L Lawliet

"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.

L Lawliet is the hero antagonist of anime and manga series, Death Note. He is considered the world's greatest detective, and is an enigmatic person who spends the series trying to catch the vigilante/mass murderer Kira, who is none other than Light Yagami.

Appearance
L is a very slim, tall young man with black hair and dark eyes. One of his most noticeable features is the shadow below each of his eyes, a result of sleep deprivation. L is always shown to be wearing blue jean pants and a long-sleeved, white shirt. He almost never wears shoes or socks, preferring to go barefoot even while in public.

Personality
L's most prominent character trait is his secretiveness. He rarely goes out into the outside world when not investigating a case, never shows his face to the world, and communicates almost exclusively via his assistant and only friend, Watari. When meeting face-to-face with others, he never gives out his real name, instead using a variety of aliases, such as "Ryuzaki" (when interacting with the Japanese task force), "Hideki Ryuga" (when meeting Light at his school), "Eraldo Coil" and "Deneuve" (under which he has developed reputations as the world's second and third-greatest detectives). Additionally, due to having minimal interaction with other people, L has very poor social skills, and is prone to performing actions or having habits considered rude and inappropriate, including eating with his mouth open, talking with his mouth full, placing feet on furniture, biting fingernails, etc. L 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.

Despite his disheveled appearance and odd habits, L is highly intelligent, and has a keen mind rivaling that of protagonist Light Yagami. Although he doesn't have any good social skills, L has an analytical understanding and knowledge of human nature, which he uses to his enemies' disadvantage, such as when he tricks Light into killing an impostor of himself on live TV and pinpointing his whereabouts to the Kanto region of Japan (since the broadcast was only airing there at the time), betting on the slim chance that Kira would kill someone who made a stand against him. He also creates false information and leads to try to bait Kira into revealing himself, which nearly succeed. When presented with any information, L tends to meticulously second-guess anything he's given, and analyses it for any inconsistencies or clues.

Although he's ostensibly the "hero" of the story, in that he's trying to catch a murderer (albeit one who only kills criminals, murderers, rapists, and other people who have evaded the justice system), L is not above using questionable or brutal methods to get answers, making him an anti-hero. While he never kills anyone himself, he's not above keeping Light and his accomplice (and lover) Misa Amane in solitary confinement for more than 50 days to test whether they're Kira or not. Earlier in the story, he took a criminal on death row and made him act as a decoy to draw Kira out. Later, when confronting other Kira (Kyosuke Higuchi), L made it clear that we was willing to torture him to get the info he wants. Despite this, L genuinely wants justice to be served, and considers Kira, in killing criminals (as well as other innocent people later, such as FBI agent Raye Penber and his girlfriend Naomi Misora) to be equally wrong and just as evil as them, and that he should be punished for his crimes.