L (Death Note)
L Lawliet, known mononymously as L, Hideki Ryuga, and Ryuzaki, is a fictional character in the manga series Death Note, created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. He is an enigmatic, mysterious, and highly-esteemed international consulting detective whose true identity and background is kept a secret. He communicates with law enforcement agencies only through his equally inexplicable handler/assistant, Watari, who serves as his official liaison with the authorities. Though his past is shrouded in mystery, he has gained a reputation as arguably the world's greatest detective/criminal profiler.
Throughout the series, he observes and spies on the activities of the series' protagonist, Light Yagami, a high school genius. L attempts to expose Light as the infamous serial killer "Kira", who is responsible for massacring high-profile criminals worldwide through apparently supernatural means. As the series progresses, the psychological mind-game between L and Light intensifies, and each becomes bent on uncovering the other's true identity through a series of intricate ploys and schemes. He serves as an ideological and visual foil to Light.
Creation and conception
, the writer of the series, created L as a young adult, since he believed the story would not hold much interest if L were significantly older than his opponent, Light. For L's name, he wanted to use a single letter with a lot of significance; he considered "I" and "J", but eventually he chose "L" after careful consideration. Ohba left most of 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 part 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, Obata and Ohba agreed to contrast his appearance with Light's.During the development of the early manga chapters, Obata feared 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 illustrations, Obata assigned specific colors to the main characters to help "get the atmosphere right"; gold was assigned to L.
In the process of adapting L into the anime, several plot elements were added to flesh out L's human aspects. Kappei Yamaguchi, L's voice actor, specifically requested certain lines be added to emphasize L's vulnerable side, especially in regard to his relationship with his handler and father figure, Watari. L's rivalry and potential desire for a friendship with Light was also emphasized in episode 25, the final episode where L appears, in which L attempts to "stab Light in the heart" with a final conversation in the rain.
Casting
In the anime adaptation, he is voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi in Japanese, and by Alessandro Juliani in English. He is portrayed by Kenichi Matsuyama in the live-action film series, by Kento Yamazaki in the TV drama, and by Lakeith Stanfield in the American film.Film adaptations
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" and 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". 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.Appearances
In ''Death Note''
L, who also uses the aliases Hideki Ryuga, Ryuzaki, Eraldo Coil, and Deneuve, the latter two for which he has developed reputations as the second- and third-best detectives in the world, is a very discreet and secretive individual and only communicates with the authorities through his assistant/representative Watari. He never shows his face to the world, instead representing himself with a capital L in blackletter font. His real name, L Lawliet, is only revealed in the guidebook Death Note 13: How to Read.Whilst presented as an enigmatic, nameless, highly-intelligent, cunning and globally-esteemed international consulting detective, L is revealed to actually be a tall, disheveled and gaunt youth in his 20s with a pale complexion and visible dark circles around his eyes. He is a socially-inept, awkward and somewhat misanthropic recluse. He has many notable quirks and eccentricities, such as holding things with his index finger and thumb, crouching instead of sitting, mostly walking around barefoot, scratching his ankle with the toes of the other foot, and having an unnatural affinity for sweets, cakes, candies, dairy foods and confectionery foods. He is seen exclusively eating these foods but this diet has no apparent effect on his health and physiology. Even with these eccentricities, he is a highly-skilled, intellectually-astute and brilliant criminologist/crime investigator. He may come off as cold and cynical and often utilizes questionable methods and mostly takes up solving cases out of boredom rather than a sense of duty. However, he does have a strict moral code, is aware of his own flaws and shortcomings and is unwilling to cross morally repugnant standards, unlike Kira.
L has spent most of his life dedicating himself to solving crime cases, and hunting down and apprehending notorious criminals and felons around the world. It is implied that he suffers from loneliness, internal torment and low self-esteem, even calling himself "a monster" at one point. He also possesses an unusually high intellect and uncanny skills in strategy, deduction, observation, reasoning and profiling, which have given him a high reputation amongst law enforcement agencies worldwide. At the start of the series, L carries out his own investigation of a series of mysterious serial-killings across the globe, all of which are carried out by an apparent supernatural serial-killer known as "Kira", which is the Japanese transliteration of the English word "killer". After deducing that the serial-killings are all connected and perpetrated by a single mastermind and are sourced from Japan, L allies himself with the Japanese police force and assists them in investigating the murders. Although he strongly suspects the series' protagonist, Light Yagami, a high school genius and the son of detective superintendent Soichiro Yagami, one of the primary members of the Kira investigation allied with L, to be Kira's alter-ego, he is unable to prove his theory, due to lack of evidence, but nonetheless remains suspicious of Light and carefully observes him.
The majority of the series' initial focus is on L and Light's complex, cerebral and intricate psychological mind-game of cat and mouse, as both use their wits and intellect in an attempt to outdo the other and expose them. Though L comes very close to exposing Light as Kira, he is eventually killed by Rem before he can do so, but before his death his suspicion is confirmed that Light is Kira. Although L's death regresses the Kira investigation's progress, he had prepared a contingency plan to ensure that someone would continue the work of hunting down and apprehending Kira, by selecting two gifted child orphans to be his potential successors, one of whom eventually succeeds in exposing Light as Kira. Although his true identity and birth name is obscured in mystery throughout the series, L utilizes a number of aliases to maintain his anonymity, such as "Hideki Ryuga" or "Ryuzaki", the latter of which he uses as his primary pseudonym throughout the Kira investigation. Ohba said that L is the most intelligent character in the entire Death Note series because "the plot requires it."