L (Death Note)

L (Death Note)
Death Note character
L Lawliet or L as he appears in the manga
First appearance	Death Note Chapter 1: Boredom
Created by	Tsugumi Ohba Takeshi Obata
Voiced by	Kappei Yamaguchi[1] Alessandro Juliani (English)[2] Kenichi Matsuyama (Live action)
Profile
Aliases	L Hideki Ryuga Ryuzaki Eraldo Coil Deneuve
Notable relatives	Quillish Wammy (handler)

L Lawliet (エル・ローライト, Eru Rōraito^?),^[3] widely known by the letter L (エル, Eru^?), is a fictional character in the manga series Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. Considered the world's greatest detective, he lives in secrecy. During the story, he acts as the main antagonist to Light Yagami, otherwise known as the mass-murderer "Kira".

The character of L is voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi in the anime, and portrayed by Kenichi Matsuyama in the live-action films Death Note, Death Note: The Last Name and L: Change the World. He is dubbed by Alessandro Juliani across the English-language media. Since his introduction in the series, L's character has been praised by several manga and anime reviewers.

Creation and conception

Tsugumi Ohba, the writer of the series, created L to represent justice, as a "super detective" who stands in Light's way. Since Ohba believed the story would not hold much interest if L were significantly older than Light, the character was created as a young adult. For L's name, he wanted to use a single letter with a lot of significance; he considered "I" and "J", but eventually chose "L" after careful consideration.^[4] The alias of "Ryuzaki" was given to him because of a previous murderer L had captured, who went by the name of "Rue Ryuzaki." Ohba said that he left everything about L's character design to Takeshi Obata, artist of the series. Obata asked Ohba if L could be "unattractive". Afterwards Ohba included ideas in his thumbnails, including L's manner of sitting, "he's English", and "he's listless". Ohba added details regarding L's mannerisms and his interests in sweets. Ohba credits Obata for the character designs.^[5] Obata commented that L's thumbnails by Ohba had no bags under his eyes, and that he had a "plain face with no expression" which was very useful. Obata drew L as an "attractive young man" until chapter 11, when the character appeared in person. After chapter 11 he decided to contrast his appearance with Light's appearance; Obata and Ohba shared this idea.^[6]

Obata said that, during the development of the early manga chapters, he feared that L would appear "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. Obata cited Devilman's Akira Fudou when stating that he believed that black bags were appealing. In addition, Obata thought of a "dead eyes" concept, which involved L having "all-black eyes" and "mostly no eyebrows". Obata believes that black eyes usually makes a character goofier, but the bags "sharpen the character's gaze". Obata believes that the design evokes "a feeling of mystery" and that the reader cannot determine L's true thoughts. Obata also said that the bags under L's eyes were useful for inspiring speculation about his lifestyle and background. The outfit Obata designed for L was a "simple" white, long-sleeved shirt and jeans, to convey that L does not put thought into choosing his clothing. In Death Note 13: How to Read, Ohba presented an initial rough draft of L and said that, with a "cool expression" and without the bags under his eyes, L looked like a different person.^[6]

Obata stated that the peculiar traits exhibited by L are best revealed "gradually". Obata added that if he drew L eating "mountains of sweets" before revealing his face, he would not have "much credibility as a super detective" and people would ask if he was "crazy".^[7] Both Ohba and Obata chose L as their favorite character from the series, with the former noting him as the "strongest" character in the series besides Light, and the latter due to "appearance, personality, everything". Obata said that he could never have created a character like L and that he enjoyed drawing him.^[8] Obata added that because of this, L was not "real" to him and that he liked that aspect of the character.^[9]

L's fighting style has been described as similar to capoeira. However, Obata has denied considering this when drawing L's fights, saying that he was thinking of the most effective way to kick someone whilst handcuffed. He added that if the style resembles capoeira, then this "adds another element to it" and "that makes me happy".^[6] When designing color book covers Obata assigned colors to characters to "get the atmosphere right"; gold was assigned to L.^[10]

Film adaptation

Shūsuke Kaneko, director of the films, regarded L's role as the most difficult to cast; as the shooting approached, many "big name" actors had other projects. Kaneko cast Kenichi Matsuyama, "very much a newcomer". Kaneko added that Matsuyama clinched the part when he said that he would "live as L". ^[11]

Matsuyama had trouble portraying L and worried about his performance. He reasoned that L rarely interacted with others, and so portrayed him as if he did not "quite understand other people on an emotional level". Describing himself as "not very flexible physically", Matsuyama had trouble emulating L's postures.^[12] He also ate sweets like those that L would eat, and considered the details of L's signature gestures.^[13] Matsuyama said that he and Tatsuya Fujiwara, the actor portraying Light, became "so immersed" in their character portrayals that they did not speak to one another while on the set; when filming ceased they conversed and "went out for a drink or two".^[12]

Appearances

In Death Note

The "L" that L uses to represent himself. The font used is "Cloister Black" (which can be recreated with "Old English MT"), or downloaded for free ^[14].

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 in Cloister Black font. His real name, L Lawliet, is only revealed in the guidebook Death Note 13: How to Read.^[15] 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".^[4] After meeting the Kira investigation team, he requests that the task force refer to him as Ryuzaki for discretion. Ohba said that L is the most intelligent character in the entire Death Note series because "the plot requires it".^[16] He added that he personally views L as "slightly evil".^[17]

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, and holding items very delicately. L stayed in England for five years, and during that time he was the champion in tennis for the England Junior Cup, and he is still a good player, suggesting he might still practice. He plays tennis with Light, who used to be a champion himself. 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%.^[18] Whenever L gives percentages to indicate how much he suspects a person of committing a crime, such as "five percent", in reality he means over 90 percent; Ohba said about L, "The truth is, he's a liar [laughs]".^[15]

L suspects early in the investigation that Light Yagami is Kira, but cannot obtain any concrete evidence. In several situations, Light 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, finding Light "too perfect" and noting how close his age and intelligence match his exact concept for what Kira must be like. L can easily present his conclusions publicly at any time, and with his reputation, is taken seriously. He also intends to tell Light that he can "take the offensive".^[15] After capturing a man who also has a Death Note, Light tricks Rem, the Shinigami owner of a Death Note that she gives to Misa, 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 him, and in his last moment L confirms to himself that Light is the first Kira. Light then takes over L's identity and uses it to his advantage.^[19] However, when one of L's true successors, Near, begins to suspect that Light is Kira, Light remains haunted by the memory of L and feels as though he is still battling against him each time he and Near communicate. In the anime series, when Light himself dies, an image of L, possibly L's spirit, is shown standing over him, mirroring Light standing over L at his own death.

Death Note 13: How to Read 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 13: How to Read adds that in the yonkoma "it's like [L was] born to be mocked".^[20]

In the film series

Kenichi Matsuyama as L in the Death Note film series

Portrayed by Kenichi Matsuyama in the live-action films that adapt the Death Note manga, L retains many of the same characteristics. Unlike the manga and anime, in the second film, his "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. He is upset Watari was killed though. After Ryuk kills Light, Ryuk offers L the Death Note. L refuses. 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.^[21]

In L: Change the WorLd, which takes place in the 23 days that L has left before he dies, L decides to solve one last case. He is in charge of a case in stopping a deadly virus from spreading across the world. He meets the daughter of a doctor who was striving to find an antidote and a boy who was the sole survivor of a village destroyed by the virus; after solving the case, he brings the boy to Wammy's Orphanage and names him Near. Because L wrote his own name in the Death Note specifying his manner of death, he is not harmed by the virus, and he uses this to his advantage.^[22]

L stars in a Death Note film version special, aired on Japanese television, that takes place after Light's death; in it Touta Matsuda has to come to terms with L's eventual death.^[23]

Hideo Nakata, the director of L: Change the WorLd, told The Daily Yomiuri that he wanted to exhibit L's "human side" that was not exhibited in the Death Note series.^[24]

In Death Note: Another Note

In the novel Death Note: Another Note The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases Naomi Misora helps L solve a murder case. She was recruited for the case by L because she was on leave from the FBI. During the investigations she works with a detective calling himself Rue Ryuzaki, who 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, a detective calling himself B, who was another candidate to replace L before Near and Mello, was not only the killer but also Rue Ryuzaki 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. 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, "Ryuzaki".^[25]

Reception

Alessandro Juliani's work as L's English voice actor has received praise.

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".^[26] Pepirium said that the "excellent translation" is responsible for L being a "success" in the English-language dub of Death Note.^[27] 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 each attempts to discover the identity of the other while at the same time wanting to hide their own.^[28] 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.^[29][30] 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".^[31] 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, which makes Light lose his temper after meeting him despite how calm he normally is.^[32] Pepirium adds that Alessandro Juliani, L's voice actor, portrays his slurping and gulping sweets as "somehow non-irritating".^[33] Theron Martin has also repeatedly praised Juliani's work, noting that he "captures the eccentric brilliance of L".^[28][34]

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".^[35] 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".^[36] 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".^[37]

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.^[12] Matsuyama said that L and Light are "extremely" alike in that they have "very strong sense of justice".^[38] Popular reception to Matsuyama's portrayal of L led to the creation of the spinoff L: Change the WorLd.^[11]

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.^[39] 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.^[40] 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".^[41] In the NEO Awards 2007 from Neo, L won in the category "Best Manga Character".^[42] 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.^[43] Mania's article "10 Greatest Anime Detectives" ranked L as the fourth best detective from anime series.^[44]

See also

	Anime and manga portal
	Fictional characters portal

References

1. ^ "対決". Madhouse. Death Note. Nippon Television. October 10, 2006. No. 2.
2. ^ "Confrontation". Madhouse. Death Note. Cartoon Network. October 28, 2007. No. 2.
3. ^ Ohba, Tsugumi and Takeshi Obata. "Character File 2: L." Death Note: How to Read 13. Viz Media. 10.
4. ^ ^{a b} Ohba, Tsugumi (2008). Death Note 13: How to Read. Viz Media. p. 61. ISBN 1-4215-1888-0. 
5. ^ Ohba, Tsugumi (2008). Death Note 13: How to Read. Viz Media. p. 62. ISBN 1-4215-1888-0. 
6. ^ ^{a b c} Ohba, Tsugumi (2008). Death Note 13: How to Read. Viz Media. p. 127. ISBN 1-4215-1888-0. 
7. ^ Ohba, Tsugumi (2008). Death Note 13: How to Read. Viz Media. p. 119. ISBN 1-4215-1888-0. 
8. ^ Ohba, Tsugumi (2008). Death Note 13: How to Read. Viz Media. p. 190. ISBN 1-4215-1888-0. 
9. ^ Ohba, Tsugumi (2008). Death Note 13: How to Read. Viz Media. p. 181. ISBN 1-4215-1888-0. 
10. ^ Ohba, Tsugumi (2008). Death Note 13: How to Read. Viz Media. p. 117. ISBN 1-4215-1888-0. 
11. ^ ^{a b} Shonen Jump. Volume 6, Issue 6. June 2008. VIZ Media. 6.
12. ^ ^{a b c} "The stars." The Star. Sunday October 29, 2006. Retrieved on December 3, 2009.
13. ^ "CAST." Sinchew. Retrieved on December 3, 2009.
14. ^ http://www.dafont.com/cloister-black.font
15. ^ ^{a b c} Ohba, Tsugumi (2008). Death Note 13: How to Read. Viz Media. p. 10. ISBN 1-4215-1888-0. 
16. ^ Ohba, Tsugumi (2008). Death Note 13: How to Read. Viz Media. p. 191. ISBN 1-4215-1888-0. 
17. ^ Ohba, Tsugumi (2008). Death Note 13: How to Read. Viz Media. p. 69. ISBN 1-4215-1888-0. 
18. ^ Ohba, Tsugumi (2006). "Chapter 21". Death Note, Volume 3. Viz Media. ISBN 1-4215-0170-8. 
19. ^ Ohba, Tsugumi (2006). "Chapter 58". Death Note, Volume 7. Viz Media. ISBN 1-4215-0628-9. 
20. ^ Ohba, Tsugumi (2008). Death Note 13: How to Read. Viz Media. p. 215. ISBN 1-4215-1888-0. 
21. ^ (DVD) Death Note II: The Last Name. Viz Media. 2009. 
22. ^ (DVD) Death Note 3: L, Change the World. Viz Media. 2009. 
23. ^ "Death Note Film Spinoff for Matsuda to Air in Japan". Anime News Network.
24. ^ Kan, Saori. "23 days to live." The Star. Sunday March 23, 2008. Retrieved on January 25, 2010.
25. ^ Isin, Nisio (2008). Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases. Viz Media. ISBN 1-4215-1883-X. 
26. ^ Pepirium, Tom S.. "Death Note: "Matsuda" Review". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/857/857004p1.html. Retrieved 2009-11-20. 
27. ^ Pepirium, Tom S.. "Death Note: "Unraveling" Review". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/837/837690p1.html. Retrieved 2009-11-20. 
28. ^ ^{a b} Martin, Theron (2007-12-27). "Death Note DVD 1". Anime News Network. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/death-note/dvd-1. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 
29. ^ "Death Note: Volume 1". Hyper (Next Media) (173): 79. March 2008. ISSN 1320-7458. 
30. ^ Rosato, Julie (2006-09-05). "Death Note Vol. #07". Mania Entertainment. http://www.mania.com/death-note-vol-07_article_82762.html. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 
31. ^ Alexandre, Carlos (2008-03-10). "Anime Review: Death Note, Vol. 3". PopCultureShock. http://www.popcultureshock.com/anime-review-death-note-vol-3/43385/. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 
32. ^ Rosato, Julie (2006-01-11). "Death Note Vol. #03". Mania Entertainment. http://www.mania.com/death-note-vol-03_article_82405.html. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 
33. ^ Pepirium, Tom S.. "Death Note: "Ally" Review". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/855/855426p1.html. Retrieved 2009-11-20. 
34. ^ Martin, Theron (2009-06-10). "Death Note DVD - Box Set 2". Anime News Network. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/death-note/dvd-box-set-2. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 
35. ^ "Death rocks." The Star. Sunday November 12, 2006. Retrieved on January 25, 2010.
36. ^ Peperium, Tom S. "Death Note: "Glare" Review." IGN. December 11, 2007. Retrieved on January 25, 2010.
37. ^ Lee, Christy S.W. "A Name to Remember." The Star. Sunday January 28, 2007. Retrieved on January 25, 2010.
38. ^ "The dummy." The Star. Sunday October 29, 2006. Retrieved on January 25, 2010.
39. ^ "Oricon: Fans Want L, Char Aznable Spinoffs". Anime News Network. 2007-01-08. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-01-08/oricon-fans-want-l-char-aznable-spinoffs. Retrieved 2009-06-08. 
40. ^ "Anime Expo 2008 Announces the 2008 SPJA Award Winners". Anime News Network. July 4, 2008. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/press-release/2008-07-04/anime-expo-2008-announces-the-2008-spja-award-winners. Retrieved July 4, 2009. 
41. ^ "SPJA Industry Award Winners Announced at Anime Expo". Anime news Network. July 3, 2009. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-07-03/2009-spja-industry-award-winners-announced. Retrieved July 3, 2009. 
42. ^ "NEO Awards 2007". NEO Magazine, Issue 40 (Uncooked Media): 06–11. January 2007. ISSN 1744-9596. 
43. ^ Mackenzie, Chris (October 20, 2009). "Top 25 Anime Characters of All Time". IGN. http://movies.ign.com/articles/103/1036651p3.html. Retrieved October 21, 2009. 
44. ^ Dexter, Joseph (March 23, 2010). "10 Greatest Anime Detectives". Mania Entertainment. http://www.mania.com/10-greatest-anime-detectives_article_121376.html. Retrieved March 23, 2010.