Despicable Me

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Despicable Me
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Pierre Coffin Chris Renaud
Produced by	John Cohen Janet Healy Chris Meledandri
Written by	Ken Daurio Cinco Paul
Story by	Sergio Pablos
Starring	Steve Carell Jason Segel Russell Brand Julie Andrews Will Arnett Kristen Wiig Miranda Cosgrove Dana Gaier Elsie Fisher
Music by	Pharrell Williams Heitor Pereira
Editing by	Gregory Perler Pam Ziegenhagen
Studio	Illumination Entertainment Universal Animation Studios Mac Guff
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	July 9, 2010
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$69 million[1]
Gross revenue	$541,897,970 [2]
Followed by	Despicable Me 2

Despicable Me is a 2010 American computer-animated 3D comedy film from Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment that was released on July 9, 2010 in the United States. The film stars Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, and Miranda Cosgrove. It is the first CGI feature produced by Universal, in association with its Illumination Entertainment division. It was entirely animated in the French studio Mac Guff in Paris, France.
The story is of a supervillain named Gru who plans to use three orphan girls as pawns for a grand scheme, only to find that their innocent love is profoundly changing him.
The film earned positive reviews from critics, and grossed more than $500 million worldwide, against a budget of $69 million.

Contents [hide] 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Music 4 Release 4.1 Marketing 4.2 Books 4.3 Video game 4.4 Home media 5 Reception 5.1 Critical response 5.2 Box-office performance 6 Sequel 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Plot

The movie begins with the news revealing that an Egyptian pyramid was stolen. When super-villain Gru (Steve Carell) hears of this, his pride is wounded and he plans to pull the biggest heist of the century by stealing the Moon.
Gru tries to get a loan from the Bank of Evil (which a sign notes tongue-in-cheek was "Formerly Lehman Brothers") and meets a young super-villain, Vector (Jason Segel), who annoys him. Bank president Mr. Perkins (Will Arnett) refuses to grant Gru the loan until he obtains the shrink ray necessary for the plan. Mr. Perkins tells Gru that he is getting too old and that new super-villains are younger and better, like Vector, who is revealed to be the one who stole the Pyramid of Giza.
Gru and his minions steal the shrink ray from a secret lab in East Asia, but Vector steals it from him and shrinks his ship. Gru attempts to get the shrink ray back from Vector's lair, but all his attempts to enter the lair prove futile. After seeing three orphaned girls, Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier), and Agnes (Elsie Fisher) enter the lair to sell cookies to Vector, Gru adopts the girls from Miss Hattie (Kristen Wiig), the head of the orphanage, to use them to steal back the shrink ray. Gru has his assistant Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand) build robots disguised as cookies. He then has the girls sell the robots to Vector, and the robots help Gru steal the shrink ray.
On the way home the girls ask to go to an amusement park. Gru agrees, intending to leave the girls there. Instead, the attendant says he, as an adult, has to ride the roller coaster with them. Gru ends up having fun with the girls. Back at home, he presents his plan to Mr. Perkins via video. The girls keep interrupting him. Perkins again refuses to give him the loan, claiming that although he doesn't have a problem with the plan, he just wants a younger villain to do it instead. Gru has a flashback of his childhood, depicting his wanting to go to the moon after seeing the first moon landing. When he tried to impress his mother (Julie Andrews) with models of the rocket (and an actual working one), she just ignored him. Mr. Perkins calls Vector (revealed to be his son, whose real name is Victor) to the Bank of Evil to inform him that Gru has the shrink ray. Vector reassures his father that he will get the Moon. Gru almost abandons his plan due to lack of funds, but the girls and the minions take up a collection to keep it going.
However, Gru has to make a choice, because the moon will be in the optimal position for the heist on the same day as the girls' ballet recital. Dr. Nefario, seeing the girls as a distraction, contacts Miss Hattie, who arrives to take the girls back. Gru, the Minions, and the girls are heartbroken. Gru goes on with his plan and flies to the moon.
Gru successfully shrinks and pockets the Moon. Gru remembers the ballet recital and rushes to it. However, it has ended by the time he arrives. There, he finds a ransom note from Vector demanding the moon in exchange for the girls. After Gru hands over the moon, Vector reneges on the deal, keeping the girls and the moon. This enrages Gru, who storms Vector's lair, this time successfully breaching the defenses. Vector flies off in an escape pod with the girls. Gru holds on to the exterior of the ship. He nearly falls to his death, but is rescued by Dr. Nefario piloting the same ship that Vector shrunk before. Nefario reveals that the bigger the object, the quicker the effects of the shrink ray wear off. Very soon, the moon begins to grow and roll around inside Vector's ship, hurting him and freeing the girls. The girls see Gru outside of the ship, and Gru tells them to jump over to him. Edith and Agnes successfully make it onto the ship, but before Margo can jump, Vector grabs her. The moon rolls again and knocks Vector over, and Margo grabs onto Gru's grappling hook. Gru rescues her with the help of his minions, while the rapidly-expanding Moon wrecks Vector's controls, causing his ship to carry it back into orbit.
Gru and the girls settle down to live a happy life as a family and Vector is stranded on the Moon. The girls give a special ballet recital for Gru, his minions, and his mother, who finally tells him she is proud of him and acknowledges him to be the better parent. The music changes from Swan Lake to You Should Be Dancing, and everyone rushes on stage to dance as the film ends.

[edit] Cast

• Steve Carell as Gru, the world's former number one supervillain.
• Jason Segel as Vector, the world's new #1 supervillain after he stole the pyramid of Giza and egotistical nerd. He has a penchant for inventing weaponry that launches fish and other sea creatures.
• Russell Brand as Dr. Nefario, Gru's elderly, hearing impaired scientist, collaborator and good friend.
• Julie Andrews as Gru's mother Marlena. In several of Gru's flashbacks, he showed her his plans to go to the Moon, but she ignored everything he said.
• Will Arnett as Mr. Perkins, the president of the Bank of Evil and Vector's father. He is strong enough to crush an apple with one hand, and he views Gru as being too old and out of date for supervillain work.
• Kristen Wiig as Miss Hattie, the mistress of a local orphanage, Miss Hattie's Home for Girls. For the most part she seems to hate her job and sees the girls more as an irritation than anything else as well as using the kids as child labor.
• Miranda Cosgrove as Margo, the oldest of three orphaned sisters. Cosgrove describes the character very protective of her two younger sisters.
• Dana Gaier as Edith, the middle sister of the group. A bit of a tomboy, she is described by her voice actor to be "sort of a trouble maker".^{[citation needed]}
• Elsie Fisher as Agnes, the youngest sister. She is known for her fondness of unicorns.
• Pierre Coffin as Tim / Bob / Mark / Phil / Stuart, five of Gru's minions.
• Chris Renaud as Dave, one of Gru's minions.
• Ken Jeong as Talk Show Host.
• Danny R. McBride as Fred McDade, Gru's next door neighbor.
• Jack McBrayer as Tourist Father / Carnival Barker.
• Mindy Kaling as Tourist Mother.
• Jemaine Clement as Jerry, one of Gru's minions.
• Rob Huebel as Anchorman / Newscaster.
• Ken Daurio as Egyptian Guard.

[edit] Music

Despicable Me: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Soundtrack by Various
Released	July 6, 2010
Genre	Soundtrack
Label	Interscope Records
Producer	The Neptunes (except tracks 5 & 9)

Despicable Me: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released July 6, 2010. It features new songs from the film written, performed, and/or produced by composed by Pharrell Williams, and performances by Destinee & Paris, The Sylvers, Robin Thicke, The Bee Gees and David Bisbal. A soundtrack album including the many other songs that appear in the film has not been officially released.
The film's score was composed by Heitor Pereira and produced by Hans Zimmer. It was recorded with a 67-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox.^[3] As of December 30, 2010, the film's score has not been officially released; however, 8 tracks appeared on MagicBoxMusic.com in November, 2010.^[4][5]

Despicable Me: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Performer	Length
1.	"Despicable Me"	Pharrell Williams	Pharrell	4:13
2.	"Fun, Fun, Fun"	Pharrell Williams	Pharrell	3:26
3.	"I'm On a Roll"	Pharrell Williams/Robin Thicke	Destinee & Paris	3:11
4.	"Minion Mambo" (feat. Pharrell & Lupe Fiasco)	Pharrell Williams/Lupe Fiasco	The Minions	3:04
5.	"Boogie Fever" (from the 1976 album Showcase)	Freddie Perren/Kenneth St. Lewis	The Sylvers	3:28
6.	"My Life"	Pharrell Williams/Robin Thicke	Robin Thicke	3:54
7.	"Prettiest Girls"	Pharrell Williams	Pharrell	3:19
8.	"Rocket's Theme"	Pharrell Williams	Pharrell	4:03
9.	"You Should Be Dancing" (from the 1976 album Children of the World)	Bee Gees	Bee Gees	4:18
10.	"The Unicorn Song"	Pharrell Williams	Agnes (Elsie Fisher)	2:08
11.	"Soñar (My Life)" (iTunes only Bonus track)	Pharrell Williams/Robin Thicke	David Bisbal	4:03

Despicable Me: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (More Music)
No.	Title	Performer	Length
1.	"Casino Royale"	Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass	2:39
2.	"Despicable Me (The Balloon)"	Pharrell	2:16
3.	"Sweet Home Alabama"	Lynyrd Skynyrd	4:45
4.	"Rocket's Theme (Bed Scene)"	Pharrell	0:35
5.	"Garota de Ipanema"	Antonio Carlos Jobim & Vinicius De Moraes	3:31
6.	"Despicable Me II (Checking Inn)"	Pharrell	1:48
7.	"Prettiest Girls (Introduction)"	Pharrell	0:42
8.	"Copacabana"	Barry Manilow	5:46
9.	"The Way It Is (Vector's Theme)"	D.A. Wallach	0:48
10.	"Prettiest Girls (Theme Park)"	Pharrell	2:17
11.	"Swan Lake Waltz"	Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky	6:52
12.	"Fun, Fun, Fun (Orchestra Version)"	Pharrell	2:52

Despicable Me Score
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Happy Gru"	0:52
2.	"Door Bell Rings"	0:22
3.	"Kyle Attacks"	0:30
4.	"Nefario Calls Gru"	1:08
5.	"Minion March"	1:29
6.	"Miss Hattie's Face"	0:49
7.	"Gru Calls Mom"	0:43
8.	"Meeting Mr. Perkins"	1:10
9.	"Explosion"	0:19
10.	"Meet The Girls (Reprise)"	0:27
11.	"Adoption Process"	4:02
12.	"Gru's Lair"	1:01
13.	"Gru's Kitchen"	1:41
14.	"All Girls Amped Up"	0:18
15.	"Girls To Bed"	1:58
16.	"Girls To Dance Class"	0:34
17.	"Gru Is Angry"	1:04
18.	"Nefario Is Angry"	0:27
19.	"Teleconference"	3:37
20.	"Piggy Bank"	2:18
21.	"Hyper Girls"	0:37
22.	"Sleepy Kittens"	3:38
23.	"Nefario Confronts Gru"	1:43
24.	"Don't Let Her Take Us"	1:34
25.	"Kisses Goodnight"	2:41

Despicable Me Promo Score
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Logo – Beautiful Egypt"	1:42
2.	"Mal Mart"	1:36
3.	"Cookie Delivery"	3:30
4.	"Drunk Unicorn"	0:36
5.	"Blast Off"	1:32
6.	"Gru In Space"	0:47
7.	"Rushing Back"	1:34
8.	"Gru VS. Vector"	6:02

[edit] Release

[edit] Marketing

Sneak peeks were shown in episodes of The Biggest Loser. Despicable Me was also featured on Last Comic Standing when Gru comes in to audition. There has also been a minion that came in to audition, but he was mute for the duration.
IHOP restaurants promoted the film by introducing three new menu items, a kids' breakfast meal, and a drink all having the word "minion" in them.
Best Buy released a free Smartphone application called "Movie Mode" that translates what the Minions are saying during the end credits. Special content can be unlocked from the application after seeing the film.^[6]

[edit] Books

In May, 2010, three books related to the movie were published, as well as the children's puppet book featured in the film. The first, My Dad the Super Villain (ISBN 0316083828), was rated as a preschool book. The second, Despicable Me: The Junior Novel (ISBN 0316083801) was rated as being a Junior Reader for ages 8 to 12. The third, Despicable Me: The World’s Greatest Villain (ISBN 0316083771), was rated for ages 3–6 years. The puppet book, Sleepy Kittens (ISBN 031608381X), was written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio and illustrated by Paul.

[edit] Video game

A video game titled Despicable Me: The Game was released for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii. A Nintendo DS version was released under the name Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem. Namco also released a version for the iPhone and iPad platform entitled Despicable Me: Minion Mania, developed by Anino Games.^[7]

[edit] Home media

Despicable Me was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray 3D on December 14, 2010.^[8] The release included three new short films, titled Home Makeover, Orientation Day and Banana. Also, the website Minionmadness.com was launched to promote the home media release.

[edit] Reception

[edit] Critical response

The film has received generally positive reviews from critics. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 82% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 179 reviews, with an average score of 6.8/10. The critical consensus is: "Borrowing heavily (and intelligently) from Pixar and Looney Tunes, Despicable Me is a surprisingly thoughtful, family-friendly treat with a few surprises of its own."^[9] Among "Top Critics," comprising critics from the top newspapers and other publications, the film holds an approval rating of 88% based on 32 reviews.^[10] Metacritic, another review aggregation website, assigned the film a score of 72%, based on 34 reviews from mainstream critics.^[11]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film, awarding it three stars out of a possible four.^[12] Other positive reviews came from Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune and Peter Travers of Rolling Stone.^[13][14]
In contrast, A. O. Scott of the New York Times disliked the film, stating "while there's nothing worth despising, there's not much to remember either."^[15] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: "there's nothing in this to engage an audience. Obviously, no one cares if this guy gets to remain as the world's top bad guy. Nor is this situation inherently amusing in a character way or even interesting in a satirical or sardonic way. There is simply nothing here, except a pretext for lots of labored, slapstick spy-versus-spy type shenanigans between the two 'villains.' Twenty minutes into "Despicable Me," nothing has happened."^[16]
The film received nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film at the 68th Golden Globe Awards^[17] and the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film at the 64th BAFTA Awards.^[18]

[edit] Box-office performance

Released on July 9, 2010, in the United States, Despicable Me opened at the number one spot at the box office and pulled in $56.3 million, making it the third biggest opening grossing for an animated film in 2010 behind Toy Story 3 and Shrek Forever After.^[19] In its second weekend, the film dipped to 42% to second place behind Inception with $32.8 million earned. The film then had another drop of 27% in its third weekend and finished in third place with $23.8 million. On August 5, 2010, the film crossed the $200 million mark, becoming the first Universal film to reach the milestone since 2007's The Bourne Ultimatum.^[20]
On the weekend lasting from September 3–5, 2010 it surpassed Shrek Forever After to become the second highest-grossing animated film of 2010 in the United States and Canada, behind Toy Story 3. It is also the highest-grossing non-Shrek/non-Disney·Pixar animated film of all time in these territories. The film has made $251,513,985 in the United States and Canada as well as an estimated $290,500,000 overseas for a worldwide total of $542,013,985, against its $69 million production budget. This film is also Universal's sixth highest-grossing film (unadjusted for inflation)^[21] and the tenth-highest-grossing animated feature of all-time in North America.^[22] In worldwide earnings, it is the sixth biggest film of Universal Studios,^[23] the third-largest animated movie of 2010 trailing Toy Story 3 and Shrek Forever After, the 14th largest animated film of all time and the 8th highest-grossing film of 2010.^[24]

[edit] Sequel

Chris Meledandri has said that a sequel is in the works.^[25]

[edit] References

1. ^ Despicable Me (2010). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
2. ^ Despicable Me - Box Office Date, Movie News, Cast Information. The Numbers. Retrieved 2010-12-18.
3. ^ Goldwasser, Dan (June 30, 2010). "Heitor Pereira scores Despicable Me". ScoringSessions.com. Retrieved June 30, 2010.
4. ^ Despicable Me, MagicBoxMusic.com
5. ^ Mika (Nov 10, 2010). "Despicable Me Promo Score (2010)". theNeptunes.org. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
6. ^ Terrell, Kenneth (July 14, 2010). "Fun With Phones: Despicable Me's Best Buy Movie Mode App". Washington Post. Retrieved July 20, 2010.
7. ^ Despicable Me: Minion Mania. iTunes. Retrieved 2010-10-23.
8. ^ Calonge, Juan (2010-09-22). "Despicable Me Blu-ray and 3D BD Announced". blu-ray.com. Retrieved 2010-11-22.
9. ^ "Despicable Me Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
10. ^ "Despicable Me – Cream of the Crop". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
11. ^ "Despicable Me Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 20, 2010.
12. ^ Ebert, Roger (July 7, 2010). "Despicable Me". rogerebert.com. Retrieved July 20, 2010.
13. ^ Travers, Peter. "Despicable Me". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
14. ^ Phillips, Michael (July 8, 2010). "Despicable does battle with itself, but sentiment wins in the end". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
15. ^ Scott, A. O. (July 9, 2010). "Despicable Me Lunar Toons and Cookie Capers". The New York Times. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
16. ^ LaSalle, Mick (July 9, 2010). "Review: Despicable Me". SFGate (San Francisco Chronicle). Retrieved July 14, 2010.
17. ^ Reynolds, Simon (December 14, 2010). "In Full: Golden Globes – Movie Nominees". Digital Spy. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
18. ^ 'The King's Speech,' 'Black Swan,' rule BAFTA nominations
19. ^ Ray Subers (July 12, 2010). "Weekend Report: 'Despicable Me' Dominates, 'Predators' Solid But Unspectacular". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com.
20. ^ Ray Subers (August 6, 2010). "Seven-Day Summary: 'Inception's Reign Continues". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com.
21. ^ "UNIVERSAL All Time Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved 2001-08-26.
22. ^ "Animation". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved 2001-10-06.
23. ^ "WORLDWIDE GROSSES". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
24. ^ "2010 Worldwide Grosses". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-10-23.
25. ^ Chris Meledandri's Illumination Game Plan Includes 'Despicable Me' Sequel, 'Minion' Spinoffs, Dr. Seuss, The Addams Family. Deadline.com. Retrieved 2010-10-23.

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Despicable Me

• Official website
• Despicable Me at the Internet Movie Database
• Despicable Me at Rotten Tomatoes
• Despicable Me at Metacritic
• Despicable Me at Box Office Mojo

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Deathnote

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• 39 Talk

L Lawliet

Edit

Redirected from L

Read more: Human, Male characters

• Edited a day ago by Mikazuki

L, the deuteragonist in Death Note.
Debut	Manga Chapter 2 Anime Episode 2
Birthday	October 31, 1979 (1982 in the anime)
Deathdate	November 5, 2004 (2007 in the anime)
Also known as	L Hideki Ryuuga Ryuuzaki Eraldo Coil Deneuve
Sign	Scorpio
Age	24-25 at death
Status at debut	World's Greatest Detective
Relations	Quillish Wammy (handler)
Seiyū	Kappei Yamaguchi
Voice actor	Alessandro Juliani
Knowledge	8/10
Conceptualization Power	10/10
Will to act	9/10
Motivation	10/10
Social Skills	1/10

L Lawliet (エル・ローライト, Eru Rōraito), commonly referred to by his aliases L, Erald Coil and Danuve, is a fictional character in the manga and anime series Death Note. He is considered the world's greatest detective, and is the deuteragonist, of the first arc, in which he takes on Kira.

Contents [show]

Design and conceptionEdit

The symbol that L uses to represent himself. Font: "Cloister Black".

Added by Dreamanderson

Tsugumi Ohba, story writer of the series, created L as a "force of justice" and a "super detective" who stands between Light and Light's goals and advances the story. Ohba believed that the story would not hold much interest if L was significantly older than Light, so Ohba created L as a young adult. Ohba said that for L's name he wanted to use a single letter with a lot of significance; according to Ohba he considered "I" and "J" but decided that they did not "feel as good" as "L" and chose "L" "after careful consideration."
Ohba said that he gave L the alias "Ryuuzaki" because L is pronounced like R in Japanese.
Takeshi Obata, artist of the series, described the thumbnails of L created by Tsugumi Ohba, the writer of the series, as having no "bags" under his eyes and a "plain face with no expression." Obata said that the thumbnail design was "great, and I wish I could have used it as is." Obata drew L as an "attractive young man" until Chapter 11, when the character appeared in person. After Chapter 11 Obata decided to contrast his appearance with Light's appearance; Obata said that he and Ohba held this idea.
Ohba said that he left "everything" about L's character design to Obata. Obata asked Ohba if L could be "unattractive." Afterwards Ohba included ideas in his thumbnails, including L's manner of sitting, "he's English," and "he's listless." Ohba said that he added details regarding L's mannerisms and his "sweet tooth." Ohba credits Obata for the character designs.
Obata said that, during the development of the early manga chapters, he feared that L would appear to be "so suspicious that Light would know instantly it was L if they ever met." When Obata's editor told him that he wanted L to have a face "looking cool based on the angle," Obata added black "bags" under L's eyes. Obata cited Devilman's Akira Fudou when stating that he believed that black bags "looked cool." In addition, Obata thought of a "dead eyes" concept involving L having "mostly no eyebrows" and "all-black eyes." Obata believes that having black eyes usually makes a character "goofier," but the bags "sharpen the character's gaze." Obata believes that the design evokes "a feeling of mystery" and that the reader cannot determine L's true thoughts. In addition Obata said that the bags under L's eyes attracts speculation about L's lifestyle and past. He described the bags as "useful." Obata designed L with a "simple" white, long-sleeved shirt and jeans outfit to convey the idea that L does not put thought into choosing his clothing. In Death Note: How to Read 13, Ohba presented an initial rough draft of L and said that, with a "cool expression" and without the "bags" under his eyes the rough draft L looks like "a totally different person."
Obata stated that he believes that traits exhibited by L are best revealed "gradually." Obata added that he believes that if he drew L eating "mountains of sweets" prior to revealing L's face, L would not have "much credibility as a super detective" and people would question if L was "crazy."
Obata said that he was often told that L's fighting style is "similar" to capoeira; Obata said that he did not consider this when he drew L's fights. Obata said that he was thinking of the most effective method to kick a person while handcuffed. Obata added that if the style resembles capoeira, then this "adds another element to it" and "that makes me happy."
When designing color book covers Obata assigned colors to characters to "get the atmosphere right", Obata assigned gold to L.

Design and conception in the film versionEdit

Shūsuke Kaneko, director of the films, said that L's role was the most difficult to cast; as the shooting was near and many of the "big name" actors had other projects. Kaneko cast Ken'ichi Matsuyama, "very much a newcomer." Kaneko added is that when Matsuyama told him that the actor would "live as L," Matsuyama had "clinched it."
Matsuyama felt difficulty while portraying L and worried about his performance. Matsuyama portrayed L as if he does not "quite understand other people on an emotional level" since the actor reasoned that L rarely interacted with others. Matsuyama, describing himself as "not very flexible physically," encountered difficulty in emulating L's postures. Matsuyama also ate sweets that L would eat and considered the details of L's signature gestures.
Matsuyama said that he and Fujiwara became "so immersed" in their character portrayals that they did not talk to one another while on the set; when filming ceased they conversed and "went out for a drink or two."

L's thinking position

Added by Kumori

CharacterEdit

L 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 Old English Five or Cloister Black. 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."
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.
Because of his initial suspicions of Light, L decides to join To-Oh University, the university that Light attends, using the name of Hideki Ryuuga 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 Ryuuga, 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 Ryuuga into the Death Note, that the face of the pop singer from which the alias was derived would enter Light's head, and Hideki Ryuuga would die by accident, which would lead L to the obvious conclusion that Light is Kira.
L also uses the aliases Hideki Ryuuga (流河 旱樹, Ryūga Hideki), Ryuuzaki (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.
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.
Death Note: How To Read 13 revealed many facts about L. His true birth name is L Lawliet. His date of birth is October 31, 1979 (1982 in the anime), making him 25 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.
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."
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."
Many fans of the series believe that L has Asperger's Syndrome, due to the fact he acts like a child at points (not wearing socks, eating lots of sweets, and seeing things somewhat like a game). This could be the author's intention, but that is for the readers to decide.

L's Death

Added by Mrkrules

L in the FilmsEdit

Ken'ichi Matsuyama as L

Added by Beyond-Birthday

As 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 in the anime.
L was also similar in the film L: Change the WorLd which takes place in the 23 days that L has left before he dies. In it, L decides to solve one last case. He is in charge of stopping a deadly virus from spreading across the world. Ryuk comes to his aid on behalf of Kira's last wishes. Hideo Nakata, the director, told The Daily Yomiuri that he wanted to exhibit L's "human side" that was not exhibited in the Death Note series.
Matsuyama said that L and Light are "extremely" alike in that they have "very strong sense of justice."

L in Death Note: Another NoteEdit

In the novel Death Note: Another Note the reader is led to believe L under the alias Rue Ryuuzaki is helping Naomi Misora solve a murder case. She was recruited for the case by L because she was on leave from the FBI. This Rue acts very much like L and shared many characteristics like crouching to sit and consuming sweets. In the end of the book the reader learns that Beyond Birthday detective name B, who was an another candidate to replace L along with Near and Mello, was not only the killer but also Rue Ryuuzaki in disguise under heavy makeup. He was trying to make a case L could not solve to prove his superiority to L. In the book the only certified reference to L was the phone conversations Naomi had with him to discuss the case. In the very end of the book as Naomi was going back to work she sees a man similar to Rue, who the reader is led to believe is L (and probably is, considering that Mello earlier stated that this case was the first time that L had shown himself in public under the alias 'Ryuuzaki'). This man attempts to give Naomi a hug which she counters in self-defense and sends him tumbling down a flight of stairs. She then catches up to him and asks him his name, to which he replies, "Ryuuzaki."

YonkomaEdit

Death Note: How to Read 13 describes L in the Death Note yonkoma as the "holder of the world's greatest mind" and having the "powerful ability to act like a fool." How to Read 13 adds that in the yonkoma "it's like" L was "born to be mocked."

ReceptionEdit

Anime VersionEdit

Tom S. Pepirium of IGN describes L as "the coolest, most well-developed character in anime today."
Pepirium said that the "excellent translation" is responsible for L being a "success" in the English-language dub of Death Note. Pepirium adds that Alessandro Juliani, L's voice actor, portrays his slurping and gulping sweets as "somehow non-irritating."

Film VersionEdit

Kitty Sensei of OtakuZone had her opinions of the portrayal of L in the first film published in The Star, a Malaysian newspaper. In it Kitty Sensei said that Matsuyama's portrayal of L is "outstanding." She said that he accurately depicted L's characteristics "from the way he squats to the way he grasps objects."
Christy Lee S.W. of The Star said that Matsuyama's portrayal of L in the second film is "the most intriguing" and that the characteristics, including the "looks," "expressions," and "the way he moves" makes Matsuyama as L "a joy to watch."
Matsuyama describes L and Light as having "such unique characters that they’re impossible to understand" and that "the inside of L’s head remains a mystery" to him.
Popular reception to Matsuyama's portrayal of L led to the creation of the spinoff L: Change the WorLd.

ThemesEdit

1st theme ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2nd theme

TriviaEdit

It is unknown if L's hair color is black or dark brown due to the fact that it constantly phases back and forth in the manga and anime (much like the debate over Mello's hair color).

• As most fans of the series have become well aware, L is almost always encountered performing actions that are considered inappropriate or rude in public. These actions/habits include biting fingernails in public, placing feet on furniture, slouching, chewing with an open mouth, calling out personal observations that may offend others, etc.
• According to the timeline on each page of the L: Change the WorLd novel, L was stated to have 272 days left to live prior to writing his name in the Death Note. This leaves some fans to believe that at the end of day 272, Light was "supposed" to have killed him (according to official canon) or he would have died of some other unknown cause since the number of days appear to be roughly one and a half years later.
• Throughout the series, L states that he crouches/squats rather than completely sitting claiming that sitting would decrease his level of awareness by large portions. In reality, this statement can be supported as being true. Judging by L's large daily intake of sugar, sitting down would make his body slow down until he becomes drowsy and passes out from a sugar rush. However, crouching and maintaining balance in the process requires enough sugar to keep L's body aware and active since performing tasks such as crouching consumes more sugar and keeps it at a pace steady enough to prevent the human body from crashing. This also explains why L is able to consume large daily intakes of sweets.
• L, Light and Misa make a cameo appearance in episode 6 of Full Metal Panic: Second Raid, with L riding a bicycle and Light and Misa looking into a building. A barber shop named JUON. Juon is the Japanese word for 'Grudge' having the cameo in front of this building may be pointing to the rivalry between these characters. It is presumed that the grey haired older man standing next to Light could be his father Soichiro.
• It is revealed in the novel "L Change the worLd" that the codename "L" stands for two meanings. L stands for Last One, meaning no one could surpass or match him and Lost One meaning a gifted who was dropped from the heavens.
• L is multilingual. He is able to speak French, Italian, English, Japanese and presumably others, when he solves cases
• In the novel "L Change the WorLd" L (for the first time) completely lost his composure and calm atttitude.

When Maki was kidnapped by Blue Ship, L broke down and screamed toward the sky after he realizing that this was what Light meant about feeling helpless to protect the people he cares about. L also stated that "his heart hurts"

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