L Lawliet (エル・ローライト Eru Rōraito?),
widely known by the
letter L (エル Eru?), is a
fictional character in the
manga and
anime 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". However, his popularity as a character inspired the release of a
spin-off live-action film
L: Change the World and a novel adaption of said film where he is the main
protagonist.
The character of L is voiced by
Kappei Yamaguchi in the anime, and portrayed by
Kenichi Matsuyama in the 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 writers 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.
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.
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.
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.
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".
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.
Obata added that because of this, L was not "real" to him and that he liked that aspect of the character.
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".When designing color book covers Obata assigned colors to characters to "get the atmosphere right"; gold was assigned to L.
Film adaptation
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.
He also ate sweets like those that L would eat, and considered the details of L's signature gestures.
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".
In Death Note
The "L" that L uses to represent himself. The font used is "Diploma"
(which can be recreated with "Old English MT"), or downloaded for free.
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.
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".
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".
He added that he personally views L as "slightly evil".
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%.
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]".
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".
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.
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 apparition of L 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".
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 to 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 becomes upset when Watari is later killed. 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.
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 House and names him
Near.
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.
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.
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".
In L: Change the WorLd (novel)
The events of the novel adaption of L's spin-off film play out very
similarly to the film, but with many creative changes. For example,
instead of discovering him during his final 23-days of living, L has
long since claimed Near as his successor. Furthermore, details
concerning L's character are revealed during the course of the novel by
delving deeper into L's relationship with Watari and exploring L's
personal demons. Rather than end abruptly after L drops off Near in the
orphanage like in the film, the novel ends with L imagining himself
playing chess with Watari moments before the Death Note takes effect.
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