ryuga, Light does not attempt to kill him since the name is conspicuously fake. Also, he has no way to know at the time whether the person is the real L or a proxy acting under orders. Light also reasons that L would have already introduced himself to Light's father earlier, and thus that if he somehow killed L, he would be easily uncovered as Kira. Light also fears that if he wrote Hideki Ryuga into the Death Note, that the face of the pop singer from which the alias was derived would enter his head, and would be killed by accident, which would lead L to the obvious conclusion that Light is Kira.

L's death Although L can not shake the conclusion that Light is the first Kira, Light is the only person L had ever identified or connected with, and he openly stated on one occasion that even though it would hurt his pride to admit that he has been wrong, he hopes that he would be. Despite Kira being L's opponent, at the core, Light and L share many traits, including extraordinary intelligence and strong opinions of what constitutes true justice. Furthermore, L can easily present his conclusions publicly at any time, and with his reputation, is taken seriously. In Chapter 58, Light tricks Rem into killing L for his own personal gain, making her believe that she must kill him for the sake of Misa's life. L's last sight before death is Light triumphantly smiling over his defeated rival, and in his last moment L confirms to himself that Light is the first Kira. In chapter 38 of the manga, L suggests that even though he eats only sweet foods, he remains underweight because the brain uses the most calories of any organ in the body. He also says that if he sits normally, his reasoning ability would drop 40%. In the anime's finale, an apparition of L appears before the dying Light, who closes his eyes in the same fashion L does in the 25th episode.

Ken'ichi Matsuyama as L As there is no time delay between the first and second films, the second film begins soon before L supposedly dies. L retains many of the same characteristics seen in the original series. At the end of the first film, L eats potato chips in front of Light; Light had used a potato chip sack to hide a cell phone acting as a television from security cameras while L filmed his room. Unlike the manga and anime, in the second film, his original "death", caused by Rem writing his name in her Death Note, does not take effect, as L had written his own name in Misa's Death Note earlier. It is his self-sacrifice that allows himself stay alive for a longer duration (as he supposed Kira would kill him on that day), and allows the investigation team to apprehend Light. After Ryuk kills Light, Ryuk offers L the Death Note. L refuses, and Ryuk, saying that L is "no fun", leaves. Twenty-three days after writing his name in the Death Note, and after burning all the remaining Death Notes and having a conversation with Soichiro, L dies peacefully while eating a chocolate bar, with a picture of Watari lying right beside him. He is portrayed by Ken'ichi Matsuyama, who also voices Jealous in the anime.

Shinigami

Within the context of the popular manga series Death Note, the Shinigami, also known by their formal name of Death Gods, are demon-like characters who live in the Shinigami Realm. To increase their life-span, the Shinigami write the names of humans in their Death Notes, thus killing the human and extending their own life by the amount of time the human had left to live. However, because the Shinigami realm is incredibly dull, this act is usually laughed at, and thus done in privacy. Shinigami cannot be killed by physical methods, such as stabbing or shooting, and must follow a strict set of rules if they want to live without punishment. Ryuk Voiced by: Shidō Nakamura (Japanese), Brian Drummond (English)

Ryuk (リューク, Ryūku?) is the Shinigami who dropped a Death Note in the human realm, which was then discovered by Light. It was revealed that Ryuk did it out of boredom, as there was little to do in the Shinigami realm. Ryuk was also found to have tricked the Shinigami King into receiving a second Death Note that would be used by Light, as well as access to the human realm. Ryuk has a great fondness for apples, and will behave unusually if he goes for too long without eating one (for example, he does hand stands or his body twists randomly). He says apples are to Shinigami as cigarettes and liquor are to humans. He also states that he is shy around girls, and it is clear that he likes video games.

For a time, he was Mikami's personal Shinigami, as well as Misa's. At the end of the series, Light begs Ryuk to use the Death Note to save him. Ryuk, however, reminds Light that he will never help him, and that it will be Ryuk who will end Light's life. Ryuk then tells Light that humans go nowhere (to nothingness) when they die and after writing Light's name in the Death Note, returns to the Shinigami Realm.