MERRY CHRISTMAS

The Brave and the Bold

I was asked by the WB producers of Batman the Brave and the Bold, to do some action poses of different DC characters to be included on the opening title sequence. The best part it's that Kamandi was one of those characters. Kamandi is a DC Comics comic book character created by acclaimed artist Jack Kirby. The bulk of Kamandi's appearances occurred in the comic series Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth, which ran from 1972 to 1978. Kamandi is a young hero in a post-apocalyptic future. After a huge event called "The Great Disaster", humans are a persecuted minority in a world ruled by intelligent, highly evolved animals. I grew up on that plus Kamandi was one of my first Kirby comics.
One of the other many characters was Jonah Hex. Jonah Hex is a fictional character, a Western comic book anti-hero created by writer John Albano and artist Tony DeZuniga.
The right side of his face is horribly distinctly scarred. He was an officer for the Confederacy during the American Civil War, fought at Gettysburg and is normally shown wearing a tattered Confederate States Army jacket. Hex is surly and cynical, and is in many ways similar to Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name or The Outlaw Josey Wales.
I heard the show it's doing well.
BTW needless to say these images are copyright WB Animation and DC Comics.

Batman the Brave and the Bold

Another project I've had the pleasure to work on is Batman the Brave and the Bold.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold is the name of an upcoming animated television series based in part on the comic book series of the same name. Batman having a pronounced cleft chin, will team-up with several other DC Comics heroes. The show is scheduled to debut on November 14, 2008 at 8:00 pm, on Cartoon Network.
I promise after the show it's aired I'll post a couple of my designs. Enjoy the trailer.

Dead Space Downfall

Good Anime , low quality in graphics, excelect B movie. It is dark , bloody full goar like a Ramirez film.
The story is pretty much straightforward. Dead planet, host parasitic alien form, comes to ship and kills everyone.
If you are into horror Sci Fi, you may like it.
For the record all of this images are copyright either EA of Film Roman.

Here is one of my "character design" jobs. Miner # 1 covered in blood.



Another "design" for one of the many Slashers...



After I specifically asked the associate producer, what was I going to be credited as, I got a diminishing character clean up credit. Thanks...
I believe when you draw any character views from scratch, you are coming up with that particular view's design. I got news for you, that's "designing".
What bothers me the most it's that they misspelled my last name after I made them read it back to me properly... it's Tejeda not Tejada.
They misspelled my last name on The Simpsons Movie too, but after I demand an explanation they corrected it for the DVD release. You would think in a multimillion dollar industry the people in charge of the credits would check how to spell everyone's names...once again that's Hollywood for ya.

TERRANOVA

And here it is, my first poster rough design for Terranova.
Terranova it's a live action epic science fiction film I've been developing for the past 10 years on my free time.
I wrote the script's final draft with some help from Ben Chiang. I also penciled a story board action sequence and design all the characters for this epic film.
It's been very difficult finding time to invest on my own film since I'm always busy working for FOX or WB. So far I managed to finish my script (yes it's registered), do some boards, designs, a story treatment with a synopsis, a bible and a short quicktime slide show teaser with all of the above.
Most of the backgrounds I collected from the internet and of course the rights belong to their respective owners. Whenever the film goes into production they will be all re-design anyway.
Subsequently you must sign a non disclosure agreement before you are exposed to this original material. Terranova it's my baby, I'm not taking any chances.
Up until now a small elite had access to it. Ever since Paul Dini made a very positive comment about it, I know I got something real good in my hands. I like to think of Terranova as a franchise gold mine.
All I can tell you without giving anything away it's that my film has it all. A good story, interesting characters, lots of FX, robots, mutants, five dimensional aliens, alien animals, space ships, Agartheans, mutated animals, action, philosophy, spirituality and adventure. Did I leave anything out?
This Photoshop collage poster it's the result of a sleepless night. Some of the art it's copyright psxextreme.com, www.dragos.org, www.xurge3d.com and the space ships are by Sliver. The rest it's all by me.
I know it seems like a lot of celebrities for my casting choices, but hey...there is a multicast mega budget Sci Fi epic film for ya.
Not too bad for my first "none drawn art" post in my Blog.

Yamato Nadeshiko (The Wallflower)

Yamato Nadeshiko (The Wallflower) is a manga series written by Tomoko Hayakawa. Nippon Animation adapted part of the manga series into a twenty-five episode anime series. Yamato Nadeshiko is a common term used in Japan to describe the ideal beautiful woman. The story revolve around Sunako Nakahara, a girl called “ugly” by a boy, who happened to be the first and only person to whom she confessed her love because of this incident, she losses her sparks in life and change for the worst. She became reclusive and generally developed a fear of pretty boys of which she refers to as “dazzling creatures”. She became a lover of solitude, gore movies, anatomical dolls and objects that reflect the ugly side of life as she puts it. Sunako’s aunt who has a big concern to her and was the owner of a beautiful mansion ion where four very handsome students live, offers the guys free rent if they can transform niece, Sunako, into a “perfect lady” but if they fail, the rent goes triple. Due to these handsome boys confidence in knowing how to deal with women, they agree.

Before anything else I would like to introduce these four handsome guys. Kyouhei Takano, the most popular of the foursome. He is very loud and bossy when it comes to his needs. He was forced to leave home because all of the mobbing and harassment by his fans were taking a toll on his family. As the story goes he will have unsorted feelings for Sunako which he demonstrates by constantly provoking her rage. Next is Takenaga Oda comes from a very wealthy family and is quite serious in nature. He is the brain and logic of the group often trying out logical strategies to make Sunako become a lady. He has a love interest in “Noi” Kasahara, but his shyness gets in the way when he wants to express his feelings. Another is Yukinojo “Yuki” Toyama, he is shy but sweet and has a very loving nature. He is the most innocent of all the characters, often crying and becoming scared when he enters Sunako’s room. Last but not the least is Ranmaru Morii, the playboy of the group. Ranmaru comes from a wealthy family and is an only son. He is very extroverted and a lover of older women. He has a very sexy nature and extremely high self esteem.

Now that you know these four lovely men let’s back to the story. When the guys first meet Sunako, they begin to realize that their lovely living arrangements may soon be in jeopardy. Although the four are able to make Sunako physically attractive the difficult part is with her personality. Sunako has no intention in changing her tastes, her love for all things macabre (gruesome and horrifying content) is a difficult challenge that the boys must face. Eventually, Sunako will develop an especially mixed feelings about Kyouhei, and as the storyline progresses, their relationship becomes more solid and intimate. There’s a lot of adventure and funny moment in the story that the boys faced just to encourage Sunako to change but still they failed. The boys managed to convince Sunako’s aunt that her niece is indeed a lady befitting the mansion in which they live (and prevent the rent from skyrocketing to triple the required amount). However, in reality, Sunako has not changed considerably. In the last part of it you will see Sunako change her physical appearance in to a lovely lady and that is so exciting.

The story is a combination of comedy, drama and romance which can catch viewer’s different taste. It is composed of handsome boys, which I can say that this was made intended for male audiences. The series deals with the extravagant life of a group of bishounen characters who cause nose bleeds to girls where ever they go. It’s a shojo series with lots of sparkles and flowers that can be enjoyed by guys just as much as girls. The most interesting part is mixture of horror and comedy in the plot, it’s like Sadako meets the F4. The series is full of comical moments that will keep you laughing throughout the series, there are some jokes that require some knowledge of Japanese anime but I’m sure most of you will understand it. Hence it gives moral value and touching stories each episode despite its weird concept.

Girls with Guns

From an old sketch book named "Girls with Guns" that belongs to Chris Roman.
I found the sketch book in my library by accident when I was looking for something else.
I didn't even know I had it all this time since 1997. I guess I was the last one in doing a piece for the book...ooops...sorry Chris, my most sincere apologies. And yes, I did this in 1997 not recently.

Walking with Buddha

Here is a model I revised in 2005 from Walking with Buddha for the Ngong Ping 360 Buddhist Cultural Center.
Walking with Buddha is an immersive, multimedia attraction allowing visitors to follow the life of Siddhartha Gautama - the man who became Buddha - and his path to enlightenment.
It physically takes you on a journey through Siddhartha's life. From the opulence of Siddhartha's Palace to the harshness of the Forest, you will feel as if you are truly 'walking with Buddha'. Travelling through the various stages of Siddhartha's life, you will witness his transition from being a Prince at Court to reaching supreme awareness and becoming Buddha.
I'm very disappointed with the people in charge of the credits. They only gave me a character design "clean up" title, after I did some animation walk cycle as reference for TMS, the overseas studio. I also went over the main designs, revised them and of course clean them up. If you ask me that is more than just character design "clean up", specially after someone promised me a character design supervisor title for the credits. Just another schmoozing BS example of the low ethical values in Hollywood.
I have no doubt Karma will get those responsible for the unfairness.
At least I got to be part of this cool cartoon and got to work with Bill Sienkiewicz, one of my many heroes when I was a kid.

Princess Cinderella from Disney Princess

Princess Cinderella from Disney Princess

Princess Cinderella Famous Cartoons

Princess Cinderella Dancing with the Prince

Dr. Feelgood Comic Book

In 1997 I was called by Shaun McLaughlin (the producer from the New Batman and Superman Adventures at that time) He asked me if I wanted to do a comic book for Motley Crue, since he knew I was a Motley Fan. His friend also named Shaun was the art director for Motley Crue at the Generation Swine Tour and was looking for a fast comic book artist. They asked me to do a comic book from a script based on the Dr. Feelgood song in "four" days, since the band was already on tour. My comic images would be shown during the rest of the tour on the big screens on each side of the stage each time Motley played that song.
It was very difficult to complete my new assignment since I was already working full time for Warner Brothers designing characters for a Superman episode and doing some storyboards freelance for a Batman episode. It was also my first time doing storyboards for WB and I wanted to impress Bruce Timm by doing a good job, no pressure.
Later after I started, I got a call asking me to do it in "two" days. So I drank coffee like water, didn't sleep for two days and got everything done and shipped on time. I probably did 35 comic panels in 15 hours listening to the Dr. Fellgood song over and over.
The panels were in black and white due to the lack of time. I was inspired by my comic book artists heroes a that time, Jaime Hernandez and Jordi Bernet.
A week later I got a giant check from Motley Crue to me for $ 6,000 dollars. I think it was my best paid comic book work ever.
I wish I had a copy from that check, it was awesome. I spend everything on my drum kit the next day at Guitar Center in Hollywood.
Here are some of those panels.
Thanx Tommy, Nikki, Vince and Mick I would never forget it. I only wish I had a chance to meet you guys and do some more work for the band...maybe some day.

GetBackers

GetBackers is a manga series written by Yuya Aoki and illustrated by Rando Ayamine. The manga was adapted into an animated television series in 2002. The series tells the story of Ginji Amano and Ban Mido, a pair of super powered individuals known as the GetBackers. The duo operates a freelance repossession service, their job is to recover any lost or stolen item for a client with an “almost 100% success rate” for certain amount fee. The plot mostly revolves around their adventures, often complicated by the pair's convoluted, individual pasts and a mysterious place known as the Infinity Fortress.

Ban possesses two special powers, the “Snake Bite” (his hands have a gripping power of 200kg) and the “Evil Eye” (anyone who looks into his eyes will be locked into a powerful and nightmarish hallucination). Ginji, on the other hand, has the ability to generate thousands of volts of electricity from his body. He was once the fearsome “Lightning Emperor” and the leader of a gang called The VOLTS in the Infinity Fortress. He received the title “Raitei” (literally, Lightning Emperor or Thunder Emperor) because of his ability.

They have some colleague like Hevn, she is the negotiator for the Getbackers, providing them with new, often dangerous, jobs. Even more ironic is that with the GetBacker’s money luck, they often end up getting no pay for any of Hevn’s dangerous jobs. And Natsumi, she was the GetBacker’s first client in the series and because of that Paul was introduced. He is the owner of the Honky Tonk, which is where the GetBackers often loiter and build up their tab. These people share good bonding to Ban and Ginji in their adventures and fights. Also adds happiness and excitement in the story.

Ban and Ginji claim a 100 percent success rate in returning lost or stolen property to its original owner. Their claims are put to the test in the series' first five episodes, as a high-school girl hires them to reclaim her precious handmade stuffed cat; a homeless man requests they rescue his daughter, who’s fallen into yakuza hands; and a wealthy businessman sends them to retrieve a stolen strongbox. The story became more intense when they encounter and fight against some equally talented freelance “transporters” who have been hired to defend the lockbox from the likes of Ginji and Ban. Among their enemies are “Dr. Jackal”, a quick-moving sadist who can manifest razor-sharp weapons out of his bare hands, and “Lady Poison”, a girl with phenomenal chemical weapons and a secret connection with Ban.

Then the next episode would then mainly revolve around the Mugenjou (Infinite Castle) and the battles that Ginji and Ban went through inside it, trying to solve its puzzle and mystery while at the same time saving the friends Ginji had there. A lot of philosophy about existence would surface later.

GetBackers is a lively, colorful series, with a lot of intense, graphic action and nicely animated motion, but the clear sense is that Ginji and Ban are both deeply tragic figures with a great deal of history. Ginji was once a feared gang leader, which leads to oblique flashbacks in which shadowy figures describe him as an “invincible being” and “the emperor of this limitless fortress”. Ban’s connection to Lady Poison, aka Himiko, spawned a complicated grudge that seems to stem from an even more complicated promise. Even the first meeting between Ginji and Ban is briefly hinted at in an explosive-looking scene that sets the stage for intense drama to come.

This anime is a composition of action, drama, romance and comedy. Also it shows good moral value and the importance of friendship. The story has lots of twist and turn that add to its spice.

Hellboy II

Since Hellboy II: The Golden Army it's opening today
I thought it would be nice to have something related to it.
So there...based on a Mignola sketch, but much more simplified.

Update (7-12-08' - 2:41 am)
You are not going to believe what happened today.
I went to see Hellboy II at the Arclight in Sherman Oaks at the 8:30 pm show.
I had a one sheet print out of my tickets, but I thought I get the individual printed tickets when I get there just in case Adriana was late. Adriana was one of my party of five along with Laysha, Laurie and Paul. She is always late.
When I went to do that the operations manager pull me to the side and told me Guillermo Del Toro himself was going to be there for that screening and that he chose those particular seats himself. I guess I got the best seats in the house. We got separate re-assigned seats for that show-time, one on each corner of the theatre, the only unpleasant part of the evening.
So...to make it up to us for the inconvenience they gave us a full refund, a free cool bag full of Hellboy merchandise, including a poster drawn by Mike Mignola, autographed by Guillermo Del Toro, Ron Perlman and Doug Jones.
Oh, and it gets better, we went to dinner at the Arclight Cafe and Guillermo Del Toro and his wife got seated in a table next to us. Obviously we went to talk to him after dinner like the good geeks that we are. He was super cool and nice, very down to earth. Since I'm from Argentina I got to talk to him in spanish and told him I want him to direct my Sci Fi epic Terranova and gave him my last business card. After telling him about our re-assigned seating adventure he even offer to get those seats back to us, because he wasn't going to be at the screening after all. But a lying son a bitch dude that works there said those seats were for the people responsible for the FX in the movie. Whatever...if it wasn't for that I would never meet one of my favorite directors.
We watched the movie and I thought it was awesome. Following the screening was a Q&A with the director. I even got the microphone and got to ask my question.
Like the Simpsons Comic Book Guy would say...best movie night ever!

Fashion Girl

Another girly drawing from back in the day.
I was inspired by my co-worker Shane Glines that day, and I made this sorry ass Shane girly drawing imitation.
All thou, I like the way the jacket texture looks.

Batman Beyond

I was surfing the internet and I bumped into this image.
Ironically I made this myself to advertise the show back in the late nineties.
Since the Dark Knight opens July 18 I thought it was a proper image to post.
And for those cartoon illiterate people Batman Beyond (known as Batman of the Future in Europe, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand and India) is an American animated television series created by The WB Television Network in collaboration with DC Comics as a continuation of the Batman legacy.
Batman Beyond began airing on January 10, 1999 and ended its run on December 18, 2001. With 52 episodes and one direct-to-video movie under its belt, the series was then put on hold for the new Justice League animated series.

Ninja Skills

Quick marker sketch inspired by Rob Haynes & David Self.
I would always enjoy drawing ninjas in that Daredevil style. It's so perfect for animation.
I can't believe nobody pick it up yet.

The Dark Knight Returns

Another possible good flick coming up soon.
It's sad to think they could make so much money thanks to the late Keith Ledger.
Here is my Simpsonized pass at the classic "Dark Knight" comic book.
I meet Frank Miller at the old Golden Apple in Melrose a few years ago
and gave him the original as a gift to thank him for his talent.
He almost automatically sign my drawing, possibly thinking I was just another geek trying to get his autograph.
I had to stop him and tell him it was a gift.

Iron Man

Well...there you have it. As always, time it's a luxury I can't afford. Since I've been too busy with work to come up with my own BG, I used a Frederic St.Arnaud background.
I liked the movie, it was a good comic book adaptation.

The Abomination

Emil Blonsky is a KGB agent and spy who becomes the Abomination after deliberately exposing himself to a greater quantity of the same gamma radiation which transformed Bruce Banner into the Hulk.
I'm not too crazy about the design for the Abomination in the next Hulk movie. Where are the gills?
I gotta revise those feet and give him nails to match his hands. Maybe some day when Marvel pays me to do it.

Galactus

By 1966, Lee and Kirby had decided to create a Fantastic Four story where the nominal heroes were totally eclipsed by a much larger, god-like concept and power. This culminated in the introduction of Galactus in Fantastic Four #48-50 (March-May 1966)
I'm still not 100 % with this face, I would like to take another pass and make it look more like the Moebius design. Perhaps raise his ears a bit.
Well..duh! How am I going to design Marvel characters in the Titans style without looking at Glen's stuff...It's something about those big hands and feet, I just dig it.

The Scarlet Witch

Is it Raven? Is it Starfire? No it's Wanda Django Maximoff...the Scarlet Witch.
The Scarlet Witch is the daughter of master villain Magneto, the twin sister of Quicksilver and half-sister of Polaris.
Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
I would like to dedicate this one to my pal Glen.

Doc. Samson

Doc Samson first appeared in the Incredible Hulk #141 (Jul 1971)
Leonard Samson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He became a college professor and psychiatrist. After Robert Bruce Banner was temporarily cured of being the Hulk by siphoning off the gamma radiation that caused his transformations, Samson—who had been working with Banner/Hulk in his job as a psychiatrist—exposed himself to some of the siphoned radiation, causing his hair to become green and granting him superhuman strength proportionate to its length, reminiscent of his biblical namesake. (His power level has since stabilized to the point that it doesn't matter how long his hair is.) Shortly afterward, his flirting with Betty Ross caused a jealous Banner to re-expose himself to radiation, becoming the Hulk once more to battle Samson.

The Rhino

He is a supervillain and a frequent adversary of Spider-Man and occasionally the Hulk. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Romita, Sr., he first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #41 (October 1966).
As part of a Soviet super soldier program, a super-strong polymer was bonded to the Rhino's skin. A dim-witted criminal, the Rhino mostly robs banks and works for more ambitious villains.

Silver Surfer

I mean no contest, right? Cosmic power trumps brute force any ole’ day of the week. Surfer wins. Or does he? Does anyone out there in readerland have something to say about this? Could the Hulk in fact do it? Win? Against the Sentinel of the Spaceways? Face front, true believers, this is your weekend homework assignment. Who Really Wins: post your opinions in the Comments section, conveniently located beneath this post.

The Black Panther

Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and penciller-co-plotter Jack Kirby, he first appeared in Fantastic Four vol. 1, #52 (July 1966).
When Stegron the Dinosaur Man leads a stampede of dinosaurs down Broadway and he is stopped by Spider-Man and the Black Panther was my introduction to this awesome character. Stegron tries to escape on a pterodactyl. Instead he is knocked into the water by Spider-Man and sinks like a rock.

Dr. Strange

Created by writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Steve Ditko, he first appeared in Strange Tales #110 ( July 1963 )
Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme of the Marvel Universe, responsible for defending it from mystic threats.

Wolverine

Incredible Hulk #181- Wolverine jumps on Hulk. He then jumps off Hulk and kicks Wendigo. Hulk decides that "little man is Hulk's friend" since he fights Hulk's enemies. Wolverine doesn't get why Hulk thinks they're buddies, but he uses Hulk. Wolvie distracts Wendigo and Hulk picks him up and throws him into some trees. Wolverine then brings the full force of his claws down on the Wendigo. With Wendigo down Wolverine attacks Hulk. Marie and George take Wendigo and do his half of the transfer. Hulk and Wolverine battle until Marie performs a spell of subjugation. Wolvie and Hulk pass out, and Hulk transforms back into Banner. George refuses to help Marie anymore and leaves. Marie tries to move Banner but awakens him and retriggers the change. Hulk doesn't like being tricked. Wolverine continues his battle with Hulk while Marie goes back to the cave. When Marie screams Wolverine looks over and hulk knocks him out with a punch. That’s right folks a glancing blow knocks Wolverine unconscious.

WINNER: Hulk, SCORE: Hulk 1, Wolverine 0

Iron Man

I don't know about you, but this is how Ironman looked when I saw it for the first time.
I think Marvel gave him this armor for a long time. It's a classic to me.
What did you think of the Movie? How you like them apples uh?
For those comic book Illiterates...Tony Stark, after being gravely injured and forced to build a devastating weapon, instead created a suit of power armor to save his life and help protect the world as Iron Man. He is a wealthy industrialist and genius inventor whose metal suit is laden with technological devices that enable him to fight.

HULK

Since I never got a chance to work on the Teen Titans cartoon because of my full time position with Justice League or never got to draw certain Marvel characters, I really got into drawing the Hulk in the Titans style when I heard Marvel was going to do a new cartoon about it. I came up with 12 different designs of super heroes and villains over this past week-end, including two versions of Dr. Strange and the Black Panther. Here is my first pass at the Hulk just for fun. I'll post the others eventually.
BTW this is my 100 th post, good times!

Update (7/4/08') I heard the new Hulk cartoon got cancelled because of the poor sales with the toys after the latest theatrical release. It really sucks that a bunch of stiff ass toy executives decides what to do in the animation industry, it should be the other way around. The lack of talent and vision of certain people in this industry really bothers me. It's not all about the Benjamins, how about true art and real talent.

She Hulk

She-Hulk has been a member of the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Heroes For Hire, Defenders, Fantastic Force, and S.H.I.E.L.D. A highly skilled lawyer, she has served as legal counsel to various superheroes on numerous occasions. Her cousin is Bruce Banner, better known as The Incredible Hulk.
Maybe because of the new Hulk movie coming out I just feel like drawing Hulk characters.

Death Note

Death Note (Desu Nōto?) is a Japanese manga series created by writer Tsugumi Ohba and illustrator Takeshi Obata. The series focus on a high school student, Light Yagami, who discovers a supernatural notebook that allows him to kill anyone by writing the victim's name and picturing his face. The plot follows his attempt to create and lead a world cleansed of evil using the book, and the complex conflict between himself and those assailing him that results.

Light Yagami is an extremely intelligent young man who resents the crime and corruption in the world. His life change when he discovers a mysterious notebook, known as the "Death Note", lying on the ground. This notebook has a terrifying powers that can kill or control anyone whose name was written in it. The Death Note's instructions claim that if a humans name is written within it, that person shall die.

Death Notes all have rules written on the Note's first page. The basic rules are as follows:

* The human whose name is written in this note shall die.

* This note will not take effect unless the writer has the subject's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.

* If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the subject's name, it will happen.

* If the cause of death is not specified, the subject will simply die of a heart attack.

* After writing the cause of death, the details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds (400 seconds).

There were additional rules written in the notebook which was done for some purpose to elaborate the story better. These rules often serve to clarify the more esoteric uses of the Death Note that the characters discover on their own. Official Death Notes contain over 40 pages of how to use it, consisting of both those written in the Notes and those shown in as eyecatchs.

Light is initially skeptical of the notebook's authenticity, but after experimenting with it, Light realizes that the Death Note is real. After meeting with the previous owner of the Death Note, a shinigami named Ryuk, Light seeks to become "the God of the New World" by passing his judgment on those he deems to be evil or who get in his way.

Soon, the number of inexplicable deaths of reported criminals catches the attention of the International Police Organization and a mysterious detective known only as "L". L quickly learns that the serial killer, dubbed by the public as "Kira" (Kira derived from the Japanese pronunciation of the word "killer"), is located in Japan. L also concludes that Kira can kill people without laying a finger on them. Light realizes that L will be his greatest nemesis, and a game of psychological cat and mouse between the two begins.

Light's father, Soichiro Yagami is a police officer who was assigned to lead the Kira investigation team. He becomes disappointed with the lack of police cooperation in Kira's case, eventually he join forces with L to form a special investigative team. After a test that L set-up, he suspected that Light is the one who called Kira. Soichiro didn't believe in it but he still insist to remain helpful in the team. To investigate Light further, L needs to reveal himself. The battle between Light and L became very intense. Lots of twist and turn happened between the two.

As the investigation goes by, a second Kira appears, Misa Amane. She is a girl with an immense crush on Kira, Misa is a popular idol in Japan. She is immature and tends to refer to herself in the third person in an attempt to be cute. Misa is completely devoted to Light, and she once said that she loved him at first sight. Light, however, only views her as an asset to his plans because of her Death Note and her Shinigami eyes (that she obtained at the cost of half of her remaining life span, twice). Misa devotes herself to Light because he killed her parents' murderer after several trials had failed to convict him. She also has same story with Light in having the notebook. It was fallen in her from nowhere, but obviously it was given by Shinigami. Rem is the Shinigami whose own Misa's Death Note. Similar to Ryuk, Rem possesses two Death Notes. However, she purposely gives one of them to Misa Amane. Rem inherited her second Death Note from Jealous, another shinigami who died when he saved Misa's life, and thought it only right to pass it on to Misa. Rem inherits Jealous' love for Misa as well and is prompt to defend Misa even at the cost of her life. Rem shows this when she states that she will kill Light if Misa dies before her time.

As there were two Kira now L lead to confusion a bit of time but manage because of his genius mind. He found out that Misa is the second Kira and tried to prove it. He ordered kidnapped Misa and tortured it to tell the truth. But with Light brilliant mind L fall in his trap. L knows that he will die in the game that's why he choose someone who will inherit his position. The two kids from the orphanage named Near and Mello became the candidate for L's successor. When L die because Light put a trap to Rem to kill L, the kids take over in the investigating team.

Mello was an orphan who grew up with Near in Watari's shelter for gifted children. Similar to L's fondness for sweets, he is often seen eating bars of chocolate. Although Mello is quite intelligent, he often lets his emotions get the better of him. Mello wears leather most of the time, unlike Near or L. He also appears to be less secluded in terms of his friends and hobbies, and seems to be fond of biking. While Near was a primary candidate to become L's successor and calls himself N during the course of his investigations. He shares a number of similarities with L. Much like how L plays with things such as sugar cubes and forks, Near is frequently shown playing with toys or his hair. Near also sits in an unusual manner similar to L, but with some slight differences. He offered to join forces with Mello to fight Kira, but Mello turned him down. Near then gained the support of the Government of the United States and formed the Secret Provision for Kira (SPK).

As the story meets its finale, Light falls in Near hands. Light might underestimate the kid capabilities. When Kira's identity almost reveal, police hunt Light but he is not capable of fighting because he is wounded. Ryuk decided to kill Light for he told Light in the beginning that he is the one who will take away Light's life in the future.