Misa Amane/Films

Plot
Misa is portrayed in the Death Note film series by Erika Toda. Misa's role is very similar to her canon self in that she uses her Death Note to support Kira and she falls in love with Light. Her career is also further developed with her being an actress, TV personality, and singer. In addition to her parents, she had a younger brother who was also murdered, and their murderer is named as Yoichi Tamura.

In the first film, Misa has a recurring background role as a popular idol. An ad for her is printed on the side and back of the bus that Light, Shiori Akino, and Raye Iwamatsu are on when it is hijacked by Kiichiro Osoreda.

Misa notably has a TV show called "Misa-Misa's Happy Sweets" in which she bakes treats, playfully planning to make her love-rivals fat but then saying that they're so good that she ends up eating the treats herself. Light has her show on while in his bedroom. During the program, Ryuk laughs upon seeing Misa, probably foreshadowing that he knows she is going to die soon.

After filming a segment of her show, she expresses support for Kira to a journalist during an interview. A supervisor states that the section will be cut due to controversies.

Ryotaro Sakajo, the assistant director for her show, develops an obsession with her. Misa once blows her nose into a tissue and throws it away, and Sakajo takes it out of the trash to keep. At the end of the first film, Sakajo follows Misa one night with a knife, and she runs from him screaming for help, but ends up at a dead end. He plans to kill her and himself so she can be with her parents again, but he collapses before he's able to do so. A Death note falls beside his dead body.

The second film, Death Note: The Last Name, begins during this same scene, but it shows Gelus watching the events from the Shinigami Realm and he writes Sakajo's name in his Death Note. Gelus's Death Note then falls in front of Misa, who picks it up and meets Rem.

Misa sends her envelopes to Sakura TV from Kita-ku, Osaka. Her message airs while she is in her private dressing room at the station. It's also during a TV festival attended by Sayu Yagami. Instead of Ukita, Kanzo Mogi runs to the station to get the broadcast to stop, and Misa kills him with her Death Note. Witnessing Mogi's Death Note, Sayu becomes upset and calls her a "murderer", which causes Misa to freeze with a flashback to her murdered family, and she stops. When Light comes to the station for Sayu, Misa sees him on her way out, which is how she discovers his name.

After confinement, it appears that she and Light share a room at headquarters, and she comments that it's like being married.

At the end of the second 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 Ryuk kills Light. Misa was likely taken into custody, but L burned the Death Notes and Misa lost her memories. Misa is not prosecuted and is eventually released.

Unlike in the original series, Misa does not commit suicide following Light's death. Instead, she is seen wishing Light a happy birthday before a family shrine, which holds Light's picture and a picture of Misa's family. She feels that a part of her life is somehow missing, or that she has forgotten something important. However, she doesn't remember what it is.

The fourth film, Death Note: Light Up the NEW World, is set ten years later. Misa is a successful model and actress. Although nothing suspicious has happened with her, she remains under surveillance by the police. Yuki Shien gives her one of the Death Notes, and her memories of events come back to her. Shien meets her secretly in her car in the parking garage, where the cameras can't see them talk. Shien wants Misa's help, but she isn't interested. She tells him to take the Death Note, but he leaves it with her saying it's hers.

Shien later texts Misa for help, and she arrives. She again makes the eye deal with Ryuk, and she writes down Ryuzaki's name, apparently killing him. When Shien starts to get them out of there, Misa tells him to go on alone because she can't. She tells him the location he was looking for and she gives him her Death Note, and she stays behind. With scraps of Death Note paper, she kills Kuromoto and Uragami, members of the Task Force, to help Shien get away.

Misa then goes outside, having written her own name and the circumstances of her death on a scrap of Death Note paper. As written, she dies on December 18th at 2:40 pm "in the arms of Light Yagami."

It is also revealed in the fourth film that Light had a child who would be nine years old. The child was being raised by Teru Mikami, who was Misa's prosecutor after the Kira case. Although the child's mother isn't directly named, the age of the child and the connection between Misa and the child's guardian implies that Misa is the mother.

Conception of Misa in the films
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. 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.

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."

Novel
Misa is mentioned several times in the novel, L: Change the WorLd, and L's obsession with her seems to be much greater. She is extremely famous by now, even working as a singer.

Maki Nikaido reveals that she grew up in Osaka, in the same neighborhood as Misa Amane and her family. Misa was well known in the neighborhood for her beauty, and her family was very close with the Nikaido family. The two families even used to go on vacations together. Maki keeps a computer chip containing photos of the Amane's and her family on vacation to her, which she holds very precious, though agrees to give it to L after he offers to trade her for his notebook, which he values greater than his own life.

Misa and Maki have a close relationship, Maki viewing Misa as an older sister, even after she became famous. Misa cares about Maki as well, going out of her way to help Maki escape, despite it being all over the news that Maki was carrying a deadly and highly contagious virus.

It is revealed by L that Misa only has a few years left to live.