Soichiro Yagami

Soichiro Yagami is one of the two secondary antagonist (alongside Near) of the Death Note franchise. 
He is the father of the protagonist Light Yagami and the chief of the NPA, who initially leads the Japanese task force, alongside L Lawliet, on capturing the mass-murdering killer Kira, being completely unaware that his son is in fact the murderer he's been chasing after. 
He is voiced by Naoya Uchida in the Japanese version, and by Christopher Britton and Michael Lanning in the English dub.
==Appearance==
Soichiro Yagami is a tall middle-aged man with rectangular glasses. He has black hair and a moustache at the beginning of the show, but near the end, his hair and moustache begin to grey. He is usually seen in his brown suit.
==Personality==
Soichiro Yagami is a hardworking police officer who has a strong sense of justice. He will do anything he can to protect his family and the people of Tokyo. He is very defensive of them, constantly telling L that Light is not Kira, even when the evidence points to him. He has the respect of the entire task force, and is willing to do what is necessary to stop Kira.
==Biography==
Soichiro is the head of the Japanese police trying to find Kira. When L offers to help, he accepts, even though L makes some questionable moves. After 12 FBI agents were killed by Kira, the police realized that Kira was killing innocents, and most of the police resigned. Only 6 agents remained, including Soichiro Yagami. The group was mad at L for not revealing his face, and alongside the agents, he goes to find out who L is. They address L as Ryuzaki and wear fake badges to protect themselves.
Later, L finds out that Raye Penber was most likely investigating Kira. The people who he investigated included Soichiro's household. Despite most of the task force objecting to setting cameras in Soichiro's house, Soichiro tells L to go ahead. L removed the cameras after people died when Light was working, but his suspicions for Light grew. Soichiro could not take it, and had a heart attack from all the stress. In the hospital, he talks to Light and L about the nature of Kira's killings.
When SakuraTV attempted to air the tapes sent by the 2nd Kira, Soichiro broke in with a truck and took back the tapes. He rejoins the task force using the alias Asahi. When Misa Amane is arrested and detained for being the 2nd Kira, Light tells the task force that he might be Kira, and should be detained until the killings continue. Soichiro was scared that his son might be Kira, so he asks to be detained until Light is released. When the killings continue (due to Light losing his memories and giving the Death Note to someone else), L tells Soichiro that to prove Light is not Kira, he is to take Light and Misa to a private area and threaten to shoot Light then himself. If Light kills Soichiro, then he is Kira. Soichiro fires, but the gun is full of blanks. L reveals the plan, but keeps Light and Misa under surveillance.
Light and Misa help the task force and L capture Kyosuke Higuchi, who reveals that he writes in the Death Note to kill people. The task force sees the fake 13-day rule, so Light is cleared, making Soichiro excited. However, L and Watari are killed by Rem shortly after, and Light takes his place as the new L.
Five years later, Mello kidnaps the head of the police agency and threatens to kill him if the police force does not hand over the Death Note. Kira forces him to commit suicide to stop the trade, so Mello kidnaps Sayu and forces the police to give them the Death Note. Soichiro has a hard time deciding to do the right thing as a member of the police or the right thing as a father, but decides to give Mello the Death Note in exchange for his daughter. When Kira offers to help the police get the Death Note, Soichiro accepts the deal for the Shinigami Eyes and loses half of his life. He retrieves the Death Note, but is blown up by Mello's bomb after refusing to kill Mello. He sees that his son has his years above his head and dies expressing happiness because he realized that his son is not Kira.
His death impacts the team, especially Matsuda. This ends up being one of the reasons that Light is defeated. Light calls his dad a fool, and Matsuda shoots his him before he could use his watch out of rage for disrespecting Soichiro's memory and what he stood for.
==Other Media==
===Death Note Film Series===
Soichiro Yagami appears as the secondary antagonist of both Death Note and Death Note: The Last Name, directed by Shusuke Kaneko. He was portrayed by Takeshi Kuga, with his original English VA returning to voice Soichiro in English.
Unlike his anime and manga counterparts, this version of Soichiro lives to see that his son, Light, whom he had been defending for so long is actually the mass-murdering killer they have been hunting down. Soichiro is understandably upset to learn about this and confronts his egotistical son on how wrong his actions were. After Ryuk writes down Light's name in the Death Note, Soichiro holds his son in his arms, with Light trying to justify his actions before he dies of a heart attack, leading to Soichiro to break down in sadness. He and L later share a final scene together, as L is nearly reaching death's door. The two have a short talk with each other regarding Light and the Death Note, before the two share their final respect for each other, and after that, Soichiro leaves L so he can die peacefully.
In the end, Soichiro decides to not reveal Light's identity as Kira to Sachiko and Sayu, wanting them to preserve the good memories of him. Due to Soichiro still being alive, Sachiko and Sayu get a better closure than they did in the anime/manga series, since they don't fall into depression. 
==Gallery==
Soichiro Yagami Othellonia Artwork.png|Soichiro's artwork from Othellonia.
==External Links==
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pl:Soichiro Yagami
ru:Соитиро Ягами
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