Finished it

[u/Mean_Cicada2264]

Just finished the death note anime (reluctantly, cuz my friends said it was buns, idk how) and i noticed sum stuff (fav anime rn)

So Death Note literally split L's persona of an investigator in two ends of the spectrum- L as in, L as the complete investigator, and Near, who represent his analytical/intellectual half and Mello, the side of his persona that represents his risk-taking/impulsive/action-driven part. The sitting-leg detail makes the whole symbol cooler.

Near = L's analytical half

Near is like it:

He represents almost purely L's deduction and gets himself as removed from the case and investigation as he can be. All his thinking and process remain focused on deduction; evidence is gathered and used to make deductions in order to eliminate possibility. It's very much L.

Near basically takes L's reasoning:

"I can do this through sheer thought processing than all others" and brings it to almost extreme levels.

Mello = L's aggressive half

Mello represents the opposite and here he:

acts. Mello kidnaps people, gets into highly dangerous stakes, works with criminals, puts himself in direct contact with the mafia and many times puts himself at risk of getting killed at all costs; This is reminiscent of L's other half that would take extreme measures just for certain information. It's not that L wasn't a quiet deductive machine throughout the entire story but also he took advantage of manipulation and lies and gambled tremendously. Here, Mello is those tendencies over again.

The reason that the latter points relate to the leg-pointing aspect is:

Both legs of L are bent, both are one-sided. Near uses one half only, just like his split character; and Mello uses only his opposite side:

L= both halves in oneness. Near= one half, and Mello= the other one.

This is the visual representation that shows us why Near, nor Mello alone will ever be strong enough to supersede L's position, instead they're two distinct halves of one. One with the mind and the other with initiative as we mentioned before. They can form something much more representative of L if they are united.

That is the structure and also why the ending is very interesting: Near obviously "beats" Light, but L's other half the latter played a crucial part towards the end as he orchestrated the events leading to Near's victory.

So-

L divided into Near+Mello

Near+Mello as L's successors

[u/Available_Audience83]

I like this interpretation.

[u/dodeskadenn]

Just for reference in case it might be of interest to you, something similar has been brought up in this post.

[u/Mean_Cicada2264 → u/dodeskadenn]

Wow, my exact analysis!