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Mello (Death Note)
Encyclopedia
, universally referred to by the mononym , is one of the main antagonist
s in the manga
and anime
series Death Note
.
's two potential successors raised in Wammy's House, Watari's orphanage for gifted children, in Winchester
, England
, United Kingdom
. When it is decided that Mello should work with the other successor, Near
, Mello refuses, citing an inability to work with Near, to whom he is considered second in ability. Near is more intelligent than Mello, but Mello has more ambition than Near. This results in Near thinking things out better than Mello, but sometimes being so uninterested in his surroundings that he verges on inactivity. Meanwhile, Mello has a brazen and driven personality, driving him (unlike Near) to be the first to resume actively hunting Kira; however, Mello lets his emotions cloud his judgment, often leading to rash decisions that impede his progress.
While Mello is certainly a genius and more intelligent than most people, the concept of being only the second most intelligent person at Wammy's House, behind Near, fuels the inferiority complex
that defines Mello's character. Mello verges on being amoral in his obsession with being the one to take down Kira and is willing to do "whatever it takes", tactics which include kidnapping and being an accessory to murder. In the manga, after Mello has successfully stolen a Death Note, he even goes so far as to attempt to blackmail the President of the United States via telephone into giving him funds and resources to aid his hunt for Kira, threatening that if his demands are not met he will use the Death Note to force the president to launch the United States' nuclear missiles and start World War III
. Arguably, Mello is not even trying to defeat Kira out of a sense of "justice," but because capturing Kira will not only get revenge for L's death but also prove to the world that Mello is indeed the worthy successor to L's status as the world's greatest detective, and not simply runner-up to Near. As Mello describes his goal in his own words, "I will be the new Number One!" Similar to L's fondness for sweets, Mello is near-constantly seen eating bars of chocolate, usually by ripping off an entire chunk in his mouth with a dramatic flourish. Also, just like L, Mello thinks and reacts quickly, and uses less conventional methods to solve his cases.
After Mello leaves the orphanage, there is a four-year time jump.
13: How to Read states that Mello has "an excellent mind" and that he "sometimes lets his emotions get in his way". The book cites Mello's "hatred of Near", which created "a flaw in [Mello's] personality". Obata points out that Mello's envy and hatred of Near was only one-way, and that Near honestly "liked Mello" The book states that Mello isn't purely evil, citing his apology and genuine care for Matt's well-being. Tsugumi Ohba
, the writer of Death Note, stated that Mello "works hard for everything". Ohba added that Mello's name "doesn't really stand for anything."
Mello is voiced by Nozomu Sasaki
in the Japanese anime, and David Hurwitz
in the English version.
, who accept him as their major advisor because they have the shared goal of taking down Kira. Mello proves his ability to them by tracking down a rival mob boss that even Kira could not discover the identity of. Mello has the Director of the Japanese police kidnapped, but Kira makes them commit suicide. Mello obtains one of the Death Notes from the Kira investigation team by having the Mafia kidnap Sayu Yagami, then exchanging her for a Death Note. Mello is then successfully able to retrieve the Death Note by fooling the police into thinking it was being transported away from the exchange via helicopter, until revealing that it had actually been loaded onto a missile, which was too fast to be tracked once launched. Having successfully outwitted Kira, Mello's men retrieved the Death Note, and he began planning how to use it.
However, Light Yagami
discovered the location of Mello's Mafia hideout by having Misa use her Shinigami eyes to discover the identity of one of Mello's Mafia accomplices, and then using the remaining Death Note to make him mail Light their location. The indirect result of this is that the Shinigami Sidoh, who was the original owner of the Death Note Mello now possessed, also found out Mello's location and was able to get there first. Sidoh briefly struck up a loose alliance of sorts with Mello, revealing to him (in exchange for some of Mello's chocolate) that the two extra rules that Light made Ryuk write in the Death Note to fool L — particularly the one saying that "if the user does not kill once every 13 days, they will die" — were fakes. Mello begins to theorize that whoever Kira was, he probably used that rule to fool the Japanese police into thinking he was innocent. However, Light then launches a SWAT team raid on the hideout, leaving Mello in a face to face confrontation with Light's father, in which Mello revealed that he had the entire building rigged with remote-controlled explosives, leading to a tense showdown. In order to escape, Mello was forced to detonate all of the bombs, after one of his Mafia accomplices fatally wounded Light's father. Mello managed to survive the explosion and evade the police, but was left badly scar
red along the entire left side of his face above his mouth (the gas mask he was wearing at the time protected the rest). Worse, while Mello was still alive, the failure of his Mafia scheme left his real name in Light's hands.
Mello forces an entry into the SPK at gunpoint, to retrieve the one existing photograph of himself from Near. Each wryly promises the other that the race is on to see who finds Kira first. Mello leaves Near, but not before passing on the information to him from Sidoh about the two fake Death Note rules, which drastically sharpens Near's suspicions on Light Yagami. Mello then enlists the help of his friend Matt (the third best student at Wammy's House, behind Near and Mello) to spy on Misa.
After learning that Light is Kira and Near was going to attempt to apprehend him, Mello kidnaps Kiyomi Takada, by having Matt attack Takada's motorcade with a gas grenade. Mello then drives up on a motorcycle, while wearing a helmet, and offers to take Takada to safety. In the confusion, Takada agrees, not realizing it is Mello until it is too late to get off. After a chase, Mello is able to evade Takada's guards on his motorcycle, and lock her in a shipping truck. While driving her to a different location, Mello sees on his portable television that Matt was cornered by Takada's guards (that also are fanatic followers of Kira) and killed in a hail of gunfire; Mello feels deeply guilty and remorseful that Matt died, as Mello's plan was for Matt to escape to safety. Mello forces her to strip to get rid of any tracking devices, however, he allows Takada to cover herself with a blanket, which proves to be his undoing as she had a piece of the Death Note hidden in her bra. Takada uses the hidden piece of Death Note paper to kill Mello, as Light had told her his name. This entire kidnapping action causes Teru Mikami to expose his own Death Note to kill Takada, not realizing that Light already killed her (to destroy all the evidence by setting herself and the truck on fire) using a different piece of Death Note paper he had with him. This alerted Near's agents to the location of where Mikami had hidden the real Death Note in his possession, directly leading to Near's final defeat of Kira. In the end, Near tells Light that Mello realized they couldn't live up to their predecessor, L, alone. Therefore, he worked with Near until his death shortly after.
and Mello together because L
individually could not defeat Kira. Ohba felt that introducing one character individually would produce a "repeat" of the struggle between Light and L, so he instead wanted a story involving three combatants fighting each other. Ohba said that he let Takeshi Obata
, artist of the series, create the character designs and asked him to make both characters look "a little 'L-ish.'" Ohba said that he "wavered" in their ages and considered making the characters the sons of L. Ohba added that he did not initially develop their personalities as he wanted to "reveal" them through their actions.
Ohba said that he added the chocolate
trait because he believed that chocolate "represented all sweets" and that the trait would fit with the story arc in the United States
. Ohba described the trait became "useful" during the discovery of Mello's base due to the discarded chocolate boxes. Ohba said that he added Mello's scar to the thumbnails as the trait would give him "more depth".
Ohba recalled that he considered having Mello be the character who ultimately defeats Light. According to Ohba, after the disappearance of Sidoh, the writer "struggled" with Mello's role. Ohba's idea of Mello ultimately defeating Light and Near being "the best" was strong in his mind, but once Mello had "learned too much about the Death Note" he had to kill him to "sustain the intensity of the story". As a result, Ohba did not give Mello a "large role" at the conclusion of Death Note and instead had Mello negatively affect Light "indirectly". Ohba gave Mello a "very plain" death, depicted in only one panel; he felt that if Mello had perished "dramatically" it would reveal the truth behind his death.
Obata said that, since Ohba wanted to "include a little L" in Near and Mello, he tried to keep "the weirdness and the panda eyes". He also added that since L was an important character, he felt that he made Near and Mello look too much like L. He described the character designs as "a major struggle". Obata said that, when he first heard about Near and Mello, he assumed that Near and Mello would join as a team and work together, so he envisioned the two as twins when he created the character designs. Obata said that at first he tried to depict Mello as having "more energy than Near". At first, Mello's hair was cut straight across; Obata said that he preferred Mello's hair becoming messy, which occurred later in the story. Obata said that he felt grateful when Ohba added the scar since he felt that he could draw Mello "looking cooler". In addition 13: How to Read described Mello as looking "more intense" and "more human" with the scar. Obata said that he felt sad when Mello died in the story shortly afterwards. Obata added that he designed Mello's clothing based on "what I like", meaning clothes he enjoys drawing and not clothes that he enjoys wearing; Obata says that he enjoys drawing "shiny" leather. At the point he created the pages featuring the reappearance of Mello with his scar, Obata said that he "finally [felt that he could draw Mello] really well". Obata added that the fact that Ohba and Obata did not regularly meet in person was best, because if Obata told Ohba about his satisfaction with Mello's new appearance then Ohba may not have killed Mello. .
Obata added that the designs for the characters became switched at the design phase; the final Mello had Near's design and vice-versa. Obata said that when he created a depiction of the designs, his editor wrote the wrong names accompanying the designs; when Obata received approval he could not say that the labels were incorrect. Obata said that, for him, Mello was "more calm and feminine". He felt that "it's better" that the switch occurred.
By Nisioisin
Translated by Andrew Cunningham
Mello is the narrator of the Death Note spinoff novel, Death Note: Another Note - The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases. In it, he states that he is only telling the story in order to flaunt his greater knowledge of L over Near
, whom, unlike Near, Mello has actually met. Mello states that he not only knows about the LA:BB Murder cases, but about the detective war between L and the real Eraldo Coil and Deneuve. He added some comic relief to such an intense, gruesome story by calling Near a "bigheaded twit" in the book,Page 10, and saying that he is not bad at remembering names, but good at forgetting them, Page 175. He decides that Near might not be the only person to read it and decides to make it more interesting.
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
s in the manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
and anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series Death Note
Death Note
is a manga created by writer Tsugumi Ohba and manga artist Takeshi Obata. The main character is Light Yagami, a high school student who discovers a supernatural notebook, the "Death Note", dropped on Earth by a god of death, or a shinigami, named Ryuk...
.
Character
Mello (Mihael Keehl) is the older of LL (Death Note)
, widely known by the letter , is a fictional character in the manga series Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. Considered the world's greatest detective, he lives in secrecy...
's two potential successors raised in Wammy's House, Watari's orphanage for gifted children, in Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. When it is decided that Mello should work with the other successor, Near
Near (Death Note)
, universally referred to by the mononym , is a fictional character who is one of the main antagonists in the manga series Death Note, and is a supporting protagonist in the film L: Change the World...
, Mello refuses, citing an inability to work with Near, to whom he is considered second in ability. Near is more intelligent than Mello, but Mello has more ambition than Near. This results in Near thinking things out better than Mello, but sometimes being so uninterested in his surroundings that he verges on inactivity. Meanwhile, Mello has a brazen and driven personality, driving him (unlike Near) to be the first to resume actively hunting Kira; however, Mello lets his emotions cloud his judgment, often leading to rash decisions that impede his progress.
While Mello is certainly a genius and more intelligent than most people, the concept of being only the second most intelligent person at Wammy's House, behind Near, fuels the inferiority complex
Inferiority complex
An inferiority complex, in the fields of psychology and psychoanalysis, is a feeling that one is inferior to others in some way. Such feelings can arise from an imagined or actual inferiority in the afflicted person...
that defines Mello's character. Mello verges on being amoral in his obsession with being the one to take down Kira and is willing to do "whatever it takes", tactics which include kidnapping and being an accessory to murder. In the manga, after Mello has successfully stolen a Death Note, he even goes so far as to attempt to blackmail the President of the United States via telephone into giving him funds and resources to aid his hunt for Kira, threatening that if his demands are not met he will use the Death Note to force the president to launch the United States' nuclear missiles and start World War III
World War III
World War III denotes a successor to World War II that would be on a global scale, with common speculation that it would be likely nuclear and devastating in nature....
. Arguably, Mello is not even trying to defeat Kira out of a sense of "justice," but because capturing Kira will not only get revenge for L's death but also prove to the world that Mello is indeed the worthy successor to L's status as the world's greatest detective, and not simply runner-up to Near. As Mello describes his goal in his own words, "I will be the new Number One!" Similar to L's fondness for sweets, Mello is near-constantly seen eating bars of chocolate, usually by ripping off an entire chunk in his mouth with a dramatic flourish. Also, just like L, Mello thinks and reacts quickly, and uses less conventional methods to solve his cases.
After Mello leaves the orphanage, there is a four-year time jump.
13: How to Read states that Mello has "an excellent mind" and that he "sometimes lets his emotions get in his way". The book cites Mello's "hatred of Near", which created "a flaw in [Mello's] personality". Obata points out that Mello's envy and hatred of Near was only one-way, and that Near honestly "liked Mello" The book states that Mello isn't purely evil, citing his apology and genuine care for Matt's well-being. Tsugumi Ohba
Tsugumi Ohba
is a writer best known for the manga Death Note. His real identity is a closely guarded secret. As stated by the profile placed at the beginning of each Death Note manga, Ohba collects teacups and develops manga plots while holding his knees on a chair, similar to a habit of L, one of the main...
, the writer of Death Note, stated that Mello "works hard for everything". Ohba added that Mello's name "doesn't really stand for anything."
Mello is voiced by Nozomu Sasaki
Nozomu Sasaki
is a Japanese voice actor. He is a client of the voice actor management firm, 81 Produce. In 1988, he voiced the well known character, Tetsuo Shima, in the movie, Akira, which was adapted from the manga of the same name. He also performed the role of Yusuke Urameshi in the popular anime adaptation...
in the Japanese anime, and David Hurwitz
David Hurwitz (actor)
David Hurwitz is an actor and voice actor who got his first role in Cousins in 1989. He has been in two anime series, as Sojiro Takase in The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Mello in Death Note.-TV Shows:...
in the English version.
Plot overview
Mello decides to find Kira his own way by joining the MafiaMafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
, who accept him as their major advisor because they have the shared goal of taking down Kira. Mello proves his ability to them by tracking down a rival mob boss that even Kira could not discover the identity of. Mello has the Director of the Japanese police kidnapped, but Kira makes them commit suicide. Mello obtains one of the Death Notes from the Kira investigation team by having the Mafia kidnap Sayu Yagami, then exchanging her for a Death Note. Mello is then successfully able to retrieve the Death Note by fooling the police into thinking it was being transported away from the exchange via helicopter, until revealing that it had actually been loaded onto a missile, which was too fast to be tracked once launched. Having successfully outwitted Kira, Mello's men retrieved the Death Note, and he began planning how to use it.
However, Light Yagami
Light Yagami
, also known as is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the manga and anime series Death Note. He is an extremely intelligent, athletic, popular, but bored young man who finds the Death Note dropped by the Shinigami Ryuk by sheer chance...
discovered the location of Mello's Mafia hideout by having Misa use her Shinigami eyes to discover the identity of one of Mello's Mafia accomplices, and then using the remaining Death Note to make him mail Light their location. The indirect result of this is that the Shinigami Sidoh, who was the original owner of the Death Note Mello now possessed, also found out Mello's location and was able to get there first. Sidoh briefly struck up a loose alliance of sorts with Mello, revealing to him (in exchange for some of Mello's chocolate) that the two extra rules that Light made Ryuk write in the Death Note to fool L — particularly the one saying that "if the user does not kill once every 13 days, they will die" — were fakes. Mello begins to theorize that whoever Kira was, he probably used that rule to fool the Japanese police into thinking he was innocent. However, Light then launches a SWAT team raid on the hideout, leaving Mello in a face to face confrontation with Light's father, in which Mello revealed that he had the entire building rigged with remote-controlled explosives, leading to a tense showdown. In order to escape, Mello was forced to detonate all of the bombs, after one of his Mafia accomplices fatally wounded Light's father. Mello managed to survive the explosion and evade the police, but was left badly scar
Scar
Scars are areas of fibrous tissue that replace normal skin after injury. A scar results from the biological process of wound repair in the skin and other tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a natural part of the healing process. With the exception of very minor lesions, every wound results in...
red along the entire left side of his face above his mouth (the gas mask he was wearing at the time protected the rest). Worse, while Mello was still alive, the failure of his Mafia scheme left his real name in Light's hands.
Mello forces an entry into the SPK at gunpoint, to retrieve the one existing photograph of himself from Near. Each wryly promises the other that the race is on to see who finds Kira first. Mello leaves Near, but not before passing on the information to him from Sidoh about the two fake Death Note rules, which drastically sharpens Near's suspicions on Light Yagami. Mello then enlists the help of his friend Matt (the third best student at Wammy's House, behind Near and Mello) to spy on Misa.
After learning that Light is Kira and Near was going to attempt to apprehend him, Mello kidnaps Kiyomi Takada, by having Matt attack Takada's motorcade with a gas grenade. Mello then drives up on a motorcycle, while wearing a helmet, and offers to take Takada to safety. In the confusion, Takada agrees, not realizing it is Mello until it is too late to get off. After a chase, Mello is able to evade Takada's guards on his motorcycle, and lock her in a shipping truck. While driving her to a different location, Mello sees on his portable television that Matt was cornered by Takada's guards (that also are fanatic followers of Kira) and killed in a hail of gunfire; Mello feels deeply guilty and remorseful that Matt died, as Mello's plan was for Matt to escape to safety. Mello forces her to strip to get rid of any tracking devices, however, he allows Takada to cover herself with a blanket, which proves to be his undoing as she had a piece of the Death Note hidden in her bra. Takada uses the hidden piece of Death Note paper to kill Mello, as Light had told her his name. This entire kidnapping action causes Teru Mikami to expose his own Death Note to kill Takada, not realizing that Light already killed her (to destroy all the evidence by setting herself and the truck on fire) using a different piece of Death Note paper he had with him. This alerted Near's agents to the location of where Mikami had hidden the real Death Note in his possession, directly leading to Near's final defeat of Kira. In the end, Near tells Light that Mello realized they couldn't live up to their predecessor, L, alone. Therefore, he worked with Near until his death shortly after.
Conception and development of Mello
Ohba said that he introduced NearNear (Death Note)
, universally referred to by the mononym , is a fictional character who is one of the main antagonists in the manga series Death Note, and is a supporting protagonist in the film L: Change the World...
and Mello together because L
L (Death Note)
, widely known by the letter , is a fictional character in the manga series Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. Considered the world's greatest detective, he lives in secrecy...
individually could not defeat Kira. Ohba felt that introducing one character individually would produce a "repeat" of the struggle between Light and L, so he instead wanted a story involving three combatants fighting each other. Ohba said that he let Takeshi Obata
Takeshi Obata
is a Japanese manga artist. He works as the artist in collaboration with a writer. He has also mentored several manga artists, including Kentaro Yabuki of Black Cat fame, Nobuhiro Watsuki of Rurouni Kenshin and Busou Renkin, and Yusuke Murata of Eyeshield 21.He originally became noticed in 1985...
, artist of the series, create the character designs and asked him to make both characters look "a little 'L-ish.'" Ohba said that he "wavered" in their ages and considered making the characters the sons of L. Ohba added that he did not initially develop their personalities as he wanted to "reveal" them through their actions.
Ohba said that he added the chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
trait because he believed that chocolate "represented all sweets" and that the trait would fit with the story arc in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Ohba described the trait became "useful" during the discovery of Mello's base due to the discarded chocolate boxes. Ohba said that he added Mello's scar to the thumbnails as the trait would give him "more depth".
Ohba recalled that he considered having Mello be the character who ultimately defeats Light. According to Ohba, after the disappearance of Sidoh, the writer "struggled" with Mello's role. Ohba's idea of Mello ultimately defeating Light and Near being "the best" was strong in his mind, but once Mello had "learned too much about the Death Note" he had to kill him to "sustain the intensity of the story". As a result, Ohba did not give Mello a "large role" at the conclusion of Death Note and instead had Mello negatively affect Light "indirectly". Ohba gave Mello a "very plain" death, depicted in only one panel; he felt that if Mello had perished "dramatically" it would reveal the truth behind his death.
Obata said that, since Ohba wanted to "include a little L" in Near and Mello, he tried to keep "the weirdness and the panda eyes". He also added that since L was an important character, he felt that he made Near and Mello look too much like L. He described the character designs as "a major struggle". Obata said that, when he first heard about Near and Mello, he assumed that Near and Mello would join as a team and work together, so he envisioned the two as twins when he created the character designs. Obata said that at first he tried to depict Mello as having "more energy than Near". At first, Mello's hair was cut straight across; Obata said that he preferred Mello's hair becoming messy, which occurred later in the story. Obata said that he felt grateful when Ohba added the scar since he felt that he could draw Mello "looking cooler". In addition 13: How to Read described Mello as looking "more intense" and "more human" with the scar. Obata said that he felt sad when Mello died in the story shortly afterwards. Obata added that he designed Mello's clothing based on "what I like", meaning clothes he enjoys drawing and not clothes that he enjoys wearing; Obata says that he enjoys drawing "shiny" leather. At the point he created the pages featuring the reappearance of Mello with his scar, Obata said that he "finally [felt that he could draw Mello] really well". Obata added that the fact that Ohba and Obata did not regularly meet in person was best, because if Obata told Ohba about his satisfaction with Mello's new appearance then Ohba may not have killed Mello. .
Obata added that the designs for the characters became switched at the design phase; the final Mello had Near's design and vice-versa. Obata said that when he created a depiction of the designs, his editor wrote the wrong names accompanying the designs; when Obata received approval he could not say that the labels were incorrect. Obata said that, for him, Mello was "more calm and feminine". He felt that "it's better" that the switch occurred.
Novel
Death Note: Another Note- The Los Angeles BB Murder CasesBy Nisioisin
Translated by Andrew Cunningham
Mello is the narrator of the Death Note spinoff novel, Death Note: Another Note - The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases. In it, he states that he is only telling the story in order to flaunt his greater knowledge of L over Near
Near (Death Note)
, universally referred to by the mononym , is a fictional character who is one of the main antagonists in the manga series Death Note, and is a supporting protagonist in the film L: Change the World...
, whom, unlike Near, Mello has actually met. Mello states that he not only knows about the LA:BB Murder cases, but about the detective war between L and the real Eraldo Coil and Deneuve. He added some comic relief to such an intense, gruesome story by calling Near a "bigheaded twit" in the book,Page 10, and saying that he is not bad at remembering names, but good at forgetting them, Page 175. He decides that Near might not be the only person to read it and decides to make it more interesting.
See also
- List of Death Note characters