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Near

“uhh idk that much about him bc i havent read death note but from what ive heard he is definitely a shut in and i relate to him heavily” - anonymous submitter

“Overall VERY heavily autistic coded. 

We first see him at 13 years old, where he turns down an offer to play with the other kids at the orphanage where he lives. He’d rather sit inside and do blank jigsaw puzzles. His demeanor and interests differ from that of other kids, and it’s implied that he’s sensitive to the outside world. Near is also nearly always shown sitting/laying down, and when he stands up, he leans his weight to one side, with the opposite leg bent, which leads some fans to speculate he might have a physical disability as well. He generally appears to avoid standing upright as much as he can.

During the plot of the original Death Note story, he’s very goal oriented, working diligently with his small team to catch Kira, but always pulling the strings from the comfort of their headquarters, leaving field work to his subordinates. 

He does not appear to ever leave headquarters, except in crisis situations, or to travel from New York to Tokyo in order to face Kira directly in a final confrontation to end it all. There’s a point where he’s the only one on his team still in New York, and he asks his most trusted employee to fly all the way back to NY from Tokyo to accompany him on the travel. 

In the two DN shorts that take place after the main story, he is shown to self-isolate. 2/3 of his team members during the Kira case still visit him occasionally, but he acts stand-offish when they do. In the most recent short, which takes place 9-10 years after the Kira case, he looks very disheveled — clothes in disarray, messy hair all grown out, seemingly depressed. There’s an implication of loneliness and desire for connection, as he’s interested in meeting the new ‘Kira’ of this short story — not to arrest them but to talk to them, after being impressed by their actions. 

In another world where he wasn’t raised in an orphanage that valued intellect above else, lacking help with other life skills that didn’t come easy to him, and thrust into the job of known shut-in detective L (who chose the lifestyle himself and was able to handle it better) from a young age, maybe things could’ve been different. But the circumstances surrounding his life coupled with his obvious neurodivergence and possible disability, caused him to become a shut-in.

[Propaganda]: King of the ‘gifted special needs kid to burned out depressed adult’ pipeline” - anonymous submitter

"Pretty much his whole life since he was orphaned at an unknown age. Initially he was isolated because of more or less his own volition, and the one person he did have an interest in befriending (Mello) hated him because of the competition they were put through in the orphanage/detective successor puppy mill he grew up in. He's not very expressive despite being sensitive and comes across as cold to other people.

After the detective he was in line to succeed (L) died, he had to take up the case against his killer at only age 13. Since all the data regarding the case had been wiped he had to start from scratch. It took him 5 years collecting data and evidence all on his own because the other potential successor, Mello, refused to work with him out of pure hatred. Although Near had wanted to together and is constantly shown to hold a liking to and respect for Mello. Mello treats the case as a race between the two to find out who can actually surpass the detective they were groomed into succeeding. 

The serial killer only ends up getting caught because Mello realizes Near's plan has a high possibility of killing him and Mello takes it upon himself to take actions that would guarantee that Near does not end up dying and can prove the killer's identity with solid evidence. Unfortunately Mello dies in the process and Near reaches the finish line alone but gives all the credit to Mello.

3 years after the events of main series, a 21 year old Near is shown to have become a complete shut-in as more or less required for being L. It's also probably because of his complete inability to perform every day tasks, he cannot do anything without the help of his carers. He's feeling the pressure of a title he never even wanted and has become very insecure about his methods ever since he almost died in the main series if it hadn't been for Mello's actions. 

10 years after the main series, a 28 year old Near is shown to have grown out his hair extremely long and he no longer sits in his usual odd position, choosing instead to just lay around. Only when he gains interest in a new case does he resume sitting as usual. He doesn't think the person behind the case is committing a crime at all but rather holds a personal interest in finding this person just to talk to them, probably because it's been almost 13 years since he's had a peer. Unfortunately this mystery person is so smart Near fails to track them down, and they end up dying. 

The Death Note universe exists in a completely normal human world save for the existence of notebooks you can use to kill people with by writing down their name and thinking of their face. The timeline runs on the same timeline as the real world, so every year that passes is another year that Near is shut-in and alone and unable to go out because of his position and his disability. For some reason the author just doesn't want him to have friends because he doesn't even seem close with his two carers/employees, unlike how L was close with his own ""butler"". Narratively he is supposed to be one half of L, the collected and rational side, and Mello is supposed to be the other half, the one that takes initiative and acts on emotion/instinct. Near is now stuck in a role he never truly wanted and knows he can't live up to on his own. 

Fun Facts!

- He loves playing with any and all toys out there, whether it's dice, legos, action figures, cards, darts, puppets, rubber ducks in an inflatable pool. His often uses his toys to play out events going on in the story. 

- He makes large and intricate structures out of anything he can stack

- Great autism rep 

- He's not only extremely smart, he's quite artistic as well. He makes his own toys sometimes, including a painstakingly made puppet of Mello (the less he likes you, the uglier your puppet's gonna be)

- His arc got cut in half in the anime lol so read the manga to enjoy his character in its entirety!! 

- He's very cute and very scary

- The only time he was ever seen eating was at the end of the series, where he ate chocolate (Mello's favorite food)" - anonymous submitter

Oscar

Oops! No submissions! (Though ishnar suggested him in my ask box when I belatedly asked for one more suggestion after submissions closed).