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Synopsis

Within the urban metropolis of Tokyo, a high-school student named Light Yagami stumbles across the "Death Note," a mysterious black notebook, which can kill anyone whose name is written in its pages. Initially skeptical about the notebook's claims, he is later surprised to discover that the Death Note's claims are true, much to Light's initial horror and disbelief. After experimenting with the notebook on numerous high-profile Japanese criminals, Light is visited by Ryuk, a demonic Shinigami (death god) and the Death Note's previous owner, who dropped the notebook into the human world out of boredom and curiosity. Seeing the Death Note's potential utility in creating a utopian world without evil and slowly becoming fascinated with its godlike power, Light reveals his motivations to change the world into a utopia without crime to Ryuk, much to his amusement. Ryuk later serves as Light's companion and is invisible to almost everyone, except for those who touch the Death Note. As numerous criminals and convicts around the world begin to mysteriously die, the global media and public begin to praise and fear the mysterious god-like figure responsible for the murders, who they dub "Kira", a Japanese transliteration of the word: "killer". While numerous law enforcement agencies attempt to crack the mystery behind the world-wide murders, Interpol hosts a conference to discuss the "Kira" case, in which they request the assistance of the world-renowned detective: "L", an enigmatic and intelligent yet reclusive independent investigator, to assist them in the "Kira" investigation. After surmising Kira's location in Japan, L assists the anti-Kira police task-force in Tokyo (which includes Light's father: Captain Soichiro Yagami) and eventually stages a misleading TV broadcast in which he tricks Light into revealing his location within the Kanto region of Japan. The FBI, acting on L's suspicion that "Kira" may be connected to the local authorities, also send a team of FBI agents to Kanto to monitor the families of those connected with the "Kira" investigation. Through a chain of intricate events, Light outmaneuvers and kills the team members, but this increases L's suspicion. Upon graduating from high school to college, Light joins the task-force, after he is recruited by L, in the hope of learning L's true identity and eventually kill him, while L closely observes Light's activities and tries to prove his suspicion of Light being "Kira" and apprehend Light. At this point, a second individual, a famous model/actress named Misa Amane, gains a second Death Note from a Shinigami named Rem. Misa commits numerous murders, sends taped recordings to the police under the alias of "Kira", and later uncovers Light's identity. Infatuated with Light, he decides to pretend to care for her and agrees to be her boyfriend, despite his actual lack of feelings for Misa. Light intends to use Misa's Shinigami Eyes to discern L's true name, and then to dispose of Misa, despite Rem's warnings not to do so. However, L detains Misa due to her possible connection to "Kira", due to finding her fingerprints on the broadcast tapes. In order to ward off suspicions, Light arranges a scheme in which he and Misa will have their memories temporarily removed, and where Rem passes the Death Note to a less morally-driven individual to prove his and Misa's innocence. The task-force, by analyzing the patterns of recent killings, deduces that Kira is affiliated with the Yotsuba Group: a wealthy and elite yet unscrupulous business group, composed of executives from the Yotsuba Corporation. Through Light and L's cooperative work, the task-force gathers sufficient evidence against one of the Yotsuba Group's members: Kyosuke Higuchi, whom they surmise as of the current "Kira”, arrest him, and discover the existence of the Death Notes and the mythical Shinigami. By touching the Death Note, Light and Misa regain their memories. However, Light proceeds to cast suspicion on Misa, forcing Rem, who cares for Misa, to murder L. In the process, Rem dies, as it is forbidden for Shinigami to protect human individuals. The task-force agrees to cover up L's death and appoint Light to assume his identity since very few people know L's existence and his physical appearance. Light becomes the new L, headlining the "Kira" investigation while continuing his activities as "Kira". Four years later, the world has entered a state of disarray and terror, as world-wide crime rates have massively dropped, but networks of individuals and cults have arisen, which worship "Kira", as a literal god. Two intellectual young men, who were raised as potential successors to L, are revealed: Near, who collaborates with the CIA and the U.S. government and sets up his own anti-Kira task-force: the SPK (Special Provision for Kira), and Mello, who collaborates with the Mafia and is less morally-driven and more hot-tempered than Near. Both of them are aware that L is dead, and thus, consider Light, the current L, a prime suspect. Mello, along with the Mafia's assistance, kidnaps Light's sister, resulting in his father's death during the rescue mission. As suspicion starts to fall again on Misa, Light passes Misa's Death Note to a public prosecutor/fervent supporter of Kira: Teru Mikami. He also appoints a well-known newscaster and one of his college classmates/ex-girlfriend: Kiyomi Takada, as Kira's public spokesperson. Realizing that Takada is connected to Kira, Mello kidnaps her, but Takada manages to kill Mello with a hidden page of the Death Note, after which she is killed by Light, in order to dispel suspicions. Shortly after, Near deduces Mikami's connection to "Kira" and replaces his Death Note, with a decoy notebook. Later, Near arranges a meeting between Light and the current anti-Kira task-force members, during which Mikami writes down the names of all present in the fake Death Note, except for Light's, thereby implicating the two of them, to which Light breaks down and maniacally laughs. While attempting to murder the officials present with a hidden page of the Death Note, Touta Matsuda, one of the anti-Kira task-force members, incapacitates him after shooting him repeatedly. Ryuk, realizing that Light will spend the rest of his life in prison, writes down Light's name in the Death Note and kills him, much like what he had promised to him at the beginning of the story.