Misa Amane

Misa Amane (Japanese: 弥 海砂, Hepburn: Amane Misa) is a fictional character in the manga series Death Note, created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. A famous model, Misa seeks out mass-murderer Kira (Light Yagami) as she supports his cause to "cleanse the world of evil". Although she fills the traditional role of the love interest, her relationship with Light is one-sided as he uses her simply for his own gains.

Creation and conception

Tsugumi Ohba, writer of Death Note, decided to create Misa to be the second Kira before the serialization began. Ohba felt that having the story solely consist of males would be "boring" and wanted "a cute female." Ohba, intending to introduce her with the Shinigami Eyes, described her as having to be "spontaneous and not too bright" and that he determined her personality "from the start." Since Light Yagami would never want to trade for the Shinigami Eyes, Ohba wanted another character to use to trade for the eyes, so Ohba decided to use Misa. Ohba said that the conception of the name Misa "was kind of random but I think it was from "kuromisa" (Black Mass). It must have been based on something".