General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

L: Change the World (L change the World)

L: Change the World (L change the WorLd, エル・チェンジ・ザ・ワールド) is a 2008 Japanese live-action spin-off film in which the detective L, played by Kenichi Matsuyama, spends the last 23 days of his life trying to stop a group of scientists from spreading a lethal virus.¹^•² It is a spin-off of the two live-action Death Note films, Death Note and Death Note: The Last Name, which were commercially successful not only in Japan but across Asia, and it was directed by Hideo Nakata, the director of Ringu.¹^•³

Key fact	Detail
Japanese release	February 9, 2008, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Japan⁴
Director and star	Hideo Nakata; Kenichi Matsuyama reprising his role as L¹
Runtime	128 minutes per Nikkatsu, eiga.com, and Filmarks; 129 minutes per the Japanese Film Database⁴^•¹
Premise	After ending the Kira case at the cost of his own life and Watari's, L has 23 days to stop bioterrorists wielding a human-made virus⁵
Creative team	Screenplay by Hirotoshi Kobayashi and Kiyomi Fujii; music by Kenji Kawai; theme song by Lenny Kravitz; original story by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata³
Novelization	A novel adaptation of the film was published, a spin-off story focusing on L after the first two films⁶
Audience reception	Filmarks 3.2/5 from over 53,000 user reviews; IMDb 6.0; Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter 64% from 2,500+ ratings⁷^•⁵^•²

Spoilers

Plot and place in the series

The story runs in parallel with Death Note: The Last Name rather than strictly before or after it, following L outside the Death Note storyline.⁹ Having ended the Kira case, in which Light Yagami used the Death Note to purge criminals and styled himself a new world's god, L paid with his own life and the death of Watari, his closest partner.⁵^•⁸ He spends his remaining 23 days solving difficult cases alone around the world.⁵

The new case begins when a bioterror attack with a novel virus strikes a village in Thailand; the virus combines influenza-level transmissibility with an Ebola-level fatality rate, and a country bombs the village to destroy the evidence.⁵ A surviving boy, called BOY, and a girl named Maki, carrying the virus that was meant to be entrusted to Watari, come to L, drawing him into the affairs of the environmental group Blue Ship and its plan to reduce humanity.⁵ Nikkatsu's synopsis frames the antagonist's weapon as a "god of death" made by human hands, wielded by someone who, like Kira before, speaks of "changing the world".⁴

Cast. Matsuyama leads as L, with Youki Kudoh as Kimiko Kujo, Mayuko Fukuda as Maki Nikaido, Kiyotaka Nanbara as Hideaki Suruga, Sei Hiraizumi as Dr. Koichi Matsudo, Shunji Fujimura returning as Watari, and Narushi Fukuda as Near.¹^•⁵^•² Tatsuya Fujiwara (Light Yagami), Erika Toda (Misa Amane), and Asaka Seto (Naomi Misora) appear, and Kazuki Namioka plays F; Nakamura Shido voices Ryuk.⁵^•⁷

Production and release

The film was produced in 2007 by a consortium of Japanese companies, including Nippon Television, Shueisha, Horipro, Yomiuri Telecasting, VAP, Shochiku, Warner Bros. Pictures Japan, and Nikkatsu, with shooting at Nikkatsu Studio; Warner Bros. Pictures Japan handled theatrical distribution in Japan.¹^•⁴ It opened in Japanese theaters on February 9, 2008.⁴ Producers credited include Tadashi Tanaka, Nobuhiro Iizuka, and Takahiro Kobashi.¹

Nakata, described by the Japanese Film Database as a leading figure in Japanese horror who made his Hollywood debut with The Ring Two, here directed what Cinema Today calls his first full-scale action drama, handled with suspense.¹^•⁸

Novelization

A novel adaptation of the film was published as a spin-off story focusing on L after the events of the first two films in the live-action series, with the same central premise: L has twenty-three days to bring a terrorist group to justice before it uses a deadly new virus to kill off most of humanity.⁶

Reception

Aggregated audience scores place the film in middling territory. On Filmarks it holds 3.2 out of 5 from more than 53,000 reviews, with 49% of ratings in the 3.1 to 4.0 band and 36% in the 2.1 to 3.0 band.⁷ JustWatch lists a 69% rating and an IMDb score of 6.0 from about 9,000 users.⁵ On Rotten Tomatoes the Tomatometer shows 0 critic reviews, while the Popcornmeter stands at 64% from 2,500+ audience ratings.² User reactions on Filmarks center on Matsuyama's performance, praising his portrayal of L's mannerisms and a new, more human side of the character.⁷

Availability

As of an October 2026 survey, the film streams on subscription in Japan on U-NEXT, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, DMM TV, and Netflix, with rental options on Lemino and FOD; JustWatch likewise lists Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and U-NEXT among current Japanese streaming options.¹⁰^•⁵ Availability differs sharply by region: in Turkey the film was not listed on local streaming platforms in a recent check, and in Germany rental starts at €4.99 on maxdome Store.¹¹^•¹²

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026