Death Note: The last Name "L"
Unlike the manga and
anime, in the second film, his original "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 him
to stay alive for a longer duration (as he supposed that Kira would kill him on
that day), and allows the investigation team to apprehend Light. After Ryuk
kills Light, Ryuk offers L the Death Note. L refuses, and Ryuk, while saying
that L is boring, leaves.
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, with a picture of Watari lying right beside him.
L: Change the WorLd chronicles the
23 days that L has left before he dies. L decides to solve one last case. He is
in charge of stopping a deadly virus from spreading across the world. Ryuk
comes to his aid on behalf of Kira's last wishes. Hideo Nakata, the director,
told The Daily Yomiuri that he wanted to exhibit L's
"human side," a quality which was not made all too apparent in
the Death Note series.
Conception of L in the Films.
Shūsuke Kaneko,
director of the films, said that L's role was the most difficult to cast; as
the starting date of the shooting schedule drew near, many of the "big
name" actors had other projects. Kaneko decided to offer the role to
Ken'ichi Matsuyama, "very much a newcomer". When Matsuyama spoke to
him of his intention to "live as L", the young actor had
"clinched it", declares Kaneko.
Matsuyama admits having experienced some difficulty in trying to portray L,
and he worried about his performance. In the end, he decided to interpret L as
an individual who does not "quite understand other people on an emotional
level" - the actor reasoned that L rarely interacted with others, and as a
consequence, his social skills and emotional expressiveness may not be those of
a socially active person. Matsuyama, describing himself as "not very
flexible physically", encountered difficulty in emulating L's postures.
The actor also ate sweets that L would eat, and carefully considered the
details of L's signature gestures.
Matsuyama said that he and Fujiwara became "so immersed" in their
character portrayals, that they did not talk to one another while on the set;
only when filming ceased did they converse, and they "went out for a drink
or two."
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. Matsuyama said that L and Light are
"extremely" alike in that they have "very strong sense of
justice".
Novels
In the novel Death Note: Another Note the reader is led to
believe L under the alias Rue Ryuuzaki is helping Naomi Misora solve a murder
case. She was recruited for the case by L because she was on leave from the
FBI. This Rue 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 detective name B, who was an another candidate to
replace L along with Near and Mello, was not only the killer but also Rue
Ryuuzaki in disguise under heavy make-up. 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 (and probably is,
considering that Mello earlier stated that this case was the first time that L
had shown himself in public under the alias 'Ryuuzaki'). 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, "Ryuuzaki".
It is revealed that, prior to the
series, L once told Mello three stories
regarding his previous solved cases — the Los Angeles BB Murder Cases,
detective wars against the real Eraldo Coil and Deneuve, and the story how L
met Watari.[2]
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