Misa is very outgoing and is shown to be quite popular due to her career. She attracts a large crowd while visiting Light at his university campus.[5] She is hyperactive, impulsive, and otherwise childlike, evidenced by her tendency to speak in the third person. Despite being considered idiotic by many, Misa is shown to have moments of intelligence, such as when she successfully tricks Kyosuke Higuchi into revealing himself to be the Yotsuba Kira.[6] She is very careless in her acts as the Second Kira, which leads to her being arrested and put in confinement. As she likely didn't know the Death Note could manipulate victims, she mailed the Kira tapes herself but failed to remove her fingerprints and left easily-found DNA on the envelopes. She also completely ignored Light's order to stay away from him (as he was already suspected of being Kira) and thus was seen in his company — narrowing down L's suspicions as to who was the Second Kira. Despite her typically cheerful personality, Misa has been mentally afflicted by seeing her parents murdered right before her eyes. It is unclear how much the trauma has affected Misa psychologically, but in the films, Rem indicates that Misa went through a deep depression immediately after she discovered the murderer was acquitted of the crime. After the murderer is later killed by Kira, Misa is incredibly grateful, and her intense appreciation and hero-worship initially fuels her actions as the Second Kira. After she becomes emotionally attached to Light, her behavior is strongly motivated by love. Misa is very reckless with life, both her own and others. She has few qualms about twice halving her lifespan in order to get the Shinigami Eyes which she uses to kill innocent people in order to get her way. These include news broadcasters who were critical of Kira and policemen who meddle with her plan to meet Kira.[7]

