First-watched L: Change the World. Absolutely beautiful

[u/Character-Age-2637]

I wish I could live a bit longer

Until now, I hadn’t had the chance to watch this spin-off of the 2006 live-action films. I now wish I could have done it much earlier.

This is the first Death Note story I’ve experienced in which the Shinigami notebooks don’t play a central role. Instead, the film tells a story about a bioterrorist group chasing L and two kids, and it’s incredibly well-written. It has also aged remarkably well, especially considering everything that has happened with COVID-19 and all the conspiracy theories surrounding biological weapons.

I absolutely love seeing L solve cases against the clock (the way he types on the PC and speaks so many languages is gold, btw 😭😭😭), with no supernatural elements involved in the main plot, before he eventually dies from the effects of the Death Note. His relationship with Near and Maki is also incredibly sweet without ever compromising L’s personality. But the best part about him is how great Ken'ichi Matsuyama plays him. He perfectly capturated how L would be like in real-life, something no other actor has achieved (The one from the 2015 miniseries looked much more like an extravagant, high-fashion runway model, tbh) Another thing that surprised me is that the film includes two important moments that the two main live-action movies left out:

-L deciding to write his own name in the Death Note: I really liked how Watari asks him why he didn’t just write Light’s name instead and L explains that he wants to bring Light down only when he’s 100% certain that he’s Kira. To me, this is the ultimate proof that L is the true guardian of justice, something Light could never become.

-L burning the Death Notes: I loved Ryuk’s cameo and how he tries to convince L to use both notebooks to become a god instead, with L shutting him down by asking whether he really thinks Light died the way a god would. Another brilliant touch was the sound of screams coming from the notebooks as they burned, as if the souls Light had taken were finally being set free. Also, it's a pretty good detail Ryuk instantly vanished off-screen once the DN were destroyed, like if he was never there

I also thought the opening sequence featuring Raye and Naomi helping L solve a case before they got involved in the Kira investigation was a great addition. It’s the closest thing we get to an adaptation of the Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases novel, whose events L himself actually mentions—a detail that absolutely blew my mind.

The film has left me really eager to read the novelization, although I’ve heard it differs considerably from the movie, with Mello narrating the story and Near being there much closer to his manga/anime counterpart.

And, as a final note, I’ll just say this: I never expected L straightening his back would make me cry 😭😭😭

[u/Edme_but_cooler]

Im so glad to see someone talk about this movie i literally cried at the end when he named Near and gave Maki the bear with his voice omg it was so sad

[u/Extra-Photograph428]

I love the movie as well for the reasons you listed! It was so cool seeing L’s character in a context outside the Kira case, and the ending made me an absolute mess 😭

[u/Fellowcomicenjoyer]

L: Change the World love, hell yeah! ❤️

Glad you enjoyed the movie OP, and great breakdown! I loved those scenes too.

And also agreed on Kenichi Matsuyama's portrayal of L, he's so, so good, imo the best live action L by a good margin.

[u/bloodyrevolutions_]

I am glad you liked the movie OP.

But open question to OP and other L lovers who also loved L:CTW (and to be clear this is not intended as critical, but from curiosity) - do you not find L to be quite out of character?

Personally, to me this adaptation of L seems like a completely different person than manga-L.

[u/Extra-Photograph428 → u/bloodyrevolutions_]

To be fair, it’s been a bit since I’ve seen the movie, but besides the situation just plainly being uncanon, I didn’t really think L felt completely ooc. L would be the type to spend his last days doing what he loves most, and the idea of him spending those last few getting involved in something as crazy as stopping a bioterrorist attack seems like situation he’d somehow end up in. The Kira case felt just as crazy to me. I found his connection to Maki and Near sweet and felt very in character in his distant caring. Overall I didn’t have any issues with it, I think the only thing in the movie I remember that felt a bit weird was them making L a tad bit more childish than he is in the main series, but generally every adaptation doesn’t seem to really get the type of odd L really is right, so this wasn’t a huge thing.

I guess this adaptation also does make L like actually miss Light, that was also weird, but at least in the movie it’s not a major thing (still need to read the book though).

Something I really like about the movie though is that it overall gave me the arc I had been desperately craving for L. I think him sacrificing himself to stop Kira was good, but then pushing it even further with him dedicating himself to basically the very last moments of his life was peak. It overall really expanded L’s character in the way I really really wished we got in the main series, he really felt like a global detective, and overall this version of L I walked away with more of a grasp of than Ohba’s odd decision to leave so many things in mystery. Even the Wammy’s House lore was great, it was really cool to see the other alumni!

Also man, his last line in the movie completing his arc where he’s like “I want to live,” finding out this whole thing was about L seeing the world in a way he never got the chance to, where he merely saw his life as a chess piece he could play, but him realizing after all that craziness that he does really want to keep going, that there is more to the world than just being a detective. It’s just gut-wrenching, especially if you think about canon L, he never even got the chance for any of this. Had me an absolute mess and I never really cry at movies!

[u/bloodyrevolutions_ → u/Extra-Photograph428]

I see, thanks for the thoughts. L deserved more time, more development and a proper arc, so it is nice that at least he gets this somewhere in the au-verse.

[u/CrqckBack → u/bloodyrevolutions_]

I think every adaptation that isn't the manga gets L out of character, but I think some adaptations do it better than others

[u/bloodyrevolutions_ → u/CrqckBack]

LABB is definitely closest. I don't find anything glaringly wrong about L's portrayal there, though I could be forgetting something.

[u/urasawaenthusiast]

I avoided reading anything said in this discussion because of spoilers but I’m very interested in this spin-off. Should I watch it or read it?

[u/IamL-Lawliet9]

Hmm agreed the movie was indeed very interesting ✨