Part I

ARC undefined Part I is the first part of the Death Note anime and manga series. This part primarily focuses on a cat-and-mouse battle of wits between Kira, who is 17-year old Light Yagami, and L, an eccentric detective seeking to catch Kira.

During interviews, Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata refer to this part as the "L arc." Many readers and viewers also use this name.

Chapters 1-22
Light Yagami is a bored high school student who is the top student of the nation, and Ryuk is a Shinigami bored of the monotonous world of the Shinigami Realm who drops his Death Note into the Human World. Light picks it up and, after having accidentally killed two criminals while testing it, decides to use it to kill criminals in order to make the world a safe utopia while he becomes god of this new world. He adopts the name "Kira", given to him by the first people to notice that someone is passing judgment on criminals.

The killings catch the attention of the ICPO and L, who challenges Light when he baits Light into killing Lind L. Tailor on television, confirming Kira's existence and narrowing down his location. Light, accepting this challenge, begins to test the limits of the Death Note while subtly letting L know that he has access to police information, wanting L and the police to investigate each other. Light takes advantage of his father, Soichiro Yagami, who is the head of the Kira investigation, to stay updated on the case.

After Light kills all of the FBI agents sent to Japan to assist L and investigate the NPA and their families, the number of officers working under L gets reduced to a few, and demand that they see L in person. While L meets with the remaining Task Force members and updates them on the investigation, Light encounters and ultimately kills Naomi Misora.

After narrowing down the suspects to those Raye Penber investigated, L installs surveillance cameras in the households of Soichiro and Kitamura. Because Light learned about the cameras and found a way to kill criminals whose names were recently broadcasted despite being under surveillance, L pinpoints no one as a suspect; however, his intuition leads him to Light.

L enrolls in To-Oh University, under the alias of the name of a pop idol Hideki Ryuga, to declare L's identity to Light, catching Light off-guard; Light still cannot kill L, even if he finds out L's name, due to the fact that this person may be a proxy and the officers working on the case would begin to suspect Light should L die shortly after declaring his identity. Light seeks to have L let him meet the Task Force members so that they could confirm L's identity, while L wishes to ask Light to join the investigation so that L could observe Light more closely and could catch him slipping up more often.

L tries to get Light to say something Kira would know under the pretext that he is testing Light's deductive prowess, but Light sees through L's tricks and does not slip up, and also gets L to allow Light to meet with the Task Force members, saying that he refuses to work on the investigation should the Task Force not confirm L's identity. Soichiro has a heart attack and there, L has Soichiro confirm his identity.

Chapters 23-33 (Second Kira arc)
Sakura TV broadcasts tapes from Kira. L deduces there is a second Kira and Light understands their message to mean that they have the Shinigami Eyes. After Soichiro receives the tapes, L asks Light to join the Task Force, not only in the hopes that he will help them catch the Second Kira, but also to keep a closer eye on Light. Light plans to meet the second Kira before L and before the Second Kira blunders and causes trouble for him.

After the Second Kira's diary tells Light to go to Aoyama, a girl named Misa Amane visits his house, revealing her Shinigami, Rem, and asking to become helpful to Kira. Light realizes he will have to keep Misa around to keep her from causing trouble for him, and because Rem will kill him if anything happens to her, he also has to keep Misa safe from L.

Since L has already deduced that Kira and the second Kira are working together, Light dates multiple girls at once to explain his connection to Misa. Misa goes against Light's orders and meets Light earlier than he demanded, but Light uses this opportunity to convince Rem to kill L, claiming that doing so will make Misa happy. Unbeknownst to Light, L finds physical evidence pointing to Misa being the second Kira. L meets up with Light at the university, saying that the Task Force will assume Light is Kira should L die. Misa also arrives and manages to see L's name, but she is arrested and confined before she can tell Light L's name.

After she wipes Misa's memories of being Kira, Rem threatens to kill Light, leading to him concocting a plan in order to save him and Misa and kill L. Light has Rem become the Shinigami possessing what was Light's notebook and tells her to relinquish it to someone, while Ryuk possesses what was originally Misa's notebook. He then asks to be detained and adds a fake rule to the Death Note, stating that whoever writes in the notebook must kill someone within 13 days or die.

Chapters 34-59 (Yotsuba arc)
During the confinement, Light wipes his memories of being Kira. Within 15 days, newly broadcasted criminals are killed, and after fifty days of confinement in which the murders continued, L releases Light and Misa. After staging an execution, they are confirmed to not be Kira, and Light now wants to catch the new Kira alongside L. Light deduces that Kira is a person within the Yotsuba company, and L calls for assistance from old acquaintances Aiber and Wedy. L is still doubtful Light is not Kira, so he handcuffs himself to Light to keep a close eye on him, L's suspicion leading to conflict between him and Light.

Matsuda ruins their plan by entering the Yotsuba building and getting caught by the company executives. He obtains proof of their connection to Kira and suggests they hire Misa as a model before escaping by faking his death. The executives hire detective Eraldo Coil to look into L, and Aiber, playing the role, gains more information about them.

During her interview with the executives, Misa is contacted by Rem, and she regains her memories of being the second Kira. Rem tells her who the Yotsuba Kira is, and Misa gets Kyosuke Higuchi to confess. L uses Matsuda as bait to make Higuchi show them his method of killing, and with the help of the police force, the Task Force corners and detains him.

The Task Force learns of the Death Note, and Light regains his memories and continues his work as Kira, now with a very strong alibi and a close connection to L.  He puts Misa in a situation where she is in danger, and Rem, knowing that she is being manipulated, kills L and Watari in order to save Misa, leaving Light victorious with the Death Note she leaves behind.

Characters
The following is a list of characters featured in this part. Characters who are mentioned are italicized.


 * Light Yagami
 * L
 * Misa Amane
 * Ryuk
 * Rem
 * Gelus
 * King of Death
 * Soichiro Yagami
 * Naomi Misora
 * Kiyomi Takada
 * Watari
 * Touta Matsuda
 * Sayu Yagami
 * Sachiko Yagami
 * Kyosuke Higuchi
 * Raye Penber
 * Shuichi Aizawa
 * Lind L. Tailor
 * Yuri
 * Calikarcha
 * Gook
 * Deridovely
 * Zellogi
 * Wedy
 * Aiber
 * Hirokazu Ukita
 * Hideki Ryuga
 * Reiji Namikawa
 * Hideki Ide
 * Hitoshi Demegawa
 * Misa Amane's stalker
 * Arayoshi Hatori
 * Kiichiro Osoreda
 * Yumi Aizawa
 * Takuo Shibuimaru
 * Shingo Mido
 * Kurou Otoharada
 * Emi
 * Eiichi Takahashi
 * Eriko Aizawa
 * Koreyoshi Kitamura
 * Yamamoto
 * Yoshio Anderson
 * Masahiko Kida
 * Masaaki Shirami
 * Takeshi Ooi
 * Suguru Shimura
 * Ryo
 * Shiho
 * Ginzo Kaneboshi
 * Kyoko
 * Yukito Shiraba
 * Sudou
 * Nori
 * English teacher
 * Film director
 * Tasayoshi Yoda
 * Yasunaga
 * Sasaki
 * Yonegoro Nusumi
 * Unnamed woman
 * Yoshi
 * Light Yagami's friend
 * Misa Amane's friend
 * Matsushiro Nakaokaji
 * Imai
 * Ken Yadanaka
 * Near
 * Mello
 * Roger Ruvie

Chapters
The following is a list of chapters/volumes featuring this part.


 * Volume 1
 * 1) Boredom
 * 2) L
 * 3) Family
 * 4) Current
 * 5) Eyeballs
 * 6) Manipulation
 * 7) Target


 * Volume 2

Woman Slots Confluence One God Countdown Temptation Phone Call Handstand</li> </ol>


 * Volume 3

Trash</li> Gaze</li> Humiliation</li> First Move</li> Duplicity</li> Misfortune</li> Hard Run</li> Shield</li> Fool</li> </ol>


 * Volume 4

Reversal</li> Love</li> Judgement</li> Weapon</li> Bomb</li> Easy</li> <li>Gamble</li> <li>Removal</li> <li>Imprisonment</li> </ol>


 * Volume 5

<li>Whiteout</li> <li>Father and Son</li> <li>Eight</li> <li>Strike</li> <li>Separation</li> <li>Allies</li> <li>Matsuda</li> <li>Heaven</li> <li>Black</li> </ol>


 * Volume 6

<li>Successor</li> <li>Crazy</li> <li>Ill-Suited</li> <li>Impertinence</li> <li>Give-and-Take</li> <li>Potted Plant</li> <li>Yotsuba</li> <li>Misunderstanding</li> <li>Split-Second</li> </ol>


 * Volume 7

<li>Scream</li> <li>Inside</li> <li>Creation</li> <li>Embrace</li> <li>Two Choices</li> <li>Feelings Within</li> <li>Zero</li> </ol>

Episodes
The following is a list of episodes featuring this part.


 * 1) Rebirth
 * 2) Confrontation
 * 3) Dealings
 * 4) Pursuit
 * 5) Tactics
 * 6) Unraveling
 * 7) Overcast
 * 8) Glare
 * 9) Encounter
 * 10) Doubt
 * 11) Assault
 * 12) Love
 * 13) Confessions
 * 14) Friend
 * 15) Wager
 * 16) Decision
 * 17) Execution
 * 18) Ally
 * 19) Matsuda
 * 20) Makeshift
 * 21) Performance
 * 22) Guidance
 * 23) Frenzy
 * 24) Revival
 * 25) Silence
 * 26) Renewal