Misa Amane

Misa Amane (弥 海砂, Amane Misa) is an up-and-coming model who supports Kira, and later becomes 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 has long blonde hair that was most commonly worn in pigtails, although she occasionally wears it loose as well. While her eyes are predominantly light brown in the manga, they alternate between light brown and blue in the anime (green on the figure).

Misa dresses in gothic-lolita style, though noticeably less so after the time skip. She tends 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 is 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.

Character
Misa is very outgoing, and is a model, actress and singer. She is shown to be quite popular, and attracts a large crowd around her while visiting Light near his school. While she often appears hyperactive and impulsive, she is also shown to be intelligent, specifically when she creates her plan to trick Higuchi into revealing himself to be a Kira, and successfully carries her plan out.

Although she is generally nice to those she meets, she can also be quite cruel, as seen when she tells Light that she would "probably kill" any of the girls he dates, despite Light's dating them being part of his plan to appear as a normal young man to the investigators.

Despite her typically cheerful personality, Misa had a rough past, having seen her parents get murdered right in front of her. The murderer was later killed by Kira, an act that Misa has been grateful ever since. Misa'a gratefullness to Kira is what initially fuels Misa's actions as the Second Kira. Later on however, her actions are strongly fueled by her love for Light Yagami.

Light Yagami is an important figure in Misa's life, and she frequently comments on him being so. She often declares her love for him. She is quite dedicated to Light, and even refuses to perform a kiss with a fellow actor while making a film because she is dating him. After losing her memories of the Death Note for the first time, she even decides to help catch Kira for Light (who has joined the Task Force, and also has no memories of the Death Note and ever being Kira).

Misa usually refers to herself in the third person by calling herself "Misa-Misa".

Plot
Shortly after beginning her modeling career, Misa is attacked by an obsessed stalker. A Shinigami named Gelus, has been watching Misa from the Shinigami realm for a while, and fallen in love with her. Seeing that Misa is going to be killed, Gelus writes the name of her stalker down, killing him, and ultimately, saving Misa.

Unfortunately, since Shinigami are not meant to empathize with humans, Gelus himself dies; he turns to dust, leaving behind only his Death Note. Another Shinigami, Rem witnesses this and decides that the notebook left behind should belong to Misa, and delivers it to her, thinking that Gelus wanted Misa to have it. After recieving the Death Note, Rem is obligated to stay with Misa (as Ryuk is with Light). Wanting to meet and thank Kira for avenging her parents, Misa makes the eye deal with Rem.

She succeeds in enticing Kira to Aoyama through videos she sends to Sakura TV, which contain indirect, and some rather direct, comments about Death Notes, Shinigami and how they can meet. Knowing that Light is Kira, due to the fact that her Shinigami eyes can see his name, but not his life span, Misa sees and and falls in love with him immediately.

After finding out his address, Misa arrives at Light's house, telling his mother and sister that she has his notebook. When she is in private with him, she explains what has happened, and asks to be his girlfriend and partner in crime, admitting that she wouldn't even mind if he simply uses her. Light agrees, intending to kill her after she outlives her usefulness. However, Rem in turn promises to kill him if he ever harms Misa.

Soon after, Misa is captured by L, under suspicion of being the second Kira. She carelessly left several pieces of evidence connected to the second Kira in her apartment. Not being able to move her body or see due to L's restraints, Misa eventually asks Rem to kill her. L and the others watching, who are unable to see Rem since they haven't touched Misa's Death Note, believe Misa is talking to them. As an alternate solution, Rem eventually convinces Misa, who had originally refused, not wanting to forget her love for Light, to give up ownership of the Death Note. This causes Misa to lose all of her memories.

Light is eventually able to create a situation in which she is free, but still under surveillance. Misa proves to be a surprising asset to the investigation by uncovering the identity of the Third Kira.

She also establishes an alliance with L, who she only knew as Ryuzaki. This unlikely friendship begins when L tells Misa that he understands her feelings for Light, and touched by this, Misa kisses him and offers to be his friend. According to what L says, this made her the first and only person to ever do so.

After regaining her memories as the second Kira, Misa trades for the Shinigami Eyes a second time with Ryuk, and, once again, takes on the role of Kira. When L notes that the murders have started to continue once Misa was released, Rem realizes that Misa will no doubt be found out by L, and that the only way to prevent this would be to kill L. She writes down Watari and L's real names, disgusted with Light, but willing to do it for Misa. Watari and L then die, and Rem turns to dust, having saved Misa, and expanding her lifespan.

Misa assists Light for several years until she reluctantly forfeits ownership of the notebook again, having become a liability. By this time, Misa's career has really taken off, and she has become a famous actress, appearing even in American films. She retires from her career when Light asks her to, so that she could marry him. However, Misa soon returns to the entertainment world by taking part in the New Year's pop music festival. After her memories are gone, Misa ends up spending the remainder of Light's life (about two months) in the company of Kanzo Mogi, as he investigates her. Then the two are both confined by the SPK.

Films
Main Articles: Death Note (Live action film) and Death Note: The Last Name

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 Ryuk 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
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
The following information is from Death Note: How To Read 13.

Tsugumi Ohba: Writer

Takeshi Obata: Artist

Overview
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).

Character Design
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 said that he remembered "having a lot of fun" while looking through gothic lolita magazines and drawing Misa. 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". 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. When the Near and Mello story arc began and Misa became a top idol, Obata decided to make her look like "a popular actress".

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

Trivia

 * Although Ohba came up with Misa's name from something based on "kuromisa", "Misa" is infact an actual female, Japanese name. The female Japanese name "Amane" means "sound of the heavens".
 * In the anime, 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

 * (To Rem after Rem explains how 'love' killed Gelous) "What a wonderful way to kill."
 * "To me... Kira is an absolute being!"
 * "Yeah but... to me, Light is more important than the world."
 * (To L) "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 Rem while being held captive by L) "Kill me!! Kill me now!!! I was suppose to die on that day right? Please. Just. Kill. Me."
 * (To Light Yagami) "Do you mean it? Misa-Misa Wins!!"
 * (To Kiyomi Takada) "You'll probably get the death penalty."

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.