Death Note Relight 2: L's Successors

Death Note: Relight 2: L's Successors (ディレクターズカット完全決着版 〜リライト2 Lを継ぐ者〜 lit. "Director's Cut Complete Conclusion ~ Rewrite 2 L's Successors~") is the sequel to Death Note Relight 1: Visions of a God. The OVA abridges the Mello and Near arc of the series. Notably, this OVA contains much more original footage than its predecessor, presumably because the anime directors wanted to take more creative liberties in this particular special.

The film is a "director's cut" of the anime series, in this case meaning a heavily-condensed, non-canon version of the original anime episodes.

The special was released on television in Japan on August 22, 2008, and released on DVD in the USA on June 23, 2009.

Summary
The OVA begins with a short narration by the late L who breaks the fourth wall by reviewing what had happened in the previous Relight special. The very next scene depicts the familiar scene of Near and Mello learning of L’s death and Mello proclaiming his emancipation, followed by a scene four years later where Near is about to leave the Wammy's House. This scene contains a flashback that partially adapted from the special Death Note One-Shot Special manga chapter, where L speaks, without a voice scrambler, to the children of the orphanage before he investigates the Kira case.

Instead of remarking that he does not solve cases out of justice, he calls himself a monster because of his tendency to lie. Before the scene ends, Near intuitively suspects Kira and the person currently acting as L to be one and the same much sooner than in the anime.

After Near forms the SPK, Light is shown to have just recently taken up the mantle of L as opposed to four years ago unlike he did in the anime. An indication of this is when Light remarks that he had just set up L’s communication system. It is clear though, that there has been some activity prior to Light’s adoption of L’s position: it is implied something tragic had happened to Soichiro, but it is not outright stated that he was killed in the line of duty like he did in the anime.

In addition, Mikami has already been appointed Kira despite Near having not begun his investigation yet. The same scene depicts Mikami killing a group of innocent Kira dissenters during a televised debate- a sort of killing that would normally not be condoned by Light.

Later, it is revealed that since appointing Mikami, Light has established Takada as a middle-woman; the two of them keeping regular contact with each other. Near, suspecting that Kira must have needed to find someone who thought at a similar level to him to serve as his proxy contacts Light and the task force after Light meets with Takada one night. Near implies that the SPK has already commenced tailing Takada and instills doubt in the task force by revealing that he suspects Light to be Kira. Unlike in the anime, where Near was left with nothing to start his investigation, Near remarks in this scene that L left him some vital information pertaining to the case which adds credibility to his claim.

Because the task force has recommenced their investigation of Light, he begins to perceive the SPK as a threat. Receiving classified information from David Hoope, Light has Mikami and Takada work together to kill the majority of the members. Prior to this, a surreal montage of images play, including a scene from the final episode where Mikami commits suicide.

The rest of the special plays out merely as condensed versions of the anime episodes, ending with the Kira case being resolved and Light's death at Ryuk's hands. Changes in dialogue do reveal that Light has never heard of either Near or Mello until just recently, but it is implied that Light knew of a Mihael Keehl prior to the start of the OVA since he does give Mello's real name to Takada. It is likely that at the time, Light simply did not have enough information to associate the alias of Mello with the name Mihael Keehl. A post-credits scene reveals the Kira Investigation task force finding Light's corpse at a warehouse some time after Ryuk has written Light's name in the Death Note. The scene then cuts back to Ryuk flying away and ends with a line of text echoing the rule from the manga chapter Finis: Once dead, they can never come back to life.

Popular quote by L
The second rewrite anime special paints a darker side of L (with L even calling himself a "monster"). Early in Relight 2, there is a scene where L talks to Wammy's House children about himself, and one of the children asks what L is afraid of. L gives a speech on the question and it has become popular amongst Death Note fans. The speech L makes goes:

''“There are many types of monsters in this world, monsters who will not show themselves and who cause trouble. Monsters who abduct children, monsters who devour dreams, monsters who suck blood, and, monsters who always tell lies. 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.”''

Trivia

 * It is explained in How to Use VI of the Death Note rules that the conditions for death will not be realized unless it is physically possible for that human or it is reasonably assumed to be carried out by that human. However, in the added scene where Mikami kills the Kira dissenters, one of his victims die an unnatural death by having his head twisted 180 degrees.
 * During the scene of L's funeral, the part in which Soichiro Yagami and the other Task Force members were standing around L's grave that was shown in the first rewrite was cut out.
 * In the anime series, the line Near says after being informed about L's death by Roger was, "If you can't win the game, if you can't solve the puzzle, you're just a loser." However, in the rewrite, it was, "If you can't win the game, if you can't solve the puzzle, you lose. End of story." This also differs from the line in the original manga which was, "If you can't solve the puzzle, you're nothing but a loser."
 * At the beginning of the film, L recommends that you stay in your seat for the next 2 hours, though the film is roughly an hour and a half long.