Sachiko Yagami

Sachiko stands at an average height with a trim figure. Her brown hair falls straight to roughly the chin, its fringe combed across to the left and framing small brown eyes. Her wardrobe reflects her role at home, tidy and unfussy rather than formal.

Warmth and devotion to family define Sachiko. She frets over her husband as he buries himself in the Kira investigation, and when the strain triggers a heart attack that puts him in the hospital, she rarely leaves his bedside. Even so, she respects the convictions driving his work and never asks him to abandon it. Her pride in Light runs deep, and she is quick to praise his academic results. That same tenderness reaches Sayu: after the girl is left traumatized and confined to a wheelchair by her abduction, Sachiko coaxes her toward recovery with encouragement and gentle outings.

Sachiko is introduced waiting to see how Light scored on his exams, and she is a steady presence in the household, often there when he comes home or when the family gathers. Once the story jumps ahead in time, she withholds her blessing from a possible match between Sayu and Touta Matsuda. The truth about Light is kept from her permanently. She is presumably told that he died, like his father, in the struggle against Kira, since Near ensures that the real account of Kira's defeat never reaches the public. Her portrayal shifts across adaptations: the live-action films keep her close to the manga, the television drama has her succumb to illness before the main events and appear only in flashback, and the Netflix version, left unnamed, is killed by a car driven by Antony Skomal, prompting Light to make the man one of his earliest victims.