Light Yagami

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, an otherworldly 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 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 psychopathic vigilante . Over the course of his efforts to create a world free of crime and evil, over which he would rule and reign as a godlike figure, Light is pursued by a special task-force, headed by a consulting detective known as L. In the anime adaptation, he is voiced by Mamoru Miyano in Japanese and by Brad Swaile in the English version. In the live-action film series, he is portrayed by Tatsuya Fujiwara with Swaile reprising his role as his English dub voice; he is portrayed by both Kenji Urai and Hayato Kakizawa in the musical; in the TV drama, he is portrayed by Masataka Kubota; his counterpart in the American film is portrayed by Nat Wolff. Light's portrayal in the anime was met with praise from critics. Creation and conception 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 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 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.