Characters
Light Yagami (Kira) (夜神 月, Yagami Raito)
The protagonist of Death Note, Light is an extremely intelligent but bored 17-year old student. When he finds the Death Note, dropped in the human world by Ryuk (a shinigami), he decides to use it to kill all criminals and earns the title Kira. His ultimate goal is to cleanse the world of evil to create a utopia and then reign over this new world as its god.
((Open))L. Lawliet (L) (エル)
L is the world's three top-rated detectives (through two additional aliases), tasked with tracking down and arresting Kira. As such, he is Light's arch-enemy. His disheveled appearance masks his great powers of deduction and insight. L has many quirks, such as sitting in an odd manner, snacking on sweets constantly, and holding his cellphone and other objects in a peculiar manner. He often takes drastic strategies to confuse and force the hand of his opponents. On several occasions he has willingly disclosed several of his weaknesses to Kira at the risk of his own life in the hopes that he would lure him into a trap.
((Closed being played by suski-demon-girl))Misa Amane (弥 海砂)
A girl with an immense crush on Kira, Misa is a popular idol in Japan, and tends to wear clothing in many different styles, depending on what she is doing. She is immature and tends to refer to herself in the third person in an attempt to be cute. Misa is completely devoted to Light, and she once said that she loved him at first sight. Light, however, only views her as an asset to his plans because of her Death Note and her Shinigami eyes (that she obtained at the cost of half of her remaining life span, twice). The murderer of Misa's parents had been punished by Kira, explaining her later devotion to him.
((Open))Mello (メロ)
Mello was an orphan who grew up with Near in Watari's shelter for gifted children. Like Near, Mello was one of the candidates to become L's successor. Similar to L's fondness for sweets, he is often seen eating bars of chocolate. Although Mello is quite intelligent, he often lets his emotions get the better of him. Mello wears leather most of the time, unlike Near or L. He also appears to be less secluded in terms of his friends and hobbies, and seems to be fond of biking. When Mello is first released - Light tries to find and kill him, which he manages to escape - but due to an explosion, he is left with a scar over the left side of his face.
((OPen))Near (ニア)
Near was a primary candidate to become L's successor and calls himself N during the course of his investigations. He shares a number of similarities with L. Much like how L plays with things such as sugar cubes and forks, Near is frequently shown playing with toys or his hair. Near also sits in an unusual manner similar to L, but with some slight differences. He offered to join forces with Mello to fight Kira, but Mello turned him down. Near then gained the support of the US government and formed the Secret Provision for Kira (SPK).
((Open))Mail Jeevas (マイル・ジーヴァス) Matt (マット)
Voiced by: Tomohiro Nishimura
Matt is a cohort of Mello's, first appearing in Chapter 83. He does some espionage work for him and is an accomplice in Takada's kidnapping.
He follows orders without question, usually smoking a cigarette as he does. Not much else is known about him, other than he is a former resident of Wammy's orphanage. While working for Mello he was ordered to spy on Misa and monitor her movement. In Chapter 98, he fires a smoke bomb at Takada's bodyguards as a distraction to allow Mello to kidnap Takada; in the next chapter he meets face to face with Takada's bodyguards. Inside the back of his shirt, he hid a gun which he tried to take out until he is finally shot multiple times by all thirteen of the bodyguards surrounding him. Mello later sees the news of his death broadcast on TV and apologizes to Matt for his death.
Matt's real name is Mail Jeevas (pronounced like "mile" rather than "male"); he likes video games, but dislikes going out, and Matt was behind Mello and Near to succeed L.
((open)Teru Mikami (魅上 照)
Mikami is selected as the fourth Kira by Light, after Light decides that it is too dangerous for the Death Note to be near Misa or himself, since he and Misa are currently under surveillance by Aizawa and Mogi. A prosecuting attorney and adamant supporter of Kira, Mikami shares many of the same ideals, thoughts, and priorities as Kira, and is ecstatic when he discovers that Kira, his God, has chosen him, proving that God is on his side and watching. He is completely devoted and loyal to Kira, believing that divine justice must be brought down upon the people. Little is known about his personal life; he appears to have no hobbies or anything else of the sort. He chants "delete" with each name he writes down in the Death Note due to events in his past when he thought God was "deleting" the evil people in his life. He, like Misa, has made the exchange of half his remaining years for Shinigami eyes.
((open))Shinigami (Death Gods)
Ryuk (リューク)
The first shinigami who dropped a Death Note into the human world, which Light would pick up. Acting out of pure boredom, Ryuk begins the story of Death Note on a whim. It is stated that Ryuk obtained the second Death Note in the shinigami world from "tricking the old man" for another one. Ryuk is not Light's ally, and in fact declares in their first meeting that someday he (Ryuk) would write Light's name into his own Death Note. Ryuk often refuses to aid Light and instead enjoys watching him struggle for his goals. He acts for his own interests and entertainment, and often fails to tell Light key details about the Death Note. However, Ryuk will aid Light if it serves his own goals, such as providing amusement or obtaining apples, without which he suffers a form of withdrawal symptoms.
((open))Rem (レム)
The female shinigami who first gives Misa her Death Note and trades her for the Shinigami eyes. Similar to Ryuk, Rem possesses two Death Notes; however, she purposely gives one of them to Misa Amane. Rem inherited her second Death Note from Jealous, another shinigami who died when he saved Misa's life, and thought it only right to pass it on to Misa. Rem inherits Jealous' love for Misa as well and is prompt to defend Misa even at the cost of her life. Rem shows this when she states that she will kill Light if Misa dies before her time.
((open))Shidou (シドウ)
The third Shinigami seen in the human world, Shidou is revealed as the original owner of the Death Note Ryuk dropped at the beginning of the series. Initially upon entering the human world, Shidou relentlessly follows Ryuk, demanding the return of their Death Note. Ryuk eventually admits he has no knowledge of the location of Shidou's Death Note, said note having been used as a bargaining chip by Light and fallen into Mello's hands. Shidou eventually locates their Death Note, and under questioning, reveals to Mello (who subsequently reveals to Near) that some of the rules written in the Death Note are fake.
((open))Investigation TeamMatsuda
Matsuda is known as the most outspoken member in the investigation team. He plays a crucial role in the investigation of the Yotsuba Group after sneaking into the company's building without the knowledge of the team. His designated investigation team alias is Taro Matsui. He pretends to be several individuals, such as Light's "cousin" "Taro" (in Volume 4) and Misa's agent (during the Higuchi arc). Misa gives the nickname "Matsu" to Matsuda, and the nickname fits with his real family name and his alias "Matsui."
By following L's instructions, Matsuda gains the trust of the company's board members, fabricates his death (he uses the alias Taro Matsui so that Yotsuba members cannot kill him), and serves as a temporary decoy to lure the suspect into the Sakura television studio during the second Sakura TV incident. Despite his excitable, naïve personality, Matsuda manages to stay alive through quite a few dangerous times. Matsuda sees Soichiro as his mentor.
While it is clear that most of the investigation team views Kira as an evil criminal, Matsuda often wonders if Kira is performing good deeds, especially since more and more people seem to be agreeing with what he does. Matsuda is scared by Mikami's intense loyalty to Kira when he hears Mikami's public announcement on Sakura TV. Matsuda proves to be somewhat supportive and sympathetic towards Kira's followers nonetheless.
When Light is revealed as Kira at Yellowbox Warehouse, Matsuda is the most shocked of the team. He has always liked Light and is outraged to learn that he has been fooled; he is particularly upset, asserting that Light's actions had led to the death of Soichiro. Matsuda succeeds in saving Near's life by shooting Light's hand, causing him to drop the pen that he was writing Near's name with. Matsuda shoots him several more times to stop Light from writing Near's name in his own blood. The enraged Matsuda nearly kills Light with a shot to the head, but he is stopped by the rest of the Japanese investigation team.
As shown in the final chapter, Matsuda suspects that, to help with Light's capture, Near had used the Death Note to control Mikami's actions before killing him, but Ide says that he has no proof and it may be a "wish" on his part, perhaps related to his thinking of Light as a friend.
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