Soichiro Yagami(夜神 総一郎Yagami Sōichirō?) is Light's father and a police officer that initially leads the Kira investigation team that later joins with L. He is voiced by Naoya Uchida in the Japanese anime and Chris Britton in the English dub. When L begins to suspect Light of being Kira, Soichiro is unwilling to believe his son would be capable of such a thing. After L's death, he is sent to retrieve the Death Note stolen by Mello by obtaining Shinigami Eyes and infiltrate Mello's hideout, though Light had planned for Matsuda to fill the role.[3] He retrieves the note and learns Mello's real name, but is unable to kill him, and is instead fatally wounded. Because Light has given up his Death Note, making his lifespan visible above his head, Soichiro dies believing that Light is not Kira. In the film, Soichiro, portrayed by Takeshi Kaga, survives- discovering that Light is Kira and holding him as he dies- but chooses to hide the knowledge from his family.
Soichiro was envisioned as an "honest police officer with a strong sense of justice" that the reader "would have to feel sorry for everything he has to go through." Though Ohba did not want Soichiro to die, the writer felt that he had to because the character's continued existence would have interfered with too many of the already set up plot points. He did not want Light to kill him, so he wrote Soichiro's death as an accident.[3] Obata designed Soichiro to look like a "stereotypical detective", retaining the mustache and glasses found in Ohba's concepts. Over the course of the series, he changes visibly by losing weight and aging poorly- particularly during his and Light's confinement.[4] Both Ohba and Obata found Soichiro to be the most pure character, and Ohba personally found him to be the third strongest character in the series "besides Light."[5][6][7] His birthday is July 12, 1955.
Mello, a character present in the anime and manga versions, was an orphan who grew up with Near and Matt in Wammy's House, Watari's shelter for "gifted" children. Like Near and Matt, 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. His goal in life is to surpass L and Near. Mello was also killed by minor character Takada Kiyomi. The light novel "Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases" is written out of his view. His real name is Mihael Keehl.
A calm and stoic character that appears in the second half of the series. He subtly represents an albino-like figure with his white hair, and plain white clothes. In the anime and manga versions, Near is 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, and he is constantly shown sitting in an unusual manner. Also, like L, Near likes to stack objects such as dice, while L likes to stack sugar cubes. If you compare the two, you can see they bear some resemblance in appearance as well. After L's death, he was asked to join forces with Mello, who refused (it is explained that Near lacks the emotional insight to beat L, while Mello is too emotional and impulsive). In the manga, Near accepts the fact neither Mello or himself can surpass L, saying that perhaps he lacked dynamics while Mello lacked composure. Near then gained the support of the Government of the United States and formed the Special Provision for Kira (SPK). In the 'extra' manga story, set after the end of the series, Near states that, while he respects Light's drive for justice, he can never find his 'Kira' actions excusable. His real name is Nate River. In the film L: Change the World L gives the name "Near" to a Thai boy who is a mathematical genius; L intends for Near to succeed him
A girl with an immense crush on Kira, Misa is a popular Japanese model. She is immature and tends to refer to herself in the third person in an attempt to be cute. She is completely devoted to Light, saying that she loved him at first sight, although the feeling is hardly mutual- since Light merely views her as a rather annoying asset and uses her. She is even willing to make the Shinigami eye trade for him. In the manga version, she kills herself after Light's death, which is implied in the anime's finale which shows her standing past the safety rail on a building. What happens to her after the film version is uncertain the only remaining characters whose fates are revealed are L and the Yagami family. Also, In the Death Note: The Last Name Movie Misa finds a second Death Note notebook and uses it to become Light's deadly disciple.
Ryuk(リュクRyūku) is the mainShinigamiof theDeath Noteseries. Ryuk was bored with the activities (or lack thereof) of theShinigami Realm, so he decides to obtain a secondDeath Noteand drop it in the human world for someone to find, hoping to amuse himself from the boredom. He deliberately writes the instructions inside the front cover (in English, which he assumed to be the most popular language in the human realm) so people would understand its purpose. The Death Note is discovered byLight, and Ryuk follows him around for much of the series to see how Light uses it. Ryuk has a fairly humanoid appearance. His skin is a lightgray, almostblue-ishcolor, his limbs are abnormally long and he has bulgingyelloweyes withblack(red at times in the anime) irises. He is voiced by Shidō Nakamura in the Japanese anime and live-action adaptations, while Brian Drummond voices him in the English dub.
L, who also uses the aliases Hideki Ryuga (流河 旱樹, Ryūga Hideki), Ryuzaki (竜崎, Ryūzaki), Eraldo Coil (エラルド＝コイル, Erarudo Koiru), and Deneuve (ドヌーヴ, Donūvu), 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 drawn in "Old English MT" or "Cloister Black" typeface. After meeting the Kira investigation team, he requests that the task force refer to him as Ryuzaki as an additional safety measure. The Kira investigation team never learns his true name.
When asked about L's ethnicity, Ohba responded saying "I think of him as a quarter Japanese, a quarter English, a quarter Russian, a quarter French or Italian, like that". Ohba said that L is the most intelligent character in the entire Death Note series because "the plot requires it". He added that he personally views L as "slightly evil".
Ohba said that his favorite human character in the series was L as Ohba believed that L was the "strongest" character in the series "besides Light". Obata also chose L as his favorite due to "appearance, personality, everything". Obata said that he could never have created L and that he enjoyed drawing L. Obata added that because of this, L is not "real" to him and therefore he likes that aspect of L. In response to the question "Who was the most fun to draw?" both Ohba and Obata answered "L".
L's 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), holding items very delicately (as if being overly cautious), arranging objects and information alike, very pedantically, and either distractedly or very intently stacking or in other ways playing with his staple food items. L stayed in England for five years, and during that time he was the tennis champion in the England Junior Cup. 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%.
Many fans of the series believe that L has Asperger's Syndrome, due to the fact he acts like a child at points (not wearing socks, eating lots of sweets, and seeing things somewhat like a game). This could be the author's intention, but that is for the readers to decide.
L begins the Kira case by having undocumented deathrow inmate Lind L. Taylor introduce himself on television as "L" and say that Kira is "evil". This provokes Kira into killing the man on the spot which in turn proves to L that the Kira killings are not a coincidental succession of heart attacks amongst criminals but the designs of an ingenius serial killer who will murder any and all who try to stop him and also tells him of Kira's location, since it is only broadcast in Kanto. Not long after this, because of the times of day on which the criminals die coincide with out-of-school hours, he deduces that Kira may well be a student. He tells those assisting him with the Kira case early on in the investigation that he suspects 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. L can easily present his conclusions publicly at any time, and due to his reputation as the best mind in the crime-fighting business, his thoughts and words are always taken very seriously.
After his initial suspicions of Light, and in order to take his investigation to its next stage, L decides to join To-Oh University (東応大学, Tōō Daigaku) - the very same that Light himself attends - using the well-known name of a popular singer, Hideki Ryuuga. L attends To-Oh because he feels confident in his reasoning and interrogational skills and wishes to test his theory concerning Light's hidden identity by somehow confronting him, and perhaps provoking or tricking him to admit that he is indeed Kira. He intends to tell Light that he can "go on the offensive". L is well aware that this is something of a gamble, and knows full well that his act of direct confrontation could prove fatal, but as he's convinced he understands Light's thought process, he feels confident that the adversary will not yet risk revealing his secret identity by killing him.
When L introduces himself as Ryuuga, Light becomes alert and somewhat alarmed, but does not attempt to kill him - the name is conspicuously fake; however, Light has no way of knowing whether the person is the real L or a proxy acting under orders. He also reasons that L would have already introduced himself to Light's father earlier, and thus, were he to somehow kill L, this murder would instantly unmask him, proving that he is indeed Kira. If this person proved to be L's proxy, and his name really was Ryuuga, he might die, true, but L would live and know his identity, without ever having had to reveal himself to Light, so that L will have gained all the advantage. Also, while writing the name "Hideki Ryuuga" into the Death Note, the face of the pop singer bearing that name might enter Light's thoughts involuntarily, and that would cause the death of pop singer Ryuuga, which would also lead L to the obvious conclusion that Light is Kira. As such, L's expectations about the outcome of his daring opening gambit prove true, and Light finds himself in a stalemate situation, unable to act for the time being, as any attempt to rid himself of his hunters would result in confirmed suspicions, his subsequent and unavoidable unmasking, and, ultimately, his undoing. Light has no other choice but bide his time.
Using subterfuge, misinformation, disinformation and an analytical knowledge of human nature to help lull a suspected murderer into a false sense of security and possibly make him carelessly over-confident, whenever L gives percentages to indicate how much he suspects a person of committing a crime, such as "five percent" - he may in fact be over ninety percent convinced of their culpability. Although L tells Light that he is among the least likely suspects with one of the lowest percentages of probability, in reality L is "pretty certain" that Light is Kira. As series writer Ohba said laughing, making light of L's tactics: "The truth is, he's a liar."
When L is finally able to corner him, Light puts his master plan in practice. He temporarily gives up his Death Note to his Shinigami, Ryuk, erasing his memories about his time as Kira from his mind. Rem, Misa Amane's Shinigami, under instruction by Light to give it to someone who would use it selfishly, gives it to Kyosuke Higuchiof the Yotsuba Corporation. Now unaware of the fact that he was the original Kira, Light accepts L's offer to join the investigation team to hunt down Higuchi, known as the third Kira, although he is handcuffed to L throughout the entire case. Light proves very useful in helping to track down Higuichi, realising the new Kira is connected to Yotsuba. When Higuchi is finally captured, Light touches his Death Note, thereby regaining his memory of when he was the original Kira. He then proceeds to killing Higuchi by using the Death Note paper he put in his watch before he lost his memories.
After killing Higuchi, Light then 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 the anime, prior to L's death Light and L talk to each other for one last time on the roof of the investigation building; some viewers believed that L, somehow, knew that his death was drawing near.
Unbeknownst to him, however, L had arranged things so that if he should die, others could take over, and consequently when his true successors Near andMello start their own respective investigations of the Kira case, Light is haunted by the memory of L whenever he communicates with them. The cooperation of Near and Mello in the Kira case eventually leads to Light's unmasking as Kira. Thus, L was able to indirectly defeat Light through his successors.
In the anime's conclusion, when Light dies, an image of L, possibly L's spirit, is shown standing over him, mirroring Light standing over L at L's death. Added with the fact that Ryuk had only stated that those who have used the Death Note would not go to Heaven or Hell, this may imply that an afterlife exists in the anime series.
This event, however, did not happen in the manga. This was likely due to the fact that it had been stated in the manga that after someone dies, regardless of whether or not they used the Death Note, they will not go to Heaven or Hell, meaning there is no afterlife.
L Lawliet(エル・ローライト,Eru Rōraito), known universally by the letterL(エル,Eru), is a fictional character and the main deuteragonist in the manga, anime and film seriesDeath Note. He is also the main protagonist in the filmL: Change the WorLd. In the storyline, L is considered the world's greatest detective, who can control police forces worldwide and whose identity remains unknown before the story takes place because he has never revealed himself to the public. He often takes drastic strategies to confuse and force the hand of his opponents, and his disheveled appearance disguises his brilliance and genius. L takes on theKiracase in order to find the titular murderer able to kill people whose names are written in theDeath Note. He meets Kira, a teenager namedLight Yagami, and becomes determined to convict him, but cannot due to lack of any sufficient evidence. L is the strongest and most intelligent character in the entireDeath Noteseries.
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