Death Note starts with a single idea: a notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it. Light Yagami, a bored, brilliant high school student, finds it and decides to rid the world of criminals. The killings draw the attention of L, an anonymous detective just as clever as Light, and the series becomes a duel between two minds, each trying to learn the other's identity first.
The cast is smaller than most shonen series, and almost everyone matters. Below are the leads first, then the Kira side, L's successors, the Shinigami (death gods) and the police Task Force, followed by the voice cast and a full list of names.
Light and L
Light Yagami
Kira · Protagonist
Light is the top student in Japan, handsome, polite and the son of a senior police officer. When he finds Ryuk's Death Note he tests it once, panics, then convinces himself he's the only person with the will to use it properly. As Kira he builds a world afraid of crime, while lying to his family, his girlfriend and the detectives working beside him. The series' real subject is how quickly that certainty turns into a need to be worshipped, and how little of the original idealism survives.
- Age
- 17 at the start
- Voice
- Mamoru Miyano (Japanese), Brad Swaile (English)
L
World's greatest detective
L has solved cases around the world without ever showing his face. He appears in person for the first time to catch Kira and calls himself Ryuzaki when he does. He's pale, sleepless and eats nothing but sweets, and he thinks in percentages. He suspects Light almost immediately and spends the first half of the series trying to prove it while working beside him. His loneliness, and the odd friendship he forms with the person he believes is a murderer, is what makes him more than a puzzle machine.
- Real name
- L Lawliet
- Voice
- Kappei Yamaguchi (Japanese), Alessandro Juliani (English)
The Kira side
Light's followers range from a devoted girlfriend to a corporate death squad. Each one shows a different reason people might back a killer who only targets criminals.
Misa Amane
The Second Kira · Model
Misa is a gothic-fashion model whose parents were murdered by a burglar. Kira executed the killer, and she's loved Kira ever since. She gets her own Death Note and makes the eye deal, which means she can see anyone's name by looking at their face, at the cost of half her remaining life. She's often written off as an airhead, but she's the one who finds Light, not the other way around. She chooses her devotion knowing exactly how he uses her.
- Voice
- Aya Hirano (Japanese), Shannon Chan-Kent (English)
Teru Mikami
Prosecutor · Kira's proxy
Mikami is a public prosecutor who has seen the world as a fight between good and evil since childhood. To him, Kira is simply God. In the final arc he receives a Death Note and acts on Light's orders, punishing not just criminals but people he considers useless. His total faith is the reason Light trusts him, and the reason he becomes a liability.
Kiyomi Takada
News anchor · Kira's spokesperson
Takada was Light's girlfriend at university and is chosen as Kira's official mouthpiece on NHN television. She's composed and ambitious, and she sees herself as Kira's partner, which makes her rivalry with Misa sharp and petty. Light uses her as a go-between and treats her as disposable when things go wrong.
Kyosuke Higuchi
The Third Kira · Yotsuba Group
Higuchi is an executive at the Yotsuba corporation who gets a Death Note and uses it to kill business rivals. He's greedy rather than ideological, and the arc shows how quickly Kira's power turns into a market advantage. He's also the case that lets L finally see how the notebook works.
L's side and the successors
L was raised at Wammy's House, an orphanage for gifted children. Two of its students, Near and Mello, carry on his work in the second half of the series. Their methods couldn't be more different.
Near
L's successor · Head of the SPK
Near is a white-haired teenager who builds towers out of dice and toys while he thinks. He heads the SPK, a small American unit chasing Kira, and he plays the long game, laying a trap that relies on Light's pride. He's colder and less charming than L, and fans still argue over whether he's a satisfying final opponent. In the end he admits he only won because Mello forced the issue.
- Real name
- Nate River
Mello
L's other successor · Mafia ally
Mello was ranked second to Near at Wammy's House, and he can't stand it. Instead of working with Near, he joins the mafia and goes after Kira with kidnapping, blackmail and explosives. He's impulsive, always eating chocolate and badly scarred after one plan goes wrong. His reckless final move gives Near the opening he needs.
- Real name
- Mihael Keehl
Watari
L's handler · Founder of Wammy's House
Watari is the elderly gentleman who speaks for L, handles his equipment and is the only person L fully trusts. He's also the inventor who founded the orphanage that produced L. His real name is Quillsh Wammy.
Matt
Mello's partner
Matt is a quiet, chain-smoking gamer from Wammy's House who helps Mello in the final arc. He gets very little screen time, but fans remember him well.
Naomi Misora
Former FBI agent
Naomi is a skilled ex-FBI agent who once worked a case with L. After her fiancé Raye Penber dies investigating Kira, she starts her own investigation and gets dangerously close to the truth. Her one meeting with Light is among the tensest scenes in the series.
Halle Lidner
SPK agent
Halle is a former CIA operative on Near's team. She's assigned as Takada's bodyguard, which places her right in the middle of the endgame, and she quietly works with Mello as well as Near.
Stephen Gevanni
SPK agent
Gevanni is Near's surveillance expert. He follows Mikami and plays a key role in the final trap.
Anthony Rester
SPK commander
Rester is a steady former soldier who acts as Near's field commander and his link to the outside world.
Raye Penber
FBI agent
One of the FBI agents sent to Japan to investigate Kira. Light uses him to reach the rest of the team.
The Shinigami
Shinigami are death gods who live in a grey, dying realm and extend their own lives by writing human names in their notebooks. They can't be seen by anyone who hasn't touched their notebook. Two of them, Ryuk and Rem, are central to the story.
Ryuk
Shinigami · Owner of Light's notebook
Ryuk drops his spare Death Note into the human world purely because he's bored, and he follows Light around to see what happens. He loves apples, laughs at almost everything and isn't on anyone's side. He's honest about the rules when asked and tells Light from the start how their arrangement will end. His detachment is the series' constant reminder that, to a death god, none of this matters.
- Voice
- Shidō Nakamura (Japanese), Brian Drummond (English)
Rem
Shinigami · Misa's protector
Rem is a pale, bony Shinigami who gives Misa her notebook and comes to care about her deeply. A Shinigami who kills to extend a human's life dies, and Rem knows it. Light understands this too, and he deliberately puts Misa in danger so Rem will act. Rem sees exactly what he's doing and does it anyway.
Gelus
Shinigami
Gelus is a Shinigami who fell in love with Misa from a distance and gave his life to save hers. His notebook is the one Rem brings to Misa.
Sidoh
Shinigami
Sidoh is a nervous, forgetful Shinigami who comes to the human world to get his lost notebook back during the Mello arc.
The Kira Task Force and the Yagami family
The Japanese police officers who stay on the Kira case after their colleagues quit are ordinary, decent men working next to two geniuses. They're the audience's stand-ins, and their reactions often land harder than the big twists.
Soichiro Yagami
Police chief · Light's father
Soichiro leads the Task Force and is everything his son pretends to be: honest, brave and devoted to the law. He refuses to believe Light could be Kira, and Light exploits that trust again and again. His story is the quietest tragedy in the series.
Touta Matsuda
Youngest detective
Matsuda is cheerful, impulsive and treated as the team's comic relief. He admires Light and is often the one who wonders aloud whether Kira might have a point. That makes his reaction in the finale, when the truth finally comes out, one of the most powerful moments in the story.
Shuichi Aizawa
Detective
Aizawa is the most sceptical member of the team. After the time skip he begins to suspect Light, and he's the one who first takes Near's theory seriously.
Kanzo Mogi
Detective
Mogi is a large, quiet officer who rarely speaks but is dependable in every assignment, including a stint as Misa's manager.
Hideki Ide
Detective
Ide leaves the Task Force early in protest at L's methods, then returns after L's death.
Hirokazu Ukita
Detective
Ukita is the hot-headed officer who rushes to the TV station when the Second Kira first appears.
Sayu Yagami
Light's younger sister
Sayu is an ordinary, cheerful girl whose kidnapping in the Mello arc pulls the Yagami family into real danger.
Sachiko Yagami
Light's mother
Sachiko is a warm homemaker who has no idea what her son is doing.
The rules that shape the characters
Death Note works because the notebook has strict rules, and the characters exploit or stumble over them. The ones that matter most for the cast:
- Name and face. The writer must know the victim's real name and picture their face. That's why L hides his name and Light hunts for it.
- Forty seconds. If no cause is written, the victim dies of a heart attack 40 seconds later. If a cause is written, the writer gets a few minutes to add details.
- The eye deal. A human can trade half their remaining lifespan for Shinigami eyes, which show a person's name and lifespan above their head. Misa and Mikami both take it. Light refuses.
- Giving up the notebook. A person who gives up ownership loses every memory of using it. Light uses this to fool L.
Voice cast (2006 anime)
| Character | Japanese | English dub |
|---|---|---|
| Light Yagami | Mamoru Miyano | Brad Swaile |
| L | Kappei Yamaguchi | Alessandro Juliani |
| Misa Amane | Aya Hirano | Shannon Chan-Kent |
| Ryuk | Shidō Nakamura | Brian Drummond |
Mamoru Miyano later voiced Chrollo in Hunter x Hunter, and Kappei Yamaguchi is also the voice of Inuyasha. Our voice actors guide covers more of these crossovers.
Themes and where to start
Death Note is often a person's first anime because it's short, adult in tone and built like a crime thriller. The question it keeps asking is whether killing criminals can ever be justice. It never answers directly, but it shows you what the belief does to Light, and to everyone who agrees with him. Light is one of the clearest examples of a protagonist sliding into villainy, which is why he turns up in our guides to anti-heroes and villain types. His duel with L is a fixture of every list of iconic rivalries.
Start with the 37-episode anime or the 12-volume manga; they tell the same story. Many viewers feel the second half, after the time skip, is weaker, but it's where Near, Mello and Mikami come in, and it's needed for the ending. If you finish it and want more, Attack on Titan and Fullmetal Alchemist are the usual next steps. Browse every series on our anime hub.
All Death Note character names A–Z
A–G
- Anthony Rester — SPK
- Gelus — Shinigami
H–K
- Halle Lidner — SPK
- Hideki Ide — Task Force
- Hirokazu Ukita — Task Force
- Kanzo Mogi — Task Force
- Kiyomi Takada — Kira side
- Kyosuke Higuchi — Third Kira
L
- L (L Lawliet) — Detective
- Light Yagami — Kira
M–N
- Matt — Mello's partner
- Mello (Mihael Keehl) — Wammy's House
- Misa Amane — Second Kira
- Naomi Misora — Former FBI
- Near (Nate River) — SPK
R
- Raye Penber — FBI
- Rem — Shinigami
- Ryuk — Shinigami
S–T
- Sachiko Yagami — Yagami family
- Sayu Yagami — Yagami family
- Shuichi Aizawa — Task Force
- Sidoh — Shinigami
- Soichiro Yagami — Task Force
- Stephen Gevanni — SPK
- Teru Mikami — Kira side
- Touta Matsuda — Task Force
W
- Watari (Quillsh Wammy) — L's handler
Frequently asked questions
Who is L in Death Note?
L is the world's greatest detective, an anonymous genius who takes the Kira case and quickly narrows the killer down to Japan's Kanto region and then to Light Yagami. He's known for crouching on chairs, eating sweets and going barefoot. His real name, L Lawliet, is only given in the official guidebook Death Note 13: How to Read.
Who is Kira in Death Note?
Kira is the name the public gives to the unseen killer of criminals. The original Kira is Light Yagami. Misa Amane becomes the Second Kira, Kyosuke Higuchi of the Yotsuba Group is the Third, and later Teru Mikami and Kiyomi Takada act on Light's behalf.
Who are the female characters in Death Note?
The main ones are Misa Amane, the Second Kira; Rem, the Shinigami who protects her; Naomi Misora, a former FBI agent; Kiyomi Takada, a news anchor and Kira's spokesperson; Halle Lidner of the SPK; and Light's mother Sachiko and sister Sayu.
Who is Near in Death Note?
Near, real name Nate River, is one of L's two successors from Wammy's House. He leads the SPK, an American task force hunting Kira, and in the finale he exposes Light. He admits he couldn't have done it without Mello.
Does Ryuk help Light?
No. Ryuk drops his notebook into the human world because he's bored, and he follows Light only to watch. He tells Light at the start that he'll be the one to write Light's name when his time is up, and he keeps that promise.
How many episodes and chapters does Death Note have?
The manga ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 2003 to 2006 and has 108 chapters in 12 volumes. The Madhouse anime ran from 2006 to 2007 and has 37 episodes. Both tell the same story with a slightly different final scene.