If there’s any character any Death Note fan would remember, it’s likely L, also known as the World’s Greatest Detective. Despite his deadpan expression, odd posture, and obsession with sweets, there’s no denying that L’s sheer deduction skills and genius-level intellect have put him in the crosshairs of Kira, the central antagonist of the anime and all the series’ other iterations.
And aside from his charm, perhaps the most impressive aspect of L’s character is how he, a seemingly “ordinary” human, was able to contend with the possessor of perhaps the world’s deadliest weapon. Moreover, L’s sheer cunning allowed him to not only stay ahead of Kira’s plans, but even stop some of them at every turn. However, across all iterations of the Death Note series, just which versions of L breathed life to the character?
Spoiler Alert
7 Netflix
While the Death Note adaptation on Netflix did make a lot of changes to the story as a whole, it didn’t quite change the rivalry between L and Kira. This time around, Keith Stanfield portrays L, now an American, and receives a new backstory as an orphan in New York trained by Watari to become the world’s greatest detective. Like his original iteration, he ate nothing but sweets, but this time around needed Watari’s help with his health.
However, the adaptation does make a lot of changes towards L’s overall behavior. L becomes more aggressive and has a tendency towards violence when angered, and is even consumed by the desire to kill Light after Watari’s death. At the end of the film, L even contemplates writing Light’s name on the Death Note, something the original iteration of the character may not do.
6 Drama
While L is present in the Death Note drama adaptation, his character also receives significant changes in terms of his depiction in the thriller anime. Instead of the iconic crouch-sitting, this L, portrayed by Kento Yamazaki, now sits properly but with legs crossed and both feet on the tables. He also doesn’t eat sweets, but rather drinks a lot of energy drinks.
What perhaps separates this L the most from his original iteration is his fuller range of motions, demonstrated when he’s much bolder in accusing various suspects as Kira and even laughing when cornering Light. Moreover, L is shown having closer ties with his apprentice Near, compared to the more nonchalant attitude L has towards them in the manga.
5 Musical
While L isn’t exactly the singing type, it’s perhaps entertaining that L’s depiction in the musical, as performed by multiple actors, is more accurate compared to other counterparts - at least in terms of his personality and overall role in the plot. What’s perhaps interesting is how L’s fate diverges from the original story, and how the musical somehow enhances Light’s role in his death.
In the musical, Light convinces Rem not just to write L’s name but also his way of death in the Death Note. As such, L meets Light in a warehouse and L shoots Light on the leg. Soon, Light reveals that this is exactly what he has requested Rem in the Death Note, where Light would make it seem like L was Kira himself and Light caught him in the act. In L’s final moments, Light guides the gun to L’s temple and makes him shoot himself.
4 Film (Death Note, Death Note: The Last Name)
While it’s the anime version of L that truly captivated otaku with his voice and intellect, it’s Kenichi Matsuyama’s depiction of L that breathed life to the character on the big screen. L in the films retain much of the original characteristics of the character, such as his love for sweets, odd sitting position, and even a rather deadpan expression most of the time.
However, what’s interesting is how L expresses his intelligence in a more overt manner. For instance, at the end of the first film, L eats chips in front of Light, letting the latter know that he’s still suspicious of him as Light did use a bag of chips that hid a small LCD TV. Meanwhile, the second film had Rem’s attempt at killing L fail because L himself wrote his own name in Misa Amane’s Death Note beforehand, giving him and the Task Force more time to finally apprehend Kira.
3 Film (L: Change The World)
When L wrote his own name in the Death Note in the second film, it gave him exactly 23 more days to live. Apparently, while L used this time to catch Kira, he also had more than enough time left to take over another case. In this solo film, director Hideo Nakata wanted to present the more “human” aspect of L from the films, something not depicted in the preceding movies.
As such, the third film chronicles L’s journey to saving the world from a deadly viral outbreak. While this film is more of a detective story than a Death Note story, it did show L as a more sympathetic individual, making use of his time left to let the world live in peace. At the end of the film, he dies peacefully while eating a chocolate bar.
2 Manga
Of all depictions of L throughout the franchise, nothing would beat the ingenuity of his original appearance. It’s thanks to the original characteristics that both Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata conceived that L separated himself as a genius of an equal caliber yet of different methodologies from Light Yagami.
It’s the manga that truly pierced the veil of L’s quirkiness, depicting the “universal” way of his odd crouching, addiction to sweets, and doe-eyed fascination over analyzing evidence, and playing with his foes’ minds. Save for the lack of seeing his emotions change live, L’s manga depiction is still the strongest iteration of the character.
1 Anime
When one thinks of L from Death Note, chances are they would most likely remember either the spectacular voices of Kappei Yamaguchi or Alessandro Juliani, his voice actors for the Japanese and English versions of the anime, respectively. And this is perhaps what separates this version of L from his other iterations.
While L from the manga certainly depicts him at his best, it’s L from the anime that truly breathed life into the character. It’s thanks to the anime’s effective depiction of the manga that L was able to demonstrate his analytical reasoning, deductive prowess, and his genius with his mind games with both Light and Kira.