About
~I change between L and B whenever I feel Like it.~
L in the anime.
The "L" that L uses to represent himself in the font "Old English Five"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. After meeting the Kira investigation team, he requests that the task force refer to him as Ryuzaki for discretion. The Kira investigation team never learns his true name. Ohba said that L is the smartest character in the manga because "the plot requires it."Ohba also said that he personally views L as "slightly evil"; for instance, in chapter 109, Near discloses the fact that L claimed to pursue cases out of personal interest with no great sense of justice.
When asked about L's nationality, Ohba responded saying "I think of him as a quarter Japanese, a quarter English, a quarter Russian and... maybe a quarter French or Italian? Something like that."
Tom S. Peperium of IGN described L's voice in the English anime version as "low monotone, while inspired by the original Japanese actor, sounds like a man deep in thought, a master detective on the hunt."
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. L also secretly assumes the identities of the world's second and third best detectives, (Eraldo Coil and Deneuve respectively).
L suspects early in the investigation that Light Yagami is Kira, but can not obtain any concrete evidence. In several situations, Light's 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. L can easily present his conclusions publicly at any time, and with his reputation, is taken seriously. When Light discovers his "Hideki Ryuga" alias Light reasons that if he writes this name in the Death Note, the face of the pop idol could pop into Light's mind and therefore Light would inadvertently kill the pop idol; this would increase suspicion on Light.
Because of his initial suspicions of Light, L decides to join To-Oh University, the university that Light attends, using the name of Hideki Ryuga for investigative purposes. L attends To-Oh because he feels confidence in his reasoning skills and wishes to test them. He also intends to tell Light that he can "take the offensive." L understands that his act is dangerous and since he understands Light's thought process he feels confident that Light will not kill him at that point.
After L introduces himself as Ryuga, Light does not attempt to kill him since the name is conspicuously fake. Also, he has no way to know at the time whether the person is the real L or a proxy acting under orders. Light also reasons that L would have already introduced himself to Light's father earlier, and thus that if he somehow killed L, he would be easily uncovered as Kira. Light also fears that if he writes Hideki Ryuga into the Death Note, that the face of the pop singer from which the alias was derived would enter Light's head, and Hideki Ryuga would die by accident, which would lead L to the obvious conclusion that Light is Kira.
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. Although L gives Light a low percentage indicating how much he suspects Light, in reality L is "pretty certain" that Light is Kira. Ohba said about L, "The truth is, he's a liar. [laughs]"
In Chapter 58, Light tricks Rem 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 his defeated rival, and in his last moment L confirms to himself that Light is the first Kira. In episode 25 of the anime, prior to L's death Light and L talk to each other for one last time on the roof of the investigation building; some viewers believed that L, somehow, knew that his death was drawing near.[17]
Death Note: How To Read 13 revealed many facts about L. His true birth name is L Lawliet. His date of birth is Halloween of 1979 (1982 in the anime), making him 25 (22 in the anime) when he dies on November 5, 2004. His height and weight are estimated to be 179 centimeters and 50 kilograms(5 feet and 10 inches and 110 pounds). His blood type is "unknown." It is implied that L was a former resident of Wammy's House, one of Watari's orphanages, as well as a safe haven and educational facility specifically for intellectually-gifted children. Therefore, similar to Near and Mello, L's abilities were discovered while living there, and he is most likely an orphan.
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%.
Ohba said that his favorite human character in the series was L as Ohba believed that L was the "strongest" character in the series "besides Light." Obata chose L as his favorite due to "appearance, personality, everything." Obata said that he could never have created L and that he enjoyed drawing L. Obata added that because of this, L is not "real" to him and therefore he likes that aspect of L. In response to the question "Who was the most fun to draw?" both Ohba and Obata answered "L."
L in the film series
Ken'ichi Matsuyama as LAs there is no time delay between the first and second films, the second film begins soon before L supposedly dies. L retains many of the same characteristics seen in the original series. At the end of the first film, L eats potato chips in front of Light; Light had used a potato chip sack to hide a mini LCD television from security cameras while L filmed his room.
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 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. 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. He is portrayed by Ken'ichi Matsuyama, who also voices Gelus (Jealous) in the anime.
Matsuyama said that L and Light are "extremely" alike in that they have "very strong sense of justice."
name • Beyond Birthday
aliases • B, L
series • Death Note: Another Note
universe • Alternate
age • 24
gender • Male
species • Human (with shinigami traits)
sexuality • Homosexual
Appearance
B is a strikingly thin and pale young man, verging on the point of looking unhealthy or undead. His features are fairly rounded, but his limbs are lanky. His eyes are a bright red not normally seen in nature, and seem almost to glow in dark lights, but he frequently wears black contacts to mask this fact. There are usually dark bags under his eyes from lack of sleep, which are often enhanced by a small amount of makeup, giving him an appearance that has been described as 'panda-like.' His standard outfit is a loose white long-sleeved shirt and a pair of baggy blue jeans. He walks with a decided slouch and sits with his knees pulled up to his chest.
Personality
B is a decidedly strange man in many ways, some of which are evident from one's first glance – his terrible posture, his odd way of holding things, his overly formal yet oddly blunt speech, his lack of respect for personal space, and his decided fondness for sweets in vast quantities (although he favors jam over cake). These are all of the traits he's adopted from L, and for most people, this is all they will ever see of B – the eccentric yet brilliant detective that may act inappropriately but is still always the best choice to solve any given case.
However, B's true personality (buried after too many years of playing L) is very different. B is a man who feels emotions strongly, perhaps almost too strongly, and he is controlled by passion. He is obsessed with the idea of L and with the man himself, and still maintains a small, well-hidden shrine to the man. He's a killer, but he's not a bad person, just a damaged boy seeking to gain L's notice in the only way he knows how. (Because even if L is dead, he still feels like he has to push himself in order not to fail the man.) He would do anything – anything – to bring L back, even though he claims that what happened was necessary for him to succeed. He now feels that he's living for two people – L and A – and the pressure is quickly becoming too much for his already-fragile mind to take.
Strengths & abilities
B's primary ability – which seems to be naturally born – is that he has the eyes of a shinigami, or God of Death. This means that he can see the names and lifespans of those he meets, as long as he sees their full face. In addition, he can usually see the shinigami themselves.
Mentally, he's a brilliant man, with reasoning and deductive skills that few can match – he may not be exactly at L's level, but he is still much more intelligent than most of the population.
Weaknesses
B is a mass of complexes and neuroses, and it's easy to trigger a reaction in him despite his calm exterior if the right subjects are brought up – A and L in particular. He's emotionally unstable, and can go from rage to sorrow to sick glee in moments flat in stressful situations. His obsession with L can easily be manipulated, and he will make stupid and dangerous moves in order to gain L's respect and notice. In short, he is constantly on the verge of (or possibly already into) insanity.
Weapons
B has with him a long, sharp knife, which is covered in blood at his arrival.
History
Beyond Birthday's early childhood is a mystery, even to himself. His earliest memories are all of orphanages, of other boys whispering about how strange the pale boy with the red eyes was. For all he knows, his parents could've been anything – maybe even demons, given his eyes. He spent most of his time until he was five hiding alone in his room, avoiding others.
Fairly rapidly, the orphanage stratified into clear ranks and positions in line behind L. B found himself at the rank of second, and quickly began to work more often with the first. They were meant to surpass L, to be more than L… and now he was alone.
Eventually, though, he came to a conclusion. He could surpass L alone. He could be more than L. He could beat L, break L, make L realize that he was the inferior one.
And so he left the Orphanage and changed his appearance through intense plastic surgery to resemble L's in every respect. Once that was complete, he began a killing spree in Los Angeles, intending to draw L's interest, make him work on the case, make certain that L knew who was doing it… and then not leave any proof or any evidence of the murderer's existence. B understood that L hated losing, and he knew that knowing the culprit but not being able to stop him would drive L mad. He didn't kill for joy or pleasure, and he only killed those who were soon to die anyways, but he enjoyed it all because he knew that he could win. To further increase his glee, he even worked with the FBI agent that L had gotten to work the case, Naomi Misora.
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