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, universally referred to by the mononym , 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 of L who was investigating the methods of identifying Kira, the in-universe name given to the mysterious serial killer who murdered 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. He is voiced by Noriko Hidaka in the Japanese anime, and by Cathy Weseluck in the English version. ==Creation and conception== Tsugumi Ohba, writer of ''Death Note'' said that he introduced Near and Mello together as 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.〔"How to Think". ''Death Note: How to Read 13''. VIZ Media. 64.〕 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.〔"How to Think". ''Death Note How to Read 13''. ''VIZ Media''. 68.〕 The given name "Nate" 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".〔"How to Think". ''Death Note: How to Read 13''. The nickname "Near" comes from the first two letters of "Nate" and the last two letters of "River" put together with the vowels switched. VIZ Media. 75.〕 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.〔"Takeshi Obata Production Note: Characters". ''Death Note: How to Read 13''. VIZ Media. 134.〕 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; he said that he "quickly abandoned" the idea.〔"Takeshi Obata Production Note: Characters". ''Death Note: How to Read 13''. VIZ Media. 135.〕 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 pyjamas 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".〔''Death Note: How to Read 13''. ''VIZ Media''. 180.〕 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".〔''Death Note: How to Read 13''. ''VIZ Media''. 191.〕 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.〔''Death Note: How to Read 13''. ''VIZ Media''. 194.〕 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.〔''Death Note: How to Read 13''. ''VIZ Media''. 119.〕 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".〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Near (Death Note)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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