Light Yagami

Light Yagami (夜神 月, Yagami Raito) is the protagonist and anti-hero of Death Note. At the start of the series, he discovers the Death Note and uses it to kill criminals, then becoming known to the people of Japan as Kira (based on the Japanese pronunciation of the English word "killer"). Light is characterized as an extremely intelligent yet bored young man, confident in his own sense of logic and how clever he is in regards to others. He is frustrated by the lack of justice in the world. Believing the world to be "rotten," he desires a means by which he can enact his will to purge the world of all evil. Light is unaware that he is not alone: a Shinigami (God of Death) named Ryuk is tired of the rotten Shinigami Realm. This Rogue Shinigami drastically changes Light's life and world forever.

In the year 2003 (2006 in the anime), Light Yagami discovers a mysterious notebook on the ground at his school. Written on the cover: the words "Death Note". The Death Note's instructions state that if a human's name is written within it, that person shall die. Light is initially skeptical of the notebook's authenticity, but after experimenting with it, Light realizes that the Death Note is real. It is in this way that Light Yagami found his true purpose in life: to become Justice by judging and killing all criminals with the Death Note. Light feels that he is the only one fit to judge humanity, thus he decides to create a New World where he alone is "God." After meeting the previous owner of the Death Note, a Shinigami named Ryuk, Light seeks to control the world with Divine Rule, passing judgement on those he deems to be evil or those who get in the way of his goals.

A short time later, Light sets to work ridding the world of criminals, attracting the attention of the master detective L. Light and L encounter each other in several different battles of wit and logic throughout the first arc of the series. Once the second Kira, Misa Amane emerges, L is able to corner them both. After giving up the Death Note briefly to clear their names, Light is able to manipulate Rem into saving Misa's life. Kira's goal: to kill L, antagonist and arch-rival to Kira. When L is attempting to test the Death Note, Rem realizes that Light has trapped her. She is forced into a situation where she must choose: the life of Misa Amane, or her own existence as a Shinigami. It is only then that Rem has an epiphany: Light Yagami has surpassed all Shinigami, having the ability to even kill "immortal" Shinigami.

With L dead, Light takes up his mantle in order to hide L's death from the world, becoming the second L while also putting him in the perfect position to continue killing criminals as Kira. He comes into contact with L's true successors, Near and Mello, who are out for revenge in the name of the true L: Mello wants Light dead, Near wants him exposed as Kira. After making a mistake in using Teru Mikami as a proxy, Near is finally able to corner Light. Having decided that it is time to end Kira's game, Ryuk decides to kill Light.

Education and Everyday Life
At the beginning of the series, Light is a third year high school student (12th Grade in U.S.A.) at Daikoku Private Academy, and also attends supplemental classes at Gamou Prep Academy. Light's father, Soichiro Yagami, is chief detective and leads the investigative team opposing Kira. In addition to his father are Light's mother, Sachiko Yagami, and his younger sister, Sayu Yagami.

In the Spring of 2004 (2007 in the anime), Light becomes a first-year student (freshman) at To-Oh University, one of two freshman representatives; L is the other freshman representative. During a tennis game with L (using the name Hideki Ryuga) at To-Oh, spectators revealed that Light was the junior high school tennis champion in 1999 and 2000; After his 2000 victory, Light inexplicably quits playing tennis before entering high school.

Fate
In the manga version, Light completely loses his calm and characteristic cool over the prospect of being arrested. In complete desperation, Light begs Ryuk to help him by killing everyone in the room, yet Ryuk reminds Light that he is on neither side. Ryuk fulfills his promise from the beginning: he writes "Light Yagami" in his Death Note, thus ending Light's life.

In the anime version, Light manages to flee the warehouse after Teru Mikami commits suicide. Near instructs the team that there is no reason to pursue Light given that there should be no more hidden Death Notes, and Light's wounds would prevent him from getting far. Despite this, Shuichi Aizawa, Kanzo Mogi, Hideki Ide and Matsuda follow Light but are unable to find him before he dies on the staircase of a nearby warehouse due to cardiac arrest: Ryuk wrote his name in the Death Note. As Light slowly closes his eyes, an image of L appears before Light, mirroring Light standing over L in episode 25 at L's death.

In the one-shot special of the anime, an Unnamed Shinigami appears in the Shinigami Realm. This new Shinigami asks the others where the Rogue Shinigami named Ryuk is. Members of the fanbase believe this Unnamed Shinigami to be the reincarnation of Light Yagami due to five pieces of evidence: his coat looks similar to Light's when he died, he walks up stairs to meet Ryuk (a subtle reference to Light's death); the way he tosses the apple to Ryuk; the fact he inexplicably knows Ryuk's love for Apples (without asking the other Shinigami) and the fact that Ryuk says "Raito" (Light's real name) as he realizes the Shinigami's identity at the end (after the Unnamed Shinigami leaves).

Film Summary
In the film, a few changes were made to Light. At the film's beginning, Light is a first-year university student studying Law, instead of still being a high school genius, as in the beginning of the manga and anime. Light's motives differ; his boredom trait does not exist, and he instead uses the Death Note out of frustration from the perceived failures of the Japanese justice system. Light, prior to his discovery of the Death Note, hacks into the government database and finds that the government secretly acknowledges that many criminals are unable to be prosecuted. Light discovers the Death Note in an alley during a rainy night after encountering Shibuimaru in a club and throwing a law book into the rain in a rage. Light meets Ryuk after killing Shibuimaru. Light has a girlfriend, Shiori Akino, who attends his university. Light kills Shiori at the end of the first movie to gain sympathy from L.

After Rem "kills" L and Watari, Light writes his father's name in an attempt to kill him, an attempt that ultimately fails. The endings of both the second movie and the manga are similar. In the second film, after being exposed as Kira, Light asks Ryuk to write the names of the team members in the book during the climax. The police shoot but do not kill Ryuk as he writes in the Death Note. Light laughs until Ryuk shows Light the Death Note, revealing that Light's name was written in the book. Light tries to stop Ryuk, passing through the Shinigami. Light dies in his father's arms, begging him to believe that he acted as Kira to put justice into practice. Justice, which Soichiro Yagami had taught Light since his childhood.

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