L: Change the WorLd (film)

L: Change the WorLd (also known as Death Note: L, Change the WorLd and Death Note III) is the third film in the Death Note live-action film series. It is an original spin-off story focusing on L after the events of the previous film, Death Note: The Last Name. Director Hideo Nakata told The Daily Yomiuri that he wanted to exhibit L's "human side" that was not exhibited in the Death Note series.

Two versions of the film were shown in the United States on April 29 and 30, 2009. The first version of the film shown was in Japanese with English subtitles and the second version shown was dubbed in English with the same voice actors from the English dubbed Death Note anime not including Watari like the US release of its predecessors. The film was released on DVD in the US on August 18, 2009.

The film was adapted into a light novel with the same name on December 25, 2007 by "M".

Plot
The film begins sometime before the Kira case where L asks Watari to make arrangements to go to Japan to solve the Kira case.

In Thailand a group of people arrive in a village infected by a deadly virus and extract blood samples, nearby F sees what is going on and he takes a nameless boy who seems to be immune to the virus with him,after the group of researchers bomb the village, they hunt down and kill F but F leaves the boy with a phone number he needs to call and a pendant. Watari receives the news the F is dead and L writes that he is due to die 23 days in the Death Note

In a lab a girl named Maki injected with a chemical by her father Dr. Kimihiko Nikaido. Dr. Nikaidos and Dr. Kimiko Kujo (A.K.A. K) head of into a research lab to try to find a cure for the virus which is revealed to be the Ebola virus crossed with influenza and that its rate of infection is a 100 times that of the Ebola virus and that it has mutated in the last 20 hours.

Watari dies shortly before the Kira investigation. Once the investigation ends,L burns both notebooks and informs the rest of the Wammy House members that Watari has passed and receives a response from K seconds after.

The creators of the virus are revealed to be members an ecological company and the creators kill the boss of the company.

L solves a few cases before he dies,he takes the boy under his wing with L and he manages to get the pendant that F gave him, the pendant is revealed to be a video of what he has discovered of the virus.

Dr. Nikaido gives Maki a pendant as well and a syringe of what is believed to be the cure to the virus. the ecology company raids the lab that Dr. Nikaido works at and it's revealed that Dr. Kujo is the leader of the of the team that made the virus and that they plan to release it onto the world and cure those who truly care about the environment. Dr. Nikaido injects himself with the virus and destroys the cure,upon his request Dr. Kujo destroys the lab to prevent the virus from spreading. Maki, who saw everything, runs away and confides in L.

Dr. Kujo contacts L in hopes that he can find the missing data. Dr. Kujo's team raids Ls headquarters to find Maki and extract the data from her,in retaliation, Maki injects herself with the syringe that Dr. Nikaido gave her which turns out to be the virus but Maki shows to signs of infection, L, the boy and Maki escapes and is joined by and FBI agent named Suruga and they escaped in their mobile headquarters.

L hacks and deletes all the information that Dr.Kujos team have and he departs from Suruga. Buying a small device, L notices that the boy has an interest in toys. L goes to visits Dr. Nikaidos assistant Dr. Koichi Matsudo in hopes of finding a cure. Along the way Dr. Kujos team trick the public into thinking that Maki is infected and they are forced to cycle the rest of the way.

Once they reach the lab the boy comes solves an equation that he saw and came up with the number 13:11 which L deduced to MK which is an abbreviation of Midkine. They test the boy for midkine due to him being the sole survivor of the village. After a picnic that Maki had with L and the boy, Maki runs away in order to infect Dr. Kujo but fails.

L deduces that they plan to use Maki to spread the virus around the world, Dr. Matsudo already has made an antidote and makes many more. L meets Suruga again and they go to the airport in order to stop Dr. Kujo. L successfully stops Dr. Kujo and injects her with the antidote, Maki attempts to kill Dr. Kujo but is convinced by L not to.

L drops off they boy at Wammys House and gives the boy the toy that he wanted and gives him his name 'Near'. As he walks away he tells Watari that he wants to live in this world a little bit more.

During the end credits scene L is seen eating a piece of chocolate and leaves his room. Possible leading up to his death in Death Note the last name. The screen fades to black and the text saying "L Lawliet Rest In Peace".

Cast

 * Ken'ichi Matsuyama as L
 * Narushi Fukuda as Near
 * Mayuko Fukuda as Maki Nikaido (二階堂 真希 Nikaidō Maki)
 * Shingo Tsurumi as Kimihiko Nikaido (二階堂 公彦 Nikaidō Kimihiko)
 * Youki Kudoh as Kimiko Kujo (久條 希実子 Kujō Kimiko) a.k.a. K
 * Sei Hiraizumi as Koichi Matsudo (松戸 浩一 Matsudo Kōichi)
 * Bokuzō Masana as Asao Konishi (小西 朝夫 Konishi Asao)
 * Yuta Kanai as Tamotsu Yoshizawa (吉沢 保 Yoshizawa Tamotsu)
 * Megumi Sato as Hatsune Misawa (三沢 初音 Misawa Hatsune)
 * Renji Ishibashi as Shin Kagami ( 賀見シン Kagami Shin)
 * Kiyotaka Nanbara as Hideaki Suruga (駿河 秀明 Suruga Hideaki)
 * Masanobu Takashima as Daisuke Matoba (的場 大介 Matoba Daisuke)
 * Shunji Fujimura as Watari
 * Kazuki Namioka as F (エフ Efu)
 * Hao Ganhane as Azetsu Mokotu
 * Erika Toda as Misa Amane
 * Shidou Nakamura as Ryuk (voice)
 * Asaka Seto as Naomi Misora
 * Yōji Tanaka as Sasaki (佐々木)
 * Tatsuya Fujiwara as Light Yagami
 * Ayui Naisora as Yagure Mokotu
 * Shigeki Hosokawa as Raye Iwamatsu

English dub voice cast

 * Alessandro Juliani as L
 * Michael Strusievici as Near
 * Meg Ryan as Akizuki Mokotu
 * Chantal Strand as Maki Nikaido
 * Ted Cole as Kimihiko Nikaido
 * Cathy Weseluck as Kimiko Kujo a.k.a K
 * Michael Dobson as Koichi Matsudo
 * John Novak as Shin Kagami
 * Brian Dobson as Hideaki Suruga
 * John Murphy as Daisuke Matoba
 * Shannon Chan-Kent as Misa Amane
 * Ron Halder as Watari
 * Brian Drummond as Ryuk
 * Nicole Oliver as Naomi Misora
 * Bill Switzer as Sasaki
 * Brad Swaile as Light Yagami
 * Megan Hollingshead as Yagure Mokotu
 * Richard Ian Cox as F
 * Michael Adamthwaite as Raye Iwamatsu

Music
"I'll Be Waiting" by Lenny Kravitz

Trivia

 * Up until March 5, 2008, there was total of 2,200,000 attendance (a total of approximately 250,000,000 yen) for this film. March 5 was also Ken'ichi Matsuyama's birthday, so he celebrated both his birthday and the hit of the film.
 * The Death Note One-Shot Special was released as part of the hype for the film in Weekly Shounen Jump magazine, which also included a lot of film advertisement. The magazine Jump Square also featured a cover page L and a poster of Near as part of the advertisement for the movie.