#lmeta

Hi thank you! I haven't re-read this part of the series in years now, and I'm still not there in my re-read, but I think if my memory serves correctly I should be able to answer this anyway.

My theory about why L deleted all the information from the Kira investigation:

Because he didn't want Light or anybody else to get their hands on the information. And I think this was a smart thing for him to do, considering that Light immediately took on the L role. He anticipated that Light would be volunteered by the others to take over as L, and he also thought he was the only one who could actually pull it off.

I am pretty sure this scene plays out slightly differently between the manga and the anime. I think that in the anime it shows Light reading over all of L's personal case information after his death, and then deleting it himself. But in the manga it shows that Light was only really able to recreate L's synthetic voice, and to continue using the same programs they were using together during the Yotsuba arc.

My theory for why Ohba didn't set it up so that L just sent all his case files to his successors for them to use:

Because it makes Mello and Near seem more impressive and hardworking and sympathetic to the audience if they are able to lay a lot of the case groundwork on their own instead of just riding L's coattails to victory. I could see fans dismissing them as lazy or not so smart pretty easily if that was the case instead.

L was supposed to pick a successor, but never actually met the kids?

Yep, it seems as though he probably never met them, if you are going by the later one-shot where Near mentions that they only ever interacted with him over a video call once. In that one-shot it said he liked the sinister look in the eyes of Mello and Near the best, so he was just kinda basing it on their vibes? Hahaha. The series is always ambiguous about the true extent of L's involvement at Wammy's, or his actual feelings toward the whole successor program. But my headcanon is that he wasn't super involved with the successors in any personal way. And possibly he just didn't want to make a choice between them, because he didn't want to consider his own mortality and the thought of being replaced already at such a young age.

Do I think L knew he was going to die, and also planned for it?

I think he definitely knew it was a possibility and that he made a lot of arrangements surrounding that possibility, but that he never actually believed he was going to lose in any way. He's extremely confident in himself, and he'd never been proven wrong or stumped by a case before.

My theory about L's final words:

He got to realize that he was definitely right before he died, which is at least a little bit of closure for a character who was so 1000% obsessed with proving himself right about his suspicion toward Light all along. I think the behind the scenes book said Ohba was imagining that L was thinking some "I lost the battle, but the war isn't over" type things here? So maybe his thoughts were partially drifting toward the successors, and hoping that they'd be able to carry on in his stead.

Yes, I think he's definitely not wishing harm on anyone helpful involved in this case. And though he maybe keeps an emotional distance from most of the people involved, and sometimes struggles to relate to them or to not get overly bossy and sour with them, I think he really does care about their safety and appreciate their help. I really like those moments where he's a bit gentler and worried and thoughtful toward others like that too, I think it adds some interesting nuance and character depth.

-I think the fact that Light was often outpacing L and managing to get things done under his name while still keeping things pretty morally sound was both impressive and disturbing to L in many ways. I've never been extremely interested in trying to determine "which character is the most intelligent one of all" in this cast, because I feel like intelligence is such a multi-faceted thing that is pretty difficult to measure in an objective kind of way. So I don't often spend much time contemplating which of the two of them is definitely the "smarter" one, I suppose? I think that L and Light were set up to seem pretty equal in terms of their wits and skills, but that L was definitely struggling with his confidence and his energy levels in this arc. He was also at odds with a team that wasn't always happy with his extreme methods or his leadership, and plagued with confusion about Light's entire personality suddenly going through what seemed to be a massive change. Light was definitely hyper-motivated to catch Kira, and to therefore prove himself useful and innocent all at once. He was also younger and more idealistic and optimistic in general, so possibly just had a bit of extra vim and vigour which occasionally gave him a bit of an advantage over L. This was no doubt a pretty stressful and confusing period in L's life as well as Light's.

-I've made a post about L calling Misa a friend already that I'll reblog, but I think that in that scene he was making an ironic throwback reference to his "first ever friend" joke with Light.

Interesting question! I agree that Another Note made it sound darker and more abusive than it originally looked in the manga, so let’s take a look:

THE ORIGINAL MANGA VERSION OF WAMMY’S:

It was founded by Watari with his own money, and was one of many orphanages he opened around the world:

This is how Aizawa and Matsuda describe it after going to see it for themselves:

1. it’s “more of an institution than an orphanage,” and kids are definitely being purposely raised to be the next L. It doesn’t specifically say where these brilliant children come from or how they are selected, but Wammy’s is definitely not a charitable organization

2. the kids go by aliases with everyone, and are given normal schoolwork and also “very advanced” work to do (but it doesn’t sound quite as forceful and dehumanizing as the process did in the novel, where A and B were treated more like weird science experiments and “expected to fail’)

3. Roger seemed straight-forward about everything with the detectives, like he didn’t seem to think he had anything too shady to hide about the goings-on at Wammy’s

4. Roger wanted Near and Mello to work together to be the next L. Doesn’t sound too forceful about it, but again, these are kids and they’re in an institution that’s grooming them specifically to take on this role, and children are very impressionable and vulnerable people by default

5. both Mello and Near chose to leave Wammy’s on their own as orphan minors (ages 12 and 14 or something?), and apparently nobody stopped them. Pretty neglectful-sounding (if you’re looking at it from a serious/realistic perspective). Near carried on doing what the institution was raising him to do all along, and Mello ended up in the US involved in organized crime, so make of that what you will, I suppose

6. Another student Linda “excelled in art” and became a famous artist. Sounds like she was allowed to pursue creative passions and a career outside of the stuff that would directly help her become L, so that’s a plus in Wammy’s favour

Now let’s look at Wammy’s House as it appears in the manga:

Hey very true!

It’s funny sometimes to remember that the whole Another Note novel was based on just these few panels in the manga:

It seems like such a small throwaway bit of information, but Nisio Isin really took it and ran with it. He actually created a ton of the Wammy’s lore that is widely accepted now which wasn’t in the manga originally at all, if you think about it.

HE DID IN FACT HAVE EARS AND WE DID IN FACT SEE THEM SOMETIMESSome Manga Evidence:

Some Anime Evidence:

omg yes, I know what you mean…

Hmmm, I suppose it could definitely have something to do with L being confused that Misa suddenly changed her tune during the confinement, but I think it’s mostly meant to be funny as in: “clearly this situation seems very perverted, and yet L is totally oblivious to the fact that it’s pervy”:

I’m glad that it’s that way though because I feel like this already very uncomfortable scene would be so much worse if L was actually being horny about it, don’t you?