Light Yagami is the main protagonist of the manga series Death Note, created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. He is portrayed as a brilliant but bored genius who finds the Death Note, a supernatural notebook that allows the user to kill anyone by knowing their name and face, after it is dropped by the Shinigami Ryuk.

L Lawliet known mononymously as L, Hideki Ryuga, and Ryuzaki is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the manga series Death Note, created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. He is an enigmatic, mysterious, and highly-esteemed international consulting detective whose true identity and background is kept a secret.

Ryuk is a fictional character in the manga series Death Note, created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. He is a Shinigami that drops a Death Note, a notebook that allows the user to kill anyone simply by knowing their name and face, into the human world to find relief from the boredom of his own realm.

Misa Amane is a fictional character in the manga series Death Note, created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. A famous model, Misa seeks out Kira as she supports his cause to "cleanse the world of evil".

Mihael Keehl, universally referred to by the mononym Mello, is a fictional character in the manga series Death Note, created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata.

Nate River, otherwise better known by his alias Near, was raised alongside Mello and other orphans to be world-class detectives on par with L.

Naomi Misora, however, figured out his plan at the last moment, saving Beyond Birthday's life while at the same time putting him under arrest for his murders.

Light prevents Soichiro from taking drastic action in order to keep Sayu safe, in spite of knowingly increasing Mello's chances of obtaining the Death Note.

Touta Matsuda pretending to be drunk as he flings his arms out to begin Matsuda's Showtime.

Kiyomi Takada. Kiyomi talking to Light. The bad news: Takada is yet another cool girl who fell right into Light Yagami's slimy little hands.

Rem is the Shinigami who gives Misa Amane one of the Death Notes she had. Like Ryuk, Rem possesses two Death Notes; however, Rem did not get hers through trickery.