Light Yagami is an extremely intelligent young man who resents the crime and corruption in the world. His life undergoes a drastic change when he discovers a mysterious notebook, known as the "Death Note", lying on the ground. The Death Note's instructions claim that if a human's name is written within it, that person shall die. Light is initially skeptical of the notebook's authenticity, but after experimenting with it, Light realizes that the Death Note is real. After meeting with the previous owner of the Death Note, a shinigami named Ryuk, Light seeks to become "the God of the New World" by passing his judgment on those he deems to be evil or who get in his way.
Soon, the number of inexplicable deaths of reported criminals catches the attention of the International Police Organization and a mysterious detective known only as "L". L quickly learns that the serial killer, dubbed by the public as "Kira" (キラ, "Kira"? derived from the Japanese pronunciation of the word "killer"), is located in Japan. L also concludes that Kira can kill people without laying a finger on them. Light realizes that L will be his greatest nemesis, and a game of psychological cat and mouse between the two begins.
Characters
Main article: List of Death Note characters
Main characters
Light Yagami (Kira) (夜神 月, Yagami Raito?)
The protagonist of Death Note, Light is an extremely intelligent, popular and athletic, 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.
L (エル, Eru?)
L is the world's top-rated detective, 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 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.
Misa Amane (弥 海砂, Amane Misa?)
A girl with an immense crush on Kira, Misa is a popular idol in Japan. 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). Misa devotes herself to Light because he killed her parents' murderer after several trials had failed to convict him.
Mello (メロ, Mero?, Mihael Keehl)
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.
Near (ニア, Nia?, Nate River)
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 Government of the United States and formed the Special Provision for Kira (SPK).
Teru Mikami (魅上 照, Mikami Teru?)
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.
Shinigami (Death Gods)
Main article: Shinigami (Death Note)
Ryuk (リューク, Ryūku?)
A 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.
Rem (レム, Remu?)
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 Gelus, another shinigami who died when he saved Misa's life, and thought it only right to pass it on to Misa. Rem inherits Gelus' 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.
Sidoh (シドウ, Shidō?)
The third shinigami seen in the human world, Sidoh is revealed as the original owner of the Death Note Ryuk dropped at the beginning of the series. Initially upon entering the human world, Sidoh relentlessly follows Ryuk, demanding the return of his Death Note. Ryuk eventually admits he has no knowledge of the location of Sidoh's Death Note, said note having been used as a bargaining chip by Light and fallen into Mello's hands. Sidoh eventually locates his 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. The English versions of the series and the Japanese volumes use the romanization Sidoh while the Japanese Death Note 13: How to Read book uses the romanization Shidoh.
The Death Note and its function
A Shinigami's Death Note is a notebook with the power to kill the human whose name is written in it. All Death Notes are governed by the same set of rules determining the extents and limitations of the Notes' powers.
Written rules
Before dropping the Death Note in the human world, Ryuk wrote five of the most basic rules on the Note's inside front cover. He chose to write the rules in English because he believed it to be the most popular human language. Those rules are as follows:
The human whose name is written in this note shall die.
This note will not take effect unless the writer has the subject's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.
If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the subject's name, it will happen.
If the cause of death is not specified, the subject will simply die of a heart attack.
After writing the cause of death, the details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds (400 seconds).
In addition to these basic rules, many manga chapters have a title page, and many anime episodes have two eyecatches, containing several rules written in both English and Japanese. These rules often serve to clarify the more esoteric uses of the Death Note that the characters discover on their own. Official Death Notes contain over 40 pages listing these rules.
Conception and design of the Death Notes
Obata said that Ohba did not give him suggestions regarding how to design the Death Notes, so Obata possessed free reign. Obata said that he originally thought of the books as "Bible-like" "something you would automatically think was a Death Note." Obata added that he felt that this design would seem "difficult to use" so he opted for an "easy to use" "college" notebook. Obata said that at a later point he thought of a concept that Death Notes could look different depending on the human era, such as having Death Notes in ancient Japan looking like scrolls and Death Notes in medieval Europe looking like The Old Testament.[17]
Ohba said that he "randomly" selected numbers for used for various conditions; he said that in some conditions he wished to use the number four since the word "four" in Japanese (四, Shi?) sounds like the word for "death." (死, Shi?)[3] (See Tetraphobia)
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Forum TitlesSuper ModeratorVery Important Person(VIP)Detective
7/25/2008, 12:44 pm by 
Subject: Death Note 
