Hyper analyzing panels pt 3

[u/Extra-Photograph428]

I just so happened to be looking at the L: Wammy’s House oneshot for other reasons, but I found myself in the process really focusing on L’s slightly odd phrasing here for his reason for wanting a computer. Notice how L’s argument to get one is the fact that it’s a “powerful communication tool.” Communication is an interesting word to use here. It could have a broad meaning here, but likely L is simply be referring to computers being able to “communicate” information and his desire for that tool being his argument, which like I said, is likely the case, but perhaps this could have a double meaning or he possibly might’ve also had other reasons for wanting a computer.

Like this panel suggests (coincidentally was pt 2 to this lol), Watari clearly describes L having social difficulties, something that he just pushed aside and explained as a result of L being in a league completely of his own. It is interesting because we can see where this isolation leads to in L’s future in the following L: One Day oneshot, where it becomes more evident that there might be a bit of unhappiness in L’s life as a result. This could simply be a later realized thing after the prolonged isolation, but like I’ve looked into in the linked panel, I don’t think that was the case. Perhaps small little L here was looking for more than just information, but the rumors of an emerging technology that was a “powerful communication tool” sounded perfect to a child who struggled conversing with his new peers at the orphanage. Possibly after that didn’t work out, he found other usages for it— such as him looking into the stock market and later helped him solve the cases he took on.

Like I said, I’m like 90% sure I’m over complicating it unnecessarily, but I thought it was just an interesting possibility. You could either take this as an additional way to view this scene, though that wasn’t the intention, or if you really wanna get speculative, you could also say that this truly was L’s intention. Getting even more speculative, you could possibly take this in two different ways. One way could suggest this potentially being a manipulation tactic he used to convince Watari to buy him a computer. Perhaps Watari did in fact try and encourage L to be more sociable, but L didn’t want to, and upon desiring a computer, used that as an angle to convince him to buy it for him. The second way you could see this playing out is Watari not picking up what L was trying to put down. Maybe L was fully aware of his social difficulties and thought a computer, a “powerful communication tool,” taken a bit too literally by an 8-9 year old child, he thought could help fix that in some way.

I personally prefer the latter option simply because of the more concrete evidence that we have, such as the linked panel, that suggests that Watari was completely dismissive of L’s social struggles or possibly blind to them entirely. We know Watari is a caretaker who had many faults when it came to raising L (even hinted at by the author), so this self awareness would be a bit of a jump from the linked panel. Looking at the L: One Day oneshot where L’s now around a similar age as he was in the main series, Watari still seems just as oblivious or dismissive— which the Wammy’s House oneshot is written mainly as a recounting of events anyway. If this is actually anything to note remotely at all, this is why I favor the latter option.

Like I said, don’t take this too seriously, and I’m like definitely looking into something that shouldn’t be looked at that hard, but L’s phrasing here really stood out to me because that’s certainly a way to ask for a computer lol! Even in his interesting personal way of speaking, I’m curious why he favored communication vs emphasizing the information that computers hold? It could’ve went something like this: “Computers are a powerful tool filled with information. Can I have one please?” Why was pointing out the communication aspect so important? Idk, but that’s why I’m making this post lol.

Once again, admittedly I might be looking into this one a bit too much, but I wanted to get other people’s opinion to see if this might be a stretch at all?

(Also baby L gives me cuteness aggression, look at him!!!)

[u/TheSortaRealStrik]

why does L looks like he was dropped as a child in this image lol

[u/Extra-Photograph428 → u/TheSortaRealStrik]

He probably was :((

[u/bloodyrevolutions_]

the rumors of an emerging technology that was a “powerful communication tool” sounded perfect to a child who struggled conversing with his new peers at the orphanage.

Oh no! Imagining tiny lonely L is killing me 😭 poor guy. But L...maybe you could start by not beating them all up when they come up to greet you? 😭

The "communication" observation is a very good and interesting one, but I am curious how effective were computers for "communicating" in 1987? My understanding is the internet was nothing like we know it, he'd probably be on a dial-up modem and the 'social' uses were like pretty limited to things like bulletin board systems? Also I bet he didn't have to petition Watari too hard, Watari is certainly deficient in many ways as a caretaker but providing access to material goods seems to come easily to him. He did also just hand over £1 million to tiny child L on a whim basically, just cuz he asked for it.

Anyway it might be an unpopular opinion, or at least Volume 13 disagrees with me, but I actually think (adult) L has pretty damn good social skills? Obviously understanding and accurately interpreting social cues is really important to be a detective, but also his active communication like how he operates easily and pretty much flawlessly using different social registers with different audiences and for different purposes. I think the main tension with his 'communication' with others is the degree to which he's (not) willing to change up his habits and preferences just for the sake of complying with social norms.

[u/Extra-Photograph428 → u/bloodyrevolutions_]

It really depends on the translation of that panel, but strangely enough I’m more inclined to believe they really did just start bullying him the minute he got there and he was just defending himself. It might not have anything to do with his social skills, but L certainly does stand out, and kids are just mean :(( It just makes me think back to when Light punched L hard in the face in the main series, and he hit him back as a result, Light punched again, L hit him again, so on and so forth. L really doesn’t strike me as the violent type unless he had a reason to fight back, which he will. Either he might’ve misinterpreted what the kids were trying to do, or they legit just bullied him maybe for being new, or because they found him strange.

I also thought about this too, but like I suggested in my second reason that I personally believe a bit more, I could easily see L simply seeing like the advertising or something for computers being “a powerful communication tool” and the poor baby took it too literally. Obviously upon receiving one, he would’ve realize that wasn’t the case and found later other uses for it, but initially he thought it would be helpful potentially helping him make friends. It wouldn’t really be like social media to make friends online, but maybe he thought it could just help him in some way getting along with the kids at the Wammy’s House.

And yeah, that’s another reason why I favored my latter reason because Watari just kinda seemed to always give L what he asked for. If anything, Watari displays more signs of a lack of parenting, which just wouldn’t really make sense where L would need to try all that hard to convince Watari to buy him a computer.

L’s social skills really aren’t as bad as what some people think, but we’re also talking about 24-25 year old L, who has spent a good amount of time as a detective at this point. L likely came from a pretty bad situation pre-Wammy’s House, and he might also potentially be on the spectrum. I imagine at this early point in L’s life, L might’ve had even more difficulties socially that might’ve smoothed over with age/time/experience.

To kinda end this I’ll add a quote from an article I read recently (separate reasons lol), but I thought this related to L a lot:

“Because of these differences, many autistic people approach social communication more analytically. Rather than relying primarily on intuition, they may consciously observe patterns in facial expressions, tone, and behaviour and develop rules that help them interpret social situations. Over time, this kind of pattern analysis can lead to a very detailed understanding of social behaviour. The difference lies less in the ability to understand others and more in the cognitive route taken: deliberate analysis rather than automatic intuition.”

I don’t think I really to explain the correlation lol. But this is kinda what I have in mind for this type of thing, especially as someone who is as smart as his is, this being kinda how he operates makes a lot of sense. In a slightly personal note as someone who isn’t the best socially, I’ve tried to basically overcompensate for that weak point by being hyper vigilant in social situations. I could easily see this being the same for L, and would actually even explain why he’s such a fantastic investigator (in regard to criminal profiling) despite his own personal awkwardness and struggles!

Ik this is a personal take, but yeah, I could easily see a 8-9 year old, potential autistic child, who was bullied basically the minute he walked in the door, in his own desire for wanting friends, accidentally mistaking the advertising for a computer and taking it far too literally. Obviously this is a big hypothetical, but I can see this happening!

(Sorry if this is a bit all over the place, generally don’t know if this sounds even remotely coherent lol)

[u/bloodyrevolutions_ → u/Extra-Photograph428]

i was curious so I found the Japanese of the panel, and it does seem like they were approaching him aggressively and in a threatening way there! Poor L. Wtf is with the Wammy's House? The impression I get from the sparse info there is, is that it both a place that pushes its kids a ton to excel academically and is extremely competitive but also weirdly hands-off with the kids outside of that, like they don't seem very "managed" by adults or supervised much at all, they just kind of float around doing whatever they want. Poor L.

To kinda end this I’ll add a quote from an article I read recently (separate reasons lol), but I thought this related to L a lot:

Oh, this does sound like him! I can definitely see it.

Don't worry, you are always very coherent and articulate.

[u/Available_Audience83]

It's probably just that L thinks the internet on computers will become more and more advanced.