Death Note Relight 2: L's Successors

Picking up where the first recap left off, this Tetsuro Araki special compresses the late stretch of the anime, the struggle among Light's heirs, into little more than ninety minutes. Unlike the earlier installment, it folds in a substantial amount of original animation, a sign that the production wanted more creative latitude this time. Viz Media licensed it for North America, where it reached DVD in June 2009 after its Japanese television airing the previous August. As a director's cut, it remains a condensed, non-canonical reworking rather than an extension of the established storyline.

The late detective L opens the special with a fourth-wall-breaking recap before the action resumes with Near and Mello reacting to his death and Mello declaring his independence. Four years later, as Near prepares to depart Wammy's House, a flashback shows L addressing the orphanage children without his voice scrambler, branding himself a monster for his habit of lying. Near quickly senses that Kira and whoever now poses as L may be the same person. After Near establishes the SPK, the film reveals that Light assumed the L identity only four years after the original's death, with Mikami already installed as the killer's proxy and Takada serving as their go-between.

Perceiving the SPK as a growing danger once the task force resumes scrutinizing him, Light directs Mikami and Takada to eliminate most of its members using leaked intelligence. A surreal montage previews Mikami's eventual suicide before the remaining beats play out as tightened versions of the broadcast episodes. The Kira case collapses, and Ryuk writes Light's name to end his life. A scene after the credits finds the investigators discovering Light's body in a warehouse, followed by Ryuk in flight and a final note echoing the manga's rule that the dead never return.

The special is remembered for sharpening L's darker edges, most famously through a monologue he delivers to the Wammy's House children when one asks what frightens him. In it he likens liars to the cruelest breed of monster, creatures that mimic humanity without grasping it, and admits that he is exactly such a being; the speech became a favorite among fans. Observers also noted inconsistencies, such as a victim dying by an impossible twisting of the neck despite the notebook's stated limits, and small continuity quirks like L promising a two-hour runtime for a film that runs closer to ninety minutes.