This Inconsistently Admirable was Headlined on December 2024.
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“
Naturally, I'm very interested to know how you're able to commit these murders without being present, but I don't mind waiting a little bit longer. You can answer all of my questions when I catch you. Let's meet again soon... Kira.
„
~ L talking during his TV broadcast without showing his face.
“
Tell me, Light, from the moment you were born, has there ever been a point when you've actually told the truth?
„
~ L's most famous quote.
L Lawliet, also referred to as Ryūzaki, is the main antagonist of the Death Note franchise. Considered to be the world's greatest detective, he is an enigmatic man who spends the series trying to catch the vigilante/mass murderer Kira, who is none other than the villainous protagonist Light Yagami.
He is voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi in the Japanese version of the anime, and by Alessandro Juliani in the English version.
He is genuinely polite, saying "please" after demanding something, or apologizing to his teammates if he does something they might not like.
Prevented World War III from happening at the age of eight.
He was able to locate a mass murderer and get him arrested during his youth, causing Watari to decide to have him become a detective.
He solved many difficult cases in the past, arresting numerous dangerous criminals.
Solved the BB case.
He believes no real peace will be ever achieved through violence or murder.
Despite his investigations being motivated primarily by a desire to "win", L does have a sense of justice. L himself mentions this sense of justice at times, including when he exclaims "I'm justice" after first confronting Kira and when he smiles reassuring the Japanese Task Force's members that justice will surely prevail at the end of the Kira case.
He agreed to investigate Kira's case.
He made numerous plans and strategies to get closer to catch Kira, such as proving he lives in Japan and that there are two Kiras, and overall can be considered the character with the biggest impact on Light Yagami's defeat.
When the second Kira was killing people on screen, he insists on Aizawa not going there so that he wouldn't be killed.
He kept his suspicions of Light even after he caught him and he was apparently proven innocent.
He prevents Misa Amane from committing suicide after he jailed her, although he knew she was the second Kira and hence an enemy.
He handcuffed Kira to his own hand, showing how far he will risk himself to catch Kira.
He manages to stop Kyosuke Higuchi, who is a mass murderer and has the Death Note on him.
He cares about the other Japanese Task Force's members and protected them from death many times, such as when he tells them not to give their real names so carelessly (which are essential for Kira to commit murders) and instead gives them aliases, when he stops them from going to the Sakura TV station after Ukita's death, or when he mobilizes the Task Force to save Matsuda.
He saves dozens of policemen's lives from being killed by Higuchi by warning them that he has somehow now the powers to kill only by looking at someone's face (which was the moment he started having shinigami eyes). Due to that, many people started covering their faces.
When Ukita is killed by Misa after going to the Sakura TV station, L also feels really guilty about it. As L stops Aizawa from going to where Ukita's body is, Aizawa initially thinks that L is unaffected by the situation but then realizes that L is trembling and sounds like is about to cry as he pleads Aizawa not to go there because they can't lose him too.
He highly respects Soichiro Yagami, with him sending a group of police during Soichiro's raid at Sakura TV to escort him safely out of station. Upon meeting with him again, L congratulates Soichiro for his bravery.
His investigations and actions ultimately prevented thousands of murders from Light Yagami, Misa Amane and Kyosuke Higuchi, who all would have killed a lot more if it wasn't for him.
He warned the police when Higuchi gained the Shinigami Eyes not to approach Higuchi to save their lives.
Despite failing to catch Kira himself and is killed by Rem, his actions caused the existence of Death Note and the way Kira kill people to be revealed, allowing his successors Near and Mello to finally catch Kira based on the information he collected.
His impact and legacy on Kira having trouble covering his identity, pracitcally made it near inevitable for Light to be exposed as Kira, as even if Light killed both Mello and Near, more will likely take their place, due to everyone being aware that Kira may not be an indestructiable god, but just a human with the supernatural power to kill in a certain way.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
All in all, his actions make him an anti-hero, and some of his methods are rather questionable to say the least.
Despite having a sense of justice, he says that he is motivated primarily by a desire to "win", which is why he only takes on cases that interest him and is willing to resort to extreme methods in the name of achieving or clearing a case.
Upon meeting Light for the first time, he gives him the fake name "Hideki Ryuga," the same name as a popular pop idol in Japan, so Light couldn't kill him, even though this put the innocent pop star's life at possible risk without his knowledge.
Most notably, he used a false L to bait Kira, resulting in the former's death, even though he was a death row prisoner (even being scolded by Soichiro Yagami because of this). He also had Light and Misa held captive for weeks, with Misa's confinement being very uncomfortable, despite neither of them having actual memory of their killing. He was also willing to risk a death row inmates life to disprove the thirteen day rule.
However, while the prevention is valid, it doesn't make him villainous or morally ambiguous. Compared with his successor Mello (who unnecessarily causes the deaths of many innocent people), L ultimately picks the way where the least people are at risk of death. For example, while he choses Lind L Tailor to be at risk of Kira, and while he would die, he was a death row prisoner and L did that to know how can Kira can kill people and still saves Misa’s life from suicide during her confinement.
Trivia[]
According to Ohba, L is slightly evil, it's not fully clear on why this was the case, perhaps due to questionable unethical acts that L does in order gain victory, and his anti-social behavior in which the series creator describes him as someone who truely has no friends, strongly having some distrust in anyone around him, hence why he officially has a 1/10 social skills rating score on Death Note 13: How to Read.
Although not really a villain, some say the reasons for Ohba making L the main antagonist of the manga and anime is because they believe that his actions are set to do more harm than good for society, in which he is unsuccessful in stopping a rising criminal where people are becoming less safe as time goes by, though the closest official reason for Ohba's intent was to make the rivalry conflict not to be over presented for the lawful agency in being correct, If Ohba wrote L as the protagonist and Light as the antagonist, let alone a hidden antagonist until revealed, then he would easily make the controversy too one sided for fans to make discussions on the characters, as the audience would be more likely by default believe L is right and Kira is flat out wrong in a series that are based on questionable morality choices.
Coincidently, L and all his three successors (Light, Mello, Near) are Inconsistently Admirable.
His TV drama and Netflix counterparts don't count since the Netflix version fails the standards and the TV drama version isn't very inconsistent.
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Inconsistently Admirable
