Manga l

Kenichi Matsuyama portrayed L in the Japanese film series based on the manga.

L is portrayed by in the and , which was released on the same year. His performance and the characterization received widespread acclaim for being earnestly faithful to his original manga counterpart. In the 2008 spin-off, , which takes place in the 23 days that L has left before he dies, L decides to solve one last case, stopping a bio-terrorist organization led by “K” from spreading a deadly virus around the world. Along the way he meets a girl named Maki, FBI agent Suruga, and a boy whom he names . In the course of the film, L grew to have a close relationship with Near and Maki, and while he treats Maki like a younger sister, the girl seemingly became attracted to him. A day before his death, L made Near his successor and entrusted him to be taken care at the same orphanage where he grew up in.

In January 2007, made a poll in which they asked Japanese fans from manga and anime which characters from any series they would most like to see in spinoff series. The overall winner from the poll was L, who also ranked first in the women’s poll and second in the men’s poll. In the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation Awards (SPJA) from 2008 Alessandro Juliani was the winner in the category “Best Voice Actor (English)” for his work as L. Kappei Yamaguchi was the winner in the category “Best Voice Actor (Japanese)” from the 2009 SPJA Industry Awards for his work as L. L also won in the category “Best Male Character”. In the NEO Awards 2007 from , L won in the category “Best Manga Character”.

After meeting the , he requests that the Task Force refer to him as “Ryuzaki” as an additional safety measure. In neither the manga nor the anime do the Task Force learn his true name.

He also has several quirks, such as preferring to crouch rather than sit, eating only sweet foods (like desserts, candies and fruits) and holding items by using only a thumb and a finger. He also has an unusual way of sitting, with both of his feet on the chair. He claims that if he sits normally, his reasoning ability would drop 40%. Interestingly, in the manga, he is seen sitting on the floor in a pose similar to how one would meditate, while thinking deeply about the Kira case. He is often seen arranging objects and very intently stacking, or in other ways playing with, his staple food items. L is almost always encountered while performing actions that are considered inappropriate or rude in public. These actions/habits include biting fingernails, placing feet on furniture, slouching, chewing with an open mouth, talking with his mouth full, and calling out personal observations that may offend others.