Save the Earth APP
Jan. 29th, 2015 12:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lovesickkillerOOC INFORMATION
Name: Pensulliwen
Are you over 15? Yes
Contact: Pensulliwen @ Plurk and AIM
Current characters in the game: None
IC INFORMATION
Name: Misa Amane
Canon and Medium: Death Note, manga
Age: 23. Her pre-incarnation would be in the middle of a time skip.
Pre-Incarnation Species: Human.
Pre-Incarnation Appearance: Height: 5 feet, weight: 79 pounds, bust size: 30 inches, waist size: 20 inches, and hip size: 29.5 inches. Basically: short, petite, and pretty. Misa is a pop idol with brown eyes and blonde pigtails, plus a fashion sense that is heavily reliant on black, pink, zippers, and frills. She has a round face, which contributes to her young appearance; she can easily pass as a teenager. As typical of many anime, Misa has large, round eyes and pouty lips.
Any Differences: Notable differences are that her hair is much shorter and brunette, she dresses more simply, and she weighs more (5’0, 100 pounds). Still pretty thin, but not pop idol skinny.
Starting Location: Locke City, NJ, USA
Pre-Incarnated History: I’m going to provide a bare-bones timeline here because most important events are elaborated on in the personality section!
2003: -Parents killed by a burglar
2004: -modeling career takes off
-parents’ murderer is killed by Kira
-attacked by a stalker
-Receives Death Note, meets Rem
-Goes to Tokyo, finds Light, falls madly in love
-Sakura TV incident
-Contacts Light, starts up “partnership”
-Arrested by L, gives up ownership of the Death Note
-Released under watch
-Yotsuba incident, regains ownership of the Death Note
-Released from investigation, starts living with Light
-Takes over Kira killing duties because Light is a lazy jackass
2009:
-retires from career due to Light’s proposal
Reincarnated History: Same deal here!
1991: Born June 25
1996: Breaks left arm while horsing around on the playground. While in hospital spends a lot of time drawing outfits, making paper clothes for dolls.
1997: Starts school in April at 5 years, 10 months old. Tends to be one of the younger/smaller students.
2002: Age 11, has her first “real” boyfriend, Shota Himaru, who she dates for 4 months. They have what she considers her first kiss in a movie theater, which causes an echo; Misa remember's Light Yagami's face.
2003: Starts middle school
2004: Dates Aoto Matsuda for one semester; he cheats, and she breaks things off.
2006: Starts high school
-Age 15, gets position writing about fashion in high school newspaper during second semester
2007: Takes a photography class in which she meets and starts dating Kaito Tamura, growing interest in fashion & journalism.
2008: Age 17, has sex with Kaito for the first time.
2009: Starts college at Toyo University in Tokyo. Breaks up with Kaito during second semester.
2010: Starts dating Toma Ichikawa, meet through a friend.
2011:
May- Parents are killed by a robber while she is away at school. There is security footage of the perp but no DNA evidence, he refuses to confess and is not brought to trial.
August- Age 20, drops out of college under stress and emotional turmoil
September- Write report about parents’ murder that is heavily critical of criminal justice system in Japan and tries to get it published.
October-November- Article is rejected from 7 newspapers and magazines for various reasons: writing is too emotional/not objective, doesn’t meet writing standards, not wanting to tackle the subject.
December- The story of her parents deaths is picked up by one paper, which publishes an article that is critical of the handling of the case. The article is written by a fairly acclaimed local writer and a couple other outlets pick up the story.
2012:
January- A prosecutor picks up the murder case, the court date is set for May. Misa attributes this success to the article for shaming the justice department into action.
Febuary- Misa studies hard to get into a better university, determined to become a serious journalist and enact change for the betterment of society.
- Relationship with Toma ends officially. Functionally died during her withdrawn phase following parents' murder, but guilt on his part had prevented a real break up.
April- Resumes college at Doshisha University
May- Parents’ murderer is convicted.
2013: Gets part-time job writing for a tabloid, mostly covering fashion related pieces.
2014: March- Graduates from Doshisha University with a major in Journalism and Communications, age 22
May- Starts working full time for tabloid
September- Hears about the "numbered" for the first time in a news report on the mountain that appeared in LA. Curious, she does some research online and sees "echoes" mentioned in passing. Misa remembers the face she saw when she had her first kiss and grows even more interested.
October- Misa continues looking into the numbered phenomena on the side, and eventually works herself up to deciding to visit the place it all started for herself. The tabloid she works for won't sponsor the trip, so Misa begins saving up her money and vacation time.
2015: January, experiences two more echoes during the 4th wall event; is very hazy on when or where they happened, but retains the echoes themselves.
February 1- arrives in Lock City, NJ and becomes one of the numbered.
First Echo: Triggered by her first kiss, Misa remembers Light Yagami’s face.
Also has two echoes from 4th wall event: 1) Hearing the name L -> An audio message with a digitized voice accompanied by an ornate L visual playing on TV. It says "I am justice." 2) Hearing the name "Rue Ryuzaki" -> L’s face.
Pre-Incarnation Personality: On the surface, Misa seems to have a very straightforward personality: the perky, cutesy airhead. She is hyperactive and wears her emotions on her sleeve, letting everyone know exactly what she thinks and reacting to things in over the top ways—there is a definite theatricality to it. She is very physical, hugging people when she’s happy and liking to link arms with people while walking; nearly every time she’s with Light she can be seen clinging to him. From the way she talks about being loved by Light as if it’s a certainty no matter what the circumstances, it can seem that she lives in a fantasy world. However, while Misa can come across as oblivious, it is made clear on several occasions that this is largely a part of her act. She cultivated this stage appearance as part of her idol/actress persona and carries it over to her everyday interactions, leading many people to underestimate her. Her true intellect is seen when she uses her shinigami eyes to discover that Light is Kira without revealing herself to him, and when she tricks Higuchi into giving her evidence to prove that he is Kira. She does truly have some ditzy aspects to her personality and is a very emotional person, sometimes acting recklessly, but often Misa carefully calculates how much innocence and charm to exude in different situations.
Misa is fiercely loyal, to the point where she will do anything that Light says (except, she claims, for letting him date other girls—but she never went through with her threat to kill any of Light’s other women, most notably Kiyomi Takada). This devotion to Light began the first time they spoke, due to love at first sight. During this meeting Misa stated on multiple occasions that she was fully aware of the fact that Light would only be using her; she simply didn’t care, wanting to help him in any way that she could. Misa was willing to act as Light’s tool as long as he wished while holding onto the faint hope that someday she could make him love her. Beyond this, Light is seen constantly mistreating her, especially as the series goes on and he begins to lose control— he yells at her when he’s frustrated, letting down the calm appearance he projects to other people because he knows that she will accept whatever he does. She is seen unsuccessfully trying to lure him away from work by wearing lingerie twice, and simply flinches when she offers him a drink and he smacks it away, or a question prompts him to yell at her to shut up. Despite her naturally loud and overbearing nature, when it comes to Light, Misa is utterly subservient.
Despite all of this, Misa is genuinely happy when she is with Light, and loves him more than anything; when he tells her to quit her career to marry him, Misa agrees in a heartbeat. It’s hard to imagine what Light could say to her that would break the illusion; even after he has clearly stopped putting effort into keeping up appearances for her sake, Misa continues to keep up the charade for both of them. Nothing is more important to her than earning Light’s love, even after she has convinced herself that he truly loves her. Every task he gives her is completed with the thought “this will make Light love Misa even more!” in mind. Despite functioning well on her own beforehand, Misa completely submits to Light the moment they meet, offering him her Death Note and saying that she will do whatever he says from now on (in exchange for being his girlfriend, a point that she does insist on and gets her way with). In the beginning, this only applies to Kira related things; Misa disobeys Light quite a few times, coming to see him when he told her not to and arguing with him, but eventually this spreads to apply to every part of their relationship. While she is completely devoted from the start, Light only grows more and more important in Misa’s world over their years together, until there is room for little else. Her obsession strengthens as they continue to interact, to the point where there is very nearly nothing that she wouldn’t do for Light. Light says jump, Misa says how high?
Beyond simply being loyal to Light, Misa is completely devoted to the entity that is Kira. Before knowing of Light’s existence, she was determined to find Kira due to regarding him as her savior. Misa’s parents were killed before her eyes by a robber, and she watched as the murderer’s trial was put off until it looked like he would be released; she wished that she could kill him, but didn’t know how or what to do. Kira appeared to her like a god of divine justice, killing the robber for her, and Misa devoted herself to him heart and soul, wanting to show her gratitude. This consumes her to the point where she thinks nothing of taking an innocent life in order to achieve her objective; after getting her Death Note, Misa kills several police officers that get in her way and immediately offers to kill her friend if Light wants her to without another thought. Despite continuing to believe in Kira’s ideals— namely, that criminals should be punished to make a new world filled with only good people— when it comes to killing, Misa thinks very little of human life. Her ideals often do not match her actions, partially because Misa is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve her objectives and partially because no one can compare to how important Light is to her. Misa is very social and can make friends easily, but the rest of the world dwells on a completely different plane of existence from Light. She might legitimately like someone and have feelings for them, but if Light told her to kill that person then she would do it without a hint of hesitation. Even Kira comes second to Light; when Misa loses her memories and does not know that they are one in the same, she states that she looks up to Kira as a savior and supports him, but would willingly help capture him if it was what Light wanted. However, this does not lessen how much she cares about Kira. Light is simply on another level.
While she is intelligent, Misa is also reckless. She is willing to take risks and doesn’t always think things completely through if her emotions distract her. While the men around her depend on cold logic, Misa lives in the moment and is far more dependent on her love for Light and worship of Kira to dictate her actions. She is also extremely willing to sacrifice herself for Light’s sake. It’s hard not to take her claim that she would willingly die for him seriously when she proves it many times over— begging Rem to kill her when L held her captive so that she could not betray Light, after going without food or water for three days. Throwing herself into dangerous situations without a thought toward her own safety, such as introducing herself to Higuchi as the Second Kira with the intention of double-crossing him, despite knowing that he could easily kill her. Halving her lifespan twice in order to be Light’s eyes. Even in the little things, such as walking to a train station alone at night when just a look from Light tells her that he doesn’t want to go, despite the fact that she was attacked by a stalker not a year before in a similar situation. Some of it can be attributed to the fact that she knows Rem will save her, and she also knows that Light is a genius, trusting him to act in her best interest even when she has absolutely no reason to. But a large part of it is simply that she does not stop to think about her own safety when it comes to pleasing Light. Misa is, in every sense of the word, blinded by love.
Revision additions: Misa is incredibly social, though this isn't seen very much in canon. Most of the time when we see Misa not actively doing something plot-relevant she is lounging around reading a magazine or working, but she is also under surveillance during much of this time and despite us never seeing her gabbing on the phone with friends, she has a large supply of them that she is able to call in for favors with no questions asked. It can be assumed that being kidnapped off the face of the earth for two months and being unable to speak about the circumstances too much put a damper on many of her friendships, and social activity in general. Despite all that, she does very well in social situations, easily charming those around her (being a pop idol doesn't hurt). She very easily collects the contact information of Yotsuba employees who are potential suspects simply through being a good hostess and light flirting--DESPITE the fact that they are under the impression a murder they are implicated in just happened at her party. She also develops a strange friendships of sorts with Mogi later in the series, though he is actually there to watch her as a witness and she has no choice in his company. Still, she clings to his arm as they go window shopping and flings the board when he beats her at go. While there are certainly aspects of Misa that may appear shallow, she comes to accept some very strange looking friends.
For all of this, the common denominator in Misa's relationships is that she uses people. Even if she genuinely likes them, even if she really enjoys their company, at the end of the day she has no compunctions about manipulating them or getting them hurt if it contributes to the greater good. This doesn't necessarily mean that she is unfeeling (though she sometimes is), but over the course of the series we see Misa interacting with quite a few people who she considers to be friends and would still murder without a second thought in order to further Light's and her goals.
It's worth noting that there's no definitive canonical evidence for whether Misa has always been this way or whether it is part of her that was formed by the loss of her parents as well as access to the power of the Death Note and Kira's existence, since we never see her before all that. But a lot can be extrapolated from what she is like when she has no memories or knowledge of the Death Note, and in that time she seems genuine when she accepts even someone she has significant distaste for like L as a friend and says that she would never betray a friend. Given her loyalty to Light, there's no reason to think that Misa wouldn't be very loyal to her friends without the framework of Light being a god above men altering how she views other people.
All of Misa's life before Kira is speculation, since she enters the story after becoming devoted to him and we don't see any real flashbacks, but here's some of my headcanon on the subject: Misa was a very spoiled child. Surprisingly she was not an only child, but her already strained relationship with her sister did not survive their parents' deaths. They drifted further apart and barely spoke, even before the Death Note entered the picture. While sociable and always surrounded by friends, Misa was also something of a weird quasi-goth kid and so not quite the average popular girl (her room was a disaster of skulls and confused Christian imagery, and at least one of her friends was into the occult).
From a young age Misa was pretty and she knew it, and she used it to her advantage--she got away with things and wasn't pushed as hard academically, which caused much of the hostility between her and her sister. But she was also driven as well as independent, dreaming of becoming famous one day and willing to put in the work to make it happen. She got average to above average grades through high school and never went to college, focusing on her modeling career instead. She developed the Misa-Misa persona around this time, exaggerating aspects of her personality and how she acted when attempting to be her most charming; molding herself to appeal to a certain fanbase. Sometimes it felt almost genuine and other times it was like putting on a mask for an interview, but she learned to keep up a flawless appearance and act as she was expected to no matter what was going on inside her head.
Any differences?: In this AU Misa’s parents are still killed by a burglar, but things happen differently and so the fallout and the effect it has on her changes. For one, she is not there to see it happen in this universe, and for another it is not a god of death that comes to her aid—it is a writer. Naturally, as Misa picks up the pieces and tries to find a way to move forward, her desire fixates less on directly punishing criminals than investigative journalism. She believes in the power of the written word to raise awareness and challenge the justice system, and she gets very serious about making herself be taken seriously in the world of journalists. While this Misa is still perky and bright, she is significantly toned down from the way canon-Misa behaves—there is less of an overt theatricality to how she acts. She does not want to rely on people underestimating her, she wants people to give her a chance to prove her worth. In a similar vein, though she still has a soft spot for over the top Lolita, she does not share her counterpart’s love of Hollywood fashion and she generally tends toward a more business casual aesthetic in the workplace.
Another major change is that because of the lack of a Death Note in her history, AU Misa is much less… sociopathic, shall we say. This is a Misa who develops friendships that go deep; while her parents’ deaths certainly affected her in this area, she isn’t incapable of becoming truly attached to people. She does not take death or murder lightly, and while she wouldn’t exactly shed a tear for criminals who wound up getting killed, she would never consider herself to be capable of murder. Her goal, after all, is to overhaul the justice system so that criminals wind up in jail—not to bypass the system entirely by killing them. Misa can be clingy and even smothering, traits that the loss of her parents did not help, but she is less prone to obsession even in those she idolizes.
This Misa has had several boyfriends throughout her life, as opposed to her canon counterpart who, while very popular with men, never gives any indication of having been in a serious relationship before Light—as an idol very focused on her career and public image, it’s unlikely she would have had the opportunity. While this Misa is still a romantic at heart, she thinks about love differently than canon-Misa came to. For AU Misa love is not a zero-sum game, with one single soul-mate to devote oneself to utterly and no other experiences or loves to be had. She does believe in fate and that there is a person she is destined to be with in the end (the echo of Light’s face when she had her first kiss is something that weighs on her mind from time to time), but she has loved more than one person over the course of her life and slept with more than one person as well. This is very different from canon-Misa’s experiences, or rather her lack of experience with anyone but Light. AU-Misa knows what a loving relationship feels like, and she has been burned by love before as well. She would not put up with just anything in the name of love.
While Misa is still crafty and willing to use her feminine wiles to get what she wants in this universe, she is not the masterful actress that canon-Misa is. She also has not been put through hell; lacking experiences such as being attacked by a stalker or captured and tortured by L leaves her a little more easily fazed. She does not have the kind of resilience that would give her reason to go days without eating or drinking, and is essentially more of a “normal girl” in those respects. She is traumatized by the death of her parents and certainly knows loss and anxiety better than many, but this is not a woman who has been desensitized into immediately bouncing back from horrific events.
Abilities: Misa’s shinigami eyes allow her to see a person’s name and lifespan floating above their heads simply by looking at them. However, she is not able to read the lifespans—they simply appear as a jumble of numbers.
While not an ability, Misa had access to the Death Note, which allows her to kill anyone by any means that is not impossible by writing their name down and visualizing their face. The default kill is heart attack, and the notebook can also be used to control someone’s actions up to 23 days before killing them.
What kind of involvement would you like your character to have in Save the Earth? Misa is interested in uncovering the secrets of what is going on with the Numbered and why, wanting to get to the bottom of it investigative journalism style. I have no plans for how she will be swept up in it all beyond knowing that her plans to be an objective outsider will crumble very quickly.
ROLEPLAY SAMPLES
- Third Person: 4th wall thread
- Network: Wow, a secret network! This whole story keeps getting more and more mysterious!
[Though nearly breathless with excitement, Misa attempts to keep herself in check and remain at least a little bit professional. Beaming at the discovery is impossible to cover up, but she manages to avoid blurting out the first question that comes to mind in favor of a thought-out response.]
Hello, my name is Misa Amane! I’m new here and I’d love to have a conversation with anyone who has been here a while or has information about what’s been going on. The news has been pretty crazy, but if you want to share your stories then I’m here to listen!
[There, that sounded pretty good, right? She hopes that no one too weird answers, but at least with this number she doesn’t have to meet them face to face right away. Besides, an insider scoop is definitely worth the risks. This is going to get her name on the map for sure.]
Name: Pensulliwen
Are you over 15? Yes
Contact: Pensulliwen @ Plurk and AIM
Current characters in the game: None
IC INFORMATION
Name: Misa Amane
Canon and Medium: Death Note, manga
Age: 23. Her pre-incarnation would be in the middle of a time skip.
Pre-Incarnation Species: Human.
Pre-Incarnation Appearance: Height: 5 feet, weight: 79 pounds, bust size: 30 inches, waist size: 20 inches, and hip size: 29.5 inches. Basically: short, petite, and pretty. Misa is a pop idol with brown eyes and blonde pigtails, plus a fashion sense that is heavily reliant on black, pink, zippers, and frills. She has a round face, which contributes to her young appearance; she can easily pass as a teenager. As typical of many anime, Misa has large, round eyes and pouty lips.
Any Differences: Notable differences are that her hair is much shorter and brunette, she dresses more simply, and she weighs more (5’0, 100 pounds). Still pretty thin, but not pop idol skinny.
Starting Location: Locke City, NJ, USA
Pre-Incarnated History: I’m going to provide a bare-bones timeline here because most important events are elaborated on in the personality section!
2003: -Parents killed by a burglar
2004: -modeling career takes off
-parents’ murderer is killed by Kira
-attacked by a stalker
-Receives Death Note, meets Rem
-Goes to Tokyo, finds Light, falls madly in love
-Sakura TV incident
-Contacts Light, starts up “partnership”
-Arrested by L, gives up ownership of the Death Note
-Released under watch
-Yotsuba incident, regains ownership of the Death Note
-Released from investigation, starts living with Light
-Takes over Kira killing duties because Light is a lazy jackass
2009:
-retires from career due to Light’s proposal
Reincarnated History: Same deal here!
1991: Born June 25
1996: Breaks left arm while horsing around on the playground. While in hospital spends a lot of time drawing outfits, making paper clothes for dolls.
1997: Starts school in April at 5 years, 10 months old. Tends to be one of the younger/smaller students.
2002: Age 11, has her first “real” boyfriend, Shota Himaru, who she dates for 4 months. They have what she considers her first kiss in a movie theater, which causes an echo; Misa remember's Light Yagami's face.
2003: Starts middle school
2004: Dates Aoto Matsuda for one semester; he cheats, and she breaks things off.
2006: Starts high school
-Age 15, gets position writing about fashion in high school newspaper during second semester
2007: Takes a photography class in which she meets and starts dating Kaito Tamura, growing interest in fashion & journalism.
2008: Age 17, has sex with Kaito for the first time.
2009: Starts college at Toyo University in Tokyo. Breaks up with Kaito during second semester.
2010: Starts dating Toma Ichikawa, meet through a friend.
2011:
May- Parents are killed by a robber while she is away at school. There is security footage of the perp but no DNA evidence, he refuses to confess and is not brought to trial.
August- Age 20, drops out of college under stress and emotional turmoil
September- Write report about parents’ murder that is heavily critical of criminal justice system in Japan and tries to get it published.
October-November- Article is rejected from 7 newspapers and magazines for various reasons: writing is too emotional/not objective, doesn’t meet writing standards, not wanting to tackle the subject.
December- The story of her parents deaths is picked up by one paper, which publishes an article that is critical of the handling of the case. The article is written by a fairly acclaimed local writer and a couple other outlets pick up the story.
2012:
January- A prosecutor picks up the murder case, the court date is set for May. Misa attributes this success to the article for shaming the justice department into action.
Febuary- Misa studies hard to get into a better university, determined to become a serious journalist and enact change for the betterment of society.
- Relationship with Toma ends officially. Functionally died during her withdrawn phase following parents' murder, but guilt on his part had prevented a real break up.
April- Resumes college at Doshisha University
May- Parents’ murderer is convicted.
2013: Gets part-time job writing for a tabloid, mostly covering fashion related pieces.
2014: March- Graduates from Doshisha University with a major in Journalism and Communications, age 22
May- Starts working full time for tabloid
September- Hears about the "numbered" for the first time in a news report on the mountain that appeared in LA. Curious, she does some research online and sees "echoes" mentioned in passing. Misa remembers the face she saw when she had her first kiss and grows even more interested.
October- Misa continues looking into the numbered phenomena on the side, and eventually works herself up to deciding to visit the place it all started for herself. The tabloid she works for won't sponsor the trip, so Misa begins saving up her money and vacation time.
2015: January, experiences two more echoes during the 4th wall event; is very hazy on when or where they happened, but retains the echoes themselves.
February 1- arrives in Lock City, NJ and becomes one of the numbered.
First Echo: Triggered by her first kiss, Misa remembers Light Yagami’s face.
Also has two echoes from 4th wall event: 1) Hearing the name L -> An audio message with a digitized voice accompanied by an ornate L visual playing on TV. It says "I am justice." 2) Hearing the name "Rue Ryuzaki" -> L’s face.
Pre-Incarnation Personality: On the surface, Misa seems to have a very straightforward personality: the perky, cutesy airhead. She is hyperactive and wears her emotions on her sleeve, letting everyone know exactly what she thinks and reacting to things in over the top ways—there is a definite theatricality to it. She is very physical, hugging people when she’s happy and liking to link arms with people while walking; nearly every time she’s with Light she can be seen clinging to him. From the way she talks about being loved by Light as if it’s a certainty no matter what the circumstances, it can seem that she lives in a fantasy world. However, while Misa can come across as oblivious, it is made clear on several occasions that this is largely a part of her act. She cultivated this stage appearance as part of her idol/actress persona and carries it over to her everyday interactions, leading many people to underestimate her. Her true intellect is seen when she uses her shinigami eyes to discover that Light is Kira without revealing herself to him, and when she tricks Higuchi into giving her evidence to prove that he is Kira. She does truly have some ditzy aspects to her personality and is a very emotional person, sometimes acting recklessly, but often Misa carefully calculates how much innocence and charm to exude in different situations.
Misa is fiercely loyal, to the point where she will do anything that Light says (except, she claims, for letting him date other girls—but she never went through with her threat to kill any of Light’s other women, most notably Kiyomi Takada). This devotion to Light began the first time they spoke, due to love at first sight. During this meeting Misa stated on multiple occasions that she was fully aware of the fact that Light would only be using her; she simply didn’t care, wanting to help him in any way that she could. Misa was willing to act as Light’s tool as long as he wished while holding onto the faint hope that someday she could make him love her. Beyond this, Light is seen constantly mistreating her, especially as the series goes on and he begins to lose control— he yells at her when he’s frustrated, letting down the calm appearance he projects to other people because he knows that she will accept whatever he does. She is seen unsuccessfully trying to lure him away from work by wearing lingerie twice, and simply flinches when she offers him a drink and he smacks it away, or a question prompts him to yell at her to shut up. Despite her naturally loud and overbearing nature, when it comes to Light, Misa is utterly subservient.
Despite all of this, Misa is genuinely happy when she is with Light, and loves him more than anything; when he tells her to quit her career to marry him, Misa agrees in a heartbeat. It’s hard to imagine what Light could say to her that would break the illusion; even after he has clearly stopped putting effort into keeping up appearances for her sake, Misa continues to keep up the charade for both of them. Nothing is more important to her than earning Light’s love, even after she has convinced herself that he truly loves her. Every task he gives her is completed with the thought “this will make Light love Misa even more!” in mind. Despite functioning well on her own beforehand, Misa completely submits to Light the moment they meet, offering him her Death Note and saying that she will do whatever he says from now on (in exchange for being his girlfriend, a point that she does insist on and gets her way with). In the beginning, this only applies to Kira related things; Misa disobeys Light quite a few times, coming to see him when he told her not to and arguing with him, but eventually this spreads to apply to every part of their relationship. While she is completely devoted from the start, Light only grows more and more important in Misa’s world over their years together, until there is room for little else. Her obsession strengthens as they continue to interact, to the point where there is very nearly nothing that she wouldn’t do for Light. Light says jump, Misa says how high?
Beyond simply being loyal to Light, Misa is completely devoted to the entity that is Kira. Before knowing of Light’s existence, she was determined to find Kira due to regarding him as her savior. Misa’s parents were killed before her eyes by a robber, and she watched as the murderer’s trial was put off until it looked like he would be released; she wished that she could kill him, but didn’t know how or what to do. Kira appeared to her like a god of divine justice, killing the robber for her, and Misa devoted herself to him heart and soul, wanting to show her gratitude. This consumes her to the point where she thinks nothing of taking an innocent life in order to achieve her objective; after getting her Death Note, Misa kills several police officers that get in her way and immediately offers to kill her friend if Light wants her to without another thought. Despite continuing to believe in Kira’s ideals— namely, that criminals should be punished to make a new world filled with only good people— when it comes to killing, Misa thinks very little of human life. Her ideals often do not match her actions, partially because Misa is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve her objectives and partially because no one can compare to how important Light is to her. Misa is very social and can make friends easily, but the rest of the world dwells on a completely different plane of existence from Light. She might legitimately like someone and have feelings for them, but if Light told her to kill that person then she would do it without a hint of hesitation. Even Kira comes second to Light; when Misa loses her memories and does not know that they are one in the same, she states that she looks up to Kira as a savior and supports him, but would willingly help capture him if it was what Light wanted. However, this does not lessen how much she cares about Kira. Light is simply on another level.
While she is intelligent, Misa is also reckless. She is willing to take risks and doesn’t always think things completely through if her emotions distract her. While the men around her depend on cold logic, Misa lives in the moment and is far more dependent on her love for Light and worship of Kira to dictate her actions. She is also extremely willing to sacrifice herself for Light’s sake. It’s hard not to take her claim that she would willingly die for him seriously when she proves it many times over— begging Rem to kill her when L held her captive so that she could not betray Light, after going without food or water for three days. Throwing herself into dangerous situations without a thought toward her own safety, such as introducing herself to Higuchi as the Second Kira with the intention of double-crossing him, despite knowing that he could easily kill her. Halving her lifespan twice in order to be Light’s eyes. Even in the little things, such as walking to a train station alone at night when just a look from Light tells her that he doesn’t want to go, despite the fact that she was attacked by a stalker not a year before in a similar situation. Some of it can be attributed to the fact that she knows Rem will save her, and she also knows that Light is a genius, trusting him to act in her best interest even when she has absolutely no reason to. But a large part of it is simply that she does not stop to think about her own safety when it comes to pleasing Light. Misa is, in every sense of the word, blinded by love.
Revision additions: Misa is incredibly social, though this isn't seen very much in canon. Most of the time when we see Misa not actively doing something plot-relevant she is lounging around reading a magazine or working, but she is also under surveillance during much of this time and despite us never seeing her gabbing on the phone with friends, she has a large supply of them that she is able to call in for favors with no questions asked. It can be assumed that being kidnapped off the face of the earth for two months and being unable to speak about the circumstances too much put a damper on many of her friendships, and social activity in general. Despite all that, she does very well in social situations, easily charming those around her (being a pop idol doesn't hurt). She very easily collects the contact information of Yotsuba employees who are potential suspects simply through being a good hostess and light flirting--DESPITE the fact that they are under the impression a murder they are implicated in just happened at her party. She also develops a strange friendships of sorts with Mogi later in the series, though he is actually there to watch her as a witness and she has no choice in his company. Still, she clings to his arm as they go window shopping and flings the board when he beats her at go. While there are certainly aspects of Misa that may appear shallow, she comes to accept some very strange looking friends.
For all of this, the common denominator in Misa's relationships is that she uses people. Even if she genuinely likes them, even if she really enjoys their company, at the end of the day she has no compunctions about manipulating them or getting them hurt if it contributes to the greater good. This doesn't necessarily mean that she is unfeeling (though she sometimes is), but over the course of the series we see Misa interacting with quite a few people who she considers to be friends and would still murder without a second thought in order to further Light's and her goals.
It's worth noting that there's no definitive canonical evidence for whether Misa has always been this way or whether it is part of her that was formed by the loss of her parents as well as access to the power of the Death Note and Kira's existence, since we never see her before all that. But a lot can be extrapolated from what she is like when she has no memories or knowledge of the Death Note, and in that time she seems genuine when she accepts even someone she has significant distaste for like L as a friend and says that she would never betray a friend. Given her loyalty to Light, there's no reason to think that Misa wouldn't be very loyal to her friends without the framework of Light being a god above men altering how she views other people.
All of Misa's life before Kira is speculation, since she enters the story after becoming devoted to him and we don't see any real flashbacks, but here's some of my headcanon on the subject: Misa was a very spoiled child. Surprisingly she was not an only child, but her already strained relationship with her sister did not survive their parents' deaths. They drifted further apart and barely spoke, even before the Death Note entered the picture. While sociable and always surrounded by friends, Misa was also something of a weird quasi-goth kid and so not quite the average popular girl (her room was a disaster of skulls and confused Christian imagery, and at least one of her friends was into the occult).
From a young age Misa was pretty and she knew it, and she used it to her advantage--she got away with things and wasn't pushed as hard academically, which caused much of the hostility between her and her sister. But she was also driven as well as independent, dreaming of becoming famous one day and willing to put in the work to make it happen. She got average to above average grades through high school and never went to college, focusing on her modeling career instead. She developed the Misa-Misa persona around this time, exaggerating aspects of her personality and how she acted when attempting to be her most charming; molding herself to appeal to a certain fanbase. Sometimes it felt almost genuine and other times it was like putting on a mask for an interview, but she learned to keep up a flawless appearance and act as she was expected to no matter what was going on inside her head.
Any differences?: In this AU Misa’s parents are still killed by a burglar, but things happen differently and so the fallout and the effect it has on her changes. For one, she is not there to see it happen in this universe, and for another it is not a god of death that comes to her aid—it is a writer. Naturally, as Misa picks up the pieces and tries to find a way to move forward, her desire fixates less on directly punishing criminals than investigative journalism. She believes in the power of the written word to raise awareness and challenge the justice system, and she gets very serious about making herself be taken seriously in the world of journalists. While this Misa is still perky and bright, she is significantly toned down from the way canon-Misa behaves—there is less of an overt theatricality to how she acts. She does not want to rely on people underestimating her, she wants people to give her a chance to prove her worth. In a similar vein, though she still has a soft spot for over the top Lolita, she does not share her counterpart’s love of Hollywood fashion and she generally tends toward a more business casual aesthetic in the workplace.
Another major change is that because of the lack of a Death Note in her history, AU Misa is much less… sociopathic, shall we say. This is a Misa who develops friendships that go deep; while her parents’ deaths certainly affected her in this area, she isn’t incapable of becoming truly attached to people. She does not take death or murder lightly, and while she wouldn’t exactly shed a tear for criminals who wound up getting killed, she would never consider herself to be capable of murder. Her goal, after all, is to overhaul the justice system so that criminals wind up in jail—not to bypass the system entirely by killing them. Misa can be clingy and even smothering, traits that the loss of her parents did not help, but she is less prone to obsession even in those she idolizes.
This Misa has had several boyfriends throughout her life, as opposed to her canon counterpart who, while very popular with men, never gives any indication of having been in a serious relationship before Light—as an idol very focused on her career and public image, it’s unlikely she would have had the opportunity. While this Misa is still a romantic at heart, she thinks about love differently than canon-Misa came to. For AU Misa love is not a zero-sum game, with one single soul-mate to devote oneself to utterly and no other experiences or loves to be had. She does believe in fate and that there is a person she is destined to be with in the end (the echo of Light’s face when she had her first kiss is something that weighs on her mind from time to time), but she has loved more than one person over the course of her life and slept with more than one person as well. This is very different from canon-Misa’s experiences, or rather her lack of experience with anyone but Light. AU-Misa knows what a loving relationship feels like, and she has been burned by love before as well. She would not put up with just anything in the name of love.
While Misa is still crafty and willing to use her feminine wiles to get what she wants in this universe, she is not the masterful actress that canon-Misa is. She also has not been put through hell; lacking experiences such as being attacked by a stalker or captured and tortured by L leaves her a little more easily fazed. She does not have the kind of resilience that would give her reason to go days without eating or drinking, and is essentially more of a “normal girl” in those respects. She is traumatized by the death of her parents and certainly knows loss and anxiety better than many, but this is not a woman who has been desensitized into immediately bouncing back from horrific events.
Abilities: Misa’s shinigami eyes allow her to see a person’s name and lifespan floating above their heads simply by looking at them. However, she is not able to read the lifespans—they simply appear as a jumble of numbers.
While not an ability, Misa had access to the Death Note, which allows her to kill anyone by any means that is not impossible by writing their name down and visualizing their face. The default kill is heart attack, and the notebook can also be used to control someone’s actions up to 23 days before killing them.
What kind of involvement would you like your character to have in Save the Earth? Misa is interested in uncovering the secrets of what is going on with the Numbered and why, wanting to get to the bottom of it investigative journalism style. I have no plans for how she will be swept up in it all beyond knowing that her plans to be an objective outsider will crumble very quickly.
ROLEPLAY SAMPLES
- Third Person: 4th wall thread
- Network: Wow, a secret network! This whole story keeps getting more and more mysterious!
[Though nearly breathless with excitement, Misa attempts to keep herself in check and remain at least a little bit professional. Beaming at the discovery is impossible to cover up, but she manages to avoid blurting out the first question that comes to mind in favor of a thought-out response.]
Hello, my name is Misa Amane! I’m new here and I’d love to have a conversation with anyone who has been here a while or has information about what’s been going on. The news has been pretty crazy, but if you want to share your stories then I’m here to listen!
[There, that sounded pretty good, right? She hopes that no one too weird answers, but at least with this number she doesn’t have to meet them face to face right away. Besides, an insider scoop is definitely worth the risks. This is going to get her name on the map for sure.]
