Light Yagami

Subject: Light Yagami Sun Sep 06, 2009 1:57 pm

Light Yagami

Light Yagami Light_yagami03

Aliases: Kira; L-Kira, L the Second; Light Asah
Age: 17 in beginning, 23 at death
Gender: Male
Species: Human
Date of birth Manga: February 28, 1986
Anime: February 28, 1989
Date of death Manga: January 28, 2010
Anime: January 28, 2013
Nationality: Japanese
Occupation: High school student (Vol. 1-3)
University student (Vol. 3)
Police Detective (Vol. 7-12)
Known relatives: Soichiro Yagami (father)
Sachiko Yagami (mother)
Sayu Yagami (younger sister)
Blood: type A

Ohba described Light's life as "ruined" once he obtained the Death Note, and that Light became a victim of the Death Note "in many ways," Ohba described Light as bearing good faith intentions and having a "very conceited" nature. Ohba also describes Light as having a "warped" "desire to be godlike," bearing love for his family, and intending to transform the world into "a better place." Death Note 13: How to Read also states that Light, "uncompromising" when achieving his ideals, "sullied" himself by using the Death Note and that his actions "may have been the result of the purity within him" prior to obtaining the Death Note. Douglas Wolk of Salon describes Light as "coldly manipulative," "egomaniacal," and "an unrepentant serial killer, a butcher on an enormous scale" who is not "a Freddy Krueger, a monster who represents pure evil, or a Patrick Bateman, a demonic symbol of his age." Wolk describes Light as "the good guy, more or less" who genuinely believes that he holds "the moral high ground."

Light constantly tries to evade the suspicion of L while both maintaining his identity as "Kira"—the name derived from the Japanese pronunciation of the English word "killer" and cleansing the world of crime. The fact that he is a genius also adds to his notion that only he is fit to judge humanity and steer it on a proper moral course. James Brusuelas of Animation World Magazine uses "altruistically" as an adverb to describe Light's quest to rid humanity of its criminals. Travis Fickett of IGN describes Light as a "sociopath." Tom S. Pepirium of IGN describes Light as "brilliant, but disturbed."

Toshiki Inoue, the series organizer for the Death Note anime, describes Light as a "child whose wish happens to come true."

Light, born on February 28, 1986, is a third year high school student (12th Grade) at Daikoku Private Academy who also attends supplemental classes at Gamou Prep Academy in the beginning of the story. Light has a father, Soichiro Yagami, who is a member of the investigation team opposing Kira. In addition, Light has a mother, Sachiko Yagami, and a younger sister, Sayu Yagami.

In Spring 2004 Light becomes a first-year student (freshman) at To-Oh University, becoming one of two freshman representatives; L is the other freshman representative. During a tennis game with L at To-Oh, spectators reveal that Light was the junior high school tennis champion in 1999 and 2000; After his 2000 victory, Light quit tennis as he entered high school.

According to Ohba, Light sees Misa Amane, who he uses as an accomplice, as a "bad person" who killed people, so he acts emotionally cold towards her and manipulates her. Despite this, he keeps her alive even after her memories of being Kira have been removed for the second (and final) time.

When L is finally able to corner him, Light puts his master plan in practice. He temporarily gives up his Death Note to Ryuk, erasing his memories about his time as Kira from his mind. Rem, under instruction by Light to give it to someone who would use it selfishly, gives it to Kyosuke Higuchi of the Yotsuba Corporation. Now unaware of the fact that he was the original Kira, Light accepts L's offer to join the investigation team to hunt down Higuchi, known as the third Kira. Light requests the alias Light Asahi to be used for him. When Higuchi is finally captured, Light touches his Death Note, thereby regaining his memory of when he was the original Kira. He then proceeds, exactly as planned, masterfully killing Higuchi by using the Death Note paper he put in his watch before he lost his memories; and manipulating Rem, who also dies in the process, to kill both Watari and L.

Light is later nominated by L's investigation team (who are unaware that he is Kira) to act as L, due to the fact that they cannot reveal the death of the real L to the world. Light also takes over the role of L's assistant, Watari. Now able to act as both Kira and L, Light can continue killing criminals while leading the investigation team in circles. His secret identity as L is soon discovered by the Special Provisions for Kira, President David Hoope, and Mello's gang. Light joins the Japanese Police Force's Intelligence Department in April 2009, believing that no one can stop his plans. Near and Mello eventually appear before him, trying to accomplish what L could not: to expose Kira's true identity, and bring him to justice. At this point, according to Death Note 13: How to Read, Light becomes "overtaken with evil" and possessing "arrogance that came with Kira's power"; Light loses sight of his former self.

Wolk describes Light's ideal world, a "totalitarian" place "ruled by a propagandistic TV channel and an arbitrary secret executioner." Wolk said that Ohba sometimes suggests that the world is "in some ways a better, happier world than ours."

In the end, the combined efforts of Mello and Near, combined with a large miscalculation and miscommunication on the part of Mikami and Light, force Light to reveal himself as Kira. In the final clash between Near and Light at a warehouse, all is revealed and the Kira case comes to an end after six long years.

In the manga version, after completely losing his head and characteristic cool over the prospect of being arrested, and in complete desperation after his attempts to write Near's name down are thwarted by Touta Matsuda (who had previously believed in Light most ardently of everyone involved in the Kira case), Light begs Ryuk to help him. Ryuk reminds Light that he is on neither side, and fulfills his earlier promise to write Light's name in his Death Note, thus ending Light's life.

In the anime version, Light manages to flee the warehouse after 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 from Ryuk writing his name in his Death Note. As Light slowly closes his eyes, an apparition of L appears before Light, mirroring Light standing over L in episode 25 at L's death.

According to the manga, Light's date of death is January 28, 2010.[2] His height and weight are 179 centimeters(the height is 5 feet and 10 inches in the VIZ How to Read) and 54 kilograms (119 pounds), respectively. His blood type is A (see Japanese blood type theory of personality).

In Death Note 13: How to Read Ohba said that Light was "a young man who could understand the pain of others" when he first encountered the Death Note. Ohba said that if Ryuk never developed an interest in the human world, Light would have become "one of the greatest police leaders in the world" who, with L, worked against criminals.Ohba added that he believed that debating whether Light's actions were good or evil is not "very important." Ohba says that he personally sees Light as a "diabolical" character.Obata said that Light was his second favorite human character and that he was not sure whether that was because he "liked" Light or because he drew "such a diabolical character" in a magazine for children.

When asked about which character was most similar to himself, Ohba indicated Near and "maybe Light." Regarding Light, Ohba cited "because I did well in school."