Misa Amane

Misa Amane (弥 海砂, Amane Misa) was an up-and-coming model who supported Kira, and later became the second Kira. After gaining a Death Note, she seeks out Kira in order to thank him for killing the man who murdered her family, and to offer him her help. Having made the trade for the Shinigami Eyes, Misa learns that the identity of Kira is Light Yagami. After a meeting with Light, she decides to dedicate her life to helping Light however she can, and becomes determined to use her Eyes to uncover L's real name.

Appearance
Misa, born on December 25, 1984 in Kyoto, had a height of 152 centimeters (approx. 5 feet) and a mass of 36 kilograms (79 pounds). Misa had a bust size of 76 centimeters (30 inches), a waist size of 51 centimeters (20 inches), and a hip size of 75 centimeters (29.5 inches). Her blood type was AB. Her long blonde hair was most commonly worn in pigtails, although she would occasionally wear it loose as well. Misa tended to wear crucifix jewelry, though the crucifixes were changed to 'fleur de lis' symbols in the anime adaptations (most notably on the Misa finger puppet). Despite this, Misa was depicted with a crucifix in the first anime opening and her model sheet image in the liner notes of the third anime soundtrack. She also has a crucifix on the collector's figure included with volume 5 of the DVD sets. As with Mello, the crucifixes may have been removed to erase traces of Catholicism in Misa's personality. While her eyes are predominantly light brown in the manga, they alternate between light brown and blue in the anime (green on the figure). Some suggest she may have been wearing contacts, but others believe it may have been mere mistakes by the animators.

Character
Misa is outgoing, being both a model and an actress. She often appears hyperactive. Misa usually refers to herself in the third person by calling herself "Misa Misa". She kills innocent people as the second Kira in order to attract the attention of the first Kira. Realizing that Kira lives in Tokyo, Misa moves there in order to meet him. She lives in a small apartment which is fully decorated in gothic style, showing her rather eccentric nature. It is from this location that Misa devises to start using her Death Note and enacts her plan to send the videos to Sakura TV. Her motivations were not revealed until she actually visited Light's house and explained her tragic past. After meeting Light, she starts helping him by trying to figure out L's real name.

Plot
She decides to devote her life to Light due to the fact that Kira punished the criminal that killed her parents in front of her very own eyes as a child. Misa, unable to forgive the killer and wanting to kill the burglar herself, saw multiple delays in the killer's trial before Kira killed him. Misa did not gain her Death Note through these events however, they were simply a coincidence. Shortly after beginning her modeling career, Misa was attacked by an obsessed stalker, who tried to stab her. A Shinigami named Gelus, who had fallen in love with her at some unknown time, was watching this and saved Misa's life by writing her attacker's name into his Death Note. Unfortunately, since Shinigami are not meant to empathize with humans, Gelus himself died. Another Shinigami, Rem, witnessed this and decided that the notebook left behind should belong to Misa, and delivered it to her, thinking that Gelus wanted Misa to have it, but this turned out to be the wrong decision. Misa also performed the eye trade twice, cutting her lifespan in half two separate times: the first trade with Rem to find Kira, and the second with Ryuk in the hopes of gaining Light's affections, though the Gelus' and Rem's sacrifices expanded her lifespan an unknown amount.

When Misa first appeared in the story, her aim was merely to meet Kira and thank him for punishing her parents' killer. However, after she succeeded in enticing Kira to Aoyama through videos she sent to Sakura TV, her feelings changed. According to Misa, she saw Light in Aoyama, and fell in love with him immediately. She then found out his address and arrived at his house, asking to be his girlfriend and partner in crime, even if it was just used by him as he saw fit. To which Light agreed, intending to kill her after she had outlived her usefulness. This scheme of his, Light was unable to bring to fruition, because Rem in turn promised to kill him if he ever harmed Misa (who was by now Rem's charge the same way Light was Ryuk's charge and responsibility).

Misa was soon captured by L, due to the fact that she started hanging around Light without knowing he was under suspicion and observation. She carelessly left several pieces of evidence connected to the Second Kira. By erasing her memories intentionally, Misa allowed Light to create a situation in which she was freed, but still under surveillance. Misa proved to be a surprising asset to the investigation by uncovering the identity of the Third Kira. She also established an alliance with L, who she only knew as Ryuzaki. This unlikely friendship began when L told Misa that he understood her feelings for Light, and touched by this, Misa kissed him and offered her hand in friendship. According to what L said, this made her the first and only person to ever do so. Unfortunately, after learning that 'Ryuzaki' was truly L, Misa was not hesitant to try to kill him.

After regaining her memories as the Second Kira, Misa traded for the Shinigami Eyes a second time with Ryuk, and took on the role of the Second Kira again. She assisted Light for several years until she reluctantly forfeited ownership of the notebook again, having become a liability. By this time, Misa's career had really taken off, and she had become a famous actress, appearing even in American films. She very briefly retired from the business so that her identity could not be as easily uncovered by someone with the Shinigami Eyes. However, Misa soon returned to the entertainment world by taking part in the New Year's pop music festival. After her memories were gone, Misa ended up spending the remainder of Light's life (about two months) more or less as an alchoholic in the company of Kanzo Mogi, as he investigated her. Then they were both confined by the SPK.

According to How to Read 13, her memory from the incident and the Death Note was erased, yet she still retained her love for Light. She was not brought to justice for her crimes, having no memory of ever committing them. Misa fell into despair after learning of Light's death through someone "like Matsuda." Misa committed suicide one year later on February 14, 2011 (ironically, Valentine's Day). It was also revealed that the cloaked woman who appears at the end of the manga was not Misa, but simply a follower of Kira.

In the last episode of the anime, she is seen on the edge of a skyscraper. We can assume Misa does, in fact, die. In the last chapter of the manga, a year after Light's death, she is one of the few characters not seen. In the Death Note Oneshot, she is not seen or mentioned, either.

Films
Misa, portrayed in the film by Erika Toda, is seen filming a drama called "Misa-Misa's Happy Sweets," where she states that she is baking treats to make her enemies fat. After filming of that section ends, she expresses support for Kira on camera. A supervisor states that the section will be cut due to controversies. During the program, Ryuk also begins to laugh upon seeing Misa, probably foreshadowing that he knew she was about to die soon. Ryotaro Sakajo, the assistant director for "Happy Sweets" and Misa's attacker, dies from a heart attack when Gelus writes his name inside of his Death Note. Gelus's Death Note then falls in front of Misa, who immediately picks it up and finds Rem.

In the film, Misa sent her envelopes from Kita-ku, Osaka. Misa had a younger brother who was killed by Yoichi Tamura, who also killed her parents. Misa became very depressed after the death of her family, and despite the fact that her family's murderer was punished, she remained unhappy until she met Light.

In the film, her memories of the Death Note are still intact when Light dies, and she witnesses the final showdown between Light and L. Misa cries in anguish as she can do nothing but watch as Ryuuk kills Light. It is not known what happened to Misa immediately afterwards, but she was not prosecuted and her memories of the Death Note eventually vanished when both Death Notes were burned.

Misa does not commit suicide in the film. Instead, she is seen wishing Light a happy birthday from a shrine she has dedicated to him. She feels that a part of her life is somehow missing, or that she has forgotten something important. However, she just doesn't remember what it is.

Actress's portrayal of Misa
Erika Toda said that, prior to filming, she felt "a lot of pressure" due to the character's popularity with audiences. She said the pressure vanished when filming began. Kitty Sensei of The Star theorized that Toda did not have "the time to think much about how fans would react," citing film shoots that Kitty Sensei described as "physically and mentally exhausting" such as the straight jacket scene. Toda said that undoing the straight jacket took a lot of time, and at times she waited in the jacket between takes. Toda also said that on one occasion, she wore a blindfold for an hour during filming.

Reception
Tom S. Pepirium, an editor of IGN website, describes Misa in a review of the Death Note anime episode "Performance" as being the "show's weakest and most annoying character." Pepirium cites "the tone in which she is written." He feels that her motivation and Kira obsession are "in league with Death Note's dark sensibilities." He says that when Misa "spouts" her "deep and fully realized" affection for Kira in "her whacky, excited, poodle-like way" the information "loses all impact." The reviewer uses "girly sophomoric pink fluff" and "Jar Jar" (a reference to Jar Jar Binks) as figurative descriptors for Misa. He also had compared Misa to Dot from Animaniacs. Pepirium said that he wished that Misa spent more time in a "somewhat serious state" instead of a "silly lovesick, big-eyed anime characterization." Many fans of the series, however, have more mixed feelings on the character.

Reception of the film version character
Erika Toda said that she views Misa as "complicated and fascinating." Toda added that she does not comprehend why a person would willingly use a Death Note; Toda said that she admired the fact that Misa "does everything she sets out to do" and that the actions of Light and Misa are "criminal."

Christy Lee S.W. of The Star said that Toda's portrayal of Misa in the second film "may seem rather annoying for being overly bubbly and cute at first" and that the character "grows" on the viewer "after a while." Lee said that at the end of the film she saw Misa as "quite endearing. It's scary, really."

Conception
Tsugumi Ohba, writer of Death Note, decided to create Misa to be the second Kira before the serialization began. He felt that having the story solely consist of males would be "boring" and that he wanted "a cute female." Ohba, intending to introduce her with the Shinigami Eyes, described her as having to be "spontaneous and not too bright" and that he determined her personality "from the start." Since Light Yagami would never want to trade for the Shinigami Eyes, Ohba wanted another character to use to trade for the eyes, so he decided to use Misa. Ohba said that the conception of the name Misa "was kind of random but I think it was from "kuromisa" (Black Mass). It must have been based on something".

Ohba ultimately decided to introduce Misa after the death of Naomi Misora. Ohba and Takeshi Obata, artist of Death Note, wanted to use the gothic lolita design to convey "gothic imagery of the Shinigami and that world". Ohba said that he is "into that fashion" and that having Misa first appear in unusual clothing would be "more interesting". Obata, imagining a mix of an "energetic Japanese artist" and a "foreign rock and roll singer", felt "set" when he drew Misa for the first time. Obata said that he felt "apprehension" regarding the length of Misa's hair; personally he wanted her fringe (bangs) to be "straight across" but believed that creating Misa completely within the bounds of gothic lolita style would be "too much". Therefore Obata designed her so she looked "a little more natural" and to appear "cute" to people who "weren't into the Gothic Lolita style".

When the Near and Mello story arc began and Misa became a top idol, Obata decided to make her look like "a popular actress". Obata said that he remembered "having a lot of fun" while looking through gothic lolita magazines and drawing Misa. In response to a question inquiring about which characters the creators faced the most difficulty in creating, Obata selected Misa. Obata said that he had difficulty comprehending the concept of "doing anything for the person you love" and that he felt like the character controlled him when he drew her. Death Note 13: How to Read also states that Misa "required a lot of artistic variation" because of her "many expressions" that ranged "from goofy to serious".

In the manga, Misa wears jewelry with a crucifix theme; in the anime adaptation, she wears fleur de lis jewelry, although the cross is retained on the collector's figure included with Volume 5 of the DVD series.

When designing color book covers, Obata assigned colors to characters to "get the atmosphere right". Obata assigned pink and black to Misa.

Trivia

 * The female Japanese name "Misa" means "beautiful sand."
 * The female Japanese name "Amane" means "sound of the heavens."
 * As to how she committed suicide, (although never mentioned explicitly by either creator) it has been speculated by many fans that she jumped off the top of a skyscraper, due to a scene during the end of the last episode, in which she is seen standing on the roof of a skyscraper, beyond the railing. Ironically enough, Misa was also seen doing this in episode 25, not long before L's death.
 * It should be noted that the necklace and earrings Misa wears resemble the symbol for the "Hand of Eris." Eris being the goddess of Discord and Chaos, a subtle recurring theme in the series.
 * The ringtone on Misa’s phone is Alumina.
 * Ohba and Obata have stated that the cloaked woman who appears at the end of Finis (the last chapter of the Death Note manga) is not Misa, but a "random follower" of Kira.

Quotes

 * "I can't imagine living in a world without Light!"
 * "If Light were Kira... That would be... Wonderful! I am grateful to Kira for killing the people who killed my parents... Light being Kira? It would make me love him even more!"
 * "To me... Kira is an absolute being!"
 * "Kill me!! Kill me now!!! I was suppose to die on that day right? Please. Just. Kill. Me."
 * "Let's all be friends together!!"
 * "Do you mean it? Misa-Misa Wins!!"

Themes
Misa has three themes, all of which are found on Death Note Original Soundtrack III. Her themes are "Misa" (ミサ, Misa), "Misa's Loneliness" (ミサの孤独, Misa no Kodoku), and "Misa's Feelings" (ミサの気持ち, Misa no Kimochi).

Also worth noting is "Misa's Song" (Misa no Uta), which Misa sings in the anime prior to L's death. "Misa's Song" appears on the soundtrack three times. There is one track with vocals, a piano version titled "'Misa's Song' (Piano Solo)", and an orchestra version simply titled "'Misa's Song' (Orchestra Version)". The Japanese vocals are performed by Aya Hirano, while the English-dubbed vocals are performed by Shannon Chan-Kent.