Light Yagami

Light Yagami (Japanese: 夜神 月ライト, Hepburn: Yagami Raito) is the main protagonist of the manga series Death Note, created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. He is portrayed as a brilliant but bored genius who finds the Death Note, a supernatural notebook that allows the user to kill anyone by knowing their name and face, after it is dropped by the Shinigami Ryuk. With the power of the Death Note, Light eliminates those he deems morally unworthy of life, masterminding a worldwide massacre as the mass murderer Kira (キラ). He claims that he is making the world a better place by purging it of all its crime and impurities, taking the stance of the "God of the new world" and thus fulfilling his goal, although his massacre involved a significant amount of innocent civilians or law officers. Over the course of his efforts to create a world free of crime, wherein he would rule as a godlike figure, Yagami is pursued by law enforcement groups such as the NPA and a world-renowned detective named L. In the anime adaptation, he is voiced by Mamoru Miyano in Japanese and by Brad Swaile in the English version. In the live-action film series, he is portrayed by Tatsuya Fujiwara with Swaile reprising his role as his English dub voice; he is portrayed by both Kenji Urai and Hayato Kakizawa in the musical; in the TV drama, he is portrayed by Masataka Kubota; his counterparts in the American film are portrayed by Nat Wolff and Margaret Qualley. Yagami's portrayal in the anime was met with praise from critics.