Near (Death Note)

Nate River (ネイト・リバー), known mononymously as, is a fictional character in the manga series Death Note, created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. Near is the younger of the two successors to L who was investigating the methods of identifying Kira, the name given to the mysterious serial killer who murders criminals by means of the eponymous Death Note. He becomes the leader of the SPK (Special Provision for Kira), an organization that looks into the Kira case, and in the end, succeeds in uncovering Kira's identity as Light Yagami.

In the anime adaptation, Near is voiced by Noriko Hidaka in Japanese and by Cathy Weseluck in the English version. He is portrayed by Narushi Fukuda in the film L: Change the World and by Mio Yūki in the television drama.

Creation and conception
Tsugumi Ohba, writer of Death Note, said that he introduced Near 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 Obata 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 gave Near a hobby of playing with toys and stacking "things" as a development from L's hobby of stacking sugar cubes and little food cups. Ohba included the match and the dice towers in his thumbnails. Ohba said that he thought about Obata encountering difficulty in drawing the dice towers and felt surprised when he saw the dice towers in the final work.

The given name "Nate River" comes from the words "natural" and "river," to symbolize that Near's talents flow from L, thus making Near the natural successor to L. The name is supposed to show that Near is a "natural genius blessed from above."

Takeshi Obata, artist of Death Note, said that, since Ohba wanted to "include a little L" in Near and Mello, he tried to keep "the weirdness and the panda eyes." Obata 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 stated that he originally thought about creating Near as "a bit more mature mentally." Obata said that he created a "cooler looking version of L" design and considered using a younger version of that design. Another design Obata created for L included a "really innocent and cheerful character," and he felt that the design could work for Near; however, he said that he "quickly abandoned" the idea.

Obata said that when he first saw Near he "didn't even know what the heck he was wearing." He said that "it was tough" drawing Near's clothes, as he did not understand the assembly of his clothes. Obata said that he settled for pajamas and "things got a lot easier."

Ohba said that Near "becomes less likeable" as the story advances, citing Near's plan to take the notebook at an earlier point in the story. Ohba said that a negative reaction originated from the loss of L and "the difference in their attitudes" and that people may have viewed Near as "a cheat." Ohba added that Near's "cheeky behavior," intended to "reinforce his childishness," had been construed as "annoying."

In the final chapter, Near brings finger puppets to the Yellow Box Warehouse. Obata said that Near first bought the Kira finger puppet and drew on it with a magic marker. Obata then said that Near must have created the other puppets afterwards. Obata views Near as not liking L much, so Obata had Near depict L as "ugly," and that Near "worked hard" on Mello's puppet as Near "liked Mello."

Obata said he enjoyed drawing Near and that Near is also one of his favorite and his least favorite characters, considering him to be the smartest character in the manga "because he cheats."

When asked about which character was most similar to himself, Ohba indicated Near and "maybe Light." Regarding Near, Ohba said that he does not leave his house often.

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. Then, when Obata received approval, he could not say that the labels were incorrect. Obata said that, for him, Near was "more evil." He felt that "it's better" that the switch occurred.

Obata stated that as he drew Near the concept of his immaturity became "stronger and stronger," as he believes that such traits are best revealed "gradually." Obata cited the fact that in the beginning Near's sole toy consisted of darts. He felt he could express "negative" parts of Near with the puppets. Ohba added that one could see "his dark side in his kind of puppets he used".

In Death Note
Near is the younger of L's two possible successors raised in Wammy's House, Watari's orphanage for gifted children, in Winchester, England. Of the successors, Near is more level-headed, calmly assessing the situation, while the other, Mello, is more emotional and quicker to act. Much like L, Near shows various odd behaviors during his normal life. He is usually seen hunched over rather than sitting. He also constantly plays with various toys, which he uses in his theories, as well as idly twirling or stroking strands of his hair. He shows a great respect for L, basing much of how he solves crime on L's methods, even to the point where he only takes cases that he is interested in rather than trying to pursue justice. The Kira case—as a case L died trying to solve—naturally becomes his first one. Near uses the Wedding text font "N" and "L" to represent himself and the fake L, respectively. In the aftermath, he used Old English MT font "L" like the original L did.

Sometime after L's death, Near works for the United States under the SPK (Special Provision for Kira) team that is established to investigate Kira without the help of the new "L," Light Yagami. After catching Light off guard by revealing the fact that he knows the original L is dead and unnerving him by reminding him of his former nemesis when they communicate, Near soon manages to deduce that Light, posing as L, is actually Kira. After dismissing the outright capture or killing of Light as disrespectful to L's memory, he finds that Teru Mikami is Kira's proxy. Distracted momentarily by Mello, who kidnaps Kira's TV spokesman Kiyomi Takada before being killed by her using a Death Note fragment, Near is able to switch Mikami's Death Note with a forged one, allowing him to set up a final confrontation that leaves Light exposed. Near admits that neither he nor Mello could have surpassed L alone (as he lacked "the action," and Mello "lacked the calm"), but have managed to do so by working inadvertently together. He rejects Light's ideals as a god of the new world who kills for the greater good and refers to the Death Note as "the worst murder weapon in all of history." Ryuk kills Light with his own Death Note soon after, for a Death Note owner must eventually be killed by the Shinigami possessing them, and with Light in prison he reasons he will be unable to satisfy his interest any further. Near then himself takes Light's L alias, keeping on the surviving members of the SPK as his subordinates with Roger, the head of Wammy's House, acting as the new Watari.

In the epilogue of the manga, he is shown pursuing a new case while eating a bar of chocolate, possibly in memory of Mello. Matsuda reveals that he suspects Near of using the Death Note to control Mikami's actions, but has no proof to support his suspicion.

Near returns in the Death Note: Special One Shot, helping the U.S. federal government investigate A-Kira's plan to sell the Death Note. He is ultimately unable to find A-Kira due to A-Kira's method of using only Ryuk to send messages to Sakura TV.

In L: Change the World
In the L: Change the World live-action film, L gives a talented Thai boy with a gift for calculations the name "Near." L hopes for the boy, the sole survivor of a Thai village ravaged with a deadly disease, to succeed him as L, knowing that the rules of the Death Note will kill the experienced detective within a short period of time. Near does not speak much in the movie (during the movie, he only says numbers and letters) and when he does he speaks only in English. Like many of the characters during the transition from animation to live action, Near is portrayed with black hair instead of white hair as seen in the anime. Near is portrayed by Narushi Fukuda in the film and voice by Michael Strusievici in the English Dub. For unknown reasons, even though L was shown giving him the name of "Near," he was listed as "BOY" in the credits.

In the novel based on the film, Near is described as being the same Near who appeared in the original Death Note series. However, because the plot line in which Kira kills L is absent, the need for an immediate nominee as the successor of L is not necessary. As a result, the eight-year-old Near is claimed to be working on a different case involving the prevention of World War III since the timeskip present in the original series is absent.

In other media
In the 2015 TV drama series, Near is portrayed by Mio Yūki. Like the manga and anime, he has white hair. Near possesses a cold-hearted and ambitious side, named Mello. Near holds a puppet of Mello. He sometimes plays puzzle with L. After L is killed, he follows the video messages left by L. Near lets Mello take over his body, in order to catch Kira.

In the second episode of the 2016 live-action miniseries, Near is shown in a screen as "N' with old English font. He asks Ryūzaki, the original successor to L, to solve the new Kira case, ten years after Light Yagami is killed. He is voiced by Daisuke Sakaguchi.

Reception
Briana Lawrence of Anime News Network explained that many fans feel Death Note went downhill after the defeat of L. She wrote that the introduction of Near and Mello as L's protégés was an interesting idea at first, but they would have been much better characters if they had been treated as individuals and not as two different halves of L. "Every volume always had to point out the fact that Light was still battling L through Near and Mello, but if Light has defeated L already why do we want to watch him battle L all over again?"