Near - He and L have very different personalities, ways of thinking, and ways of looking at their cases. I think that Near is a very fascinating and unique character who deserves more recognition, so it upsets me that so many people fret over the few aspects that make them similar, such as high intelligence and a few peculiar habits.

Mello - "Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases" did his overall personality a lot more justice than the anime or manga. I have yet to meet someone who disliked Mello when they watched the anime or read the manga, but didn't change their mind about him once they read "Another Note". He really is a character you have to truly understand to like. He isn't a bad person. He just took the wrong path in life. Mello is a very knowledgeable and intelligent person, and also a very hard-working one. No matter how hard he worked in Wammy's House, Near would be commended, and Near would have his own, unclear way of toying with Mello, when he knew the kind of person Mello was and his weaknesses. Unfortunately, Mello tended to shift his focus away from what was important. It wasn't about "winning" the "game"; the priority was not even to avenge L, but to defeat Kira. I honestly can't blame him for getting mad, with the way Near was acting toward him, but sadly, the flaws in his personality lead him to going down a bad path. No one understood Mello, and he never knew anyone who seemed to actually care about him. Never in his entire life. Even if he did make bad decisions down the road, out of impulse, he did regret them later on. Mello still had great moral ideas, and he did begin to realize and accept the truth. Poor Mello was hurting so much. </3

Naomi - Naomi was a strong, smart woman, with a personality that was easy for anyone to like. This was a blue moon in the Death Note series (when it came to the female characters). Honestly, would you really want someone like Beyond Birthday running around freely? She was doing her job, and it was the right thing to do!

Light - I have always disagreed with Light, even since the beginning, because he is wrong, and is portrayed to be wrong; however, many people did support his ideas, in the beginning, but changed their minds once he killed a certain someone. This annoys me a great deal.

Misa - Misa can be immature and a bit frustrating, and she isn't a "strong" or "intelligent" woman, but she's a sweet girl, overall, and she does care about Light. Yes, you could say that deep down, her devotion was because she wanted Light to love her, but if she wasn't a part of the series, I reaaaally don't think that L and Light would develop any "romantic relationship". She doesn't "negatively effect" their relationship. Kira and the Death Note are responsible for that.

My thoughts on the matter:

Near - I don't mind Near being like L... in fact, I kind of wish he was more like L, so there'd be less of an L shaped hole in Death Note. I don't really like him, though - I know this may sound like a ridiculously small reason not to like him much, but I think his reaction to L's death (when he basically called him a loser) was unnecessarily harsh. He's interesting, but... he doesn't strike me as a nice person.

Mello - I don't like Mello, but I've never read 'Another Note', so I can't really agree or disagree with you on that one.

Naomi - I really liked her. Who the heck is Beyond Birthday? I have a terrible memory. XP

Light - yeah, I've never liked or supported Light. Not because of the whole idea of killing criminals, but because of how quickly he killed that guy claiming to be L (despite him not being a criminal) without batting an eye. After that, I didn't support him at all and began to really hate him when he killed Naomi, an innocent woman, and seemed to actually take PLEASURE in it.

Misa - I don't think there was ever anything ROMANTIC going on between L and Light and I don't think there ever would have been if Misa hadn't been there, but I still don't like Misa. I don't HATE her (she's quite amusing), but I do find her very annoying. I also wish she'd wear more decent clothes...

^Beyond Birthday appears in "Another Note". =)

I definitely missed L being there, by that point, but I think that it was better for the struggle between Kira and L not to be an exact repeat of the one we saw during the first half of Death Note. Near can definitely be considerably ruthless, but he's never really had a way to learn to become a kind person and develop a way to think differently toward general human feelings. The Wammy's children were raised to set aside their emotions and prioritize succeeding L, and Near honestly doesn't know how to show emotion or socialize with others. With time, and if he came across the right person, I think that Near could learn. ~

Light is a pathetic "protagonist". T_T

ugggh *bangs head on desk*

^^ Another Note... I REALLY need to read that. :P

^It's brilliant; I immensely enjoyed it, myself. ^ ^

I don't really care. I had no interest in caring what people think. Why else would Takada me my favorite, if I did?