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110-540: 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 . Frustrated by

220-455: A " sociopath ". Tom S. Pepirium of IGN describes Light as "brilliant, but disturbed". Wolk describes Light's ideal world, a "totalitarian" place "ruled by a propagandistic TV channel and an arbitrary secret executioner". Wolk said that Ohba sometimes suggests that this world is "in some ways a better, happier world than ours". Jolyon Baraka Thomas describes Light's vision of justice as "impure": "[His] supercilious attempt to save society from itself

330-637: A benefit from the in-group to the out-group) means "[I/we] explained [it] to [him/her/them]". Such beneficiary auxiliary verbs thus serve a function comparable to that of pronouns and prepositions in Indo-European languages to indicate the actor and the recipient of an action. Japanese "pronouns" also function differently from most modern Indo-European pronouns (and more like nouns) in that they can take modifiers as any other noun may. For instance, one does not say in English: The amazed he ran down

440-505: A bully by Ryuk, Light murders the criminal who killed his mother, and together with Mia, the two begin a crusade similar to their manga counterparts to rid the world of crime. However the pair eventually come to a disagreement on how they should deal with law enforcement targeting them, including L and Light's father James, with Mia wishing to kill the "innocent" seeking to uncover their identities, and Light wishing to simply kill criminals. After Mia kills Watari, L's handler, she schemes to steal

550-478: A butcher on an enormous scale" who is not "a Freddy Krueger , a monster who represents pure evil, or a Patrick Bateman , a demonic symbol of his age". Wolk describes Light as "the good guy, more or less" who genuinely believes that he holds "the moral high ground". When asked about which character was most similar to himself, Ohba indicated Near and "maybe Light." Regarding Light, Ohba cited "because I did well in school." Travis Fickett of IGN describes Light as

660-433: A confrontation with a bully. After he writes the bully's name in the Death Note and realize it is real, he is so horrified by what he did that almost commits suicide. After again using the notebook to save his father from being held hostage, Light proceeds to use the notebook to kill criminals as Kira. In response to the killings, the detective L leads a police task force alongside Light's father Soichiro to capture Kira. Toward

770-414: A distinct language of its own that has absorbed various aspects from neighboring languages. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, with each having both a short and a long version. Elongated vowels are usually denoted with a line over the vowel (a macron ) in rōmaji , a repeated vowel character in hiragana , or a chōonpu succeeding the vowel in katakana . /u/ ( listen )

880-419: A glide /j/ and either the first part of a geminate consonant ( っ / ッ , represented as Q) or a moraic nasal in the coda ( ん / ン , represented as N). The nasal is sensitive to its phonetic environment and assimilates to the following phoneme, with pronunciations including [ɴ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɰ̃] . Onset-glide clusters only occur at the start of syllables but clusters across syllables are allowed as long as

990-523: A good job. In theatrical works, he is known for collaborating with Yukio Ninagawa , one of the most influential directors in Japan. He started his career in theatre, before his screen debut, with the title role of Shintoku-maru , the boy who has an obsessive relationship with his step mother. He has also acted in Shakespeare plays, including Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet . Fujiwara played one of

1100-474: A hidden piece of Death Note, but is shot by Matsuda, an investigation team member. Light tells Ryuk to write the team's names, promising to show him many interesting things, and begins to laugh. He stops, however, when Ryuk shows him that he had written just one name: Light's. Light tries to stop Ryuk, but merely passes right through him. As Light begins to succumb to the effects of the Death Note, Ryuk takes this opportunity to reveal to him that humans that have used

1210-580: A hidden piece of the notebook he finds in Mia's room, after having deduced her to have been the Kira who killed Watari, and recognising the supernatural to be real. The film ends, as Ryuk laughs to a bed-ridden Light and comments that "humans are so interesting". In the 2015 drama , Masataka Kubota plays the role of Light Yagami. Similar to the Netflix adaptation, Light is portrayed as less charismatic, insecure and

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1320-484: A listener depending on the listener's relative social position and the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the listener. When used in different social relationships, the same word may have positive (intimate or respectful) or negative (distant or disrespectful) connotations. Japanese often use titles of the person referred to where pronouns would be used in English. For example, when speaking to one's teacher, it

1430-618: A little out there," was "clear and detailed". As the weekly serialization continued, Obata simplified the design by subconsciously removing "unnecessary" lines and felt that he became "better" at drawing Light. When Chapter 35 appeared and the editor informed Obata that Light loses his memories, Obata had to draw Light in a similar manner as he appeared in Chapter 1; Obata said "It was like I had to forget everything I had learned." Obata said that he used "a lot of effort" to design Light's wardrobe. According to Obata, he encountered difficulty imagining

1540-446: A result of their sympathy. Light relinquishes ownership of the Death Note to Kiyomi Takada . After Takada is caught, Light kills her to recover the Death Note, but it is taken by the investigation team. L states that he will test the 13-Day Rule, a fake Death Note rule designed to prove Light and Misa's innocence. Rem, knowing that L's actions will reveal Misa's identity as the second Kira, writes both L and his handler: Watari's names in

1650-408: A sentence need not be stated and pronouns may be omitted if they can be inferred from context. In the example above, hana ga nagai would mean "[their] noses are long", while nagai by itself would mean "[they] are long." A single verb can be a complete sentence: Yatta! ( やった! ) "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!". In addition, since adjectives can form the predicate in a Japanese sentence (below),

1760-428: A single adjective can be a complete sentence: Urayamashii! ( 羨ましい! ) "[I'm] jealous [about it]!". While the language has some words that are typically translated as pronouns, these are not used as frequently as pronouns in some Indo-European languages, and function differently. In some cases, Japanese relies on special verb forms and auxiliary verbs to indicate the direction of benefit of an action: "down" to indicate

1870-414: A son, Hikari Yagami (夜神光 Yagami Hikari ), who was expected to inherit a Death Note and carry on Kira's legacy. Teru Mikami's status as Hikari's appointed guardian implies that Misa Amane was the boy's birth mother. Mikami kills Hikari over control of the notebook, and is then killed by police officer Tsukuru Mishima who decides to use the notebook to continue Light's work in ridding the world of crime. During

1980-470: A stereo; Kaneko replaced it with a vacuum cleaner to reflect Light's "clean-freak self". Kenichi Matsuyama , the actor who portrayed L, said that he and Fujiwara became "so immersed" in their character portrayals that they did not talk to one another while on the set; when filming ceased they conversed and "went out for a drink or two". Matsuyama also said that Light and L are "extremely" alike in that they have "a very strong sense of justice". Light Yagami

2090-471: A young age. In 2013, he married his long-term girlfriend. In the summer of 2016, they became parents. The name and gender of their child is unknown. He is famous for acting the part of Shuya Nanahara in Kinji Fukasaku 's controversial 2000 film Battle Royale . He continues the character as a leader of the "Wild Seven" in the sequel, Battle Royale II: Requiem . He stars as Light Yagami ,

2200-680: Is compressed rather than protruded , or simply unrounded. Some Japanese consonants have several allophones , which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the 20th century, the phonemic sequence /ti/ was palatalized and realized phonetically as [tɕi] , approximately chi ( listen ) ; however, now [ti] and [tɕi] are distinct, as evidenced by words like tī [tiː] "Western-style tea" and chii [tɕii] "social status". The "r" of

2310-421: Is topic–comment . Sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or form questions. Nouns have no grammatical number or gender , and there are no articles . Verbs are conjugated , primarily for tense and voice , but not person . Japanese adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has a complex system of honorifics , with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of

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2420-451: Is "mesmerizing". In 2014, he was placed seventh on IGN's list of greatest anime characters of all-time, with the cite stating that "Light Yagami was the force that drove Death Note and made it a phenomenon". He is frequently cited as being an anti-hero and sometimes an anti-villain. Manga artist Katsura Hoshino , a former assistant of Takeshi Obata, has said that she likes the way the Light

2530-486: Is Kira, L allows him to collaborate with the police on the case. This begins a game of cat and mouse between the two, with Light trying to learn L's real name so he can kill him, and L trying to get Light to expose himself so that he can arrest him. Because the actions of Misa Amane , a fervent Kira supporter and fellow Death Note owner, nearly implicates Light, he becomes compelled to temporarily relinquish ownership of his notebook and subsequently loses his memories of using

2640-448: Is also seen in o-medetō "congratulations", from medetaku ). Late Middle Japanese has the first loanwords from European languages – now-common words borrowed into Japanese in this period include pan ("bread") and tabako ("tobacco", now "cigarette"), both from Portuguese . Modern Japanese is considered to begin with the Edo period (which spanned from 1603 to 1867). Since Old Japanese,

2750-527: Is also used in a limited fashion (such as for imported acronyms) in Japanese writing. The numeral system uses mostly Arabic numerals , but also traditional Chinese numerals . Proto-Japonic , the common ancestor of the Japanese and Ryukyuan languages , is thought to have been brought to Japan by settlers coming from the Korean peninsula sometime in the early- to mid-4th century BC (the Yayoi period ), replacing

2860-440: Is appropriate to use sensei ( 先生 , "teacher"), but inappropriate to use anata . This is because anata is used to refer to people of equal or lower status, and one's teacher has higher status. Japanese nouns have no grammatical number, gender or article aspect. The noun hon ( 本 ) may refer to a single book or several books; hito ( 人 ) can mean "person" or "people", and ki ( 木 ) can be "tree" or "trees". Where number

2970-701: Is associated with comedy (see Kansai dialect ). Dialects of Tōhoku and North Kantō are associated with typical farmers. The Ryūkyūan languages, spoken in Okinawa and the Amami Islands (administratively part of Kagoshima ), are distinct enough to be considered a separate branch of the Japonic family; not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryūkyūan languages. However, in contrast to linguists, many ordinary Japanese people tend to consider

3080-466: Is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms (for instance, the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam ). Among other sound changes, the sequence /au/ merges to /ɔː/ , in contrast with /oː/ ; /p/ is reintroduced from Chinese; and /we/ merges with /je/ . Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending - te begins to reduce onto

3190-486: Is both self-aggrandizing and cruel". Toshiki Inoue describes Light as a "child whose wish happens to come true". Tom S. Pepirium of IGN said that he felt surprised when he learned that some viewers, while watching the series, wanted Light to emerge as the victor of the storyline; Pepirium added that his wife said that she was "kinda rooting for Light". Pepirium compared wanting Light to win to "cheering for Kevin Spacey at

3300-423: Is coincidentally called a kira kira name . In the final scene of the manga, after Light's death, a group of Kira worshippers appear under the light of the moon; Ohba describes liking this scene as it created "deeper significance" for Light's name. Takeshi Obata , the artist of Death Note , said that he had "no trouble" designing Light as the character description presented to him, "A brilliant honors student who's

3410-509: Is correlated with the sex of the speaker and the social situation in which they are spoken: men and women alike in a formal situation generally refer to themselves as watashi ( 私 , literally "private") or watakushi (also 私 , hyper-polite form), while men in rougher or intimate conversation are much more likely to use the word ore ( 俺 "oneself", "myself") or boku . Similarly, different words such as anata , kimi , and omae ( お前 , more formally 御前 "the one before me") may refer to

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3520-417: Is important, it can be indicated by providing a quantity (often with a counter word ) or (rarely) by adding a suffix, or sometimes by duplication (e.g. 人人 , hitobito , usually written with an iteration mark as 人々 ). Words for people are usually understood as singular. Thus Tanaka-san usually means Mx Tanaka . Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate a group of individuals through

3630-434: Is initially hesitant to kill law enforcement. His relationship with his father Soichiro is also strained due to the death of his mother prior to the start of the series. However, in the later half of the series he grows to demonstrate the same level of ruthlessness, intellect and hubris as his manga counterpart. Like the Netflix adaption, Light does not obtain the notebook by chance and it is given to him by Ryuk in response to

3740-755: Is less common. In terms of mutual intelligibility , a survey in 1967 found that the four most unintelligible dialects (excluding Ryūkyūan languages and Tōhoku dialects ) to students from Greater Tokyo were the Kiso dialect (in the deep mountains of Nagano Prefecture ), the Himi dialect (in Toyama Prefecture ), the Kagoshima dialect and the Maniwa dialect (in Okayama Prefecture ). The survey

3850-420: Is often called a topic-prominent language , which means it has a strong tendency to indicate the topic separately from the subject, and that the two do not always coincide. The sentence Zō wa hana ga nagai ( 象は鼻が長い ) literally means, "As for elephant(s), (the) nose(s) (is/are) long". The topic is zō "elephant", and the subject is hana "nose". Japanese grammar tends toward brevity; the subject or object of

3960-423: Is often drawn as he gives the appeal of a cool villain. Tetsuro Araki, the director of the anime, said that he felt an urge to support and cheer for Light. Araki added that Light would have used and killed him if he was one of Light's friends, but the director still believed that Light is " that interesting" and therefore he would have felt an attraction towards Light. Pauline Wong of OtakuZone had her opinions of

4070-469: Is portrayed by Nat Wolff . Light's portrayal in the anime was met with praise from critics. Tsugumi Ohba , the story writer of Death Note said that his editor suggested the family name "Yagami" for Light, which he did not feel "too concerned" about regarding its meaning (the Kanji for "Yagami" are "night" and "god"). Light's given name is written with the Japanese character for "moon," an example of what

4180-498: Is preserved in words such as matsuge ("eyelash", lit. "hair of the eye"); modern mieru ("to be visible") and kikoeru ("to be audible") retain a mediopassive suffix - yu(ru) ( kikoyu → kikoyuru (the attributive form, which slowly replaced the plain form starting in the late Heian period) → kikoeru (all verbs with the shimo-nidan conjugation pattern underwent this same shift in Early Modern Japanese )); and

4290-483: Is the chief of the National Police Agency , and is the head of the task force hunting for "Kira", the name the public has given to the perpetrator of a string of inexplicable murders around the world. His mother, Sachiko , is a housewife. His younger sister, Sayu , acts as a cheerful, less academic foil of Light himself. Light initially becomes horrified at the Death Note's abilities after he tests

4400-665: Is the principal language of the Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people . It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan , the only country where it is the national language , and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes the Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language . There have been many attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as

4510-402: Is the version of Japanese discussed in this article. Formerly, standard Japanese in writing ( 文語 , bungo , "literary language") was different from colloquial language ( 口語 , kōgo ) . The two systems have different rules of grammar and some variance in vocabulary. Bungo was the main method of writing Japanese until about 1900; since then kōgo gradually extended its influence and

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4620-471: Is used for the present and the future. For verbs that represent an ongoing process, the -te iru form indicates a continuous (or progressive) aspect , similar to the suffix ing in English. For others that represent a change of state, the -te iru form indicates a perfect aspect. For example, kite iru means "They have come (and are still here)", but tabete iru means "They are eating". Questions (both with an interrogative pronoun and yes/no questions) have

4730-405: Is why some linguists do not classify Japanese "pronouns" as pronouns, but rather as referential nouns, much like Spanish usted (contracted from vuestra merced , "your ( majestic plural ) grace") or Portuguese você (from vossa mercê ). Japanese personal pronouns are generally used only in situations requiring special emphasis as to who is doing what to whom. The choice of words used as pronouns

4840-563: The Ainu , Austronesian , Koreanic , and the now-discredited Altaic , but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Japanese vocabulary entered

4950-462: The Japonic language family, which also includes the Ryukyuan languages spoken in the Ryukyu Islands . As these closely related languages are commonly treated as dialects of the same language, Japanese is sometimes called a language isolate . According to Martine Irma Robbeets , Japanese has been subject to more attempts to show its relation to other languages than any other language in

5060-610: The Mafia . Although Mello dies working separately from Near, his actions lead Teru Mikami , a man selected by Light to kill criminals using another Death Note, to make a mistake that results in Light's capture by Near, the SPK, and Japanese police. Seeing that Light has finally lost, he is killed when Ryuk writes his name in his own Death Note, just as the Shinigami had warned when they first met. Light Yagami died on January 28, 2010 (or 2013 in

5170-514: The Philippines , and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries learned Japanese as the language of the empire. As a result, many elderly people in these countries can still speak Japanese. Japanese emigrant communities (the largest of which are to be found in Brazil , with 1.4 million to 1.5 million Japanese immigrants and descendants, according to Brazilian IBGE data, more than

5280-738: The United States (notably in Hawaii , where 16.7% of the population has Japanese ancestry, and California ), and the Philippines (particularly in Davao Region and the Province of Laguna ). Japanese has no official status in Japan, but is the de facto national language of the country. There is a form of the language considered standard : hyōjungo ( 標準語 ) , meaning "standard Japanese", or kyōtsūgo ( 共通語 ) , "common language", or even "Tokyo dialect" at times. The meanings of

5390-508: 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 counterpart in the American film

5500-806: The de facto standard Japanese had been the Kansai dialect , especially that of Kyoto . However, during the Edo period, Edo (now Tokyo) developed into the largest city in Japan, and the Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. Since the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages has increased significantly. The period since 1945 has seen many words borrowed from other languages—such as German, Portuguese and English. Many English loan words especially relate to technology—for example, pasokon (short for "personal computer"), intānetto ("internet"), and kamera ("camera"). Due to

5610-527: The 1.2 million of the United States ) sometimes employ Japanese as their primary language. Approximately 12% of Hawaii residents speak Japanese, with an estimated 12.6% of the population of Japanese ancestry in 2008. Japanese emigrants can also be found in Peru , Argentina , Australia (especially in the eastern states), Canada (especially in Vancouver , where 1.4% of the population has Japanese ancestry),

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5720-772: The Death Note and that his actions "may have been the result of the purity within him" prior to obtaining the Death Note. This purity is demonstrated in Light's personality shift after he temporarily relinquishes the Death Note to ward off suspicion. Losing his memories as Kira along with ownership of the notebook, Light demonstrates compassion, a reluctance to manipulate others, and an intense unwillingness to kill. Once his memories return, however, he reverts to his ruthless Kira persona and remains that way until his death. Nevertheless, Ohba states that Light never lost his love for his family since he viewed them as righteous people. Douglas Wolk of Salon describes Light as "coldly manipulative", "egomaniacal", and "an unrepentant serial killer ,

5830-474: The Death Note are barred from entering either Heaven or Hell , instead spending eternity in nothingness . Light dies in his father's arms, begging him to believe that he acted as Kira to put the justice, which Soichiro had taught him since his childhood, into practice. Several years after Light's death, however, it is revealed in the sequel film Death Note: Light Up the New World that Light secretly had

5940-427: The Death Note in an alley during a rainy night after encountering an acquitted felon named Takuo Shibuimaru in a night-club. Another difference is that Light meets Ryuk right after killing Shibuimaru with the Death Note. At the end of the first movie, Light reluctantly kills his girlfriend, Shiori Akino, and frames her death as a murder and reason to foster hatred for "Kira", in order to join the Kira investigation team as

6050-421: The Death Note. It is during this time that Light reverts to his original persona: a caring, level-headed, and empathetic individual unwilling to manipulate others or commit or justify acts of crime, such as murder. After Light regains ownership of his notebook and his memories, he manipulates Misa's Shinigami Rem into killing L. Light then assumes the "L" persona and continues his charade of searching for Kira with

6160-419: The Death Note. Light then proceeds to write his father's name in the book, manipulating his father to return the confiscated Death Note. Light confronts his father, but Soichiro does not die. The investigation team members, including L, reveal themselves. Having already written his own name in the Death Note, thus negating Rem's actions, L tells Light that he had just written in a fake note. Light tries to write on

6270-448: The Death Note. Ohba said that if Ryuk never developed an interest in the human world, Light would have become "one of the greatest police leaders in the world" who, with L, worked against criminals. He added that he believed that debating whether Light's actions were good or evil is not "very important". Ohba said that he personally sees Light as a "very evil" character. Obata said that Light was his second favorite human character and that he

6380-486: The Japanese language is of particular interest, ranging between an apical central tap and a lateral approximant . The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, it may be pronounced [ ŋ ] , in the Kanto prestige dialect and in other eastern dialects. The phonotactics of Japanese are relatively simple. The syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), that is, a core vowel surrounded by an optional onset consonant,

6490-736: The Old Japanese sections are written in Man'yōgana , which uses kanji for their phonetic as well as semantic values. Based on the Man'yōgana system, Old Japanese can be reconstructed as having 88 distinct morae . Texts written with Man'yōgana use two different sets of kanji for each of the morae now pronounced き (ki), ひ (hi), み (mi), け (ke), へ (he), め (me), こ (ko), そ (so), と (to), の (no), も (mo), よ (yo) and ろ (ro). (The Kojiki has 88, but all later texts have 87. The distinction between mo 1 and mo 2 apparently

6600-488: The Ryūkyūan languages as dialects of Japanese. The imperial court also seems to have spoken an unusual variant of the Japanese of the time, most likely the spoken form of Classical Japanese , a writing style that was prevalent during the Heian period , but began to decline during the late Meiji period . The Ryūkyūan languages are classified by UNESCO as 'endangered', as young people mostly use Japanese and cannot understand

6710-543: The addition of a collective suffix (a noun suffix that indicates a group), such as -tachi , but this is not a true plural: the meaning is closer to the English phrase "and company". A group described as Tanaka-san-tachi may include people not named Tanaka. Some Japanese nouns are effectively plural, such as hitobito "people" and wareware "we/us", while the word tomodachi "friend" is considered singular, although plural in form. Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present (or non-past) which

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6820-460: The anime). In the Japanese film series, Light Yagami is portrayed by Tatsuya Fujiwara , known for his role as Shuya Nanahara in Battle Royale . In the films, he is portrayed as a distinguished, popular and intellectually gifted college student, who has a disregard and frustration of the incapability of the law enforcement system to quell the rampant increase in criminal activities around

6930-435: The audience members feel that they could "do the terrible things he does" even if the members do not sympathize with Light. Tatsuya Fujiwara said that he felt difficulty portraying Light yagami in the film series because of the lack of "action" and because Light has no signature mannerisms and therefore has his feelings displayed by his face; Fujiwara added that he struggled conveying Light's "incredible intelligence" and that

7040-438: The beginning of the film; when Light first gains the Death Note, Kaneko "was careful" to have Light react in a manner "as you and I would". Kaneko changed the story involving Light gaining his first notebook as he felt that the audience "would have a hard time sympathizing" with Light if the scene remained the same as it was in the manga. Kaneko added that as he portrayed Light as "being enthralled" as he "becomes more cruel" to make

7150-466: The beginning of the manga and anime. Light's motives also slightly differ; in this version, he uses the Death Note mainly out of his frustration from the perceived failures of the Japanese justice system . Light, prior to his discovery of the Death Note, hacks into the national police database and finds that the government is unable to prosecute many criminals, either due to lack of evidence or technical loop-holes, among other reasons. Also, Light discovers

7260-473: The clothing of "a brilliant person," so he looked through fashion magazines. Obata envisioned Light as a "smart and formal guy" who wears formal shirts. Most of Light's clothing in Death Note is "fitted", and Obata avoided jeans . For color illustrations, Obata assigned "a lack of color or clear" to Light, as he felt these color themes best fit his "atmosphere". Light's character was slightly altered as he

7370-618: The course of the film, Mishima is eventually caught by the police and he willingly turns himself in and the notebook to the authorities, seemingly thus ending Kira's legacy. A mid-credits scene reveals a video recorded by Light addressing the film's events to have occurred just as he has expected them to, teasing his potential resurrection. In the American film adaptation , Light Yagami is adapted as two separate characters: Light Turner (portrayed by Nat Wolff ) and Mia Sutton (portrayed by Margaret Qualley ). After being enticed to kill

7480-578: The effect of changing Japanese into a mora-timed language. Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period , respectively. The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries; and thus there

7590-493: The end of Seven ". Pepirium added that Brad Swaile , Light's English-language voice actor, "nails" the "difficult" task of making Light "both likable and hated". Jason Charpentier of The Anchor stated that Light's attributes and his role as a main character form "part of what makes Death Note interesting". Light was also listed 18th in IGN's 2009 best anime character of all-time list with writer Chris Mackenzie praising how Light

7700-484: The end of the series, L and Soichiro see through Light's deception and each attempt to convince him to turn himself in. When Light refuses to relent, he is baited into confessing after L and Soichiro both sacrifice their lives. The information obtained from their deaths is relayed to the police task force, who ambush Light in a warehouse in a sting operation led by L's successor Near. In a desperate attempt to help him evade capture, Light's accomplice Teru Mikami sets fire to

7810-480: The film portrayal of Light Yagami published in The Star , a Malaysian newspaper. In it, Wong says that the "very bishie -status-worthy" Fujiwara portrayed Light with "aplomb and near-perfection, right down to the evil little smile". Kitty Sensei, quoted in the same Malaysian article, says that the portrayal of Light in the film is "very faithful to the manga's". Tatsuya Fujiwara , the actor who portrayed Light in

7920-448: The films, said that he "could understand" Light's intentions to create a new world even though " murder is a horrible thing". Matsuyama describes L and Light as having "such unique characters that they're impossible to understand". Erika Toda , the actress who portrayed Misa Amane in the films, described Light's and Misa's actions as "criminal". Japanese language Japanese ( 日本語 , Nihongo , [ɲihoŋɡo] )

8030-455: The flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, and words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative , mora -timed language with relatively simple phonotactics , a pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch-accent . Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure

8140-399: The game's heroes until he acquires an Umbra Cube , a tool utilized by the game's antagonists, in order to replace the power of the Death Note that he lost before the game's events. Ohba described Light as a victim of the Death Note, with Light's life being "ruined" once he obtained it. According to Ohba, Light was "a young man who could understand the pain of others" when he first encountered

8250-609: The genitive particle ga remains in intentionally archaic speech. Early Middle Japanese is the Japanese of the Heian period , from 794 to 1185. It formed the basis for the literary standard of Classical Japanese , which remained in common use until the early 20th century. During this time, Japanese underwent numerous phonological developments, in many cases instigated by an influx of Chinese loanwords . These included phonemic length distinction for both consonants and vowels , palatal consonants (e.g. kya ) and labial consonant clusters (e.g. kwa ), and closed syllables . This had

8360-430: The language, affecting the phonology of Early Middle Japanese . Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) saw extensive grammatical changes and the first appearance of European loanwords . The basis of the standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region (modern Tokyo ) in the Early Modern Japanese period (early 17th century–mid 19th century). Following the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853,

8470-458: The languages of the original Jōmon inhabitants, including the ancestor of the modern Ainu language . Because writing had yet to be introduced from China, there is no direct evidence, and anything that can be discerned about this period must be based on internal reconstruction from Old Japanese , or comparison with the Ryukyuan languages and Japanese dialects . The Chinese writing system

8580-449: The languages. Okinawan Japanese is a variant of Standard Japanese influenced by the Ryūkyūan languages, and is the primary dialect spoken among young people in the Ryukyu Islands . Modern Japanese has become prevalent nationwide (including the Ryūkyū islands) due to education , mass media , and an increase in mobility within Japan, as well as economic integration. Japanese is a member of

8690-427: The large quantity of English loanwords, modern Japanese has developed a distinction between [tɕi] and [ti] , and [dʑi] and [di] , with the latter in each pair only found in loanwords. Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has also been spoken outside of the country. Before and during World War II , through Japanese annexation of Taiwan and Korea , as well as partial occupation of China ,

8800-780: The lead roles in Hideo Nakata 's psychological thriller film The Incite Mill . Fujiwara has also done voice dubbing for IRIS along with Meisa Kuroki , Yuu Shirota and his Death Note co-star Hikari Mitsushima when Fujiwara plays Kim Hyun-jun played by Lee Byung-hun He portrayed the role of Shishio Makoto in the sequels of Rurouni Kenshin in 2014. From January to February 2015, he will appear in Hamlet directed by Yukio Ninagawa at Sai-no-Kuni Saitama Arts Theater in Saitama and at Umeda Arts Theater in Osaka for

8910-658: The leading role in Death Note and Death Note: The Last Name , films based on the manga of the same name . He also has a cameo appearance in L: Change the World , an L spin-off movie for the Death Note series. Fujiwara stated during filming that it was difficult to portray a character with such restrained emotions. During the filming of Death Note: The Last Name , Tatsuya became close friends with Kenichi Matsuyama , who plays L. Matsuyama mentioned that Tatsuya had done

9020-460: The most extreme acts in service of his cause. He is also driven by a need for victory, which motivates most of his cruelest acts. Combined with the power of the Death Note, his hubris and genius-level intellect convince him that only he can save the world. Eventually, a small task force of Japanese police officers, including Light's father, under the direction of the eccentric genius detective L begin to close in on Light. Although he suspects Light

9130-683: The notebook from Light, but Light outmaneuvers her and kills her, concocting an elaborate plan through the Death Note by manipulating a number of criminals to continue his activities as "Kira" through the notebook, before all of them commit suicide and induces himself into a medical coma for around a month, which seemingly proves Light's innocence to the authorities. At the end of the film, James presents Light with evidence that he killed his mother's murderer and Light confesses to being Kira and reveals how he cleared himself of suspicion. Meanwhile, L, disgraced by his superiors due to failing to implicate Light and seeking to avenge Watari, considers killing Light with

9240-489: The notebook on two criminals out of curiosity, but he eventually convinces himself that the criminals' resulting deaths were justified, thinking he would bring crime rates down around the world. Light soon becomes driven to lead a personal crusade to rid the world of crime by using the notebook. While his agenda originates with good intentions, Light eventually finds himself killing law enforcement and even innocents in order to elude capture. His ethics are utilitarian , justifying

9350-425: The only strict rule of word order is that the verb must be placed at the end of a sentence (possibly followed by sentence-end particles). This is because Japanese sentence elements are marked with particles that identify their grammatical functions. The basic sentence structure is topic–comment . For example, Kochira wa Tanaka-san desu ( こちらは田中さんです ). kochira ("this") is the topic of the sentence, indicated by

9460-470: The out-group gives a benefit to the in-group, and "up" to indicate the in-group gives a benefit to the out-group. Here, the in-group includes the speaker and the out-group does not, and their boundary depends on context. For example, oshiete moratta ( 教えてもらった ) (literally, "explaining got" with a benefit from the out-group to the in-group) means "[he/she/they] explained [it] to [me/us]". Similarly, oshiete ageta ( 教えてあげた ) (literally, "explaining gave" with

9570-415: The particle wa . The verb desu is a copula , commonly translated as "to be" or "it is" (though there are other verbs that can be translated as "to be"), though technically it holds no meaning and is used to give a sentence 'politeness'. As a phrase, Tanaka-san desu is the comment. This sentence literally translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mx Tanaka." Thus Japanese, like many other Asian languages,

9680-523: The performance would appear "very empty or simplistic" if Light received an improper portrayal. Fujiwara explained that he wanted Light to cry in a particular scene even though Kaneko told Fujiwara "Light doesn't cry" since Fujiwara believed that the scene would feel "more honest"; Kaneko used the take. Kaneko designed Light's room to reflect the character's personality by making it clean and neat and filling it with legal, criminal history, foreign, and academic books. The original version of Light's room included

9790-481: The proposed larger Altaic family, or to various Southeast Asian languages , especially Austronesian . None of these proposals have gained wide acceptance (and the Altaic family itself is now considered controversial). As it stands, only the link to Ryukyuan has wide support. Other theories view the Japanese language as an early creole language formed through inputs from at least two distinct language groups, or as

9900-459: The same structure as affirmative sentences, but with intonation rising at the end. In the formal register, the question particle -ka is added. For example, ii desu ( いいです ) "It is OK" becomes ii desu-ka ( いいですか。 ) "Is it OK?". In a more informal tone sometimes the particle -no ( の ) is added instead to show a personal interest of the speaker: Dōshite konai-no? "Why aren't (you) coming?". Some simple queries are formed simply by mentioning

10010-503: The shinigami Rem , who threatens to kill him if she dies earlier than her life span's end or if he tries to kill her, despite her knowledge that doing so will cause her own death. Although Light, bearing love for his family and "humanity as a whole", originally had good intentions to transform the world into "a better place", he was also "very conceited", with a "warped ... desire to be godlike". Ohba also states that Light, "uncompromising" when achieving his ideals, "sullied" himself by using

10120-439: The speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned. The Japanese writing system combines Chinese characters , known as kanji ( 漢字 , ' Han characters') , with two unique syllabaries (or moraic scripts) derived by the Japanese from the more complex Chinese characters: hiragana ( ひらがな or 平仮名 , 'simple characters') and katakana ( カタカナ or 片仮名 , 'partial characters'). Latin script ( rōmaji ローマ字 )

10230-817: The state as at the time the constitution was written, many of the elders participating in the process had been educated in Japanese during the South Seas Mandate over the island shown by the 1958 census of the Trust Territory of the Pacific that found that 89% of Palauans born between 1914 and 1933 could speak and read Japanese, but as of the 2005 Palau census there were no residents of Angaur that spoke Japanese at home. Japanese dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent , inflectional morphology , vocabulary , and particle usage. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this

10340-458: The status quo and unfairness of the world, Light uses the Death Note to kill those whom he deems morally unworthy of life, masterminding a worldwide massacre as the vigilante Kira ( キラ ) . Over the course of his efforts to create a world free of crime, wherein he would rule as a godlike figure, Light is pursued by law enforcement groups such as the NPA and a world-renowned detective named L . In

10450-481: The street. (grammatically incorrect insertion of a pronoun) But one can grammatically say essentially the same thing in Japanese: 驚いた彼は道を走っていった。 Transliteration: Odoroita kare wa michi o hashitte itta. (grammatically correct) This is partly because these words evolved from regular nouns, such as kimi "you" ( 君 "lord"), anata "you" ( あなた "that side, yonder"), and boku "I" ( 僕 "servant"). This

10560-546: The task force while carrying out the killings himself with help from Misa. Over four years later, Light is able to garner most of the world's support, reaching the point where his followers have begun to worship Kira as a literal deity. However, it is around this time that two of L's protégés, Mello and Near , begin their investigation against Kira. Near heads the SPK (Special Provision for Kira) , an American investigation team composed of CIA and FBI agents, while Mello works with

10670-677: The topic with an interrogative intonation to call for the hearer's attention: Kore wa? "(What about) this?"; O-namae wa? ( お名前は？ ) "(What's your) name?". Negatives are formed by inflecting the verb. For example, Pan o taberu ( パンを食べる。 ) "I will eat bread" or "I eat bread" becomes Pan o tabenai ( パンを食べない。 ) "I will not eat bread" or "I do not eat bread". Plain negative forms are i -adjectives (see below) and inflect as such, e.g. Pan o tabenakatta ( パンを食べなかった。 ) "I did not eat bread". Tatsuya Fujiwara Born in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, Fujiwara has had an interest in acting from

10780-419: The two consonants are the moraic nasal followed by a homorganic consonant. Japanese also includes a pitch accent , which is not represented in moraic writing; for example [haꜜ.ɕi] ("chopsticks") and [ha.ɕiꜜ] ("bridge") are both spelled はし ( hashi ) , and are only differentiated by the tone contour. Japanese word order is classified as subject–object–verb . Unlike many Indo-European languages ,

10890-577: The two methods were both used in writing until the 1940s. Bungo still has some relevance for historians, literary scholars, and lawyers (many Japanese laws that survived World War II are still written in bungo , although there are ongoing efforts to modernize their language). Kōgo is the dominant method of both speaking and writing Japanese today, although bungo grammar and vocabulary are occasionally used in modern Japanese for effect. The 1982 state constitution of Angaur , Palau , names Japanese along with Palauan and English as an official language of

11000-480: The two terms (''hyōjungo'' and ''kyōtsūgo'') are almost the same. Hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo is a conception that forms the counterpart of dialect. This normative language was born after the Meiji Restoration ( 明治維新 , meiji ishin , 1868) from the language spoken in the higher-class areas of Tokyo (see Yamanote ). Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications. It

11110-407: The verb (e.g. yonde for earlier yomite ), the -k- in the final mora of adjectives drops out ( shiroi for earlier shiroki ); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form (e.g. hayaku > hayau > hayɔɔ , where modern Japanese just has hayaku , though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greeting o-hayō gozaimasu "good morning"; this ending

11220-441: The warehouse but Light is instead trapped by the fire and burns to death. In the musical adaptation , Light is portrayed by Kenji Urai and Hayato Kakizawa in the Japanese productions and Hong Kwang-ho and Han Ji-sang in the Korean productions. Light also appears alongside Ryuk as a non-playable story character for the crossover video game Jump Force , with Mamoru Miyano reprising his role as Light. He allies himself with

11330-401: The world, which drives his motives to use the Death Note, to change the world into a utopian society without crime, under the alias of a god-like vigilante known as "Kira", much like his manga counterpart. However, some slight changes and modifications were made to the character. At the film's beginning, Light is a first-year law student at a university, instead of still being in high school as in

11440-548: The world. Since Japanese first gained the consideration of linguists in the late 19th century, attempts have been made to show its genealogical relation to languages or language families such as Ainu , Korean , Chinese , Tibeto-Burman , Uralic , Altaic (or Ural-Altaic ), Austroasiatic , Austronesian and Dravidian . At the fringe, some linguists have even suggested a link to Indo-European languages , including Greek , or to Sumerian . Main modern theories try to link Japanese either to northern Asian languages, like Korean or

11550-446: Was adapted into the anime. Toshiki Inoue , the series organizer for the anime, stated that the screenwriting team wanted to enhance the tragic aspects of his character that were made fleeting in the manga. As such, Light's death scene in the anime was made significantly different from the manga to emphasize "the sadness of someone who has lost everything". Shusuke Kaneko , director of the film, intended for Light to appear sympathetic at

11660-539: Was based on 12- to 20-second-long recordings of 135 to 244 phonemes , which 42 students listened to and translated word-for-word. The listeners were all Keio University students who grew up in the Kanto region . There are some language islands in mountain villages or isolated islands such as Hachijō-jima island , whose dialects are descended from Eastern Old Japanese . Dialects of the Kansai region are spoken or known by many Japanese, and Osaka dialect in particular

11770-440: Was born on February 28, 1986 (or 1989 in the anime). He is portrayed as a teen genius and a model student with a polite, reserved, and gentleman-like personality, who is well-liked and popular among his peers and teachers and known for being the class topper. At the beginning of the story, Light is a student in his last year of high school ; he later attends To-Oh University ( 東応大学 , Tōō Daigaku ) . His father, Soichiro Yagami ,

11880-735: Was imported to Japan from Baekje around the start of the fifth century, alongside Buddhism. The earliest texts were written in Classical Chinese , although some of these were likely intended to be read as Japanese using the kanbun method, and show influences of Japanese grammar such as Japanese word order. The earliest text, the Kojiki , dates to the early eighth century, and was written entirely in Chinese characters, which are used to represent, at different times, Chinese, kanbun , and Old Japanese. As in other texts from this period,

11990-474: Was lost immediately following its composition.) This set of morae shrank to 67 in Early Middle Japanese , though some were added through Chinese influence. Man'yōgana also has a symbol for /je/ , which merges with /e/ before the end of the period. Several fossilizations of Old Japanese grammatical elements remain in the modern language – the genitive particle tsu (superseded by modern no )

12100-407: Was not sure whether that was because he "liked" Light or because he drew "such an evil character" in a magazine for children. According to Ohba, Light sees Misa Amane , whom he uses as an accomplice, as a "bad person" who killed people, so he acts emotionally cold towards her and manipulates her, although he pretends to love her, and even says he will marry her. He is only stopped from killing her by

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