L (character)

L Lawliet (エル・ローライト, Eru Rōraito), known universally by the letter L (エル, Eru), is a fictional character and the main deuteragonist in the manga, anime and film series Death Note. He is also the main protagonist in the film L: Change the WorLd. In the storyline, L is considered the world's greatest detective, who can control police forces worldwide and whose identity remains unknown before the story takes place because he has never revealed himself to the public. He often takes drastic strategies to confuse and force the hand of his opponents, and his disheveled appearance disguises his brilliance and genius. L takes on the Kira case in order to find the titular murderer able to kill people whose names are written in the Death Note. He meets Kira, a teenager named Light Yagami, and becomes determined to convict him, but cannot due to lack of any sufficient evidence. L is the strongest and most intelligent character in the entire Death Note series.

Design and conception
Tsugumi Ohba, story writer of the series, created L as a "force of justice" and a "super detective" who stands between Light and Light's goals and advances the story. Ohba believed that the story would not hold much interest if L was significantly older than Light, so Ohba created L as a young adult. Ohba said that for L's name he wanted to use a single letter with a lot of significance; according to Ohba, he considered "I" and "J" but decided that they did not "feel as good" as "L" and settled on it "after careful consideration". Ohba mentions having given L the alias "Ryuuzaki" because L is pronounced like R in Japanese.

Takeshi Obata, artist of the series, described the thumbnail pictures of L created by Ohba as having a "plain face with no expression", and no "bags" under his eyes. According to Obata, the thumbnail design was "great, and I wish I could have used it as is". Obata drew L as an "attractive young man" until Chapter 11, when the character appeared in person. After Chapter 11 Obata decided to contrast L's appearance with that of Light's; Obata claims that both he and Ohba held this idea.

Ohba claims he left "everything" about L's character design to Obata, who asked Ohba if L could be "unattractive". Afterwards, Ohba would include his ideas about the character into his thumbnails, including L's posture when seated, and notes such as: "he's English", and "he's listless". He also added details regarding L's mannerisms, and his "sweet tooth". Apart from all that, Ohba credits Obata for the character designs.

Obata speaks of his concern, during the development of the early manga chapters, that L would appear to be "so suspicious that Light would know instantly it was L if they ever met". When Obata's editor told him that he wanted L to have a face "looking cool based on the angle", Obata added black "bags" under L's eyes, and he cited Devilman's Akira Fudou when expressing his belief that black bags "looked cool". In addition, Obata thought of a "dead eyes" concept, which involved L having "all-black eyes" and "mostly no eyebrows". Although he believes that giving it such black eyes tends to make an animated character appear "goofier", he also thinks that the bags "sharpen the character's gaze". Obata suggests that the design evokes "a feeling of mystery" surrounding the character, and as a result, the reader cannot determine L's true thoughts. He adds that the bags under L's eyes also attract speculation about L's lifestyle and past, and describes the bags as "useful". Obata designed L with a "simple" white, long-sleeved shirt and jeans outfit, in order to convey the idea that L does not put much thought into choosing his attire. In Death Note: How to Read 13, Ohba presented an initial rough draft of L, and said that, with a "cool expression" and without the "bags" under his eyes the rough draft showed "a totally different person".

Obata has stated his belief, that traits exhibited by L are best revealed "gradually". He is convinced that if he drew L eating "mountains of sweets" prior to revealing L's face, the character would not have "much credibility as a super detective", and people would question whether L was "crazy".

Obata mentions being told often, that L's fighting style is "similar" to capoeira; the artist claims that he did not consider this when he drew L's fights - he was simply thinking of the most effective method of kicking an adversary while being handcuffed to him. In Obata's opinion, if the style resembles capoeira, then this "adds another element to it" and "that makes me happy".

While designing color book covers, Obata assigned colors to characters to "get the atmosphere right". The color he assigned to L, was gold.

Design and conception of the film version
Shūsuke Kaneko, director of the films, said that L's role was the most difficult to cast; as the starting date of the shooting schedule drew near, many of the "big name" actors had other projects. Kaneko decided to offer the role to Ken'ichi Matsuyama, "very much a newcomer". When Matsuyama spoke to him of his intention to "live as L", the young actor had "clinched it", declares Kaneko.

Matsuyama admits having experienced some difficulty in trying to portray L, and he worried about his performance. In the end, he decided to interpret L as an individual who does not "quite understand other people on an emotional level" - the actor reasoned that L rarely interacted with others, and as a consequence, his social skills and emotional expressiveness may not be those of a socially active person. Matsuyama, describing himself as "not very flexible physically", encountered difficulty in emulating L's postures. The actor also ate sweets that L would eat, and carefully considered the details of L's signature gestures.

Matsuyama said that he and Fujiwara became "so immersed" in their character portrayals, that they did not talk to one another while on the set; only when filming ceased did they converse, and they "went out for a drink or two".

Character
L, who also uses the aliases Hideki Ryuga (流河 旱樹, Ryūga Hideki), Ryuzaki (竜崎, Ryūzaki), Eraldo Coil (エラルド＝コイル, Erarudo Koiru), and Deneuve (ドヌーヴ, Donūvu), the latter two for which he has developed reputations as the second- and third-best detectives in the world, is quite secretive, and only communicates with the world through his assistant, Watari. He never shows his face to the world, instead representing himself with a capital L drawn in "Old English MT" or "Cloister Black" typeface. After meeting the Kira investigation team, he requests that the task force refer to him as Ryuzaki as an additional safety measure. The Kira investigation team never learns his true name.

When asked about L's ethnicity, Ohba responded saying "I think of him as a quarter Japanese, a quarter English, a quarter Russian, a quarter French or Italian, like that". Ohba said that L is the most intelligent character in the entire Death Note series because "the plot requires it". He added that he personally views L as "slightly evil".

Ohba said that his favorite human character in the series was L as Ohba believed that L was the "strongest" character in the series "besides Light". Obata also chose L as his favorite due to "appearance, personality, everything". Obata said that he could never have created L and that he enjoyed drawing L. Obata added that because of this, L is not "real" to him and therefore he likes that aspect of L. In response to the question "Who was the most fun to draw?" both Ohba and Obata answered "L".

L's disheveled and languid appearance masks his great powers of deduction and insight. He tends to second-guess everything he is presented with, and is extremely meticulous and analytical. He has several quirks, such as preferring to crouch rather than sit, eating only sweet foods (like desserts and fruits), holding items very delicately (as if being overly cautious), arranging objects and information alike, very pedantically, and either distractedly or very intently stacking or in other ways playing with his staple food items. L stayed in England for five years, and during that time he was the tennis champion in the England Junior Cup. In chapter 38 of the manga, L suggests that even though he eats only sweet foods, he remains underweight because the brain uses the most calories of any organ in the body. He also says that if he sits normally, his reasoning ability would drop 40%.

Many fans of the series believe that L has Asperger's Syndrome, due to the fact he acts like a child at points (not wearing socks, eating lots of sweets, and seeing things somewhat like a game). This could be the author's intention, but that is for the readers to decide.

L begins the Kira case by having undocumented deathrow inmate Lind L. Taylor introduce himself on television as "L" and say that Kira is "evil". This provokes Kira into killing the man on the spot which in turn proves to L that the Kira killings are not a coincidental succession of heart attacks amongst criminals but the designs of an ingenius serial killer who will murder any and all who try to stop him and also tells him of Kira's location, since it is only broadcast in Kanto. Not long after this, because of the times of day on which the criminals die coincide with out-of-school hours, he deduces that Kira may well be a student. He tells those assisting him with the Kira case early on in the investigation that he suspects Light Yagami is Kira, but can not obtain any concrete evidence. In several situations, Light's seems to be proven innocent by the circumstances, but L remains skeptical. If Light were Kira, the case would be solved, and L has trouble letting go of this simple and complete solution. L can easily present his conclusions publicly at any time, and due to his reputation as the best mind in the crime-fighting business, his thoughts and words are always taken very seriously.

After his initial suspicions of Light, and in order to take his investigation to its next stage, L decides to join To-Oh University (東応大学, Tōō Daigaku) - the very same that Light himself attends - using the well-known name of a popular singer, Hideki Ryuuga. L attends To-Oh because he feels confident in his reasoning and interrogational skills and wishes to test his theory concerning Light's hidden identity by somehow confronting him, and perhaps provoking or tricking him to admit that he is indeed Kira. He intends to tell Light that he can "go on the offensive". L is well aware that this is something of a gamble, and knows full well that his act of direct confrontation could prove fatal, but as he's convinced he understands Light's thought process, he feels confident that the adversary will not yet risk revealing his secret identity by killing him.

When L introduces himself as Ryuuga, Light becomes alert and somewhat alarmed, but does not attempt to kill him - the name is conspicuously fake; however, Light has no way of knowing whether the person is the real L or a proxy acting under orders. He also reasons that L would have already introduced himself to Light's father earlier, and thus, were he to somehow kill L, this murder would instantly unmask him, proving that he is indeed Kira. If this person proved to be L's proxy, and his name really was Ryuuga, he might die, true, but L would live and know his identity, without ever having had to reveal himself to Light, so that L will have gained all the advantage. Also, while writing the name "Hideki Ryuuga" into the Death Note, the face of the pop singer bearing that name might enter Light's thoughts involuntarily, and that would cause the death of pop singer Ryuuga, which would also lead L to the obvious conclusion that Light is Kira. As such, L's expectations about the outcome of his daring opening gambit prove true, and Light finds himself in a stalemate situation, unable to act for the time being, as any attempt to rid himself of his hunters would result in confirmed suspicions, his subsequent and unavoidable unmasking, and, ultimately, his undoing. Light has no other choice but bide his time.

Using subterfuge, misinformation, disinformation and an analytical knowledge of human nature to help lull a suspected murderer into a false sense of security and possibly make him carelessly over-confident, whenever L gives percentages to indicate how much he suspects a person of committing a crime, such as "five percent" - he may in fact be over ninety percent convinced of their culpability. Although L tells Light that he is among the least likely suspects with one of the lowest percentages of probability, in reality L is "pretty certain" that Light is Kira. As series writer Ohba said laughing, making light of L's tactics: "The truth is, he's a liar."

When L is finally able to corner him, Light puts his master plan in practice. He temporarily gives up his Death Note to his Shinigami, Ryuk, erasing his memories about his time as Kira from his mind. Rem, Misa Amane's Shinigami, under instruction by Light to give it to someone who would use it selfishly, gives it to Kyosuke Higuchi of the Yotsuba Corporation. Now unaware of the fact that he was the original Kira, Light accepts L's offer to join the investigation team to hunt down Higuchi, known as the third Kira, although he is handcuffed to L throughout the entire case. Light proves very useful in helping to track down Higuichi, realising the new Kira is connected to Yotsuba. When Higuchi is finally captured, Light touches his Death Note, thereby regaining his memory of when he was the original Kira. He then proceeds to killing Higuchi by using the Death Note paper he put in his watch before he lost his memories.

After killing Higuchi, Light then tricks Rem into killing L for his own personal gain, making her believe that she must kill him for the sake of Misa's life. L's last sight before death is Light triumphantly smiling over his defeated rival, and in his last moment L confirms to himself that Light is the first Kira. In the anime, prior to L's death Light and L talk to each other for one last time on the roof of the investigation building; some viewers believed that L, somehow, knew that his death was drawing near.

Unbeknownst to him, however, L had arranged things so that if he should die, others could take over, and consequently when his true successors Near and Mello start their own respective investigations of the Kira case, Light is haunted by the memory of L whenever he communicates with them. The cooperation of Near and Mello in the Kira case eventually leads to Light's unmasking as Kira. Thus, L was able to indirectly defeat Light through his successors.

In the anime's conclusion, when Light dies, an image of L, possibly L's spirit, is shown standing over him, mirroring Light standing over L at L's death. Added with the fact that Ryuk had only stated that those who have used the Death Note would not go to Heaven or Hell, this may imply that an afterlife exists in the anime series.

This event, however, did not happen in the manga. This was likely due to the fact that it had been stated in the manga that after someone dies, regardless of whether or not they used the Death Note, they will not go to Heaven or Hell, meaning there is no afterlife.

L in the film series
As there is no time delay between the first and second films, the second film begins soon before L supposedly dies. L retains many of the same characteristics seen in the original series. At the end of the first film, L eats potato chips in front of Light; Light had used a potato chip sack to hide a mini LCD television from security cameras while L filmed his room.

Unlike the manga and anime, in the second film, his original "death", caused by Rem writing his name in her Death Note, does not take effect, as L had written his own name in Misa's Death Note earlier. It is his self-sacrifice that allows himself stay alive for a longer duration (as he supposed Kira would kill him on that day), and allows the investigation team to apprehend Light. After Ryuk kills Light, Ryuk offers L the Death Note. L refuses, and Ryuk, while saying that L is boring, leaves.



Twenty-three days after writing his name in the Death Note, and after burning all the remaining Death Notes and having a conversation with Soichiro, L dies peacefully while eating a chocolate bar, with a picture of Watari lying right beside him. He is portrayed by Ken'ichi Matsuyama, who also voices Gelus in the anime.

L was also similar in the film L: Change the WorLd which takes place in the 23 days that L has left before he dies. In it, L decides to solve one last case. He is in charge of stopping a deadly virus from spreading across the world. Ryuk comes to his aid on behalf of Kira's last wishes. Hideo Nakata, the director, told The Daily Yomiuri that he wanted to exhibit L's "human side" that was not exhibited in the Death Note series.

Matsuyama said that L and Light are "extremely" alike in that they have "very strong sense of justice".

L in Death Note: Another Note
In the novel Death Note: Another Note the reader is led to believe L under the alias Rue Ryuuzaki is helping Naomi Misora solve a murder case. She was recruited for the case by L because she was on leave from the FBI. This Rue acts very much like L and shared many characteristics like crouching to sit and consuming sweets. In the end of the book the reader learns that Beyond Birthday detective name B, who was an another candidate to replace L along with Near and Mello, was not only the killer but also Rue Ryuuzaki in disguise under heavy makeup. He was trying to make a case L could not solve to prove his superiority to L. In the book the only certified reference to L was the phone conversations Naomi had with him to discuss the case. In the very end of the book as Naomi was going back to work she sees a man similar to Rue, who the reader is led to believe is L (and probably is, considering that Mello earlier stated that this case was the first time that L had shown himself in public under the alias 'Ryuuzaki'). This man attempts to give Naomi a hug which she counters in self-defense and sends him tumbling down a flight of stairs. She then catches up to him and asks him his name, to which he replies, "Ryuuzaki".

L in L: Change the WorLd (novel)
Although following closely to its film counterpart despite a few creative changes, the novelization reveals various attributes of L. It is revealed in the novel that the name "L" stands for two meanings. L stands for Last One, meaning no one could surpass or match him and Lost One meaning a gifted who was dropped from the heavens.

Also in the novel, L for the first time completely loses his composure and calm atttitude. When Maki was kidnapped by Blue Ship, L broke down and screamed toward the sky after realizing that this was what Light meant about feeling helpless to protect the people he cares about. L also stated that "his heart hurts". His feelings about Light are also revealed, and it is described that L did consider Light to be his friend, going as far as to keep his broken watch as a memento.

Based on the timeline that is presented on each page of the novel, it appears L was to have only 272 days left to live prior to writing his name in the Death Note. From this it can be concluded that at the end of day 272, L's remaining lifespan at the end of the second film would only amount to less than a year.

According to page 151 of the novel, it is revealed that the reason why L has acquired so many eccentric quirks is because of the heavy strain of upholding the name of L. From the novel: How L did not and could not forget the faces of thousands of victims. "Who could comprehend the man who had lived his life, and had to live confronting all the lives ended prematurely, the tears of the grief stricken survivors, the devaluing of life as a daily reality. How was it possible to measure the pain of such a man? Was it a strain so heavy that L's back curved under all its weight? Was it an agony so terrible to leave the indelible dark circles around his eyes? Was it a feeling so bitter that every bite he took needed to be coated in sugar? The chronically rounded shoulders, the inevitable dark circles, the eccentric tastes---L suppressed the pain of being a champion of justice, but the evidence of the pain was molded into his very body."

Yonkoma
Death Note: How To Read 13 revealed many facts about L. His true birth name is L Lawliet. His date of birth is October 31, 1979 (1982 in the anime), making him 25 when he dies on November 5, 2004 (2007 in the anime). His height and weight are estimated to be 179 centimeters and 50 kilograms (5 feet and 10 inches and 110 pounds). His blood type is "unknown". It is implied that L was a former resident of Wammy's House, one of Watari's orphanages, as well as a safe haven and educational facility specifically for intellectually-gifted children. Therefore, similar to Near and Mello, L's abilities were discovered while living there, and he is most likely an orphan. Sources outside  of the manga add more evidence to support this claim by revealing more details about the relationship between L and Watari.

Death Note: How to Read 13 describes L in the Death Note yonkoma as the "holder of the world's greatest mind" and having the "powerful ability to act like a fool". Death Note: How to Read 13 adds that in the yonkoma "it's like [L was] born to be mocked".

Anime Version
Publications from manga and anime have commented on L's character. Tom S. Pepirium of IGN describes L as "the coolest, most well developed character in anime today". Pepirium said that the "excellent translation" is responsible for L being a "success" in the English-language dub of Death Note. Anime News Network's Theron Martin found that the mental duels between L and Light are appealing to viewers of the series due to how both attempt to discover the identity from each other but at the same time they want to hide their own. The Hyper staff and Mania Entertainment's Julie Rosato agreed with Martin, with the latter commenting that L's and Light's rivalry as one of the best parts from the series to the point of being something "unique" in a manga. Although PopCultureShock writer Carlos Alexandre also praised their rivalry, he still found L to be "too smart" noting that "some careful listening and application of critical thinking will make apparent the holes in L’s supposedly superhuman logic, holes that simply, given L’s character, should not be there". While reviewing the manga's third volume, Rosato concludes the article by saying that L "wins this volume; he really drove it forward" due to how close he gets to Light in such little time and that makes Light loses his temper after meeting him despite how calm he normally is. Pepirium adds that Alessandro Juliani, L's voice actor, portrays his slurping and gulping sweets as "somehow non-irritating". Theron Martin has also repeatedly praised Juliani's work, noting that he "captures the eccentric brilliance of L".

Film Version
Kitty Sensei of OtakuZone had her opinions of the portrayal of L in the first film published in The Star, a Malaysian newspaper. In it Kitty Sensei said that Matsuyama's portrayal of L is "outstanding". She said that he accurately depicted L's characteristics "from the way he squats to the way he grasps objects". Peperium described L's voice in the English dubbed version as "low monotone, while inspired by the original Japanese actor, sounds like a man deep in thought, a master detective on the hunt". Christy Lee S.W. of The Star said that Matsuyama's portrayal of L in the second film is "the most intriguing" and that the characteristics, including the looks, expressions, and movements makes Matsuyama as L "a joy to watch".

Matsuyama described L and Light as having "such unique characters that they’re impossible to understand" and that "the inside of L’s head remains a mystery" to him. Matsuyama said that L and Light are "extremely" alike in that they have "very strong sense of justice". Popular reception to Matsuyama's portrayal of L led to the creation of the spinoff L: Change the WorLd.

Awards and Rankings
During January from 2007, Oricon made a poll in which they asked Japanese fans from manga and anime which characters from any series they would most like to see in spinoff series. The overall winner from the poll was L, who also ranked first in the women's poll and second in the men's poll. In the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation Awards (SPJA) from 2008 Alessandro Juliani was the winner in the category "Best Voice Actor (English)" for his work as L. Kappei Yamaguchi was the winner in the category "Best Voice Actor (Japanese)" from the 2009 SPJA Industry Awards for his work as L. L also won in the category "Best Male Character". In the NEO Awards 2007 from Neo, L won in the category "Best Manga Character". He was also 12th in IGN's Top 25 Anime Characters of All Time with writer Chris Mackenzie praising how different he is from Light Yagami while also noted that the series became less entertaining after his death. Mania's article "10 Greatest Anime Detectives" ranked L as the fourth best detective from anime series.

Trivia

 * Foot.png states in How to Read, that L never considered Light a friend, and that he probably secretly thinks very negatively about the latter. However, the novel of the third film reveals that L did in fact consider Light as a friend. In addition, episode 25 of the anime, the last episode to feature L, depicts a scene where L wipes Light's feet, though it is debatable if it was really done out of friendship.
 * It is unknown if L's hair color is black or dark brown due to the fact that it constantly phases back and forth in the manga and anime (much like the debate over Mello's hair color).
 * L is almost always encountered performing actions that are considered inappropriate or rude in public. These actions/habits include biting fingernails in public, placing feet on furniture, slouching, chewing with an open mouth, calling out personal observations that may offend others, talking with his mouth full, etc.
 * Throughout the series, L states that he crouches/squats rather than completely sitting claiming that sitting would decrease his level of awareness by large portions. In reality, this statement can be supported as being true. Judging by L's large daily intake of sugar, sitting down would make his body slow down until he becomes drowsy and passes out from a sugar rush. However, crouching and maintaining balance in the process requires enough sugar to keep L's body aware and active since performing tasks such as crouching consumes more sugar and keeps it at a pace steady enough to prevent the human body from crashing. This also explains why L is able to consume large daily intakes of sweets.
 * L is multilingual. He is able to speak French, Italian, English, Japanese and presumably others, when he solves cases.
 * Although How to Read 13 states that L's intelligence is 8/10, below both Light's and even Near's, this is contradicted later in the book when Ohba says that L is the most intelligent character in the series.

Quotes

 * “I just can’t sit any other way than this. If I sit the way other people do, my reasoning ability drops by 40%.”
 * "I want to tell you I'm L."
 * "Lying monsters are a real nuisance. They are much more cunning than other monsters. They pose as humans even though they have no understanding of the human heart. They eat even though they've never experienced hunger. They study even though they have no interest in academics. They seek friendship even though they do not know how to love. If I were to encounter such a monster, I would likely be eaten by it. Because in truth, I am that monster."

Themes
1st theme 2nd theme

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