DEATH NOTE PLOT

Light Yagami is a genius high school student who resents the relentless increase of crime and corruption in the world around him. His life undergoes a drastic change when he discovers a mysterious notebook, known as the "Death Note", lying on the ground. The Death Note's instructions claim that if a human's name is written within it, that person shall die, as well as various other rules. Though Light is initially skeptical of the notebook's authenticity, he realizes that the Death Note is real after experimenting with it on criminals. After meeting with the previous owner of the Death Note, a shinigami named Ryuk, Light plans to become a god and establish a new world order by passing his keen judgment on those he deems evil and anyone who gets in his way.

Soon, the number of inexplicable deaths of reported criminals catches the attention of International Police Organization and a mysterious detective known only as "L". L quickly learns that the serial killer, dubbed by the public as "Kira", derived from the typical Japanese pronunciation of the English word "killer"), is located in Japan. He also concludes that Kira can kill people without laying a finger on them and that he is in Japan after using a convicted criminal named Lind L. Tailor, whose capture was kept secret and who was condemned to die at that hour, and pretending Tailor is L so that Kira would kill him. He then reveals this was only being broadcast in the Kanto region of Japan, and that the first Kira killing was of a criminal only broadcast in Japan. Light realizes that L will be his greatest nemesis, and a nuanced game of psychological cat and mouse between the two begins.

L realizes Kira is getting information from inside the task force and sends 12 FBI agents to follow people connected to the Japanese police. Light tricks Raye Penber, his tail, into showing his ID, after which he kills all the FBI agents. Naomi Misora, Raye's fiancee, suspects Kira was one of the people he tailed, but Light finds out and makes her commit suicide using the Death Note.

Noticing Penber's odd behaviour, and the fact that Raye's fiancee is missing, L begins to suspect those Penber was investigating, and places cameras in their homes. Light realises their presence, but continues the killings with help from a miniature TV. L finally decides to remove the cameras, and enrolls at the same university as Light. His suspicions grow of Light, but he asks him to join the taskforce.

Misa Amane, another Death Note owner, finds Light, after sending a video in which she claims to be Kira. She possesses Shinigami eyes which allow her to see a person's name and lifespan, but at the cost of half her remaining lifespan to obtain this information. Ryuk offered Light Shinigami eyes when Penber was following him but Light declined. Obsessed with Kira after the death of her parents' murderer who was being acquitted for lack of evidence, she devotes herself to helping Light and even gives him her Death Note for safe-keeping. However, she is captured by L. Light makes a plan involving renouncing ownership of both Death Notes and all of his memories of them, and turns himself in to L for surveillance, as Rem threatens to kill him if Misa is not freed. Together, Light and L investigate eight people from the company "Yotsuba" who are using a Death Note for their own profit after Rem gave it to one of them. While arresting the third Kira Higuchi, Light recovers all his memories when he touches the Death Note. Using a death note fragment in his watch, he kills Higuichi, thus becoming the owner of the Death Note. He remembers and continues his plan of compelling the former owner of Misa's Death Note, theshinigami Rem, into killing L and his assistant Watari, which causes Rem to lose her life, as a Shinigami is not allowed to purposely extend a human's life. Light then gets her Death Note. Meanwhile, Misa acquires her memories and the Shinigami eyes from Ryuk and hides the Death Note on Light's orders, though removing some pages from it.

After L's death, Light is given the position of the "new L" by the Japanese Task Force. Four years later, Near and Mello - two children who were raised to be successors to L in an orphanage founded by Watari - appear, with the goal of finding Kira. In the meantime, Kira has gained much public support, and has contacts. Mello, who has joined the Mafia, kidnaps the Director of the NPA. When Kira kills him, he kidnaps Sayu Yagami, Light's sister, as a bargaining chip to get the Death Note. The Japanese Task Force plans to go to Los Angeles to rescue Sayu but ends up losing the Notebook. The Task Force later attempts to retrieve it and succeeds in doing so. They also get Mello's real name due to Soichiro making the deal for Shinigami eyes with Ryuk. However, as a result of an explosion that Mello uses to cover his escape and one of his henchmen, Light's father dies.