As you may have already noticed, the world of Death Note is home to many somewhat unstable characters. After all, this is a psychological anime that explores the human mind like no other. That is why we can find characters that go from the “slightly scratched” to the “completely insane”.
Today we will take a closer look at these characters. We have classified them according to the severity of their respective mental states and we have included a possible diagnosis for each of them. This is the Top 10 of the craziest characters in Death Note.
Let’s see what’s on their heads!
10. Kiyomi Takada
Apparent pathology: Antisocial personality disorder (APD, commonly known as “sociopathy”)
Miss To Oh, as she is known in the media, is Kira’s spokesperson (after the death of Hitoshi Demegawa ) and Light’s ex-girlfriend at the University. She is a very beautiful and classy woman, admired and respected by all, both for her beauty and elegance and for her talent. Of course, Kiyomi is very aware of this, which fuels her ego and fills her with pride.
Being the coveted and successful woman that she is, Kiyomi feels superior to most of the people around her, often disparaging or belittling others (such as Amane Misa, whom she does not consider worthy of Light). She even agrees to help Kira with the intention of becoming the goddess of the “new world.” He does not show any empathy and is as capable of using the Death Note as Light. Kiyomi blindly believes in Kira’s ideals, clear proof that she doesn’t differentiate between good and evil.
9. Hitoshi Demegawa
Apparent Pathology: Stingy Personality Disorder (TTP)
Hitoshi Demegawa is one of those characters designed to be hated. This man is really nasty. He does everything in his power to earn one more rating point. You don’t mind putting other people’s lives at risk just to have a good story and put on a good show.
In fact, the reason for its success is that it “covers the stories the other networks don’t want to touch.” He benefited greatly from Kira’s story, and over the years he even became her spokesperson. Hitoshi also raised donations to build a temple in honor of Kira, presumably to scam his followers. Eventually, his greed made him unworthy of his position as Kira’s spokesperson and he was replaced by a more suitable candidate.
8. Kyosuke Higuchi
Apparent Pathology: Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Kyosuke Higuchi is one of the eight executive members of the Yotsuba corporation. Rem gave him a Death Note under Light’s orders. Higuchi was chosen as the new Kira for being extremely greedy, selfish, and egotistical. People who suffer from this syndrome tend to be interested in power, prestige, and their own good, even at the expense of the well-being of others and even their own.
Higuchi ruthlessly murdered his rivals for the sole purpose of making himself more successful. Then when he was cornered into L’s plan to expose him as Kira, Higuchi did not hesitate to murder an innocent policeman or trade half of his remaining life for Shinigami’s eyes to finish off Matsuda and save himself. He’s definitely insane with power.
7. Ryuk
Apparent pathology: Severe apple addiction (occasionally withdrawal syndrome)
Undoubtedly one of the most beloved characters in the series and probably the most popular shinigami in the anime world, Ryuk is a very insane god of death. As we can see from his first appearances, he is quite peculiar. We love that it’s this weird, but there’s one thing that drives him completely crazy; The apples.
Ryuk has a serious addiction to apples, to the point of following a human ( Light ) as if he were his puppy just to get apples. Every so often when Light stops providing them for an extended period of time, Ryuk experiences unpleasant withdrawal symptoms, such as writhing and twisting in his own body. I sincerely hope that the shinigami have rehabilitation centers.
6. Mello
Apparent Pathology: Megalomania and Narcissistic Personality Disorder
There are many things about Mello that can lead us to think that he is somewhat unbalanced. For starters, he has a serious attitude problem. You cannot work as a team because you are ridiculously competitive. That is why he chooses a different path than Near to catch Kira.
Then there is the issue of his inferiority complex; he’s constantly trying to prove he’s better than Near. As if that weren’t enough, he also has a serious addiction to chocolates. He’s not much better than Ryuk on that subject.
Either way, what makes him really upset is his extremely vain and egotistical personality. Mello chasing Kira, not justice, but to prove that he is the brightest and the most worthy successor to L. To get what he wants, he is capable of doing terrible things, such as joining the American mafia, kidnapping the daughter of the Chief of Police, or killing people. “He doesn’t care what it takes; He’ll beat Near in any way. “
5. Mass Amane
Apparent pathology: Loving obsession
The adorable Misa Misa was always crazy about Yagami Light. The reason for this is that Kira meted out justice on the murderers of her parents, earning their admiration and devotion. Of course, when she found out that her beloved Kira was a handsome model student, she couldn’t help but fall at his feet.
Unfortunately, this deep love turns into a pathological obsession since she cannot think of anything other than being with Light. She is so blinded by love that she convinces herself that he loves her too, allowing him to manipulate her as he pleases. At times, Misa spoils Light’s plans by being very impulsive and showing up at the wrong times, all because of her urgent need to spend more time with him.
4. Teru Mikami
Apparent Pathology: Mystical Delusions
Mikami is a criminal prosecutor and Kira’s Hand. He was chosen by Light to continue his work as Kira once it became too risky for him to keep the Death Note. As the Hand of Kira, Mikami shares his criteria for judging criminals and dispensing justice.
This man is totally convinced that he works for a god. In fact, he calls Kira his god and sees himself as the one chosen to carry out his will. Despite being an intelligent, successful, and respected man, Mikami is easily manipulated by Kira and would do anything he dictates. Her faith and devotion to her god led Mikami to commit suicide when she saw Kira finally get caught.
3. Near
Apparent pathology: Asperger’s syndrome
Near is without a doubt a very special boy. He has the sharpest mind a child his age could have. Sure, some of the greatest minds are often misunderstood. Near is not ordinary. There are many things that differentiate him from the rest of the children. For example, you have certain difficulties in social relationships.
Despite being an adorable boy, he doesn’t seem to be able to form any meaningful relationships with those around him. In addition, he has certain obsessive-compulsive behaviors, such as constantly playing with a lock of his hair, or his fixation on playing games (especially brain teasers) and stacking things. All of this makes him more than anything charming, but I bet any educational psychologist would feast on this poor kid.
2. L Lawliet
Apparent Pathology: Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCD)
L is most likely the most popular and loved character in anime history. Is it really a surprise? The subject is bright, he is kawaii and sexy at the same time and he is as weird as we can imagine. He is always barefoot and eating sweets while sitting with his feet on the chair.
He is obsessive about practically everything. He says that if he sat like a normal person, his reasoning ability would drop by 40%. In addition, he grabs things (such as papers, cell phones, or weapons) by their corners and using only his thumb and index finger. Anyway, it is precisely this obsessive behavior that makes him such a good detective, since he always needs to analyze and question everything.
1. Yagami Light
Apparent pathology: Psychopathy
I imagine you have already guessed. Who could be crazier than our beloved protagonist and anti-hero? Yagami Light sees the rotten world and tries to correct it. He has the power to administer justice over those who break the laws. He has a pretty Machiavellian way of looking at things; for him “the end justifies the means.”
Light, better known as Kira, is determined to kill as many criminals as necessary, as well as anyone who crosses his path (including his own family), in order to have a new world without crime and violence. His goal is to create a peaceful utopia, where he is the only god and the only authority, judging who can live and who must die.
Yagami Light is a true psychopath, a ruthless killer, without empathy and without interest in anyone but himself.
This concludes our list of psychiatric cases. I hope you enjoyed it and learned a thing or two about these types of mental illness. Some of these characters have serious problems, but we still love them.
If they were a little less unbalanced, Death Note probably wouldn’t be the masterpiece considered today. After all, the least common minds are the most interesting.
