Misa Amane

Who is Misa Amane?

Misa is the Second Kira. When "misa death note" turns up in a search, this is usually what people want to know: she's a young model and later an actress who receives a Death Note of her own and uses it to find and serve the original Kira, Light Yagami. Her nickname, Misa-Misa, is her public persona; it's also how she often refers to herself.

Her motive is simple and personal. A burglar murdered her parents in front of her, and the case dragged on with no verdict. Then Kira killed the man. For Misa, that settled it: Kira is the only justice she has ever seen work, and she owes him her life. When a Shinigami brings her a notebook, she doesn't use it to build a new world. She uses it to look for the person she believes saved her.

• Works as a model, and later as a television and film actress.
• Owns a Death Note given to her by the Shinigami Rem.
• Makes the eye deal, which shows her the real name of anyone she looks at.
• Finds Light's identity before L can prove it.
• Spends much of the series without her memories of being Kira.

Personality

Misa is loud, affectionate and impulsive. She throws herself into everything, whether that's a photo shoot, a jealous outburst or a plan to get Light's attention. She sulks when ignored and cheers up the moment Light is kind to her. The series often plays her for comedy, especially in scenes with the Task Force, who don't know what to do with her.

The cheerfulness sits on top of something much harder. Misa will kill without hesitation for Light, and she doesn't share his interest in justice as an idea. She cares about crime because of what happened to her family, and about Kira because Kira acted when no one else did. Everything after that is about Light.

What makes her more than a love interest is how clear-eyed she is. She knows Light doesn't love her, says so, and stays anyway. She offers him her life openly and makes huge sacrifices without asking for anything back except his attention. It's devotion, but it's chosen, and the story doesn't let her off the hook for the people she kills along the way.

Her style

Misa's look is gothic lolita: black dresses, lace, chokers, crosses and her blonde hair in pigtails or a side ponytail. Takeshi Obata's designs for her are some of his most detailed in the series, and she's a popular cosplay choice for that reason. Our character design guide covers how a costume like hers can tell you who someone is at a glance.

Abilities: the eyes and the notebook

Misa's power comes from two sources, both tied to the Death Note's rules.

Shinigami eyes

Misa trades half her remaining lifespan for Shinigami eyes. With them, she can see the real name and remaining lifespan of anyone she looks at. This is a huge advantage. Light needs a name and a face, and getting a name usually takes elaborate planning. Misa just needs to see someone, in person or on a screen.

The eyes also explain how she finds Light. A Death Note owner's lifespan doesn't appear to Shinigami eyes. When Misa goes looking for Kira in a crowd and spots a young man with a name but no lifespan, she knows she has found him.

The notebook

Her Death Note originally belonged to Gelus, a Shinigami who died saving her. Rem brings it to her. She uses it with less caution than Light does, which is how L gets the evidence to arrest her.

Rem's protection

Misa's most important asset might be Rem. Rem loves her and makes it clear to Light that if Misa dies because of him, Rem will kill him. That threat shapes everything Light does around Misa until Rem is gone.

Story arc

Before the story

Misa's parents are murdered by a burglar, and Kira later kills him. Separately, she's targeted by a stalker who intends to kill her. Gelus, a Shinigami who has watched her from the Shinigami realm for a long time, writes the stalker's name to save her. A Shinigami who extends a human's life in this way dies, and Gelus turns to dust. Rem takes his notebook and gives it to Misa.

The Second Kira

Misa sends videotapes to Sakura TV announcing herself as a second Kira and kills people on air, including police officer Hirokazu Ukita, to prove it. The tapes mention Shinigami, which tells L something new. Misa then finds Light in person, turns up at his home and tells him she's the Second Kira and wants to be his. Light can't refuse her without Rem's interference, so he agrees to work with her.

Arrest and confinement

Misa meets L at Light's university and sees his real name with her eyes. Before she can pass it on, L has her arrested, using forensic traces linked to the Second Kira's packages. She's held, bound and blindfolded for weeks. Rather than betray Light, she asks Rem to kill her. Rem refuses. Instead, Misa gives up ownership of her notebook, losing every memory of it. Her confinement, and how much L puts her through, is one of the reasons opinions about L split among fans.

The Yotsuba arc

Without her memories, Misa is released and moves into L's headquarters, still in love with Light. She keeps working as a model, with Task Force officers acting as her managers. She also helps the investigation in her own way, getting close to Kyosuke Higuchi of the Yotsuba Group and tricking him into revealing himself as the Third Kira on camera. After Higuchi is caught, Light has her recover a hidden notebook, her memories return, and she makes the eye deal again, this time with Ryuk.

Rem then kills L to protect her, and dies doing it. Light now has no one keeping him from disposing of Misa, but she's still useful, and he keeps her.

After the time skip

Years later Misa is an actress and still with Light. As Near and Mello close in, Light has her give up her notebook again, and her memories of being Kira go with it. She becomes jealous of Kiyomi Takada, Light's new spokesperson, and spends much of the final arc on the sidelines, largely unaware of what's going on.

Her ending

Misa isn't present at the Yellow Box warehouse when Light is exposed. The manga never shows what happens to her afterwards. The anime's final episode cuts to her standing on the edge of a building at sunset, a scene widely read as her suicide after learning Light is gone. The official guidebook also indicates she died not long after him. It's one of the quieter character deaths in anime, and one of the bleakest.

Relationships

Is Misa smart?

Misa is often called the dumb one of the Kira side, and the story does feed that idea: she's impulsive, gives away evidence and needs Light to clean up after her. But some of her moves are as sharp as anything in the series. She identifies Light faster than L does. She gets into the Kira investigation by walking up to its main suspect. She tricks Higuchi into confessing on camera with a simple story he believes completely.

Her real limit isn't intelligence; it's focus. Misa never cares about the bigger picture. She cares about Light, and that makes her easy for Light to direct and easy for others to read. It's also what fans who defend her point out: she's the one Kira-side character who never pretends her killing is about anything but love. Our anime archetypes guide covers the devoted, dangerous love interest type she's often filed under.

Trivia

• Third person. Misa often calls herself "Misa-Misa" or "Misa", a habit carried into both the Japanese and English versions.
• Christmas birthday. Her birthday is December 25.
• Two eye deals. She's the only character in the story who makes the eye deal twice.
• Voice. Aya Hirano, her Japanese voice, also voices Lucy Heartfilia in Fairy Tail. See our voice actors guide for more.
• Remakes. In the 2017 Netflix film, her role is reworked into a new character, Mia Sutton, played by Margaret Qualley.

Why Misa matters

Misa is the clearest picture in Death Note of what Kira means to the people who support him. Light talks about justice and a new world. Misa doesn't need the theory. Kira helped her when nothing else did, and that's enough for her to kill for him and give up most of her life. She shows how a public that feels let down can turn a killer into a hero.

She's also how the series shows Light at his coldest. The way he treats the one person who loves him without conditions says more about him than any of his speeches. That's why, for all the jokes about her, Misa stays one of the most argued-over characters in the cast.