The story of Death Note revolves around a high school student called Yagami Light. His life changed when he saw a supernatural notebook that fell from the sky. He picked it up and ridiculed it because he thought it was just a joke but took it anyway. He discovers that the owner of the notebook is not human but a Shinigami; A Death God. The Shinigami is known as Ryuk, whose appearance is very inhumane, very slim and tall and has long limbs. He also has pointy hair and has large yellow eyes with red irises and sharp teeth.
Later on, he tells Light that he dropped it from their world to the human world and he is now the owner of the so-called Death Note. Ryuk explains to Light that he is able to see him because it’s the effect of touching pages of the Death Note. The Death note has a power to kill anyone regardless of their size,shape,health, or distance.
Light gets intrigued by the notebook; so he tried writing a name on it but hesitated for moment thinking about the outcome. On the same hour, there is a kidnapping of eight children and teachers on the nursery building. He writes Otohara Kurou as his first victim. As stated in the note, a person dies of heart attack every 40 seconds if their death is not stated. He started to browse some lists of serial killers and other criminals to test the power of the notebook he picked up. Light believes that the world is ‘’rotten’’ because of the criminals that commit various kinds of crimes and inhumane act towards other people. Ryuk is fascinated by Light’s personality and devotion of using the Death Note. Any human who was used the Death Note will not go to heaven nor hell. (As stated by Ryuk himself.)
The power of the note drove Light to label himself as the new ‘’God’’ of this world. He wants people to know about his existence; that he is someone who can pass judgement to all of them. He killed criminals one by one thinking he can change the world into a utopia without evil.
The ICPO have been investigating the sudden deaths of criminals as there have been 52 deaths in the past few weeks (all of them were heart attacks) after Light got his hands on the Death Note. Most of the criminals were wanted or being held in prison. Police are arguing over the issue that they shouldn’t be so concerned about the deaths of the criminals but one of them stood up to it and said ‘’it doesn’t matter if they are criminals, killing them is also murder’’.
Others believe that some large organizations are behind these inexplicable killings. Because of all the uproar, they have all decided to let ‘’L’’ take the investigation. Nobody knows L’s real name, his appearance, and his location. L is a genius detective who has solved the most difficult cases he’s taken. He has solved many of the world’s unsolved cases, the last hope and trump card of the police. But they didn’t know L was already on the move before they even brought him up. A man named ‘’Watari’’ showed up at the conference telling all of them that he is now investigating the case. (Watari is the only person who can contact L)
L is convinced that these killings are unforgivable crime. To solve this case, L has asked everyone to fully cooperate with him and strongly work with the Japanese Police assuming that the perpetrator is a Japanese resident. Yagami Soichiro, Light’s father, is the chief of the NPA and a police officer that initially leads the Japanese Task Force has accepted L’s offer to set up headquarters in Japan.
Meanwhile, people are starting to notice the happenings that involve the deaths of the criminals. Knocking off the idea that the police are behind it, they have made a name for the person behind it. They named him‘’Kira’’ that literally means ‘’Killer’’ in English. Someone even made a website for Kira. Light is very pleased about having acknowledged by the people in the internet until a special, worldwide broadcast from ICPO interrupted. The tv screen flashed a man named Lind L. Tailor, a man with black hair and bluish eyes. It surprised Light and the other police because he ‘’showed’’ his face to the public now when he never showed his face before. They are convinced that he is serious about this case. Mr. Lind posed a threat to Kira saying that he will find him and catch him. Mr. Lind provoked Light saying that what he’s doing is evil.
Light prepared his Death Note and wrote Lind L. Tailor while saying L should’ve been smarter than this. After 40 seconds, Lind L, Tailor dies of a heart attack. After watching his death, Light thought that it was all over but it wasn’t. The broadcast was changed and showed a picture of a letter ‘’L’’ and somebody spoke in a robotic voice. He said he found it unbelievable that Kira can kill a person without any direct contact until he had seen it with his own eyes. He then explained that Lind L. Tailor was just an impersonator that was destined to be executed that day and revealed that he is the real L and telling Light to try and kill him on live broadcast. He also revealed that the broadcast wasn’t worldwide but was just broadcasted in the Knato region of Japan and now he knows that Kira is based on the Kanto region. This left Light stunned and Ryuk was impressed by L.
L has proved Kira’s existence, that the killings are real, and that Kira is a Japanese citizen. Kira has accepted L’s challenge. Now the both of them have to hunt each other down, but neither of them knows each other’s name or faces and the first one who gets found will die!
Yagami Light
Light is known to be talented, intelligent, and a natural born genius. He hates the idea of the lack of justice in this world. It’s the reason why he started his façade as Kira. His very goal is to ‘’erase’’ all evil and create a new world where only the good and honest people can live. Because of the Death Note, he created a cold, ruthless and evil personality inside him. He perceives himself as the savior of mankind and his wrongdoings aren’t wrong no matter how inhumane his actions are. He’s even willing to sacrifice his own family for his goals if he needs to.
Light’s appearance is that of tall height with light brown hair and matching brown eye color. Being a top student, he is often seen in the series wearing his school uniform. A lot of girls label Light as a handsome young man. His birthday is February 28, 1986 (in the anime) age is estimated to be 17-18 and his blood type is A.
L
L is just an abbreviation from his real name. L is already a hot topic on the ICPO conference for being a great detective. His face was unknown to them until the later episodes where he meets Light’s father face-to-face. L is known for his skills and intelligence and he’s also known for cracking most of the world’s unsolved crimes. He then starts to investigate the killings involving Kira. During his investigation, he meets Light and keeps an eye on him.
He is highly suspicious of Light. L might sound intimidating but his appearance has shocked everyone. L is a slim and tall young man with messy jet black hair. He’s got dark eyes and also round dark circle under his eyes. Often wears a white long sleeve and blue jean trousers. What makes L different is that he’s a very strange man. He sits on a different position, he goes out barefoot in public, he has a different way of holding a phone, and he also walks like a hunchback that’s why people don’t notice how tall he is. Despite being like this, L has quite the sweet tooth. After meeting Yagami Soichiro, he requests to have his name addressed as ‘’Ryuzaki’’ just to be safe.
Ryuk
Ryuk is a shinagami who is the owner of the Death Note that was found by Light. Ryuk has taken a liking to the apples in the human world. He dropped a second Death Note to the human world because he was bored in the shinigami world. After a few days he came down and met Light. Ryuk follows Light around all day because he was interested in how Light is gonna use the Death Note.
Misa Amane
Misa is known to be the second Kira. She is a big fan of Kira and an upcoming model. After getting her hands on her own Death Note, she looks for Kira (Light) to give thanks for getting rid of the criminal who killed her family. Misa later on learns the real identity of Kira is Light Yagami. After meeting him, she decides to become Light’s fiancée and dedicated herself in helping Light. Misa’s appearance is a petite,slender, beautiful girl with blonde hair. Her hair is often styled with a portion of her hair that is twin tailed. She has the power called Shinigami eyes, the one she used to know Kira’s identity. Misa mostly wears gothic fashion and wears a red lipstick. Misa is hyper active, childlike and somewhat impulsive. Because of this, she is very careless in her acts as the second kira which led to her arrest. Misa has a cheerful personality but despite that, she has been mentally affected by the murder of her family.
Rem
Rem is the female Shinigami who gave Misa a Death Note. It is not personally from Rem but from a shinigami named Gelus who has fallen in love with Misa. Gelus turned to ashes from saving Misa from getting killed by her murderer. Rem took his Death Note and brought it to Misa. Rem’s appearance is quite different from Ryuk. She has a bone-like structure and white skin. Her hair and face has purplish shade on it. From then on, Rem continued to watch over Misa to keep her away from harm just like Gelus would have wanted. Rem is aware how dangerous having Misa to be near Light as he was planning to using her as a tool. Light tells Misa that he would kill her if she doesn’t do as he says, and Rem warns him that he will do the same.
Near
Also known as ‘’N’’ is assumed to be L’s younger successor. After L died, he began to investigate the Kira case and gathered evidence for almost four years. After meeting L (Which is Light) he also strongly felt that Light is Kira. Near have same traits with L. He is very intelligent for his age and is quite the observant. He likes to solve complex problems and thinks of his investigation like solving a hard puzzle. Near have white hair and often seen wearing a white pajama top and white pajama pants. His date of birth is August 24, 1994 (in the anime) and his blood type is B.
Death Note is a very dark and deep anime with an amazing storyline. It provides its viewers with incredible characters, a deep storyline, and view of how power can be dangerous.