Teru Mikami

Teru Mikami (魅上 照, Mikami Teru) in the original manga and anime versions, is a criminal prosecutor chosen as the new Kira by Light Yagami. When Light feels it is much too dangerous for Misa Amane to keep the Death Note any longer, he instructs her to pass the ownership of the Death Note to Mikami. Little is known about Mikami at first, except that he appears to be a follower of Kira, and that he is a prosecuting attorney. He also performs an eye trade with Ryuk, earning him the Shinigami Eyes. When Mikami's decisions reveal that he can follow the thoughts and ideals of the first Kira, as L could, Light wonders if Mikami will become much-needed help, or a new threat. Fans and viewers often poke and smirk at Mikami because he is "overly-excited" about becoming the right hand of the new god of the world. He is also known for repeating the phrase "Delete" over and over again while he writes names in the notebook; or "Judged" in the Japanese version.

Mikami in the original manga
As the story progresses, it is revealed that Mikami had been beaten at school several times. He is inspired by some incidents in his childhood, in which people he deemed to be evil were injured or killed by mysterious people in which no innocents were harmed, seeing them reflected in Kira's acts of judgment. Because of his beliefs, he chose to become a prosecutor and worships Kira as God.

Mikami's fate in the anime
In the anime version of Death Note, Mikami commits suicide with the fountain pen he used to write on the notebook, (it is seen that blood goes flying out from his chest) allowing Light to flee the warehouse (though it cannot be asserted whether he did so on purpose or out of desperation). In the Rewrite 2 special aired on Japanese television on August 22, 2008, Mikami and Takada are the ones to kill the SPK, rather than the Mafia.

Mikami's fate in the manga
In the manga version of Death Note, Mikami is apprehended by the SPK and imprisoned. He then mysteriously dies in prison ten days later, leading to Matsuda's theory that Near restricted Mikami's actions with the Death Note in order to convict Light.

Trivia

 * He is one of the two Kira to have another letter in his name, namely the X in his nickname by Near, X-Kira and also the only one associated with Light Yagami to have such a nickname.
 * In the manga, Mikami mysteriously dies in prison. Matsuda theorizes that Near wrote in the notebook to restrict Mikami's actions, so as to be able to convict Light. Ohba and Obata have stated that they themselves aren't sure on this; in How to Read 13, Ohba suggests that given Near knew the "burning" and "13 day" rules were fake rules, he wouldn't have feared writing in the notebook, and then burnt the notebook so as to destroy the evidence. No solid information has been given on the matter; readers are meant to draw their own conclusions.


 * Obata based Mikami's design on Taro Kagami, the main character in the pilot chapter of the series.
 * He is referred to as "T" by Light and Takada.
 * He is the only character in the series to receive a full back story in the form of a whole chapter-long flash back. Although it has been remarked that such things would ruin the pace of a series that was all about what was happening there and then, it seemed necessary for Mikami's origins to be fully explained, so as to explain his intentions.
 * His exclamation of the word "delete" when he writes a name in his Death Note has become some-what of a mini-meme on the internet.