Monstrous, inhuman creatures who inhabit the land of the dead, the Shinigami are Gods of Death who all own their own copy of the titular Death Note. The series starts when one Shinigami in particular gets bored with lazing around all day and decides to take a visit down to Earth.

• Alliance with an Abomination: Though humanoid abominations, some Shinigami can co-operate and be friendly with the humans who own their Death Note like Light and Ryuk. Though at the end he reminds Light that Evil Is Not a Toy.
• All There in the Manual: Any information on Shinigami that do not appear in the series or the movies comes from How To Read.
• Alternative Number System: The lifespan humans can see with Shinigami Eyes only appears in a number system recognizable to Shinigami and just looks like random numbers to a human.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Of course Shinigami have no problems killing humans or with humans dying. Shinigami take human lifespans for themselves. Why should they care about the human world beyond it being their food source? In fact, if a Shinigami does care about a human to the point that they'd kill to extend the human's life, this means they "failed as a Shinigami", and that kills them on the spot.
• Bottomless Magazines: Their Death Notes can't run out of pages.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: All Shinigami have high-intelligence by nature. Even Ryuk, said to be one of the dumbest members of his race, is still smarter than even L and Light. However, due to their long lifespans they are all extremely lethargic, either spending their days sleeping or gambling. They're so incredibly lazy that even doing their jobs as gods of death — killing humans — often warrants mockery from fellow Shinigami for working too hard. And while they have no restrictions that force them to stay in the Shinigami Realm, they rarely ever travel to Earth. Ryuk and Rem are notable as being the only ones to willingly want to go, rather than simply being forced to in order to shadow whichever human picks up their Death Note.
• By the Eyes of the Blind: A Shinigami on Earth can only be seen or heard by humans who have touched his/her particular Death Note.
• Cute Monster Girl: Averted Trope: all of the female Shinigami are just as grotesque in appearance as the males.
• Deadly Upgrade: Any Shinigami on Earth can offer a human the Shinigami Eyes, at the price of half of the human's lifespan.
• Deal with the Devil: Any deal made by a human with a Shinigami is going to end badly for the human every time. Is the death god offering you a Death Note to play with? You can be sure that the death god will write your name in his own notebook and steal your remaining years once he gets bored with you. Is he offering you Shinigami eyes so that you can use your death note without needing to find out your victims' names? Say goodbye to half your remaining lifespan. Hell, just finding a Death Note and giving it up without ever using it may well earn you an immediate death by the Shinigami just because you're boring for not playing his game. If you encounter a Death God at all, your only chance of not dying young is to be so impossibly beautiful that the Shinigami falls in love with you. At the very least, Shinigami are honest and upfront about the price of what they offer.
• Death Is a Loser: While powerful and unable to be harmed by human means, most Shinigami are lazy and bored beings that only try to extend their lives and do nothing with the lifespans they've taken, some even dying because they forgot to do so. Ryuk is one of the few to be proactive, and they consider him strange for it.
• The Death of Death: Despite their jobs, the shinigami are mortal. In fact, killing people is how they stay alive in the first place: when they kill a person before their natural fated time of death, they get the rest of that person's expected lifespan added onto their own. Additionally, a shinigami will instantly die if they break the rules and save someone from their fated death: the shinigami Gelus saved Misa from being murdered, thus he is punished by being reduced to dust.
• Death's Hourglass: Shinigami Eyes allow them to see their victims' lifespans, though it's displayed in a mathematical formula only Shinigami can compute. Humans can also get this ability from them, however, in order to do so, they must surrender half of their remaining lifespan to do so, and forfeiting the Death Note will result in the human also forfeiting this ability as well, forcing them to make this trade again to get it back.
• Deity of Human Origin: If the speculation about the Unnamed Shinigami from Relight is correct then it suggests all the Shinigami were once human Death Note owners.
• Eating Optional: While Shinigami can eat, it's not an outright requirement for them to do so, only doing so to pass the time (and their apples taste like sand anyways). However, human world apples are practically a necessity to Ryuk, if only because he's addicted to eating them and will practically do anything for them, lest he suffer withdrawal.
• G-Rated Drug: Ryuk mentions that Apples to Shinigami are like cigarettes and alcohol to humans.
• The Gambling Addict: Shinigami spend most of their time gambling since it's the only form of entertainment available in the Shinigami Realm.
• Humanoid Abomination: The majority of these gods of death are human-shaped.
• Intangibility: One of the ways that Shinigami on Earth stay incognito. (During the bus hijacking sequence, we see Raye Penber run through Ryuk!) However, they can temporarily become solid to manipulate objects.
• Invisible to Normals: The only way a human can see a Shinigami is if they touch a Death Note belonging to them. If the human is unable to keep hold of the Death Note before writing on it, the Shinigami becomes invisible again.
• Jerkass Gods: While they're called gods, they're little more than immortal supernatural parasites who are for the most part infinitely selfish, and kill humans indiscriminately to feed on their lifespans to keep themselves perpetually alive. They don't answer prayers, they don't do anything positive for humans at all, and they only use their powers to advance themselves. In fact if they do anything to help a human, they are severely punished for going against their nature. They don't even do anything worthwhile with their infinite lives, they just play games among themselves and idly observe humanity. Whether or not they exist as a cosmic balancing force to keep humanity from growing out of control is never suggested or considered.
• Lack of Empathy: Having empathy for humans can be potentially lethal for them, so most of the Shinigami shown onscreen have very low empathy ranks in the guidebook. Rem and Gelus, the only two Shinigami with a high empathy stat, both die as a result of it.
• Life Drain: Writing the names of humans in their Death Notes steals the human's remaining lifespan and transfers it to them, making them functionally immortal so long as they can continue writing names. Humans don't get the same benefit from using a Death Note.
• Namedar: Shinigami eyes see humans' real names.
• The Needless: The only sustenance they require is human lifespans, not that they can't eat and drink if they wish to.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Knowingly saving a person's life for altruist reasons will be punished by death.
• Pass the Popcorn: The Shinigami have taken an interest in the show Ryuk started with Light.
• Perpetual-Motion Monster: Among them, there isn't a necessity for eating or sleeping. They can be killed through other means, though.
• The Power of Apathy: With their Death Notes, they can increase their lifespans by shortening that of humans, meaning that as long as they don't form a connection with one of them, they can live forever.
• Punch-Clock Villain: It really is only their duty to take humans' lives, and they only truly qualify as "evil" insofar as the occasional decision to kill a human earlier than intended - and doing so to save another will spontaneously cause their deaths.
• Purely Aesthetic Gender: Inverted. Though the question of if and how they reproduce is never addressed, the Shinigami do have men and women. Despite this, most give no outward visual indicator of their sex at all.
• Random Power Ranking: All of the known Shinigami are ranked from 1 to 13 (with the exception of the Shinigami King, who doesn't have a rank). This could be subverted in that Ryuk is two levels below Rem, yet is shown to be more cunning and manipulative than her, not to mention he ends up outliving her. (Possibly it's more a measure of social standing than power?)
• Shinigami: As per the mythos, they are Death Gods, who live off of stealing human's lifespans by writing their names on their personal Death Notes.
• The Sleepless: Shinigami are capable of sleep, but they don't need to — it serves no real purpose for them and is essentially just a form of laziness.
• Stationary Wings: Some have extending wings despite being able to float like ghosts.
• We Are as Mayflies: They live for thousands of years, and look down on the human race for their short lifespan.

A lazy, whiny shinigami and the original owner of Light's first Death Note (before it was "liberated" by Ryuk). Causes trouble for Light's plans when he comes to retrieve his notebook.

• Accidental Misnaming: Calls Armonia Justin "Armo Justin".
• Adaptational Heroism: Sort of. Arma, his counterpart for Death Note: Light Up the New World is a heroic figure, acting as a foil to Ryuk and Shien's alliance.
• Adaptational Wimp: The anime omits the scene where he shows how deadly a stupid Shinigami can be when he helps Mello annihilate a squad of armed soldiers, and he remains a comic relief character throughout. He also doesn't find Mello's hideout on his own, instead waiting until Light does it for him, and is threatened by the latter into joining him (despite being essentially immortal), whereas in the manga, they willingly make a deal.
• Adapted Out: Of the first two live-action films, though he does appear in Light up the New World, albeit not as the real thing, and does appear as the real thing in the novelization.
• Affably Evil: He may be a Shinigami, with a bizarre appearance typical by their standards, but he's actually a bit of a goofball in terms of personality and is rather forgetful.
• Barely Changed Dub Name: English media writes and pronounces the character's name as Sidoh, an error which is present even in the Japanese, as it's the spelling used in Volume 9 of the tankobon. But in Japanese How to Read 13, largely considered canonical, the character's name is spelled Shidoh, which is likely the intended name.
• Beware the Silly Ones: In the manga, he proves just how deadly a dumb Shinigami can be, as Mello easily coerces him into disarming and exposing an entire American Elite Team and taking one of them hostage.
• Butt-Monkey: A lot doesn't go right for Sidoh. Ryuk stealing his Death Note was just the beginning.
• Cape Wings: Like many Shinigami he has a large pair of wings, and in his case they wrap around his body like a cape.
• Combat Tentacles: He doesn't actually have them, but his long-fingered sticklike arms are so long and thin that they appear like this.
• Death by Adaptation: His film counterpart Arma dies. However, it is implied that his original self will die anyway for violating the laws of the gods of death.
• Death Is a Loser: Considered a loser among the Shinigami, being a goofball almost running out of life because he lost his notebook.
• The Ditz: He is even dumber than Ryuk (who is considered pretty dumb among the Shinigami), and has a 2/10 intelligence stat.
• Extreme Doormat: Mello has no issue pushing him around and getting him to kill people, and Light and Ryuk have a similarly easy time convincing him to turn on the mafia.
• Even Evil Has Standards: "What's with this [Mello] guy? He's human but he's scary..."
• Fair-Weather Friend: He's on the side of whoever gets him a Death Note the fastest. First it was the mafia, but he soon betrays them so that Light can give him Rem's Death Note.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: The few scenes he has with his fellow Shinigami show them acting very dismissive towards his problem, and Ryuk outright calls him an idiot several times.
• Hellish Pupils: He has cat-like pupils, which puts him in direct contrast to other Shinigami.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: He's a Shinigami, but he's so dumb and pathetic that one can't take him seriously as a threat, and he hardly has an impact on the plot outside of taking one of Light's three Death Notes, though in the manga he does take out an entire assault team.
• Lack of Empathy: Has a 3/10 empathy stat, which is lower than Ryuk.
• Lovable Coward: He understandably wants his Death Note back as he cannot prolong his lifespan without it, and his skittish and goofy demeanor make him somewhat endearable.
• Loser Deity: He's a God of Death, but also quite dim-witted and too much of a pushover.
• Manchild: He complains about doing his job like an angsty teenager would, and he's irresponsible enough to lose his Death Note to Ryuk.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Beneath his beak-like mouth, he has a lot of sharp teeth, though luckily he's only shown using them to chomp on chocolate.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: He's technically a mafia ally for a short period of time, but is only invested in getting a Death Note. Furthermore, even though he knows that Light is an enemy of Mello, he never once bothers to offer to kill either one of them for the other's sake, despite there being no negative consequences for himself as he clearly didn't have any feelings for them.
• Not-So-Imaginary Friend: Ross initially assumes that Jack Neylon must be hallucinating due to a drug overdose when he claims to see him. Soon, he proves that it isn't the case.
• Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: When bonking Jack's head with the Death Note so he can see him, he mutters the "woosh" and "flop" sounds himself.
• Shooting Superman: When Sidoh first reveals himself to the mafia who have taken possession of his Death Note, a few of them unsurprisingly blaze away at him. Being a Shinigami, it does absolutely nothing, of course.
• The Slacker: Like many Shinigami he was really slacking off writing down names so he needed to find his notebook soon or he was going to die. The guidebook reveals he has a 2/10 in frequency of usage of his Death Note regardless, so his lifespan was likely not very high.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He only shows up for a couple of episodes before leaving again once he gets his notebook, but Ryuk managing to steal it from him to then give to Light is what kickstarts the entire plot. Additionally, his informing Mello that the rules Light inserted were fake allows Mello to pass that information on to Near who is then able to deduce that Light used the fake Thirteen Days Rule to prove his innocence.
• Spanner in the Works: He casually reveals to Mello that the 13-day rule from the Death Note was a fake one, without knowing what this meant for his plans.
• Stalker Without a Crush: In "Father", he briefly follows Ryuk around, trying to get his notebook back. In the manga, he also spends a few days tracking down Jack Neylon with the goal of possessing him.
• Sweet Tooth: He soon takes a liking to Mello's chocolate.
• This Is Gonna Suck: In as many words, when realizing his notebook is missing in the human world.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: In the end, he gets a Death Note so he can go on living.
  • Subverted perhaps because when he returns to his realm, he will have to face the deadly consequences of killing humans WITHOUT a Death Note. Although he did have a full list of the Shinigami rules he consulted before doing anything potentially dangerous for him, so he'll probably get off, since he was only enabling someone else to kill them rather than doing it himself.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Mello introduces him to chocolate bars.

The original owner of Misa's notebook, who sacrificed himself to save Misa.

• 13 Is Unlucky: The Rank 13 Shinigami. He has no friends and dies in his first appearance.
• All for Nothing: His sacrifice was rendered pointless when Misa Amane committed suicide six years after his sacrifice. Subverted in the TV Drama and Musical, where Misa survives, and downplayed in the live action film where she dies ten years later.
• All of the Other Reindeer: According to Rem, Gelus was made fun of for his inexplicable love for a human.
• Barely Changed Dub Name: Japanese media spells his name as Jealous, English calls it "Gelus." The latter appears to be preferred by the fans, especially since many of the Japanese romaji spellings are truly bizarre.
• Cute Monster: He's a God of Death, which should make him creepy by default, but he also has a perpetual dopey look and a goofy voice.
• Dark Is Not Evil: He has the grotesque appearance common to all the shinigami, but his one and only scene has him willingly dying to save Misa's life.
• The Dulcinea Effect: He sacrificed his life to save a girl he had never even met in person.
• Dumb Is Good: Has a 3/10 in intelligence stat but a 7/10 in empathy. Being a Shinigami, this means he doesn't last long.
• Friendless Background: He had no friends, and spent most of his time alone looking down on the human world and specifically Misa Amane. He was also a rank 13 Shinigami, the lowest of all the named gods of Death.
• Friendly Neighborhood Vampires: He never actually enters the real world, instead just looking at it from his realm, but he's a Shinigami experiencing love for a human.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Outside of Rem, Gelus didn't seem to be very liked among Shinigami, as being invested in the human world as he was was seen as laughable to most of them. Misa also didn't appear to care much for him upon learning of his Sacrifice.
• The Ghost: While he doesn't physically appear in the musical, Rem still delivers his Death Note to Misa while explaining what happened to him all the same.
• Guardian Angel: He looks at Misa from above, and when her life is about to come to an end, he kills her aggressor to extend her lifespan.
• Heroic Sacrifice: For Misa by writing the name of her killer in the Death Note, breaking Shinigami law in the process.
• Ironic Name: "Jealous". Though he does kill a man who was romantically interested in Misa, it was out of genuine worry for her life as the man was planning a Murder-Suicide if she rejected him, and it wasn't out of jealousy as he sacrificed his life to do so.
• Love Martyr: He literally gave his life for Misa, who didn't even know he'd done it, or even who Gelus was. When she learns of it later, she doesn't seem to care about his sacrifice.
• Meaningful Name: "Jealous." In the manga, he's even spelled "Jealous".
• No Accounting for Taste: He fell madly in love with Misa, who upon obtaining his Death Note, went on a killing spree that took out at least eight innocent lives, all to gain the attention of someone she didn't know.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: So, Gelus, you saved a young girl from being murdered by a deranged stalker? Bravo! Oh, but you'll die for this heroic act since it's literally against your species' nature to save a human's life.
• Remake Cameo: His Japanese voice actor previously played L in the live action adaptation.
• Sacrificial Lamb: His only scene establishes that, apart from simply letting their lifespan run out, killing a human just to save another will kill the Shinigami on the spot. It's Shinigami law, after all.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Even though it's against the rules for a shinigami to extend someone's life, he uses his notebook to save Misa from a demented stalker who would have killed her. Then again, considering how Rem claimed to be one of the few Shinigami who knew how to kill another one (and Ryuk apparently didn't know) it's likely this isn't so much a rule as a fact of nature that most Shinigami are unaware of.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He only appears in one flashback sequence, but it's his notebook that allows Misa and later Mikami to become the second Kira.
• Stalker with a Crush: He was deeply in love with Misa and watched her constantly from the shinigami realm, despite never having even spoken to her, to the point of willingly and knowingly giving his life to save hers. Ironically, he did this by stopping a human stalker from murdering her. That said, it's pretty clear Gelus was harmless, and would never have hurt Misa.
• Token Good Teammate: The only Shinigami shown onscreen whose only onscreen kill was done out of selfless love. This gets him killed soon enough.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: After sacrificing his life for Misa, she proceeded to use his Death Note to meet Kira and wasted her entire life in a futile attempt to earn his love.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: He shows up for about three minutes in the anime, if that, so really, all we know about him is he loved Misa. His death is still heartbreaking, though.

This jewelled skeleton is the Shinigami Realm’s adviser, who knows the rules well.

• Dem Bones: Most Shinigami are bony, but Armonia Justin is a complete skeleton.
• Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry: His skeleton is covered with all sorts of jewellery. In the anime, the bones themselves are apparently made of gold.
• Gem-Encrusted: His body appears to be made of gold, or gold plated, and covered in small gemstones.
• Gold Makes Everything Shiny: His body is either gold or gold plated.
• Inconsistent Spelling: Ohba and Shueisha prefer it being spelled out as "Armonia Jastin Beyondllemason".
• Mean Boss: When Sidoh tells him that he lost his Death Note and that the king blew him off, Armonia simply laughs at him, though he does tell him what to do next after that.
• Narcissist: According to Ohba, he's extremely conceited and vain, which is why he spends so long looking after his appearance.
• Nothing but Skulls: He sits on a throne of skulls.
• Number Two: He's the Shinigami that the king trusts the most, and usually serves as his mouthpiece. He's even a Rank 2 Shinigami.
• Odd Name Out: His middle name 'Justin' stands out as one of the most normal names in the series.
• Person of Mass Destruction: The guidebook shows that he has one of the highest carnage counts of all the Shinigami, meaning he must also have one of the highest lifespans.
• SkeleBot 9000: In the 2020 one-shot, he appears to have upgraded his body with some mechanical parts.
• The Slacker: Even though he knows that Ryuk has two Death Notes, which Rem notes to be against the rules, Armonia Justin doesn't communicate this to him or even attempt to stop him.
• The Smart Guy: Knows all the rules, and has the highest intelligence stat of all prominent Shinigami with a 9/10.
• Slouch of Villainy: Though most Shinigami use their wings to travel, Armonia Justin outright drags his chair into the human world to speak to Ryuk.
• Smoking Is Cool: According to the guidebook, he was once spotted smoking a cigarette, apparently just to seem cool as Ryuk implies they doesn't have an effect on Shinigami.
• Throne Made of X: He sits on a throne of skulls.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He's afraid of crows.

A high-ranking female Shinigami.

• Alien Hair: She has Predator-like dreadlocks.
• Barely Changed Dub Name: Her name was originally spelled out in English as "Dalill Guillortha" in the Japanese version of How To Read 13.
• The Dragon: She's a rank 3 Shinigami.
• Femme Fatalons: Though they're not as bad as Ryuk's, the fact that her hands and feet look like those of a frog makes them look more prominent.
• The Gambling Addict: She spends most of her time gambling with another Shinigami.
• Loves Only Gold: Her only like in the guidebook is listed to be "gold", though her description states she's interested in metal in general.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Though she's stated to spend most of her time gambling, she apparently has a 9/10 frequency of usage of the Death Note.
• Puny Earthlings: She has no interest in the human realm.
• Scary Impractical Armor: She likes metal accessories, and adorns her face with a metal bowl and a necklace.
• Skull for a Head: Though most Shinigami have skeletal faces, Daril's is simply a human skull with eyes.
• Un-Evil Laugh: She is said to have a goofy laugh.
• Weakened by the Light: Downplayed. She's stated to dislike bright places.

Another denizen of the Shinigami realm.

• Barely Changed Dub Name: His name was originally spelled "Delidubbly" by Ohba in the Japanese version of How To Read 13.
• Fish People: He has webbed feet.
• The Gambling Addict: Described as one of the worst examples of a Shinigami letting himself go because of this.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: He spends all his time gambling with Gukku.
• Mummy: He's wrapped in bandages.
• Sinister Scythe: Always carries a scythe around, even while gambling.
• The Slacker: He hates work, and prefers to spend his time gambling.
• Signature Laugh: Like Ryuk's "Hyuk, hyuk hyuk!", Deridoveley has "Kyak, kak kak!"
• White Mask of Doom: He wears a bone mask.
• With Friends Like These...: Though he appears to be friends with both Gukku and Ryuk, he's often shown laughing at their misfortune, such as the former losing a game and the latter "losing" his Death Note.

A female Shinigami with a spotted body that kind of looks like Jabba the Hutt. She likes humidity and dislikes dryness.

• Big Bad: Of the "C-Kira" afterstory, as she attempts to recreate the events of the series for her own amusement.
• Big Eater: Even moreso than Ryuk, as despite only staying in the human world for a brief period of time, she stuffs her face full of bananas.
• Distaff Counterpart: To Ryuk. Both are bored Shinigami who crave a particular fruit (bananas and apples respectively) and who attempt to have a random human use a Death Note Ryuk found to cause chaos and have some fun at their expense. However, Midora picks a "weak" human who was only interested in assisting with people's suicides, and who kills himself after one interaction with Near, while Ryuk picks a very determined and ambitious human (Light) who uses the notebook to change the world, and who takes on a direct challenge from many genius detectives.
• Dub Name Change: "Meadra" in the Japanese How To Read 13, "Midora" in Viz's translations.
• Fat Bastard: She's extremely bloated for a being that is usually depicted as bony.
• Expy: She greatly resembles Jabba the Hutt.
• Lack of Empathy: Doesn't understand why C-Kira had a Villainous Breakdown and killed himself after Near declared him an abominable murderer. The guidebook also gives her a 2/10 empathy stat.
• Perpetual Smiler: Like Ryuk, her face is permanently fixated on a wide grin.
• Pet the Dog: Upon returning to her world, she brings an apple for Ryuk to enjoy.
• Sadist: Granted a human possession of Sidoh's Death Note hoping that it would lead to a mass carnage like before, and said that the brief period when he started killing people who wanted to die on TV was pretty amusing.
• Sucksessor: Ryuk calls her out for choosing a weak human to serve as the next Kira, .
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: Her eyes are naturally gold and without pupils.
• Trademark Favorite Food: She's shown in the oneshot sitting on a mound of bananas.
• Villainous Friendship: With Ryuk. He lends her his second Death Note and allows her to take it into the human world for fun, and she in turn gives him an apple when she returns.

An antelope-headed Shinigami. A friend of Ryuk's that watches his exploits in the human world. He likes gambling but he's not very good at it.

• Barely Changed Dub Name: Combined with Clean Dub Name. As "Gook" is a racial slur, Viz went with spelling it out as the more literal "Gukku".
• Death Is a Loser: Implied to often lose his bets against Deridoveley, like at the start of the show.
• Fur and Loathing: Parts of his body are covered by fur that resembles a loincloth.
• The Gambling Addict: He's always shown gambling with Deridoveley.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: He spends all his time gambling with Deridoveley.
• Horned Humanoid: Has very long horns that resemble those of a gazelle.
• Our Minotaurs Are Different: Despite his "minotaur"-like appearance, he's a lazy Shinigami who spends most of his time gambling and napping (and losing).
• Skull for a Head: Has an cattle-like skull for a head.
• The Slacker: He likes gambling and naps, he dislikes working.

A minor Shinigami character that expresses interest in the human world and what Ryuk is doing.

• Audience Surrogate: Expresses interest in what Ryuk is doing and checks out the events of the show from the Shinigami realm much like the audience would from their homes. He's also the most human-looking of all the gods of death, resembling a Native American.
• Barely Changed Dub Name: His name is spelled as "Zerhogie" in the Japanese edition of How To Read 13.
• Bystander Syndrome: Spends most of the series looking down on the humans and commenting on them.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: Looks to have a giant eye embedded in his chest.
• Fur and Loathing: He wears fur hides. How to Read 13 says he likes "soft things."
• The Grotesque: Even compared to other Shinigami. It helps that his figure is more human, making him look like a rotting zombie.
• Hook Hand: Has a large one on their left arm.
• Lip Losses: His lips are pulled back, exposing his gums and teeth.
• Mistaken for Dog: A variation. He believes that Ryuk is Light's pet, and comments on how "un-cute" of a pet he is.
• Shark-Toothed Humanoid: Though his appearance resembles that of a rotting human, his teeth are all incredibly sharp.
• Spikes of Villainy: Aside from his hook, there are several spikes sticking out from his back.

Another Shinigami mentioned in How To Read 13.

• Extra Eyes: He has eight Shinigami eyes. One has to wonder how many lifespans he can see at the same time.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: His eyes go all the way to where his ears are supposed to be.
• Fur and Loathing: Wears some armor that has a fluffy coating.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: He laments how pathetic the Shinigami's existence has become by the events of the show.
• Humanoid Alien: He’s vaguely insectoid in appearance with boar-like tusks.
• Non-Standard Character Design: He's considered to have a weird appearance even among the Shinigami.
• Shoulders of Doom: Downplayed, but he has medieval-looking armor on his shoulders.
• Trademark Favorite Food: He likes blueberries.
• Weakened by the Light: He dislikes direct sunlight.

A female Shinigami. She’s very violent and not very smart.

• All There in the Manual: She doesn't appear in the manga itself, only making a cameo in the cover of Volume 12, and all of her info is present in the guidebook.
• Axe-Crazy: According to her character description, she enjoys violence. She also has a 1/10 in empathy and a 9/10 in usage of the Death Note, which makes her extremely deadly even for a Shinigami.
• Body Horror: Her cranium appears to be stitched together.
• Eyeless Face: Unlike most of her peers, her Shinigami eyes are not visible.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: She has very sharp and prominent teeth.
• Stupid Evil: Has a 1/10 in intelligence, the lowest of all named Shinigami, and is also the most pointlessly cruel.

The highest ranking Shinigami, Nu resembles a rock covered with eyes. Only the King is more powerful than she is. She likes repentance and dislikes sound.

• The Ace: She's a Rank 1 Shinigami, and is second only to the King in terms of power.
• Covers Always Lie: Appears in the second anime opening alongside Ryuk, Rem, and Sidoh, but doesn't appear in the manga or anime at all, only being featured in the guidebook.
• Eldritch Abomination: By far the strangest-looking shinigami. The fact that she doesn't possess any other visible body parts aside from eyes can lead one to wonder how she writes or communicates.
• Extra Eyes: Her upper body at least is covered in them, perfect for seeing the lifespans of every human she may potentially come across.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: Specifically, all over her body.
• The Faceless: Her head is just an amorphous shape. The only part of her that could be recognisable is that two eyes of a similar size are placed where a human's eyes would be.
• Loud of War: She dislikes sound, despite not having any ears.
• The Power of Apathy: As a Rank 1 Shinigami, she has no such thing as curiosity or proactiveness.
• Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Despite appearing on the spine art of the final volume, as well as the beginning of the anime's second Title Sequence, Nu has never been featured at any point in the story, art or tie-ins.
• The Smart Girl: Has a 10/10 in intelligence, the highest of all Shinigami.

"The Old Man," The King of the Shinigami Realm, the one who issues the Shinigami their marching orders, and the highest ranked Shinigami of them all.

• Bad Boss: Punishes those underlings who save humans with death, and even has different pain levels for all those who break his rules. He also apparently yelled at Ryuk for Minoru's "misusing" of the Death Note, even though that wasn't Ryuk's fault at all as he only operated within the written rules.
• The Caligula: He can be bribed with addictive substances (apples in his case) and makes up rules with a death penalty if somebody agitates him, showing that for all his power, he's quite petulant.
• Comically Small Bribe: During the main story, he refuses to give out new Death Notes to Shinigami after seeing what Ryuk does. In the bonus chapter 109, however, he changes his mind and will give anyone a new Note for the price of... two apples from Earth.
• Diabolus ex Machina: Almost a literal one. After being a completely neutral figure and there being no indication that he cared about how people used the Death Note as long as they adhered to the rules, he gets so upset at the idea of Minoru pawning the Death Note that he writes a new rule that forbids it after he had already sold it. Though the US president finds out on time and saves himself, Ryuk neglects to tell Minoru about this and the boy dies as a result after collecting his money.
• Dimension Lord: He rules the Shinigami realm.
• The Dreaded: Even some of the other Shinigami are afraid of him.
• Eldritch Abomination: If his figure's any indication, his form is anything but humanoid, as opposed to the rest of the shinigami.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • The Death Note is deliberately made to avoid collateral damage, and it will not work at all if the death of a victim directly leads to the death of another.
  • The ninth rule says that the Death Note won't work with children under 3 years old, and rule 25 implies he's also against the Death Note being used by children below the age of 6, as Shinigami are forbidden from deliberately giving it to them. Rule 29 says he also doesn't allow people above the age of 124 to be killed, although that's likely because they wouldn't have much of a lifespan to give.
• Evil Old Folks: In the novelization of Light Up the New World, he talks in a style distinctive of old people. Ryuk often refers to him as "The Old Man" rather than his actual title.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Although never seen in person, he casts a shadow over the world of Death Note, having created the MacGuffins in the first place. Indeed, he was the one who gave Ryuk another notebook that allowed him to kick off the entire story to begin with.
  • In the 2020 one-shot he's agitated by the thought of humans pawning Death Notes and decrees that any human who engages in a Death Note-related transaction will die of a heart attack, thus keeping the new Kira from reaping the benefits of his master plan.
• The Ghost: Though he's mentioned frequently, he never appears in person.
• The Grim Reaper: As the ruler of a society of death gods, this is his ultimate role in the story.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: He's never shown in the manga or anime. The toy pictured above finally revealed his appearance.
• Never My Fault: When he hears that Minoru sold the Death Note in an auction without using it, he yells at Ryuk of all people for it, even though it's him who writes what can and cannot be done with the Death Note, and then creates another rule on the spot that kills Minoru for retroactively breaking it.
• No-Respect Guy: Most other Shinigami don't respect him so much as fear him. They often refer to him as "Old Man," and some translations even have them use the more insulting term "Old Fart." However, they still recognize his power and are cautious to do anything to make him too angry such as blatantly breaking his rules.
• Obvious Rule Patch:
  • Rule 35 says that if a person accidentally misspells a name four times, that person will be free from the Death Note. The rule that immediately follows it says that if a person intentionally misspells a name four times, they will die, likely to prevent anyone abusing the former rule and rendering themselves immune to the Death Note.
  • In the A-Kira story, to prevent more cases like Minoru from happening again, The King writes a new rule that prevents any further Death Notes from being sold by humans in their world — by killing both the buyer and seller in the transaction for accepting either the money or the notebook.
• Orcus on His Throne: He has Armonia Justin, who ironically perpetually sits on a throne, bring other Shinigami to him when he needs them, and never gets directly involved with the plot beyond writing down rules for the Death Note.
• Rules Lawyer: He makes up all the rules that apply to Shinigami and humans who use a Death Note. While he seems to not really care what humans do with the notebook so long as they fulfill their purpose of killing humans, he's upset at the thought of selling a Death Note for financial gain without at least using it first. As such, he makes up a rule on the spot that anyone who exchanges a Death Note for profit will result in the death of both the seller and buyer.
• Skull for a Head: Within another, much larger skull.
• Spanner in the Works: In the 2020 one-shot he adds a penalty against exchanging the Death Note for money shortly after the new protagonist has just committed the act. The result is said protagonist dies of a heart attack before he can enjoy his new wealth.
• Time Abyss: Implied. The other Shinigami refer to him as "The Old Man." Keep in mind that these are beings who can live indefinitely as long as they remember to write down a name every once in a while.
• Top God: He's the king of the Shinigami, though it isn't clear which variation of this trope he falls under.
• You Cannot Grasp the True Form: The artist of the series even admitted he initially didn't want to design the King because he was too nervous.

An unnamed Shinigami who appeared in the movie Relight: Visions of a God, where he was searching the Shinigami Realm for Ryuk. He is violent and impetuous, making demands of the other Shinigami. He is very interested in the human world and bored with the Shinigami realm. He bribes Ryuk with apples to hear his story of the time he spent in the human world but leaves before he finishes it. Physically the Shinigami is a skeleton with spiky brown hair and wears a tattered suit, a red tie headband and a grey bookbag, and he walks with a limp. This and the dialogue at the end of the movie strongly hints that he is a Reincarnation of Light Yagami.

• Ambiguous Situation: Is he really Light? On one hand, it seems odd for the Powers That Be to allow someone who caused so much trouble for the Shinigami to become one himself (unless they were so entertained by his reign of terror that they wanted him on their side), and he does ask Ryuk to tell him his story so he at least doesn't have any memories of his previous life. On the other hand, he knows about Ryuk's love of Earth apples without Ryuk himself ever telling him such (though this may be common knowledge among the Shinigami as Midora also bribes him with apples in the "C-Kira" story), and his appearance is so obviously meant to evoke what Light looked like right before his death that it'd frankly be weirder if he wasn't tied to him in some way.
• Ax-Crazy: Like Ryuk, he's apparently interested in bringing a Death Note out to the human world to alleviate his boredom.
• The Bad Guy Wins: If he really is Light, nothing would be able to stop Kira if he decided to try again (now that he's a literal god). At the same time, killing people because of genuine investment in the human world would very quickly get him killed as per the rules, and it's also very unlikely that he even has his memories of his human life, as he asks Ryuk to tell him the story of the time he spent as a human.
• Canon Foreigner: Only appeared in the Relight movie and wasn't in the manga.
• Cast as a Mask: To make the special's (supposed) Twist Ending more surprising and jarring, he and Light are voiced by different actors.
• Deity of Human Origin: He's this if he really was Light, since he'd be a human who became a death god upon death.
• Dem Bones: He looks like a skeleton with spiky hair.
• Food as Bribe: He gives Ryuk a rotten apple from the Shinigami world in exchange for his story. Ryuk doesn't appreciate it but indulges him anyway.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: He's a Shinigami but wears a leather coat that completely covers his body.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Though his eyes are usually empty, they start glowing while he walks.
• Goggles Do Nothing: He serves as the trope picture. He has no eyeballs, but sports a pair goggles on his forehead.
• Here We Go Again!: The Shinigami heads down to the human world to alleviate his boredom for a while. Even moreso if you believe he really is Light.
• I Never Told You My Name: One of the biggest pieces of evidence supporting the idea that this Shinigami is actually Light is that he somehow knows of Ryuk's taste for apples without anyone having told him.
• Limp and Livid: He walks with a noticeable limp, and by the time he appears, he's had enough of the Shinigami world.
• Necktie Headband: He wears a red tie as a headband.
• Preemptive "Shut Up": When searching for Ryuk the other Shinigami try to give him the runaround. "Shut up and answer my question!"
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: While walking, his eyes are shown to be as red as Light's were during his signature Evil Laugh scene, making him the only Shinigami to have so as most others are shown to have Supernatural Gold Eyes.
• Sinister Scythe: Which he makes use of, scaring the other Shinigami.
• Slasher Smile: His skull-like face seems fixated on a grin.
• The Un-Reveal: While he is implied to be Light from the story Ryuk tells, he never flat-out says so at all, and the only hint we are given comes from Ryuk.
• Wham Line: Said to him by Ryuk, possibly revealing his true identity:
  Ryuk: Wouldn't you agree, Light?
  • Subverted, as the director clarified Ryuk was talking about Light in passing.

A man who took hostages inside an elementary school and who became Light's first victim.

• Ascended Extra: Only appears in a broadcast in the anime and manga, while in the TV drama he's a major antagonist of episode 1.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the live action film, he kills three of the eight hostages he had before being killed by Light, while in the anime and manga, all of them were escorted out.
• Adaptation Origin Connection: A minor criminal (and the first person Light kills when testing the notebook) in the manga, anime and live-action films, the TV drama sees him reimagined as a criminal who Soichiro himself brought to justice at the cost of not being by his wife's deathbed. Light later kills Otoharada in the first episode, saving Soichiro who's being held hostage.
• Adaptation Name Change: In the live action film, the felon who is killed by Light while taking 8 hostages was called Hiromichi Imaizumi.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Despite Otoharada being a rotten person, Light is taken aback at his death since he was still a human being. In the TV drama, despite the man trying to kill his father, Light is so overwhelmed by guilt that he contemplates suicide. Similarly, Soichiro also harbored some sympathy for him and regrets not having been able to save him.
• Arch-Enemy: To Soichiro in the live action series, as he was the man who imprisoned him.
• Asshole Victim: A criminal who took hostages and threatened to kill children. Light doesn't feel much guilt over his death aside from some initial shock at having killed a person. In the TV drama, most of the Task Force see his death as a miracle.
• Ax-Crazy: While he likely already was one in the manga and anime, the live action series characterizes him as a complete nutjob.
• Coincidental Broadcast: In the anime, his crimes are reported on Japanese television just as Light is contemplating using the Death Note, providing him with a convenient Asshole Victim for Kira to test his powers. The TV even turns on by itself. Subverted in the manga, where it's Light who turns on the TV while searching for someone evil to test out the Death Note, and it's unknown how much time passed between him turning on the TV and Otoharada's crime being broadcasted.
• Cop Hater: In the TV drama, he curses all the cops who bring him in, especially Soichiro, and the first thing he does following his release is murder a patrol officer.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: In the TV drama, he can't get in his head why would Soichiro even think of saving him. When the latter attempts to talk him down, Otoharada has a breakdown and hits him.
• It's Personal: In the TV drama, he swears revenge on Soichiro after he arrests him for murder and drug use. After being released, he takes two hostages and agrees to release one only if Soichiro gives himself up to him. When he does, Otoharada vows to kill him and then himself.
• Jerkass: In the TV drama, he beats Soichiro for trying to reach out to him, and is also extremely callous about his other murders.
• Just in Time: In the TV drama, Light writes down his name just as he's about to shoot Soichiro in the head.
• Never Going Back to Prison: Elects to take children hostage before being arrested again. In the TV series, after escaping once, Otoharada decides he would rather kill himself than be jailed again for his crimes.
• Never My Fault: In the TV drama, he seeks revenge on Soichiro for arresting him, despite his criminal activities being what got him in jail in the first place.
• Pet the Dog: In the TV drama, he allows the little girl he had hostage to escape in exchange for Soichiro, and it's implied he would've let the mother live as well after he has killed both Soichiro and himself.
• Psychopathic Manchild: In the TV drama, he screams most of his lines like a child throwing a tantrum, and seems to think he's entitled to kill the man who imprisoned him despite being a murderer.
• Redemption Rejection: In the live action series, Soichiro pleads with him not to throw his life away while bringing other people down alongside him. Otoharada then proclaims his desire to do just that before trying to kill him.
• Sacrificial Lamb: In the manga and anime, Light uses him as a guinea pig to test his new powers, making him Kira's first victim.
• Sadist: In the TV drama, he always has a psychotic smile on his face before he kills someone, and seems to revel in taunting his hostages.
• Slasher Smile: His default expression in the TV drama.
• Starter Villain: In the manga and anime, he serves as the first of many criminals that Kira kills in his pursuit for a new world.
• The Sociopath: In the TV drama, aside from already being a remorseless murderer, he sees people as pawns to enact his revenge plan on Soichiro, killing a police officer for his gun and a taxi driver for his fares, and then taking a mother and her daughter hostage just to lure Soichiro in to kill him and then himself.
• Taking You with Me: His plan regarding Soichiro in the TV drama. Light makes sure Otoharada is the only one to go.
• Would Hurt a Child: Takes eight hostages in a nursery school while hiding from the law, including children. In the TV drama, he takes a mother and her daughter hostage, but agrees to release the little girl in exchange for Soichiro.

A motorcyclist who harassed a woman in the street and who became Light's second victim.

• Abhorrent Admirer: The lady he lusted upon clearly found him revolting even before he started acting creepy towards her.
• Adaptational Villainy: He was already a lecherous jerk in the manga, but the anime made him an attempted rapist. He's even worse in the live action movie where he's a criminal who brags about having gotten away with killing five children.
• Adapted Out: He doesn't appear in the TV drama or in the musical.
• Alas, Poor Villain: In the manga, Light briefly regrets having killed him since his crime of sexual harassment didn't warrant the death penalty. It's more pronounced in the live action movie where his friends mourn him after he dies.
• Ambiguously Evil: In the manga, he still tries to chase the woman he was harassing on his motorcycle, but it's unknown if he did so out of his own volition or because he was already being controlled by the death note.
• Ascended Extra: Light actually meets him in the live action film, where he gets a clearer picture of why he deserves to die.
• Attempted Rape: In the anime, after the woman he was harassing tries to leave, he restrains her while having his associate take off her clothes. Cue Light writing his name down.
• Asshole Victim: In the anime, Light's guilt over killing him boils down to being his second murder, and he otherwise refers to him as a rotten person for being an attempted rapist. In the live action film, with him being a child murderer this time, there is no guilt felt at all.
• Awesome McCoolname: Calls himself "Shibutaku", "shibui" meaning "cool". Also a reference to Japanese idol Takuya Kimura's nickname "Kimutaku".
• Child Hater: A child serial killer in the live action film, and most of his dialogue is him gloating about it.
• Cool Shades: Sports a pair of sunglasses to help with the ladykiller schtick.
• Creepy High-Pitched Voice: In the anime, he's given an annoying, high-pitched voice to help with his creepy appearance.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the manga and anime, he's killed via a traffic accident, while in the live-action film, Light simply writes his name down and kills him with a heart attack.
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: In the live action film, he seems to believe that pretending to be schizophrenic is somehow hilarious.
• Evil Gloating: In the live action film, he gloats to Light that he will never get caught, as the charges against him were dropped.
• Gonk: He's quite overweight and has very prominent front teeth, which alongside him being a sexual deviant, makes him quite unappealing.
• Hearing Voices: Subverted. In the live action film, he justifies killing children to his friends by claiming that he's being controlled by voices in his head, though he later says that it was a joke. He later makes another joke about hearing the voices of the parents of the children he killed.
• Jerkass: He's an unpleasant bike gang member who aggressively flirts with a clearly uninterested woman and then tries to chase her down in his motorcycle when she tries to flee. He's even worse in the anime where he outright tries to force himself on the woman on the spot.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: In the live action film, the case against him is dropped, but Light tracks him down and ensures that justice is served.
• Predatory Pervert: He sexually harasses a woman on the street, tries to rape her (in the anime only), and chases after her when she tries to run away from him.
• Sadist: Regardless of the adaptation, he's always sneering while carrying out his crime. In the live action film, he outright describes the murder of a child to Light while taking visible pleasure in re-enacting the scene in his mind.
• The Sociopath: In the live action film, he's a child serial killer who cracks jokes about his murders and takes visible joy in thinking of the grief of their family members.
• Stupid Evil: He tries to sexually assault a lady in a public setting, which is quite convenient for Light as he kills him on the spot. In the live action film, he also gloats about having killed children in front of Light, and then casually lets him go with a warning.
• Too Dumb to Live: Subverted. He drives into an incoming van while chasing down a lady in his motorcycle, and his friends all question his idiocy in doing this. At the same time, he was being controlled by the death note into doing so, as Light wrote down that he had to die in a traffic accident.
• The Unpronounceable: Downplayed. Light writes six versions of his name in the death note to ensure he dies, but he still gets it right on the first try.
• With Friends Like These...: In the live action film, he puts a knife to his friend's throat as a joke, and the latter's reaction implies he was lucky to have survived.
• Would Hurt a Child: Is guilty of killing at least five children in the live action film, and is quite happy about it.

A man who was controlled by the Death Note into hijacking the bus carrying Light and Raye Penber, allowing Light to get Raye's name. Osoreda then inadvertently grabbed a fragment of the Death Note, saw Ryuk, and was terrified into fleeing the bus where he was run over by a car.

• Adaptational Badass: In the TV drama, he overpowers Raye Penber and goes out on his own terms (for lack of a better term).
• Adaptational Nice Guy: In the live-action film, the Death Note snippet that he caught actually included Light's plan to attack him, but he still leaves the boy alone with a warning, whereas in the source material, he was unhinged enough that he wouldn't have let that threat slip so easily.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the TV drama, aside from demanding money from Spaceland, he also robs the passengers he was holding hostage. When Raye's stuff is dropped, Light uses this opportunity to check his ID.
• Adapted Out: Doesn't appear in the musical, since Light uses a different and quicker method to kill the FBI agents.
• Asshole Victim: He killed three people in a robbery before Light controlled him with the Death Note, so Light has no reservations about using him as a puppet. He's also particularly cruel in his bus-jacking. Because of this, nobody feels bad when he gets hit by a truck, and in the manga, Yuri suggests carrying on with their date even after witnessing his death.
• Ax-Crazy: Though being controlled by the Death Note certainly didn't help, Osoreda is particularly unstable and prone to random violence, which was not specified by Light while controlling him.
• Boom, Headshot!: A self-inflicted one in the TV drama, courtesy of Light's machinations.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: He was likely already deranged, but Light uses the Death Note to control him into hijacking his bus to force Raye Penber into exposing himself.
• Childish Tooth Gap: Has a tooth gap and is a homicidal maniac.
• Contrived Coincidence: Invoked and Subverted. Osoreda randomly deciding to hijack a bus shortly after his failed robbery, then completely losing his mind and diving in front of a truck, makes Naomi Misora assume that Kira must've orchestrated the event, which he did.
• Dead Man Walking: By the time he entered the bus, his death had already been set to 11:45 that day.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the TV drama, he's made to kill himself via headshot instead of jumping in front of a moving train.
• Even Evil Has Standards: The sight of Ryuk horrifies him so much that he empties his gun on him, completely forgetting about the bus-jacking.
• Faux Affably Evil: Introduces the situation to the passengers in an uncharacteristically cordial way before proceeding to act like the deranged maniac he is, pushing people around and threatening passengers.
• Gory Discretion Shot: In the anime, the camera cuts away just as he gets hit by a truck, followed by a pool of blood.
• Greed: Asks the Spaceland management for all their money in exchange for the lives of the passengers of the bus.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He flies off the handle quite easily, and it's implied that had it not been for the multiple death rule, he would've shot at least one passenger before the bus-jacking situation was solved.
• Jerkass: He gleefully threatens to shoot the passengers on the bus, which Light didn't specify he would do, so this is clearly how he acts on a regular basis. He also taunts Light about his date after finding the Death Note scrap.
• Kick the Dog: He yanks the phone off the driver's hands to discuss the payment with Spaceland.
• Mushroom Samba: Subverted. The authorities mistakenly believe that him seeing Ryuk was a drug-induced hallucination.
• Oh, Crap!: Seeing Ryuk makes him lose what little composure he had.
• Psychic-Assisted Suicide: The description of his death in the Death Note culminates in his death via jumping in front of a moving truck in the manga and anime, and via headshot in the TV drama.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: When Light drops the Death Note piece, Osoreda assumes it must be a note with a plan for action. Though he was wrong, not only had Light actually written one of those, but the piece Osoreda picked up was part of his plan to get rid of him.
• Self-Disposing Villain: Since the entire situation was being orchestrated by Light, Osoreda's bus-jacking ends with him having a breakdown after seeing Ryuk and diving in front of an incoming truck.
• Too Clever by Half: Despite being controlled, Osoreda does take some precautions in making sure the robbery goes well without any heroics, but he couldn't account for Light tricking him into touching the Death Note and seeing the Shinigami.
• Trigger-Happy: Killed a teller and two customers in a failed attempt to rob a bank, and later empties his gun on Ryuk after seeing him.
• Undignified Death: Light makes him dive into a moving truck once the bus-jacking fails.
• Unwitting Pawn: Light uses him to coerce Raye Penber to reveal his name, controlling his actions with the Death Note.
• Villainous Breakdown: When he sees Ryuk on the bus, Osoreda empties his gun trying to kill him, and then dives out of the bus and into a moving truck.

• Adaptation Name Change: He's called "Taruhito Ozaki" in the live action film, though his crimes and purpose in the plot are the same.
• Adapted Out: He doesn't appear in the TV Drama, as Light already knew the name of Raye's fiancée and could use her as leverage. He's also absent from the musical, as Light uses a different tactic to rid himself of the FBI.
• Ambiguously Evil: Light asserts that he was a rapist and that the only reason he wasn't convicted was due to lack of evidence. While it's implied Light does research his victims, everything else he tells Raye Penber in that scene is a lie, so it's unclear if Nusumi really was guilty or not. A few seconds later, Light offers to kill any civilian Raye points him to, implying he didn't care too much about the criminal records of his victims, but it may have been a bluff.
• Asshole Victim: Light reassures Raye Penber that he deserved what he got as he was a menace to society.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the manga and anime, he's killed with a heart attack while standing. In the live action film, he was sitting next to Raye Penber on the bus, and Light kills him in a way that makes it look like he fell asleep, so as to not scare the passengers.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: He wears glasses and according to Light was a repeated sex offender.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: He became one of many people whom Kira killed with the Death Note after justice failed to apprehend him.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Light apparently chose him specifically because he had avoided prison time despite being a Serial Rapist.
• Sacrificial Lamb: He's used by Light to serve as a demonstration of his powers and to intimidate Raye Penber into doing his bidding.
• Serial Rapist: His crime, according to Light. He raped several women but was acquitted either on lack of evidence (in the manga and anime) or because his victims feared retribution (in the live action film)

• All Devouring Black Hole Loan Sharks: Higuchi says he is one of these.
• Ambiguously Evil: All we hear about him is from Higuchi, who is an Unreliable Narrator and not above killing innocents, and Misa doesn't bother to check whether his crimes were true or not.
• Asshole Victim: When Misa demands that Higuchi provide her with one of these to prove that she is Kira, Higuchi chooses Kaneboshi and Misa has Rem kill him.
• Bald of Evil: He is bald, and he does horrible things for money.
• Eviler than Thou: He's the first person that comes to Higuchi's mind when thinking of a bad person, which considering what kind of person Higuchi is, says a lot.
• Loan Shark: His crime, and the reason Higuchi chooses him to die.
• Killed Offscreen: We learn of his demise when Higuchi calls up an assocaite at his company to check on him, and hears that he collapse.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Misa has Rem kill him to trick Higuchi into thinking she was the second Kira at that point.
• The Scapegoat: Apparently knew Higuchi personally, but this doesn't stop the latter from giving his name away the moment he needed someone familiar to kill.

Misa's stalker, given a name in the live action movies. Killed by Gelus.

• Accidental Murder: In the TV Drama, when Misa rejects him, he gets angry and (in the apparent timeline before Sidoh retroactively kills him to prevent it) pushes her down a flight of stairs, killing her on impact. He's clearly horrified by his actions when it happens.
• Adaptation Name Change: He's called Tsutomu Yukida in the TV drama.
• Adaptational Intelligence: In the TV drama, he's smart enough to trick Light when the latter approaches him with the knowledge that Misa is in danger. Had it not been for Gelus' intervention, Light would've failed to save her.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • Downplayed in the live action film. He's still a lunatic and a stalker, but he thinks that Misa is a Death Seeker and wants to kill her and himself to alleviate her pain, which, while still psychotic, is a much more "noble" motivation than his original one.
  • In the TV drama, he's still a perverted stalker, but he doesn't pull a knife on Misa, and his murder of her (before Gelus intervenes) is accidental. In the seconds before Gelus changes the events, he's also shown to be distraught and remorseful after killing her.
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: In the manga and anime Misa's stalker is a crazed fan that she had never seen before. In the live action movies, he is the assistant director of her TV program Misa-Misa's Happy Sweets. In the TV drama, he's one of her security guards.
• Ax-Crazy: The guy speaks like his remaining sanity is going to fall apart at any second, and his response to being rejected is to try to murder his crush.
• Bald of Evil: in the live action movie.
• Collector of the Strange: In the live action movie he retrieves Misa's used tissues from the trash.
• Covert Pervert: In the live action movie, he's slightly better at maintaining a professional demeanor, but once he's alone with Misa, he shows himself to be as obsessed with her as in the manga and anime.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: In the TV drama, when Light approaches him to tell him that Misa is in danger, he takes him as a potential rival for her affections.
• Dead Man Walking: He's controlled by Gelus into simply walking away from Misa and collapsing on the ground.
• Death by Origin Story: His death is shown through a flashback detailing how Misa got her hands on a Shinigami's Death Note.
• Devil in Plain Sight: In the live-action movie and TV drama, he worked alongside Misa, who was blissfully unaware of his intentions until he started stalking her.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: His skin is almost as pale as a Shinigami's, and he's overtly creepy even before he pulls out the knife.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Wears glasses in the anime, and is as much of a psycho as in the manga.
• Identical Stranger: In the manga/anime he looks vaguely like Mikami.
• If I Can't Have You…: Tries to kill Misa when she rejects his love.
• The Killer Becomes the Killed: He's killed by Gelus before he can finish killing Misa; which causes Gelus to crumble to dust as he is punished for interfering in human affairs.
• Knight Templar: In the live action film, he sincerely believes that Misa is a Death Seeker, as she apparently once told him of her depression following her parents' death. This motivates him to commit Murder-Suicide with her.
• Loony Fan: Obsesses over Misa to the point of wanting to die alongside her, whether she wants to or not.
• Murder-Suicide: Attempted when Misa rejects him.
  "I'LL KILL US BOTH!"
• Named by the Adaptation: Though his name is left unrevealed in the anime and manga, the live action film reveals it to be Ryotaro Sakajo.
• Not Good with Rejection: When Misa rejects his confession, he loses his mind and tries to kill her and himself with a knife. The fact that he had the knife out in the first place shows that he might've been ready to do so from the start.
• Psycho Knife Nut: When he's rejected by Misa (whom he had a creepy, unhinged crush on), he tries to murder Misa with a knife.
• Shadow Archetype: In the end, Misa ended up as bad or worse as he was, becoming a complete Yandere for Light and vowing to murder anyone whom he asked her to kill or who got in her way. When Light died, Misa committed suicide, like her stalker vowed to do after killing her.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He only appears for one scene but his attempted murder of Misa motivates Gelus to writing his name down to save her, sacrificing himself in the process and indirectly granting her possession of his notebook. This kickstarts Misa's role as the Second Kira and Rem's as her Shinigami, both of which end up being pivotal to Light's plan to kill L.
• Stalker with a Crush: He's been stalking Misa because of his crush on her.
• Villainous Breakdown: When Misa rejects him, he absolutely loses his mind.
• Yandere: For Misa. He claims to be in love with her and planned to kill her and himself when she rejected him.

• Body Double: Trades places with Misa so she can "go on a date."
• The Gadfly: She treats the clothes-swapping ordeal with Misa like a prank, and happily tells Mogi that she's on a date when he confronts her about it.
• Naughty Nurse Outfit: Higuchi certainly seems to like the nurse attire she chooses for Misa to wear, and her reaction implies this was intentional to seduce him.
• "Oh, Crap!" Smile: Gives Mogi an insecure grin after he discovers she's not Misa.
• Unwitting Pawn: to Misa, who uses her to trick her bodyguard Mogi and meet up with Higuchi herself.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Considering she willingly helped Misa escape the Task Force, it's likely she got negative consequences for it, but she's never seen again after being caught by Mogi.
• Wig, Dress, Accent: When doing the Body Double trick for Misa.

Misa's original manager.

• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Maybe. L allegedly has her arrested for drug possession offscreen in order to hide the fact that he's detaining Misa from the general public. The show never goes into detail on whether L planted the evidence or not or even if she was really arrested and not just paid off.
• Horrifying the Horror: Misa, the Second Kira, is very intimidated by her and even L and Kira seem a bit unnerved.
• Jerkass: She comes off as cold and unpleasant in her one scene.
• Mean Boss: Towards Misa. She is very scary, pushy, and controlling.
• No Sense of Personal Space: She literally grabs Misa by the wrist and pulls her off to work.
• Uncertain Doom: Though she's arrested, her implied arrest for drug possession makes her fate a bleak one since Light was willing to discretely kill people for minor crimes, and her abrasive demeanor towards Misa might not have done Yoshi any favors when the latter resumed killings as the second Kira.

• Adapted Out: He's absent in the anime, with his replacement from the manga serving his role. He's also absent from the TV Drama, as Near doesn't form the SPK.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: When he realizes that Mello and his gang have bested his men, he elects to take his own life to prevent being controlled and killed through the Death Note, that is, if he wasn't killed by Light.
• Big Good: He's the president of the USA, and the man who gave Near and Steve Mason permission to create the SPK.
• Boom, Headshot!: Kills himself via headshot after the raid on Mello's hideout fails.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: Though understandable since the story is set in Japan, Kira apparently murdering the president of the United States barely gets brought up in conversations outside of his successor disbanding the SPK.
• Heroic Suicide: Kills himself to prevent the mafia from controlling him into launching nuclear weapons.
• Hope Spot: Light gives him a chance to save himself and his country by sending a raid to Mello's hideout, but when they're all killed, Hoope loses all hope and shoots himself.
• Killed Offscreen: By the time Mello calls him, he's already dead.
• Nervous Wreck: Since the mafia called him, he's constantly shown to be on edge, in fear that he would die or be controlled at any second.
• Our Presidents Are Different: A fictional president.
• Pretty Little Headshots: The panel showing his corpse heavily implies he shot himself on the left temple, but there's no blood or viscera staining his desk or dripping unto the floor.
• Psychic-Assisted Suicide: Though not outright confirmed, it's implied Light killed him to prevent any negative consequences from the Mafia.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Doesn't last long before becoming another victim of the Kira case.

The Vice President of the United States, who ascends to the presidency once Hoope dies. Sairas surrenders to Kira and disbands the SPK rather than risk his own life.

• 0% Approval Rating: He loses support from everyone after surrendering to Kira, especially after promising that he wouldn't do so.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: In the anime, he's merged with his predecessor and is the President from the start.
• Adapted Out: The TV Drama omits him, as well as the impact Kira had on the USA as a whole.
• Casting Gag: His Japanese voice actor, Aruno Tahara, previously dubbed George W. Bush in Fahrenheit 9/11.
• Composite Character: In the anime, he shares his role with David Hoope, his predecessor in the manga.
• Dirty Coward: Most of his audience, and the Task Force, consider him this for refusing to take action against Kira. Near also calls him "a nugget" for disbanding the SPK.
• Distinction Without a Difference: He says he won't accept Kira as righteous, but won't take any steps to capture him. A heckler points out that in practice, they're the same thing.
• Know When to Fold Them: Considering what happened to his predecessor, Sairas probably was doing the reasonable thing by washing his hands off the Kira case.
• Nervous Wreck: The Task Force notice that he's very timid while giving out speeches. Light takes advantage of his nervousness to threaten him as Kira into defunding the SPK.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: His English voice is suspiciously similar to that of George W. Bush.
• Our Presidents Are Different: Like Hoope, he's a fictional president of the USA.
• Unwitting Pawn: Threatened by Kira into making his pursuit illegal in America.

• Adapted Out: Doesn't appear in the anime, as the first raid attempt is cut.
• Bald of Authority: He's bald and a high-ranking military commander.
• Crazy-Prepared: His squadron apparently had cyanide capsules in their teeth during the assault on Mello's hideout, so when one of his soldiers was apprehended by the mafia, he managed to kill himself before being captured by the mafia.
• Professional Killer: Claims that his jobs are always easier when given the chance to kill.
• Red Shirt: His role in the story is to die to introduce Sidoh as a Shinigami who is unafraid to get his hands dirty.
• Undying Loyalty: To president David Hoope. He's been serving with him for 12 years and they've developed a close friendship throughout.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: After his introductory scene and some backstory, he's the first of his men to be killed when Jack Neydar reads out his name.
• The World's Expert (on Getting Killed): Though David Hoope and himself claim that raiding the mafia's hideout would be an easy task, once they arrive, they're easily dispatched by Mello using the combined efforts of Sidoh and Jack Neydar.

• Absurdly High-Stakes Game: Ends up unwittingly playing one. After the Shinigami King finds out that a Death Note was being auctioned off by a human, he was furious and imposed a new rule stating that if any human tried to buy or sell a notebook, they will die upon receiving their payment. This leaves him with the choice of the notebook or his life. He chooses the latter in order to maintain a front of power for the United States.
• Achievements in Ignorance: Considering the one-shot is the Grand Finale to the series, the Donald arguably becomes the one person to actually come out on top in the story. Given the sheer amount of blood, time, and schemes were spent over that notebook, it is certainly jarring that Donald Trump, of all people, becomes the closest thing to a final victor in the Death Note universe. Certainly he gets cheated out of actually being able to use the notebook, but he is still shrewd enough to maintain the public perception that he possesses it, which would doubtlessly give the United States a bargaining edge in international diplomacy. On the other hand, it is only a matter of time before other nations begin to call his bluff, and there is nothing stopping another Death Note from entering the human world, leaving the ultimate fate of their world uncertain.
• Dirty Coward: Ryuk not-so-subtly calls him one for refusing the Death Note instead of sacrificing himself and ensure his nation still keeps it.
• Historical Domain Character: He’s the first real person to be seen in the Death Note universe, even though both his predecessors were fictional.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Once he learns that he will die if he accepts the Death Note as a result of a newly-imposed rule, he decides to not accept ownership of it, but tell people that he did anyway. This is probably the most pragmatic thing he could’ve done in this situation; were he to reveal that he doesn’t actually have the notebook, it’d be a PR disaster, especially considering the huge sum of money he’s paid for it. If people think he has it, but refuses to use it, it makes him look good. Were he to accept the notebook and give his life to ensure it’s owned by the US government, there’s no telling who might end up getting their hands on it.
• Publicity Stunt: After losing his country two trillion dollars and choosing to refuse the notebook, he uses the situation to boost his public image and pretend he still has it but will never use it.
• Pyrrhic Victory: He fails to get the Death Note and costs the USA two trillion dollars, but he still manages to give them and himself worldwide acclaim by bluffing about possessing it but not using it ever, though realistically it's only a matter of time before the truth comes out.

Light's little sister, who has the bad luck of being a normal kid in this messed up environment. She's completely unaware of her brother's occupation as Kira. After her horrible kidnapping by Mello, she ends up catatonic and in a wheelchair. The writer says she's getting better at the end of the manga.

• Adaptational Jerkass: The TV drama portrays her as far more bratty and dependent on Light, partly due to their mother being deceased and Light being her only guardian while their dad is out. However, she's still a Jerk with a Heart of Gold at worst.
• All Women Love Shoes: According to the Guidebook, she has very many pairs.
• Ambiguously Bi: To recap: she first says that she "doesn't want a boyfriend." Then she exclaims that Misa is "my type!" And she smiles when leafing through one of Light's magazines. The ambiguity here is that she fangirls over Hideki Ryuga (the pop star) and proclaims him perfect. She also states that she might at least consider going out with Matsuda if he were closer to her age. Fanon is relatively divided on whether Sayu is a closeted Lipstick Lesbian or bisexual.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: In the first half of the manga, in which she'd tease Light about Misa or generally poke fun at his lifestyle.
• Ascended Extra: The musical gives her an extended role as the one to indirectly introduce Light to Misa, and gives her her own song dedicated to showing her devotion to her brother. She also gets more focus in the TV Drama, due to Light's relationship with his family being expanded, and in the live action film, where she's indirectly taken hostage by the second Kira and later has a scene in the epilogue.
• Big Brother Worship: "My big brother's a genius!" Taken even further in The Musical, where she says she disapproves of Kira's actions, and thinks he could learn a thing or two by following Light's example. She even gets a song about it, appropriately titled, "My Hero."
• Book Dumb: Unlike her brother, she struggled at school, especially with math, and often sought out Light to help her do her homework.
• Bound and Gagged: When kidnapped by Mello, she's shown to be gagged with tape in the picture that he shows to the Task Force, and Mello explains to Soichiro that he cannot let her speak out of fear that she would try to bite her own tongue, though he does untie her to perform the trade. In the TV Drama, she's also gagged while being transported to and from the hideout, and is tied to a chair during the exchange.
• Break the Cutie: The second part of the series is so damn cruel to her. Especially when she winds up practically catatonic and wheelchair-bound, due to her shock and depression after her being kidnapped. Then her father dies. She's last shown in a brief cameo in chapter 98, standing once more but vacantly smiling (the writer said she was "slowly" getting better). Then Light dies, and we never get to see how her and her mother react.
• The Cutie: She's introduced as one of the few completely pure and innocent characters in the series, and has a 10/10 "innocence" stat in "How to Read".
• Daddy's Girl: She looks up to her father, even if she doesn't fully understand the stakes of his mission. When he becomes the target of the Mafia, Mello specifically targets her to use as a hostage, and it works out perfectly for him.
• Damsel in Distress: She spent several chapters in Mello's captivity. In the live action film, she's also in peril of having her name written down by Misa during the second Kira's broadcast and is saved by Soichiro.
• The Ditz: Downplayed. She has low intelligence, creativity, and initiative stats in "How to Read", but in the series proper she doesn't get the chance to act too ditzy outside of doing poorly at math.
• Empty Shell: After she's rescued by her father, she becomes this. Her last cameo in the manga (omitted for the anime) features her standing once more and smiling for a holiday ceremony in Japan, although she still has an eerie vacant look to her face.
• Fangirl: "HIDEKI RYUGA!!!". Also one to Misa in the musical, and to a lesser extent in the TV Drama.
• Females Are More Innocent: Though L had enough reason to equally suspect both her and Light of being Kira before setting up the cameras, the idea of Sayu possibly being Kira is only brought up once (implied to be just to test Light's reaction) before being immediately shut down by Sochiro.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Sayu is the foolish sibling to Light's responsible - and frequently bugs him to help with homework. Subverted once Light becomes Kira.
• The Generic Girl: Her likes are pop idols and shoes, and her dislikes are difficult school subjects and alcohol. Overall, she's very normal compared to her brother.
• Girliness Upgrade: She undergoes a minor one after transitioning from early adolescent to adult. In the first arc, she dresses in a casual, relaxed style, and has messy shoulder-length hair tied in a Tomboyish Ponytail. After the time skip, as an adult, she dresses in a more stylish, feminine style, wears makeup, and her hair has become slightly longer and much neater, and is now worn down.
• Hostage for MacGuffin: The hostage in question. She's kidnapped by Mello to threaten Soichiro into giving the Death Note to the mafia.
• The Ingenue: Sweet, caring, innocent, and doesn't seem very smart.
• Interrupted Suicide: While she's kidnapped. Mello tells Soichiro that she has to remain gagged until the exchange is made since otherwise she may try to bite off her own tongue. Whether he's just being overly careful after what happened to director Takimura or if she actually tried to do it is unclear.
• It's All My Fault: Blames herself for getting kidnapped by Mello and forcing his father to give away the Notebook to save her. When allowed to interact with him for the first time since her abduction, the first thing she does is apologize to him. Then, after hearing that he plans to quit the Task Force, her expression shows that she considers this her fault as well.
• Morality Pet:
  • She exists to give Light Pet the Dog moments and to be kidnapped. Complete with Lampshade Hanging:
    Ryuk (to Light): I guess even you have a soft spot for your sister.
  • It's eventually downplayed as once her life is on the line, Light seriously considers murdering her on the spot to prevent the notebook from falling in enemy hands, and only refuses to do so because it would make Near suspect him more than he already does, At the same time, he had many ways out of this reasoning that involved her death that he didn't commit to, showing that even if he's willing to kill her if she gets between him and his perfect world, he still doesn't want to, although his internal monologue in the manga states that had he beaten Near, he would've then gone on to kill every single person who knew about the Death Note, which may or may not include Sayu as she saw it being used. The How to Read guide plays this straight, though, as she's second only to Light in the ranking of the people he considers important, being the only character under the category "loved ones".
  • In the musical, Ryuk also pats her head while she sings "My Hero", a strange gesture of kindness that he's never shown to any human onscreen before.
• Nice Girl: Sayu comes off as a sweet, friendly girl — who got in way over her head.
• Parental Favoritism: A minor example. While Soichiro doesn't completely deny the possibility that Light could be Kira (and he is), he is adamant that Sayu couldn't possibly be the killer.
• Ship Tease:
  • As a teenager, Sayu drools over Misa, especially after hearing she was an idol.
  • After the time skip she says she might consider going out with Matsuda if he wasn't so old, which flusters him. Soichiro is worried enough about the sincerity of her words to give him a warning.
• Shipper on Deck: She gets very invested in Light and Misa's relationship, especially in the TV series, where she's a big fan of her from the beginning.
• Sole Survivor:
  • Of the Yagami family in the television drama, as Sachiko died prior to the events of the series, Sochiro writes his own name down in the Death Note, and Light burns to death in a fire.
  • She's also the only one of Mello's hostages to escape unscathed, courtesy of being Kira's sister, as both Kanichi Takimura and Kiyomi Takada are killed by him.
• Spoiled Brat: Particularly in the live-action drama, but to a lesser extent in the anime/manga series proper.
• The Teetotaler: The writer states that she dislikes alcohol.
• Trauma Conga Line: First, she's kidnapped, held hostage, used to retrieve a murder weapon which is then used to kill multiple people, and traumatized to the point of being unable to walk for a time. As if that wasn't enough, she spends several weeks in danger of having her name written down on the Death Note, and her father dies retrieving it, though a shot in the manga reveals that she's at least healing after that. Then, her brother is exposed as Kira (which the Task Force can at least cover up) and dies (which they cannot), and Misa (who had apparently become a friend of hers) kills herself a year later.
• Unwitting Pawn: Used by Mello to gain possession of the Death Note after Takimura is killed.
• Varying Competency Alibi: One of the reasons why the possibility of her being Kira is quickly dismissed is because she wouldn't be cautious and resourceful enough to cover her tracks like Light did, and Soichiro believes she wouldn't have the mental fortitude to kill people routinely.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: In the TV drama, she suffers from this due to her father being her only guardian but still spending most of his time outside catching criminals. It gets worse when he chooses L and chasing down Kira over staying at home, so he spends several months without seeing her.

Soichiro's wife and Light and Sayu's mother. Like Sayu, she is completely unaware of Light's identity as Kira.

• Break the Cutie: Near the end, her husband's dead and her daughter been traumatized from the kidnapping. We see her alone in the dining room which was once so full of life from her family now completely empty. After a moment, she breaks down and cries. And of course, she still doesn't know her son is an infamous serial killer and by the end of the day's events, she's going to lose him as well.
• Death by Adaptation: In the TV drama, she's been dead for ten years when Light finds the notebook.
• Education Mama: Quite possibly. In one of her few appearances she gushes over Light's report card while Light himself looks rather depressed and anxious.
• Good Parents: Though a bit too pushy when it comes to Light's education, Sachiko is a loving and endlessly doting mother who isn't at fault for her son turning out the way he did.
• Happily Married: To Soichiro. She worries for his safety as he puts himself in danger to help stop Kira, and looks after him while he's bedridden from a heart attack.
• Hidden Depths: It's stated in the guidebook that she enjoys drama series.
• Housewife: She looks after the Yagami household while her husband is away. In the guidebook, she bizarrely has a 10/10 in "housewifeness".
• The Ingenue: A sweet woman who also happens to have the lowest intelligence stat of her family, with a 3/10.
• Neat Freak: In the manga she's shown cleaning her spotless house in almost every scene. Probably where Light gets it from.
• Nice Girl: Like Sayu and Soichiro, Sachiko is a well-meaning person who doesn't deserve anything that happens to her and her family.
• Outliving One's Offspring: In every incarnation to date bar the TV drama, she survives until the end while Light does not.
• Parental Obliviousness: Even moreso than her husband. Despite living in the same house as her son, she never notices anything off about him at any point, nor does she ever consider the possibility that he may be Kira. She also apparently never hears him "talk to himself", despite him going off on many rants in his bedroom throughout the series.
• Posthumous Character: In the TV drama, Soichiro's absence during her death, combined with his long hours spent away from home due to work, puts a strain on his relationship with Light, which is amplified since Light must look after Sayu.
• Satellite Family Member: Her main role in the story is as Light's mom and Soichiro's wife to a lesser extent, and she's the least involved in the Kira case (as Sayu becomes an Unwitting Pawn of Mello).
• Yamato Nadeshiko: She's a strong woman who does everything she can to keep the family from falling apart during the case.

• Brainless Beauty: It's remarked that he could never get into To-Oh university (a fictional version of the prestigious University of Tokyo).
• Chekhov's Gun: His name, not the character, which is used by L when he disguises himself as a student at Light's university.
• Identical Stranger: It was pointed out that in the manga he kinda looks like L.
• Idol Singer: Basically the extent of his character, he is a famous pop icon.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. Hideki is also the first name of Ide, one of the Task Force members.
• Pretty Boy: Sayu certainly seems to think so.
• Ship Tease: With Misa. Misa looks very stunned when they're acting out a romance scene together but then suddenly objects to kissing him informing all that she already has a boyfriend.
• Shōnen Hair: Depicted as having one, helping with his Pretty Boy status.
• Unwitting Pawn: To L, in a way. L uses his name, "Hideki Ryuuga", as an alias when he disguises himself as a university student. Even if Light tries to kill his classmate Hideki Ryuuga, the pop idol is so famous that Light can't guarantee he won't accidentally picture his face instead, so if the real Ryuuga dies, then Light is definitely Kira. Light doesn't do it.

A girl that Light asks out on a date to Spaceland as part of his plan to get Raye Penber's name.

• Clingy Jealous Girl: "I've got you all to myself!" Also, in the manga, she insists that she and Light still go to Spaceland after witnessing a gruesome death.
• Damsel in Distress: She's taken hostage alongside Light, Raye, and seven other people by Kiichiro Osoreda during a busjacking. Unlike Light, who had planned for it, Yuri plays it straight as her distress throughout was genuine.
• Identical Stranger: It's been pointed out that she looks like Sayu.
• Satellite Love Interest: Light calls her up only because he needs her for his plan and he tries to ditch her immediately afterwards.
• Secret-Keeper: In the manga, Light tells her that their little trip to Spaceland was "their little secret", and he trusts it will work on her.
• Unknown Rival: Misa considers her a romantic rival just for having gone out on a date once, something Yuri likely doesn't care about much at the time of her introduction. Despite this, when Light suggests living with Misa, she's excited and declares herself the winner between her, Takada, and Yuri.
• Unwitting Pawn: She unknowingly participated in Light's plan to get Raye's name.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In the anime she is nowhere to be seen when Light and Raye get out of the bus.

• Dark and Troubled Past: Like all successors, she's an orphan, making it not unlikely she witnessed her family die, with apparently no remaining family that could have (or wanted to) adopt her, and was groomed from an extremely young age (likely being confronted with very graphic crime scene evidence during the process) to succeed the world's greatest detective, and actively being pushed to compete with her peers no matter the cost to her mental health. No pressure. Despite all this—from what little we can tell from her sparse appearance in the manga, at least—she seems to have come out relatively sane.
• Girlish Pigtails: In her only scene in the manga, she's shown sporting pigtails.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Only appears in one scene and is mentioned once later, but she indirectly provides Light with sketches of Near and Mello's faces.
• The Smurfette Principle: The only known female resident at Wammy's, or at least the only one with Nominal Importance.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Light shows Takada Linda's sketch of Mello's face, which allows her to kill him later when Mello kidnaps her.

• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Calls out Kira's actions as a threat to the nation's constitution and praises the police for standing up to him, with his face on live TV. He then gives his full name, knowing full well that he's just given Kira the ability to kill him. Kira doesn't.
• Nerves of Steel: Not a fighter, but he fits the "Brass Balls" version of the trope. He's one of the bravest characters in the show, and willing to lay down his life for a point of principle.
• Not Afraid to Die: Averted. He bravely admits in public that he is very much afraid to die, but will not keep his opinions to himself any longer, and chooses to risk his life by calling out Kira.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Denounces Kira in public with one of these following the incident with the second Kira.

A common bully who briefly triggers Light's sense of justice.

• Adaptation Name Change: In the TV Drama, the bully is called Genbu Sakota.
• Adaptational Villainy: The TV Drama turns him into a delinquent who had just been released from juvenile hall having learnt nothing.
• Ascended Extra: His role is much more prominent in the TV Drama, which expands on his criminal records and his history of tormenting Light's buddy.
• Asshole Victim: In the TV Drama, while he is given a funeral, Light soon finds out that most of his classmates were actually celebrating his death.
• The Bully: Threatens another student for money so he and his friends can go to the arcade, and the kid's reaction implies this is a common occurrence.
• Chekhov's Gun: In the TV Drama, the phone he steals from Light causes the cops to immediately question him about his death. While they weren't suspicious since all pointed to his death being an accident, this teaches Light to be more careful while using the Death Note.
• Death by Adaptation: While in the source material, Light decides against killing him out of paranoia, the bully in the TV Drama does get killed, and indeed, the death is almost traced back to him.
• Jerkass: He's a bully so it's a given. He's especially callous in the TV Drama, where he mugs Light for his phone just because he stood up to him.
• Revenge on the Bully: Subverted in the manga and anime, where Light contemplates killing him but decides against it, but played straight in the TV Drama and American Live action film.
• Sacrificial Lamb: In the TV Drama, he's the one whose name Light initially writes down out of curiosity, and he has a heart attack while riding his bike.
• Uncertain Doom: In the manga and anime, Light initially dismisses the idea of killing him since it would draw suspicion, but makes it clear he would absolutely do so otherwise. After testing the notebook and finding out you can kill conspicuously using accidents, it's unclear if Light bothered to actually kill him, but Sudou is never seen again, not even in class.