Naomi Misora

"He's dead. Raye's dead. No, he was murdered by Kira."

- Naomi Misora ("Tactics")

Naomi Misora (南空=ナオミ, Misora Naomi) is a former FBI agent and the fiancée of agent Raye Penber. After the death of Raye (who was a member of the FBI team being used by L and charged with following the suspect Light Yagami), Naomi begins her own investigation into his death and comes to conclude that Kira is responsible. When Light Yagami overhears Naomi's plan to give her theory to the Japanese Task Force, he quickly decides to eliminate her.

Appearance
Naomi is a young woman with long black hair and hazel eyes. She is often seen wearing black leather clothes.

Character
Described by Death Note 13: How to Read as formerly a "first rate" FBI agent with a "remarkable investigative ability," Naomi left the Bureau in October 2003 for the sake of starting a family in the United States. Naomi is very intelligent. Unfortunately, she eventually lets her feelings get in the way of her investigative abilities.

Plot
After the bus jacking, Raye Penber returns home and is welcomed by his fiancée, Naomi. Penber informs her that he was caught in a bus jacking and that the busjacker was the same man who had hit a bank two days prior. He tells Naomi not to involve herself in the investigation for her own safety. After the sudden death of her fiancé a few days later, which she blames Kira for, Naomi decides to take part in the Kira case herself. Having been told by Raye that he showed his FBI badge to someone during a bus jacking, Naomi deduces that Kira must have been on the bus. In her attempts to contact the Task Force, she comes across Light Yagami. Light uses his father's status to his advantage, telling Naomi that he is Chief Yagami's son, and he slowly begins to win her trust. Cautious at first, she uses the false name Shoko Maki in order to protect herself until she can reach L. Light finally gets Naomi to reveal her name by saying that he is a member of the Task Force and is actually working with L.

Taking advantage of Naomi's emotional state, Light gives the possibility that she could join the Task Force and help catch her fiancé's murderer.

Light says that he will need to see a form of identification before she can join, and Naomi shows him her driver's license. Using a piece of the Death Note, Light writes down Naomi's name, resulting in her death by suicide. Her body is never found due to the specifications made by Light in the Death Note.

Films
Death Note (live action film) and L: Change the WorLd

In the live-action films her character, played by Asaka Seto, plays a larger role in the story. After witnessing her fiancé die at the hands of Kira, an enraged Naomi decides to investigate the case herself. Beginning with Light as her prime suspect, she uses Shiori to get to him. Using the alias Shoko Maki to protect herself, and with a strong belief that Light is Kira, she tries to make him confess that he is. However, her real name is uncovered by Light through the wedding documents held by the church where she and Raye had planned to marry. Naomi's fate ends in a similar manner to the anime and manga as she is forced to commit suicide, the only exception being she takes the life of Shiori before doing so.

For the production and filming of the movie, Seto stated that she "tried to project that awesome spirit" of Naomi, referring to the character's tenacity and drive while trying to defeat Kira.

Her character also makes a brief appearance in L: Change the WorLd.

Novel
Death Note: Another Note

Naomi is one of the central characters and heroine/female protagonist in the spinoff novel Death Note: Another Note - The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases by author Nisio Isin. The story is set several years prior to the start of Death Note and focuses on a series of murder cases investigated by L with Naomi as his operative. The resulting capture of the murderer helped launch Naomi's reputation within the FBI.

Trivia

 * In the anime's first opening, Naomi is seen holding Penber's corpse in a manner similar to Michelangelo's representation of Pietà near the 45-second mark.
 * In Death Note: Another Note, when Naomi is trying to decipher the possible writing etched into Believe Bridesmaid's back, she describes her difficulty doing so by saying that the English alphabet is unlike Kanji or Hangul. The latter suggests that she also speaks (or at least reads) Korean.
 * The same work, on page 125, mistakenly states her birthday to be February 14.

Quotes

 * "My fiancé… and the convenience store robber… and the busjacker… were all used by Kira in order to murder the FBI agents in Japan. I'm convinced of it."
 * (To Light Yagami) "Why do you keep checking your watch?"

Naomi Misora Naomi Misora