#L is really good at filling his function and his enduring popularity can't be for nothing

[mikami]

Why do you like Light (as a character) more than L? I’m just an L’s fan who consideres Light to be pretty boring and I wanna know what makes people think he is better (as a character) than L? Please say what you want about L I just wanna hear your opinion

Mhm, I think it kind of boils down to me valuing internal conflict more than an interesting surface personality?

Light is not particularly quirky or 'interesting' when seen from the outside - he performs the ideal model teenager, and hardly deviates from that. But I always love characters who have a flat surface personality and yet eat themselves up inside in order to maintain the image of themselves that they have built.

I love negotiating the 'self' as a performance. I love characters who cause all their own problems in their head because they just can't help twisting themselves into knots over their self-image.

I just like characters who eat themselves up from the inside out, entirely because they can't get out of their own head.

Light is a masterclass at having a self-image that is turned self-destructive through the story, and I am eating it up.

LOVE TO SEE A MAN GET WORSE.

L meanwhile is a pretty static character - which isn't a bad thing! L knows exactly who he is, what he wants and prioritizes, and chases after his whims with reckless abandon and no regrets. This makes him a fantastic foil for Light. His straightforward selfishness moves the story forward exactly how it needs to, and it's very entertaining to watch others play off him. In a way, L being so entirely certain of himself makes everyone else really confront their own priorities.

But that just doesn't make L interesting to me - he has a quirky personality and a wild backstory, but he doesn't actually face a lot of internal conflict in the story. His problems boil down to 'am I right or wrong?' on a purely fact-based level, rather than him being challenged at the core of who he is.

So he's just not my character type.

(Disclaimer: yes, I know the anime and movies and novels all add a bunch of angst to L, but I don't think it's good or interesting angst so I vastly prefer his manga characterization.)

#answers #i would say Light is a better character because he's more complex #but it's a slim margin #L is really good at filling his function and his enduring popularity can't be for nothing