L: Change the World (stylized as L: change the WorLd) is a 2008 Japanese thriller film and a spin-off to the Death Note film series. Although the film is inspired by the manga Death Note that was written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, it follows an original storyline. It is set during the events of Death Note 2: The Last Name and Matsuda Spinoff. The film is directed by Hideo Nakata, and it stars actor Kenichi Matsuyama as the character L Lawliet. Furthermore, child actor Narushi Fukuda stars as Nate "Near" River, while child actress Mayuko Fukuda plays the role of Maki Nikaido, a character who does not appear in the original manga. The film was first released in Hong Kong on 7 February 2008. It was subsequently released in the Japanese box office on 9 February 2008. Additionally, two different versions of the film were shown in the United States on 29 and 30 April 2009 respectively. Plot In the final 23 days of L's life, he takes on one final case involving a bioterrorist group that aims to wipe out much of humanity with a virus. The virus has an infection rate that is one hundred times the infection rate of the Ebola virus. During this case, he takes a young boy with a gift for calculations, the sole survivor of the virus's use in a village in Thailand, and an elementary school student named Maki Nikaido under his wing. Dr. Nikaido later receives a sample of the deadly virus which destroyed that village in Thailand. His assistant, Dr. Kimiko Kujo, reveals herself to be the leader of the organization that created the virus. Dr. Nikaido, who has created an antidote to that virus, refuses to give it to her. He destroys the antidote and injects himself with the virus. She later kills him, and she is convinced that his daughter Maki has the antidote formula. Under the pursuit of Dr. Kimiko Kujo and her assistants, Maki runs and escapes. She eventually finds L's headquarters. However, the group manages to track Maki down, forcing L, accompanied by Maki and the boy, to run away in a high-tech crepe truck; Maki had also injected herself with the virus beforehand and tried to use her infection to murder Kujo out of hatred for her father's homicidal death, but there were no signs of infection throughout the journey