Shinigami

In Death Note, Shinigami (死神)—literally "death god"—are a race of extra-dimensional beings who survive by killing humans to extend their own lives. Shinigami in this series are not responsible for every death that occurs; people will eventually die regardless of whether or not the Shinigami pay attention to them, but a Shinigami can end their lives sooner than intended for their own benefit.

Overview
Shinigami vary widely in appearance, and their bodies are built in ways that would seem impossible by Earthly standards. Shinigami can also save other humans they care about if that person is about to die. But the purpose of a Shinigami is to end life, not give it—any Shinigami who violates this nature will perish. Shinigami who die are reduced to dust, and their remaining lifespan is given to the human they saved.

The main thing all Shinigami have in common is the Death Note. This supernatural notebook allows them to end the lives of humans before their times, adding the human's remaining lifespans to their own. In this manner, a Shinigami can extend their lives indefinitely. To assist in this, their eyes allow them to see the names and remaining lifespans of humans by seeing the faces of their victims.

All Shinigami must possess at least one Death Note, a necessity to extend their lives. Should they manage to come across a second, it should—at least in principle—be returned to the Shinigami King. If a notebook ever reaches the human world and is picked up by somebody, the Shinigami must accompany the human until they die or the Death Note is willingly given back. Shinigami can explain the purpose of the Death Note to the human, but this is done at their discretion.

General Lifestyle
Shinigami may be male or female. Shinigami cannot and are not permitted to have sexual relations with humans nor can they have sexual intercourse with each other. They also cannot reproduce. In addition, humans cannot easily tell which Shinigami are male and which Shinigami are female. However, Shinigami may have emotions relating to the opposite sex. For instance, Ryuk feels shy and embarrassed when Misa Amane hugs him.

While Shinigami possess senses of taste similar to those of humans, they do not need to eat food. This is because their organs have rotted—or perhaps evolved—to the point where they can no longer gain nutrition from what they consume. In addition, Shinigami do not need to sleep and will not die from a lack of sleep. Ryuk once said that Shinigami view sleeping as "evidence of laziness."

Each Shinigami has his or her own written language, with some opting for letters and some opting for pictures. Takeshi Obata, arist of the series, said that he assumes that all Shinigami can understand the languages of one another. Some Shinigami can also speak, read and write in Earthly languages.

If a Shinigami breaks laws, the Shinigami will face one of nine punishment levels. The severity is least at Level Nine and most at Level One. Another level more sever than the rest, called the "Extreme Level" also exists. The Shinigami will die if anything above Level Three is applied to him or her. However, neither the anime nor the manga goes into detail about this part of the Shinigami's lifestyle.

Shinigami may not kill a human in any manner outside of using a Death Note, because killing a human without using a Death Note merits "Extreme Level" punishment.

Shinigami have rankings, with the King of Death as having the highest ranking. How to Read 13 states that the rankings do not seem to affect the Shinigami's day-to-day activities very much.

Shinigami Realm
The Shinigami Realm is a barren, dry, and desolate land that is similar to Purgatory. The realm includes different landscapes and does not have human-like buildings. Shinigami tend to congregate in areas with bone and/or stone structures. There is at least one mountain or cave structure where Ryuk lives alone, which is shown in the one-shot special of the anime.

The realm also includes deserts with various holes. The holes, which are shaped like concentric orbs, are littered about the surface. The artifacts have openings which let them see anywhere in the human world from a birds-eye view. These strange objects are what allow Shinigami to take human lives without traveling to Earth. The date that the holes were created is not known.

Shinigami Eyes
A human can obtain Shinigami Eyes by giving up half of their remaining lifespan. A human with Shinigami eyes will always see names and lifespans of other people, and whatever name they see is the one used to kill that person (even if it's not written in the family register). Also, it is not clear exactly how much of a person's face must be seen in order to see their name, but mainly just their eyes and forehead. In addition, as per the rules, the human owner of the Shinigami eyes gains 3.6 vision. The creator of Death Note described the rule as "very close to being a stupid rule." In Death Note: Another Note, it is revealed that Beyond Birthday was somehow born with Shinigami eyes. It is also indicated that he either sees lifespans in human time or has learned to read Shinigami time.

Conception and Developement
Takeshi Obata, the artist for Death Note, said that he had "a lot of fun" during the creation of the Shinigami. He also felt that the process was "very difficult" since he started "with nothing." He cited the difficulty in his creation of Ryuk as an example. Obata said that at first Shinigami appeared like "beasts" and that with later Shinigami such as Sidoh he designed them to look like crustaceans and insects because "it was easier." Obata said that he felt difficulty in basing characters on animal designs and keeping "the same feeling of the series." Obata said that he considered basing Shinigami on wizards but decided against the idea, and that the rags on some Shinigami serves as a remnant of that concept.

When designing the Shinigami Realm, Obata said that he used "no real design motif" and that he never settled on any concrete appearance. He described the Shinigami Realm as changing appearance in each instance in Death Note, with it sometimes appearing to be a dry field and sometimes appearing to be a room full of bones. Obata says that he likes to think of it as "an abandoned building with chunks of steel sitting around."

Ryuk
Ryuk is the main Shinigami of the series. Bored with the activities (or lack thereof) of the Shinigami realm, Ryuk obtains a second Death Note and drops it in the human realm for someone to find, hoping to amuse himself. He deliberately writes the instructions on the front page (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 by Light, 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 gray—or a purpleish color—and his limbs are abnormally long and he has bulging yellow eyes with black irises.

Rem
Rem is the Shinigami who gives Misa her Death Note. Like Ryuk, Rem possesses two Death Notes; however, Rem did not get hers through trickery. The Shinigami Gelus, who had fallen in love with Misa, sacrificed himself to kill her destined murderer. In doing so he was reduced to dust, leaving only his Death Note. Touched by this act, Rem delivered his Death Note to Misa, since it was her life he saved. Her appearance is quite skeletal, with long, spinal cord-like arms and bone-like skin. In the manga and anime, Rem tells Misa that she is actually a female Shinigami. In the second live-action film, this is not mentioned, leaving it ambiguous. She is also given a more masculine voice.

Gelus
Gelus appears in a flashback when Rem explains how to kill a Shinigami. He is a small, doll-like Shinigami whose appearance suggests that he was poorly sewn together from mismatched fabric. He only has one eye, despite having two eye sockets.

In the flashback, Rem recalls Gelus watching over a younger Misa Amane in the human world. Knowing that it was Misa's final day, she watches with him. Having fallen in love with Misa, Gelus uses his Death Note to kill Misa's destined murderer, against Rem's protests. Gelus is reduced to a pile of dust as punishment for extending a human life, leaving behind only his Death Note. Rem delivers his Death Note to Misa because it was her that he saved. In the film, he simply drops it and it lands near Misa.

Sidoh
Sidoh is the Shinigami whose Death Note was stolen by Ryuk. By the time he realizes this, however, the note has already changed hands several times, ending up in the hands of Mello's gang (more specifically, Mello's subordinate, Jack Neylon). After repeatedly hounding Ryuk for its return, he tracks down the gang to get it back. In order to regain his Note, Sidoh agrees to help Mello's gang against Near's SPK and the Kira investigation team. He wears heavy clothing, obscuring most of his features, and his head is wrapped in bandages.

Armonia Jastin Beyondormason
Armonia Jastin Beyondormason, otherwise known as Jastin the Jewel Skeleton, is a briefly-featured Shinigami who informs Sidoh that his Death Note was stolen by the Shinigami Ryuk. As his names suggests, Jastin's appearance is that of a skeleton adorned with all manner of jewelery. Jastin is the right-hand man of the Shinigami King and sits on a throne. Highly intelligent, Jastin knows everything there is to know about the Death Note. Jastin provides Sidoh with several scrolls describing the various rules that Shinigami have for interacting with humans, which Sidoh uses to guide his interactions with Mello in the human world. However, these scrolls are never mentioned in the anime.

Calikarcha
Calikarcha is considered strange-looking even by Shinigami standards, having eight eyes lined up two rows on each side of his head. He has a penchant for cherries but dislikes sunlight.

Daril Ghiroza
Daril Ghiroza is a female Shinigami who passes time by stacking human skeletons. She has a liking for gold but dislikes bright places. Obata described her as "more of an Orthodox-looking Shinigami." Obata said that since Obata designed her at the same time as his design work for Sidoh for use as a new main character he gave her some contrast with Sidoh's design. Obata said that he based Ghiroza on Ryuk's design and tried to make her appear "higher-ranked."

Deridovely
Deridovely is a Shinigami who spends his time gambling. He is humanoid in appearance, but wears a bone mask over his face. He carries a scythe, making him thematically similar to the classical depiction of the Grim Reaper. He usually gambles with Guuku. Obata said that he based Deridovely on a "gross-looking transparent insect." Obata believes that the bandages aid the design.

Guuku
Guuku is a lazy Shinigami whose most prominent feature is his animal mask. Like Deridovely, he too enjoys gambling. Despite gambling with Deridovely much of the time, he is a poor gambler. Obata said that, as Guuku appears in the first chapter, he wanted for Guuku to look like a monster to keep it simple. Obata decided to use a cattle skull in the design as he felt that using a regular skull would be boring.

Kinddara Guivelostain
Kinddara Guivelostain is a female Shinigami with a fierce appearance, having a huge fissure jutting out of her head and sharp teeth. she enjoys violence but hates excessive thinking. She does not appear in the actual Death Note story, but does appear on the spine of Volume 12. Obata said that, since the final volume release pended, he wanted to create a new Shinigami to appear in the volume.

Midora
Midora is a large, slug-like Shinigami with stubby limbs. Unlike most Shinigami, she does not wear any clothing or decorative elements on her body. She enjoys moist weather but loathes dry seasons. Her enormous size gives her a dominating presence. While she is a background character in the main series, a one-shot chapter set three years after Light's death focuses on her. Midora appears to have the same feeling toward bananas, as seen in one panel of the one-shot when she is in the new Kira's room, she is eating a banana while lying amongst an enormous pile of banana peels. Obata said that he liked Midora's design as she appears more like a salamander and has a vastly different design when compared to other Shinigami. Obata said that her skin feels moist like amphibian skin.

Nu
Nu is a Shinigami whose body is covered from head to toe with eyes. Nu is supposedly the second most-powerful Shinigami, with the King of Death's powers eclipsing hers. She is very intelligent and likes the feeling of others' regret, but she dislikes sound. Obata described Nu as like "a giant rock covered in eyes that sticks out of the ground." Obata said that Shinigami like Nu exist and are rare.

Shinigami King
Shinigami King, also known as the King of Death, is the ruler of the Shinigami. An unseen character in the main series, the Shinigami King governs the Shinigami and controls distribution of the Death Notes. It is not made clear if he creates them or just has a certain supply, as he is unwilling to replace lost ones. It is also unclear whether the Shinigami King enforces the various rules of the Shinigami. The Shinigami King is regarded as a sort of father figure by lesser Shinigami, and is said to be almost immortal. Many Shinigami refer to him as the "Old Man", and How to Read 13 said he must be very old due to this. Chapter 109 depicts the King as a large mass suspended in the air with chains. He has a skull for a head, which is surrounded by a larger, skull-like formation. He has four arms, each with only three fingers on the hands, which hang from his body.

Unnamed Shinigami
An unnamed Shinigami debuted in the Director's Cut special of Death Note. Like Ryuk, he too was bored with the Shinigami realm. This Shinigami has an eyeless skull for a head. He wears a coat, a pair of goggles, and uses a tie as a headband. He takes an interest in Ryuk's visit to the human realm, and gives Ryuk an apple in exchange for information about the human world and its entrance. Ryuk accepts, but instead recaps the story of Light Yagami's correlation with a Death Note. After meeting Ryuk, he ventures off with sights set on the human world.

Zellogi
Zellogi wears a Native American headdress and has a hook in place of his left hand. He takes an interest in Ryuk's activities in the human world, and humans in particular after learning that Ryuk's Death Note is in a human's possession. Despite his feeble appearance, he has a highly inquisitive nature. His interests are in furry items and he dislikes moist temperature.