Characters / Death Note - Misa Amane

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Misa Amane/2nd Kira

"I hate evil and love justice. I do not consider the police as my enemies but as my allies against evil."

Voiced by: Aya Hirano (JP), Shannon Chan-Kent (EN), Nuria Trifol (Spain), Rebeca Gómez (Latin America), Ana Lúcia Menezes (BR), Charlene Pestel (FR)

Played by: Erika Toda (films), Hinako Sano (TV drama), Fuka Yuzuki (musical)

The second Kira, an internationally famous model and pop star who started out as Light's Stalker with a Crush since, as Kira, he killed the burglar that murdered her parents when she was a little girl, thus making her feel indebted to him. She has one hell of a messed up lifespan due to multiple shinigami sacrificing their lives for her and her multiple exchanges for the Shinigami Eyes. She and her shinigami, Rem, helped Light, but not before dragging him through a series of events, both good and bad, started by her carelessness.

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A-E

• Adaptational Badass: As the 2nd Kira before joining Light in the live-action movies, she is portrayed as more dark and intimidating, and not making the stupid mistakes she does in the manga and anime.
• Adaptational Dumbass: While Misa wasn't the most intelligent person in the original manga, she did have a good head on her shoulders and was serious about her actions, knew simple, slightly dangerous yet effective plans on how to get what was needed, like in the Yotsuba Arc where she goes off on her own to investigate Higuchi from the Yotsuba group and records his admission that he is the current Kira which played a big role in finishing up that arc. The anime altered her intelligence to the point of downplaying any big moments she had in the manga and even changed her personality to be more airheaded and up-played her Yandere traits towards Light, making her a typical The Ditz character.
• Adaptational Heroism: She has no hesitation or remorse when killing in the name of love in most versions, but the Japanese live-action film version is different. First, when Sayu calls her (as the Second Kira) out as a murderer, Misa remembers her own family's murder and stops writing names in the notebook, going into a guilty Villainous BSoD (which sadly ends the moment she first sees Light.) And then later, she cries when Light writes his own father's name down, and actually acknowledges that Light and what he does is evil, albeit through admitting that even knowing this, she just can't bring herself to stop loving Light or stop being loyal to him.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Her eyes are apparently naturally brown in the manga but blue in the anime.
  • She's blonde in both manga and anime but a brunette in the movies and the TV drama.
  • Her eyes switch between brown and blue in the anime depending on whether she's on the job as an Idol Singer. It's probably color contacts.
• Affably Evil: She'll kill you without hesitation if you get in her way or cause trouble for Light, but other than that, she's a genuinely sweet girl.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: She was rather fascinated with Light, once she learns that the same boy is none other than someone who killed the same burglar that robbed her house and murdered her parents.
• Aloof Big Sister: She either has one or is one. The manga mentions that Misa has a sister still living in Kansai as a plot point but she doesn't even get Nominal Importance and after that it's never mentioned again. Though this could also be seen as part of her cover story, worked out with Aiber and L, to infiltrate Yotsuba; Aiber uses "your sister said that you said x about Kira" to introduce the information that Misa is connected to L to the Yotsuba group. It's never made clear if the sister actually exists or not.
• Amnesiacs are Innocent: She loses her memories of the Death Notes completely at the end of the manga, and every adaptation thereafter. But this only spares her from death in the live-action versions.
• …And That Little Girl Was Me: When Rem tells Misa the story of how Gelus died and she got a second notebook.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: After meeting Light and having him doubt and question her, Misa begins to cry, falls off of her chair and tells Light that she "just had to meet him."
• Anti-Villain: ZigZagged, as her only motivation in the entire series is finding Kira and help him in whichever way she can. And if that involves killing good people...
• Ax-Crazy: When her Berserk Button is pushed.
• Badass Adorable: Despite being a childish, energetic, squeaky-voiced Genki Girl, Misa does have her moments. She takes Sakura TV hostage, refuses to give up Light under L's torture, and executes her plot to ditch L's surveillance and get Higuchi to confess to her. She is also the resident cutie.
• The Beard: Becomes Light's official girlfriend (and in the manga, fiancee), but he keeps her around only to make him look "normal" enough to not be Kira. She knows this, too, and hopes she can make him actually love her.
• Beast and Beauty: With Gelus who she never met, and then with Rem. Both are shinigami so in love with her that are willing to disregard the laws of life and death for her sake. Plus she's probably the only human Rem regards fondly. Unfortunately subverted in that Misa doesn't seem to care that deeply for either of them, and lets Light manipulate Rem as he pleases.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: She is described as beautiful and the writer makes sure she gets away with her murders especially when her life is at risk. Even her ultimate fate suicide is off-the-panels.
• Betty and Veronica: The Betty to Takada's Veronica for Light's Archie.
• Berserk Button: If anyone screws around with Light behind her back...even Light isn't safe from her wrath if this happens. As she tells Light, "If I see you with another girl, then I'll kill her!"
• Beware the Silly Ones: After they actually meet her in person, no one - not Light, not Near, not Mello, not L or Aizawa or Mogi - takes her seriously. At all. In fact nearly every character dismisses her as a legitimate threat; in the few instances that Aizawa, Mogi, L, Near, and Mello feel that she may be trouble, it is as an agent of Light rather than in her own right. Light, knowing that Misa has said that she will kill her competition, sees other women anyway; and L, after Misa escapes from Mogi, pretty much shrugs the whole thing off. This is all despite the fact that Misa is dangerous: she is in charge of Light's killings from time to time, she threatens and controls news stations in both seasons, and she outs Higuchi as a Kira to L.
• Blatant Lies: "Misa never betrays her friends!"
• Blessed with Suck: Her Death Note and shinigami eyes absolutely ruined her life. Thanks, Rem.
• Bloodbath Villain Origin: Misa is introduced as the supernatural killer who takes Sakura TV hostage, killing off innocent people and criminals alike to convince the world of her powers and then killing off the cops who race down there to stop her. During this, she threatens to kill yet more people. And she does it all solely to get Light's attention, because she must meet him, to tell him him how grateful she is that he killed her parents' murderer.
• Bound and Gagged: In the episode, "Wager", courtesy of L.
• Break the Cutie: She is the end-product of a cutie who's been broken too much. It fatally breaks her when Light dies.
• Broken Bird: Under the childish behavior and cute looks, there's one hell of a mentally and emotionally broken young woman.
• Bumbling Sidekick: To Light. Although she's smart enough to find Light, dodge Mogi and manipulate Higuchi, her mistakes do cost them both.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: The 13th volume explains that Light views Misa as a really bad person that needs to be eliminated but he's unable to kill her off, just because she has the eyes.
• Caught in the Rain: During the opening sequence of the first season, Light offers Misa his hand as she walks through the rain towards him.
• Cleavage Window: In the shape of a heart, no less.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Light is hers. Woe to any woman who tries to come between them.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Misa certainly does not live in the same world as most other people.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Her official color seems to be light blue.
  • Also, in the first arc, she's shown primarily wearing black while acting as the second Kira, and in the second arc she wears plenty of black and red.
• Come Back to Bed, Honey: She tries this with Light; it ends with him ordering her out of bed and back to work.

• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: She really is a lot smarter than she usually acts.
• Cursed with Awesome: Her Shinigami eyes allow her to see everyone's names as soon as she looks at them, but they come with the drawback of her being unable to turn them off. As a result, she's forced to do the Eye Deal a second time with Ryuk upon reclaiming possession of a Death Note, as she is unable to remember L's real name in the sea of names she was seeing each day.
• Cute and Psycho: She is charming, cheerful... and one of the Kiras.
• Cute, but Cacophonic: Her high-pitched voice is...not well-liked by fans.
• Cuteness Equals Forgiveness: To an extent, both in-universe and out. Despite being portrayed as viciously selfish and quite, quite mad, Misa never earns the same type of villain cred as, say, Light - whose eviler counterpart she was introduced as. Additionally, the characters in-universe definitely treat Misa far more gently than Light when both come under suspicion in the second season - compare Aizawa's grim, suspicious surveillance of Light with Mogi going shopping with Misa. Why is this? Misa is a small, sweet, cheerful, and cute young woman, and that registers more immediately to both much of the audience and most of the characters than "ruthless serial killer." Although it could be argued that another reason for this is that she is legitimately mentally ill and thus not in full control of her mental capacities, whereas Light is fully in control of his brain and the choices he makes using it.
• The Cutie: Subverted; She's a villainous example. Don't let her appearance fool you; her adorableness is to hide her villainy (except in the case where she's lost her memories)
• Damsel in Distress: Her life is at the hands of her stalker, and this is when Jealous saves her life.
• The Dark Chick: On Team Kira.
• Dark Is Evil: She dresses primarily in black. And her bedroom is decked to the nines in creepiness.
• Dark Mistress: Misa starts out as a second Kira who takes Sakura TV hostage and murders several cops and criminals to get Kira's attention. Later, she tracks down Kira, discovers that Kira is Light Yagami, and falls in love with him. She demands that Light take her on as his girlfriend; because she was already a villain in her own right, their joining forces would qualify for Unholy Matrimony status, but as she becomes immediately subservient to him and her role becomes simply "Light's Love Martyr" as the story progresses, she develops into the Dark Mistress role.
• Deadly Upgrade: Twice, for that matter. She serves as Light's deadly upgrade: with the second Kira on his side and completely devoted to him, he gains the use of her shinigami eyes.
• Death by Despair: According to Ohba, this is her ultimate fate, via being Driven to Suicide.
• Death Equals Redemption: Misa is a mass murderer but her redemption is made no sooner than committing suicide...
• Death Seeker: Some of the material in the series seems to point to the fact that Misa isn't exactly concerned with her own life. Misa deliberately seeks out dangerous situations: for one example, she walks home alone, at night, on a deserted street, and for another she begins the entire attack on Sakura TV while being across the street in person. She then shows up on the mass murderer Kira's doorstep and volunteers to be his girlfriend while knowing full well that he could kill her. She in fact explicitly offers Light the option of killing her if she gets to be a burden. Also, she begs Rem to kill her when she feels that she has a good justification to ask that of Rem, and, mind you, when Soichiro informs Misa that both she and Light are to be executed, it is Light's life that she begs for. Plus, she sacrifices half of her lifespan (twice) to get the shinigami eyes. And of course, when Light dies, she kills herself soon after.
• Did You Just Romance Cthulu?: There is a vengeful, godlike entity out there who can kill with just a name and a face. Obviously, the best way to handle the situation is to offer to be his girlfriend.
• Dissonant Laughter: When Rem agrees to murder L at Light's request, Misa's reaction is to laugh and clap her hands. In the anime, she even hugs Rem.
• Dissonant Serenity: Comes with the job of being the second Kira. When she regains her Death Note and finds Light's note asking her to kill L, she gladly, even triumphantly, considers it. Her distress comes only when she realizes that she can't remember his name.
• The Dragon: She becomes this for Light until Light has her Death Note given to Mikami.
• Driven to Suicide: What finally happens to her. She wasn't kidding when she said she couldn't dream of living in a world without Light. Averted in the TV drama and musical^note and the live-action movies for 10 years, where she simply loses her memories of Kira, the Death Notes, and all that stuff, and goes on to lead a normal (well, for a celebrity) life.
• Dumb Blonde: Then again, next to L or Light, anyone would look dumb by proxy.
• Dye Hard: In a flashback, her hair is black, implying she's a bottle blonde. May be justified on the grounds of her being an Idol Singer. invoked
• Easily Forgiven: Near lets her live freely after Light died, even though she killed thousands of innocent people...
• Elegant Gothic Lolita. She dresses like this when she becomes more famous - and in the anime, when she's about to jump off to her death after Light dies.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She's a remorseless mass murderer who genuinely loves Light and loved her parents.
• Even Evil Has Standards: The film version of Misa was visibly horrified when Light planned to kill his own father to prevent the notebook from being analyzed. Makes sense when you remember that she lost her own parents to a murderer.
• Even the Girls Want Her: Sayu mentions that Misa is "just her type," and Misa also seems to have as many fangirls as she does fanboys at To-Oh University. Also, Rem (a female shinigami) is genuinely in love with her.
• Evil Counterpart: To Light at first, lampshaded when Light and L are building a profile of the Second Kira.
  Light: ...this Kira isn't idealistic.
  L: Yes. I really don't like the way he operates. It's not like Kira.
• Evil Diva: Along with her other traits and hobbies, Misa is a singer as well as an actress and model; in the second arc, she gets hired to open a New Year's show with a song.
• Explaining Your Power to the Enemy: She doesn't intend to do this, but her videos provide L with a lot of clues. Before she and Light officially team up, she eagerly hands out information to him.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Misa starts out wearing her hair in either Girlish Pigtails or Baby Spice pigtails (as pictured above), to go with her Elegant Gothic Lolita clothes and her job as a cutesy Japanese actress/model/Idol Singer. After six years as Light's live-in girlfriend and the second Kira, her acting career is becoming more serious (she gets a part in a Hollywood movie), so she starts dressing in tamer, preppier clothes and wearing her hair straight and loose, in order to look older and more mature. However, after she gives up ownership of her Death Note and all memories related to it and quits her job in anticipation of marrying Light, with her now Locked Out of the Loop while he does his thing, she becomes increasingly lonely and bored, and eventually goes back to the way she looked when she first met Light, like the last six years never happened... because, for her, a lot of it didn't!
• Expy: Shares quite a few similarities with Harley Quinn.
• Extreme Doormat: Misa would do anything for Light. Especially tragic in the live-action films, where she actually comes to realize and admit that Light is evil and not worth loving and yet she just can't help herself.

F-O

• The Fake Cutie: Her cute and ditzy act is at least partly a calculated façade. And that's before you get into her severe mental illness and homicidal tendencies...
• The Fashionista: Justified because she's an idol; Misa is often shown shopping, reading magazines, applying make-up, and so on.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: Misa is heavily implied to be the one who cooks and cleans after the timeskip, when Light and Misa move in together; a strip from the omake extras released in the thirteenth volume explicitly shows her doing some fancy cooking while Light reads a newspaper.
  • In the live-action movies, Misa had her own Cooking Show: "Misa-Misa's Happy Sweets"
• Femme Fatale: In the Yotsuba arc.
• First-Name Basis: With pretty much everyone.
• Flanderization: While she was on the ditzy side during her debut arc, she was actually a fairly competent strategist, she was able to see trick Light into showing himself as Kira to her, and Light even feared her enough to contemplate killing her. However, come the Yotsuba arc, she Took a Level in Dumbass, and her strategic capabilities were sidelined in favor of her devotion to Light. This is even further worsened after the time skip, where she becomes so dumb that she thinks yelling loudly is the same thing as whispering and that she can announce her intention to kick a woman surrounded by bodyguards with no repercussions (though she was memory-wiped by that point after having spent years as the Second Kira, so it's possible some of her learned cautiousness was erased as well).
• Fluffy Tamer: Even more so than Light. She gets Gelus to fall in love with her simply by him observing her from the Shinigami Realm; she gets Rem to fall in love in with her after spending an extended period of time together; even Ryuk is fond of her, with her hugging him and giving him an apple upon regaining her memories.
• Foot Focus: There's a shot of her striped-stocking feet during Light and L's sparring match when she accidentally steps into a cake she was eating.
• Foreshadowing: In the thirty-third episode of the Anime titled "Scorn", Misa told Takada what would become of her once Kira got caught; she would be "executed". Takada, in her arrogance and genuine belief that Light cared for her, dismisses her and leaves. Come episode thirty-five, Light coldly writes Takada's name in the Death Note, killing her off in a needlessly cruel way to get rid of the evidence she carried that could lead back to him.
• Freudian Excuse: Her family was murdered right in front of her! And she's lived either alone or with only Rem for company in the year since their deaths. No wonder she takes Light up on his offer to have her move in with him.
  • Not only that, but after her parents died, she was also accosted by a crazed fan who attempted to murder her, then died in front of her. No wonder she's so blase about killing criminals and so disillusioned with the criminal justice system. (And more than a little unhinged.)
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Debatable, but in the last few legs of the first season and then for the whole of the second season, Misa is associated with the Kira Taskforce and tolerated by them only because of her connection to Light. Aizawa, Ide, Soichiro, and Mogi never voice their opinion about the situation, but they never do seem quite happy with the idea of Misa following them around everywhere they go. Subverted by Mogi later on, who actually grows fond of her after all the babysitting he has to do.
• Genius Ditz: She has enough smarts to channelize her child-like charm into her very successful model and Idol Singer career. Also, she figures out how to expose Higuchi as the Yotsuba Kira to the police without revealing Rem's presence. She's actually quite clever, she's just more energetic and not as smart as the downright superhuman Light and L. If she didn't ogle Light so much, she could get her head in the game.
  • Some would argue that Misa has very good instincts. She taps right into Light's desire to control and use people from the very first time they meet, and her submissiveness gains her exactly what she wants (i.e. for Light to be her boyfriend). With just a little help from Rem Misa blackmails the most dangerous man on the planet into getting what she wants. Successfully.
  • Misa follows the situation more closely than she seems to. For example, there's a scene in the manga after the timeskip where, after Misa points out something Light hadn't gotten to yet and Light tells her to go to bed, Light thinks to himself that Misa was right.
• Genki Girl: She's very passionate and energetic.
• Girlish Pigtails: She loses them in the second arc, as a sign of her maturation from a giggly idol to a serious actress. Notably, when she gives up her memories of being the second Kira (and, therefore, a significant portion of the last four years of her life), she stops wearing her hair loose with innocent preppy clothes and and goes back to the Baby Spice pigtails and Elegant Gothic Lolita costumes.
• Happiness in Slavery: She willingly volunteers herself to do anything for Light, and seems to never have a problem with it. Even after Light overwhelms her with work for him and yells at her in anger, she still beams when he walks into the room.
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: She is shown drinking a few times in the second arc.
• Harmful to Minors: Her parents were murdered right in front of her. She breaks down in tears when she tells Light about it.
• Hero Secret Service:
  Misa: (swooning) I would gladly die if it were for you, Light!
  Light: (sweat-dropping) We just met.
• Hero-Worshipper: Towards Light.
• He Was Right There All Along: The live-action's Misa Amane is killing the police who come near Sakura TV, in the meanwhile she is exactly in the building of Sakura TV.
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: A very twisted version.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Averted Trope. She's well aware that Light doesn't give a damn about her but still swoons over him and tries to win him over. It never goes well for her as he always sees her as a pawn at best and a nuisance that he can't discard at worst.
• Housewife: What she really wants, more than anything, is to be Light's wife. When he tells her to quit her job, she immediately asks if it's so they can get married.
• Hypocrite: Her backstory reveals she was once approached by a man who had been stalking her and who almost killed her when she rejected his hysterical declarations of love. In the story, she does basically the same thing to Light, except the threat of death is more implicit.
• The Idiot from Osaka: She's from Kansai and definitely a ditz.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: She wears color contacts to work for the appeal of this trope (and, curiously, when she first confronts Light), but her eyes are naturally brown.
• Interrupted Suicide: When Misa is Bound and Gagged she tries to kill herself by biting her own tongue when Rem refuses to kill her at her request, and L has Watari gag her to keep her from doing so. Sadly the next time she tries suicide at the end of the story she succeeds, according to the mangaka.
• Jack the Ripoff: She claims to be Kira to get Light's attention, killing off several people in precisely the same manner. However unlike Light, who tries to be subtle in his methods, Misa's way too bombastic in her approach and leaves too many clues for L to rightfully suspect her. If Light hadn't agreed to take her on and orchestrated to make her look innocent, she would've been locked away permanently the first time she was caught.
• Karma Houdini: Depending on the adaptation, she may have gotten away with her crimes in the end:
  • She gets to live freely whereas Teru Mikami is imprisoned, though it's explained that she commits suicide later on.
  • Possibly in the Anime, depending on whether or not she actually committed suicide as it was implied she was contemplating. If she didn't, then as far as the viewer knows she got away with her crimes.
  • She and Mikami are taken into custody in the TV drama, but lose their memories due to the notebooks being destroyed. She gets to live her life out as a celebrity from then on, playing this trope straight.
  • Initially played straight in the live-action movies, until Light Up the New World where she kills herself in the end.
  • The musical plays this trope straight, allowing her to get away with her crimes.
• Kawaiiko: Yes, although in most of her appearances it only serves to add to her sheer creepiness.
• Kill the Cutie: By way of being Driven to Suicide after Light's death.
• Kitsch Collection: Misa's room which is filled with candles, religious memorabilia, and creepy dolls and other things that look like they came out of Hot Topic.
• Knight Templar: Misa is as willing as Light and Mikami to fight evil for a New World.
• Large Ham: She even overacts in-universe and justified: During her plot to get proof that Higuchi is acting as Kira, the audience can hear her calmly calculating just how much cuteness, charm, and energy to use in her responses.
• Lean and Mean: She is 5' and 79 lbs. Justified, as she is a famous model/idol/actress.
• Loony Fan: Towards Light.
• Love at First Sight: Towards Light, again. (Light looks physically pained when she later asks him if he believes in this.)
• Love Makes You Evil: Her love for her family drove her to become sympathetic to Light's ideology when he killed the man who murdered her parents in front of her (and who looked like he was going to be acquitted of the charges). Later when she herself becomes a Serial-Killer Killer she meets and falls in love with Light, and her insanity worsens.
• Love Martyr: She'll do anything for Light, and the tragedy of it all comes across strong and clear.
• Luminescent Blush: While daydreaming about Light.
• Mad Love: She's madly in love with Light and will do anything to keep his interest and make him love her back. Light on the other hand makes his disinterest in her very clear and views her as a pawn to further his own goals at best and a nuisance he can't discard at worst.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Subverted and deconstructed; Misa Amane is a Genius Ditz Perky Goth with a mad zest for life and a Mad Love for uptight Broken Ace Light Yagami. But she truly is mentally and emotionally disturbed under her blithe façade, and unfortunately for her, Light has no intention of falling in love, and finds her antics both obnoxious and exasperating. He does however play along in order to use her shinigami eyes.
  Misa: LIGHT!!
  Misa glomps him.
  Light: This is the first time in my life I've wanted to hit a woman.
• Manipulative Bastard: Though she never gets the same cred as Light, Misa is plenty manipulative on her own.
• Meaningful Name: From How To Read, it says her name comes from Kuromisa meaning "Black Mass."
• Monster Fangirl: She along with a friend loved serial killers, especially Kira, she’s also pretty cool around Shinigami.
• Ms. Fanservice: That cute face and wardrobe of hers. Many viewers wish they were Light, if only for the sake of Misa.
• Mysterious Woman: Misa shows up out of the blue on Light's doorstep, in a little black dress with a killer notebook and a god of death, and simply introduces herself, saying that she came because she thought that he might be worried that she would go to the police instead. Light looks wary and rather unnerved, but - and without knowing anything else about her (besides the fact that she is responsible for Ukita's deaths, among others) - he invites her in.
• Namedar: Unlike Light, Misa made the deal for the Shinigami eyes.
• Naughty Nurse Outfit: In addition to being very popular with the boys, Misa wears a nurse's outfit once, as a disguise.
• The Nicknamer: She is shown nicknaming Light (much to his horror and annoyance) as her Knight in shining armor or Raito-Naito, Matsuda (Matsu), Mogi (Mochi), and Aizawa (Monchichi); by the second arc, the last three all appear to treat it as normal.
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: "What a beautiful way to kill!"
• No Accounting for Taste: A number of characters express slight skepticism on Misa's relationship with Light. However, the members of the Task Force, who witness the decidedly one-way, unhealthy relationship on a daily basis, never seem to actually notice just how unlikely it is, or question its genuineness until several years down the line.
  • Perhaps they were assuming that Opposites Attract, or simply keeping out of Light's business out of respect. There is a scene in the first season where Misa, returning triumphantly from tricking the hell out of Higuchi, sits on Light's lap, and although no one actually says anything, Soichiro looks over from the background at them with a very amusing expression on his face.
• No Place for Me There: Asked in the ending of "Misa no Uta" ("Misa's Song).
• No Sense of Personal Space: She hugs and clings to Light, Ryuk, Rem, and Mogi.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: She spends much of her time in the first arc going about her job, teasing Light and L, reading magazines, playing with her make-up and hair, and being grudgingly tolerated by the taskforce. No one takes her seriously: Aizawa forcefully throws her out of the room solely because she's being annoying, L mocks her, and the others tend to just ignore her. And then Light's master plan comes full circle and Misa finds herself being appointed as the criminal-killer for the time being. Thrilled to be of service, she dresses up in a beautiful black dress and goes for a walk, singing sweetly ... while murdering the guilty. And some of those deaths are pretty gruesome.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Sometimes. She's at least smarter than she acts most of the time.
  • In the Yotsuba arc, at least in the manga, when she's in the car with Higuchi and later talking to Light and L, you can see her calculating her actions and reactions quite calmly in her mind.
• Obliviously Evil: She seems to genuinely believe that she's a good person doing the right thing. Or at least the justified, necessary thing in the service of the person she loves the most.
• The Obstructive Love Interest: Especially early on. "You're my boyfriend now! Squee! I have the following demands..."
• Odd Friendship: Most obviously with L, though the extent to which theirs is a "friendship" is negotiable. However, by the second arc, she's actually won over Mogi, a man her polar opposite, and the two seem quite close. Mello even says that she appears to be his girlfriend.
• Of Corsets Sexy: She wears one to try to get Light's attention; unfortunately for her, it doesn't work.
• Offscreen Karma: After being able to go free for her crimes of killing a lot of people, she ultimately kills herself a year after Light's death according to the creators. The reader doesn't get to see this happen. Applies to the Anime adaptation as well, as the last we see of Misa is her standing on top of a very tall building. It can be assumed that she jumped, though we don't see it happen or the aftermath of it.
• Older Than They Look: She's 19 at the start of the series though she looks younger than the 17 year old Light. Lampshaded when a character (in the second arc, no less) believes her to be a teenage girl between 14 and 20 years old. She happens to be in her twenties at that particular point.
• The Ophelia: Cute? Check. Insane? check. Puts on pretty dresses and murders people? Definitely.
• Orphan's Ordeal: Her parents were killed right in front of her.
• Overt Operative: Misa is famous and so her face is everywhere. If anyone else has the Shinigami eyes she'd be the first to be discovered. That's why Light has her suddenly quit the movie in the second arc when the mafia gets a hold of the notebook and the eyes.

P-Y

• Parental Abandonment: Her Freudian Excuse, as explained above.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: "I wanted that man to pay for what he did!"
• Perky Female Minion: She's been seen giggling and clapping her hands while Light plots.
• Perky Goth: She wears a lot of black and Creepy Crosses (at least in the first half of the series), and a glimpse into her room shortly after she's first introduced is filled with things that are at least vaguely gothic. Despite this, she frequently acts cheerful, perky and ditzy, at least on the surface.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Don't let her sweetness and good cheer, however genuine, fool you. She's just as dangerous as any other Kira.
• Pillow Pistol: She keeps her Death Note hidden under her mattress.
• Ping Pong Naïveté: In some scenes (when you can hear her thoughts), she comes across as quite calculating. In others, she comes across as downright ditzy. Also, she seems to bounce between being thoughtful and solemn when contemplating her role as the second Kira (the best example would be the scene in which she sings "Misa no Uta" and pauses to look sadly out over the horizon) to being cheerful and enthusiastic about it all.
• Plucky Comic Relief: She serves as the humorous element in some of the darker scenes, albeit not to the same extent as Ryuk.
• Protectorate: Becomes this for both Gelus and Rem, driving both of them to death as they both grow to care for her to such an extent that they violate their sole reasons for existing (shortening human lives) in order to lengthen hers by killing those who would do her harm.
• Psycho for Hire: Basically how Light uses her throughout the series. Even better, since she loves him, she's a Psycho for Hire who works for free.
• Psycho Supporter: She's madly devoted to Light and will do anything to please him.
• Psychopathic Womanchild: She's Type D- an endearingly naive Kawaiiko who has a very childish demeanor that persists well into her 20s, obsesses over fashion like any young girl, is completely boy-crazy, and was able to translate her Moe appeal into a successful career as an actress/model. All this is likely because her parents were murdered while she was still a child, trapping her in a perpetually immature state. Unfortunately for the world, this apparently happened before the Amanes had the chance to explain to their daughter that human life has an intrinsic value beyond being useful to Misamisa-chan, who latched onto the man who used his Death Note to kill the burglar years after the actions that shattered her mind. The results weren't pretty.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: When taking advantage of the Shinigami Eyes, her eyes take a red colour. This is only the case to viewers, as there is no perceptible difference In-Universe between someone with the Eyes and someone without.
• Samus Is a Girl: Light and the investigators assume the Second Kira to be male. L also refers to the Second Kira as a "he" (though L might have known sooner considering he is L and had access to physical evidence; he could have just decided not to reveal the gender so as not to give Light any clues).
• Satellite Love Interest: An interesting illustration of this trope. It's certainly possible to picture her without Light — we see her before they meet, and she's clever and dangerous. But after they meet, she'd rather die than live any kind of life without him. She improves in the Yotsuba arc where she loses her memories and her love for Light, while passionate, isn't quite as deranged and obsessive, and she interacts with other characters frequently. However, this doesn't last once she regains her memories.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Energetic Girl to Light's Savvy Guy.
• Secret-Keeper: Even while under L's Cold-Blooded Torture.
• Selective Obliviousness: To the nth degree. There is a major disconnect between Misa's personality and her actions, and it's safe to say that the full impact of what she does is something that she simply does not understand. (The anime at least gives her one sequence of contemplation, but it's implied at best.) There is another major disconnect between how she views those around her and what their actions are; the best example would be her adoration of Light, which continues in spite of all that Light does, but her friendship with L, who had her tortured in an earlier episode, is another.
• Self-Proclaimed Love Interest: Immediately after meeting Light, Misa declares herself to be "his girlfriend."
• Serial Killer: She becomes one after obtaining her own Death Note and using it to attract Kira's attention.
• Serial-Killer Killer: Like Light, she dedicates her time to killing murderers and other criminals.
• Significant Birth Date: She was born on Christmas.
• "Silly Me" Gesture: Although not the only instance, she most notably uses one as a rather clever part of her manipulation of Higuchi.
• Single-Target Sexuality: Toward Light. She only ever expresses interest in him throughout the series and won't even kiss another guy while she's acting.
• Smitten Teenage Girl: She blushes over Light after she spies on him and looks him up on the internet, and it only gets worse from there. At twenty-six she's still completely infatuated with him. Enough to kill herself rather than live in a world without him.
• Sore Loser: When she lost against Mogi in checkers, she flipped the board.

• Spared by the Adaptation: The live action films. This actually becomes an important plot point in the novelization of the spinoff film, L: change the WorLd. She also survives in the TV drama and the musicals.
  • Subverted in Light Up the New World, in which she commits suicide - 10 years later than when she was meant to in the manga - after seemingly killing Ryuzaki II and helping Shien collect all Notes.
• Stalking Is Funny If It Is Female After Male: Misa stalks Light, shows up at his house in the middle of the night, and demands he become her boyfriend. Light gets little to no say in the matter and he realizes she'll probably kill him if he says no.
• Stalker with a Crush:
  • Towards Light. The moment she learned who Kira really was, she immediately did research on Light and took a romantic interest in him. She even went to his home to reveal herself as the second Kira and to also ask him to make her his girlfriend.
  • She was a victim of one on the night where she was supposed to die. He was about to perform a Murder-Suicide after she rejected his "confession", but Gelus stepped in and had the man die differently. This resulted in Gelus dying for saving her.
• Stepford Smiler: She acts happy and cheerful but Beneath the Mask she is psychologically traumatized, uncaring, self-destructive, manipulative and genuinely believes that criminals should die. She has more in common with her "boyfriend" than you might think.
• Stocking Filler: Misa's outfits always showcase her legs.
• Strawberry Shorthand: It's something she and L have in common.
• Street Smart: While Misa is by no means a genius like Light or L she does have very good instincts. When meeting Light for the first time she seems to instinctively know how to appeal to Light's God Complex and during the Yotsuba arc with just a little help from Rem she successfully outmaneuvered and controlled Higuchi to "solve" the Kira case.
• Sycophantic Servant: She always heaps praise onto Light, despite getting little in return.
• Sympathetic Murderer: Misa evokes quite a lot of sympathy from Kira's pursuers, considering all she has done.
  • She gains sympathy from the audience, too. Very few people will understand wanting to reign as a God over a New World, which costs Light points on the popularity front. Far more of those watching will identify with Misa's grief over losing her family and her heartfelt desire to support and help the person she loves, which is essentially what she is trying to accomplish during the story.
• Terms of Endangerment: After just meeting Light she starts calling him cutesy nicknames like "Light-darling" or "Raito-Naito." Note that this takes place right after Light thinks to himself that Misa could kill him if he refuses her.
• Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Played for terrible tragedy as she believes that she can find her happy ending with an uncaring sociopath like Light Yagami who has no regard for her well-being and very little in the way of getting out of the hole he continues to dig himself into over the course of the series. In the end, she kills herself after he dies, deciding that she can't live without him.
• Third-Person Person: She does this to appear cute (i.e. kawaiiko). Mercifully, this was omitted for the most part in the English translation of the manga and completely eliminated in the English dub of the anime.
• Together in Death: Misa kills herself not very long after Light dies. In the anime, shots of Misa preparing to commit suicide are shown alongside shots of Light dying.
• Toxic Friend Influence: She cheers Light on in his quest, and supports him wholeheartedly. This does not help Light's particular problems in the least.
• Undying Loyalty: To a literal degree. When captured by L, she begs Rem to kill her rather than confess that Light is Kira Even after getting her memory erased of Kira's identity, her love for Light remains. It's also possible that she commits suicide after the series out of despair over Light's death.
• Unequal Pairing: She swears complete devotion to Light, assuring him that he can use her as he wishes and that he can kill her if he sees fit. Light, of course, with that raging god complex of his, views her merely as a pawn; although he has a few moments when he seems almost fond of her (usually when she's just been extremely useful), they don't last long and he quite coldly contemplates killing her throughout the series.
  • Interestingly enough, though, this also gets played back the opposite way early on. Misa forces Light to make her his girlfriend; he has little to no choice in the matter, because Rem will kill him if he attempts to off her, and he needs Misa close and controlled to protect his identity of Kira; and he also considers that Misa could kill him otherwise.
• The Unfettered: Her goal is to help Light. She will do anything to further that goal.
• Unholy Matrimony: With Light; they are engaged in the second arc.
• Unkempt Beauty: After she was released from captivity, she spent her next scene in white pj's, without makeup and with her hair down (more or less like this◊). More than one viewer thought she looked quite nice like that.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Had her parents not been killed one year prior to the series, she would've possibly grown into the same cheerful and sweet Idol Singer she is... only without the Ax-Crazy Yandereness.
• Villain Song: "Misa no Uta", sung while she's killing people, no less. "Be careful what you do, because god is watching your every move...."
• Villain with Good Publicity: She's an international model and pop star who secretly moonlights as the second Kira.
• Villainous BSoD: Suffers this in The Last Name after Sayu calls her a murderer.
• Villains Out Shopping: Besides literally going shopping with Mogi, Misa is shown having tea with Light's family, scolding Ryuk to stay and help her with the cleaning, and going about her daily job as a model and actress.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Misa is eager to kill for Light's sake. "So just take me to where L is and I'll write his name down!"
• Walking Techbane: In the manga Misa is no good with computers or technology and L mocks the poor quality of the Second Kira tapes. In the anime Misa is shown purchasing Light's personal information online.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: She is last seen in her new hotel room when Light calls her (for the last time while he's alive) and doesn't appear in the epilogue of the manga. Ohba admitted in How to Read that he couldn't find a way to include her in the final chapter and confirmed that she dies about a year after Light's death by suicide.
• Wig, Dress, Accent: Used to avoid attracting attention while tracking down Light and later Higuchi.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Her parents were taken away from her. Her mind completely broke. You know what happened next.
• Yandere: Misa loves Light obsessively, and has shown herself to be ready and willing to kill her competition.
  ''If I see you with another girl, then I'll kill her!"
  • This is somewhat muddled later on, when after Light proposes to her, she admits that she wouldn't actually kill all the girls he's been with prior to this since she knows they were just pawns to him (which, of course, she is too but she's not that self-aware to know this.)
  • Later, when Takeda reenters Light’s life, Misa expresses jealousy towards her rival and talks of her plans to announce her engagement with Light to remind Takeda that Light is with Misa. Not to mention her taunting Takeda by saying she’ll mostly likely be killed by Kira.
• Yes-Man: She is completely subservient to Light, always happy to do as she's told. She is less his girlfriend and more his hopelessly devoted minion; he thinks very little of her intellectually.

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