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| “ | If only I could see death of the world. | „ |
| ~ Beyond Birthday |
Beyond Birthday (in Japanese: ビヨンド=バースデイ, Biyondo Bāsudei), also reffered to by his false name Rue Ryūzaki is the main antagonist of Death Note - Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases. He was the second child taken in at Wammy's House, in an attempt to create a successor for L, and the serial killer behind the Los Angeles: BB Murder Case.
Beyond Birthday has never appeared in the manga, anime, or film series to date, but the Los Angeles: BB Murder Case was briefly alluded to in both manga and anime.
Background[]
Little is known about Beyond's past, although it is said he was congenitally born with Shinigami Eyes, so he was able to see the names and lifetimes of the people around him, but until then he had never told anyone. Mello suggests a theory that if a bored Shinigami can drop a notebook for a human to pick up, one might have dropped it's eyes in the same way. During his childhood, he was picked up by Watari and taken to Wammy's House orphanage since both of his parents had been killed; his father by a murderer, and his mother by a train crash. Having an intelligence far above his age and superior to the other children in the orphanage, Beyond was later considered to be one of L's first potential successors, along with another child called A. However, A suffered under the pressure the orphanage put on him to succeed L, causing the latter to take away his own life, leaving Beyond as the sole successor. Some time later, Beyond grew to loathe L and his pride yearned to overcome him, so that he ended up fleeing away from Wammy's House at some point.
The Wara Ningyo Murder Cases[]
In July 22 2002, a mysterious crossword puzzle had been sent to the Los Angeles Police Department. The mysterious sender apparently sent the crossword puzzle to tease the L.A.P.D with his intelligence and display of superiority, since they would never be able to solve the puzzle he had sent. As expected, none of the officers were actually able to solve the puzzle and simply discarded it. L, however, ends up recovering the crossword from a reliable source and then hands it over to his proxy, Naomi Misora. As it turned out, the riddle had been discovered; and hidden within it was the address: 221 Insist St. Hollywood, which would in future be the location of a grotesque crime scene for the 31st. This particular date is said to be chosen because it combines the number "1" with the number "3" to form the letter "B", giving a possible clue as to who had sent the puzzle.
On 31 July 2002, 44-year-old Believe Bridesmaid was murdered by strangulation.
Naomi Misora had been sent by L to analyze the crime scene. Believe Bridesmaid was found nine days after his death inside his own room, which for some reason was locked from the inside. His body with obvious strangulation marks on his neck was found lying on his back on his bed, and the bedroom's wall had four Wara Ningyo dolls pinned to it. Severe post-mortem cuts were seen on his chest, as well as his clothes having been altered leaving only a small amount of blood. During her review of the crime scene, she ends up meeting Rue Ryūzaki, who introduces himself as a "un-private" detective who was actually there long before her after being called by Bridesmaid's parents. After having unexpectedly met him, eventually she gets to inspecting the body more closely, and points out that the cuts made on the Bridesmaid's chest, if seen closely, formed Roman numerals, as Ryūzaki agrees with her theory. The Roman numerals read "XIV (16), LIX (59), MCDXXIII (1423), CLIX (159), XIII (13), VII (7), DLXXXII (582), DCCXXIV (724), MI (1001), XL (40), LI (51), XXXI (31)."
Looking through Bridesmaid's manga collection, Ryūzaki and Misora realise that volumes nine and four of the Akazukin Chacha manga are missing, even though the shelf is full. Misora doesn't show much concern about this, and instead of thinking it was a theft committed by the murderer, she points out that perhaps Bridesmaid didn't have any ownership over them. In any case, Ryūzaki deduces that no one would read Akazukin Chacha out of order, strangely going so far as to say that it would pass as evidence in court. Misora simply derisively comments that Ryuzaki's assessment is biased.
He then tells Misora that there are 192 and 184 pages of volumes 4 and 9 of Akazukin Chacha, which if added together make 376 pages. With that, Misora looks at the shelf intently and finds a book called Insufficient Relaxation, by Permit Winter. The book is exactly 376 pages long, and the Roman numerals seared into Bridesmaid's body are actually connected to each page, with Ryūzaki indicating that larger numbers may wrap around. Having read the first few letters of each page, Misora reads next:
- Page 16 - Quadratic
- Page 59 - Ukulele
- Page 1423 (wrapped around three times) - Page 295 - Tenacious
- Page 159 - Rabble
- Page 13 - Table
- Page 7 - Egg
- 582 (wrapped around a single time) - Page 206 - Arbiter
- 724 (wrapped around a single time) - Page 348 - Equable
- 1001 (wrapped around two times) - Page 249 - Thud
- Page 40 - Effect
- Page 51 - Elsewhere
- Page 31 - Name
Although all the words listed don't make any sense, the first initial letters of each of them form "Q-U-T-R-T-E-A-E-T-E-E-N", which would be an anagram for the second victim "Quarter Queen", only with the difference of missing four letters. In any case, Ryūzaki claims that the fact that the word has a third of its letters misspelled could be a mere coincidence. Misora says the opposite, believing it to be intentional, noting that all the letters which are wrong were for words that have wrapped around. Therefore, if a page wraps around once, the second letter is put to use.
- Page 1423 (wrapped around three times) - Page 295 - Tenacious
- 582 (wrapped around a single time) - Page 206 - Arbiter
- 724 (wrapped around a single time) - Page 348 - Equable
- 1001 (wrapped around two times) - Page 249 - Thud
In the end, "Q-U-T-R-T-E-A-E-T-E-N" is actually "Q-U-A-R- T-E-R-Q-U-E-E-N", the name of the second victim. It's a message from the killer, telling of his next murder. TBA
Appearance[]
Beyond is described as a tall young man with medium-length, messy black hair and shadows under his eyes. So to speak, too, he is extremely similar to L. His clothing is a long-sleeved shirt of an unspecified color; in artworks, it may be white like L's or black to differentiate the two. And just like his rival, he also wears faded jeans. Beyond's eye color is also not specified, but in artworks they appear red because of his Shinigami Eyes. However, given the fact that his physical appearance is his own imitation of L, it's quite likely that he wears black or gray contact lenses to look like him. As an aside, Beyond also uses heavy make-up to further look like L.
Personality[]
| “ | If L's a genius, then B's an extreme genius. If L's a freak, then B's an extreme freak. | „ |
| ~ Beyond Birthday pridefully comparing himself to L. |
Firstly as a child, Beyond is described by Mello as "brilliant and devious". His intelligence was, arguably, far greater than all the children in Wammy's House and that's why he was considered to be a potential successor to L. However, the idea of being only the second most intelligent meant that Beyond grew up strongly attached to and envious of L. Because of his unnatural obsession, he not only imitates L's appearance but his habits, too. Consequently, he is seen performing acts that to the public would be seen as rude; such as eating a jar of strawberry jam with his hands, sitting with his knees on his chest, walking in all fours and acting in a rather ignorant manner.
Despite his high intelligence, Beyond is a completely unstable and compulsive individual, given his great fascination with L and his willingness to surpass him at any cost. He can be seen in a somewhat nihilistic way; always putting his desire to surpass L as the sole purpose of his life, and not even minding killing himself by setting himself on fire if that would, in his view, make his murder cases unsolvable. He's also borderline psychopathic, showing no empathy, remorse or guilt for what he's done to his victims, which is subtly revealed when he defends a thesis during his supposed investigation with Misora into the murder of Quarter Queen that killing a child is no different from killing an adult, and when he also inspects the bloody spot where Backyard Bottomslash's body lay without the slightest bit of disgust or caution. Given this, he also manipulates Naomi Misora and the relatives of his own victims into thinking that he is an experienced detective willing to help.
Given his brilliant intellect, Beyond is arrogant and goes so far as to inferiorize or even use those who, in his view, don't reach his or L's level, as he ends up doing with Misora, but he doesn't realize that this is his worst mistake anyway; because he thought little of Misora, he didn't consider that she would be the one to save him from his planned suicide.
Victims[]
Believe Bridesmaid[]
Beyond Birthday's first known victim was the freelance writer Believe Bridesmaid, whom he killed July 31, 2002, after drugging him and then choking him with a rope. Four Wara Ningyo (straw dolls) were left at the crime scene, and in post-mortem mutilation, Bridesmaid's chest was slashed several times; the killer also took the time to re-dress him. When looking at the autopsy photos, Naomi Misora found that the wounds were made to resemble letters (in actuality, a Roman numeral code spelling out the name of the next victim).
Quarter Queen[]
The second murder happened four days later, on August 4. The victim, Quarter Queen (a 13-year-old girl), was also drugged before her death, the cause of which was blunt force trauma to her skull. Her eyes were also crushed in further post-mortem mutilation. Three Wara Ningyo were left at the scene of the crime.
Backyard Bottomslash[]
The third killing happened nine days after Quarter Queen's murder. Backyard Bottomslash was a 28-year-old bank worker who had also been drugged before her death, though her age fell in-between those of the previous two victims (44 and 13). This happened when Beyond Birthday wanted to find out if a human can die of an internal hemorrhage without rupturing any organs. Beyond Birthday conducted this experiment by drugging and then beating Backyard Bottomslash's left arm without breaking the skin. When this did not work, her death was caused by loss of blood, with her right leg and left arm cut off. The right leg was discovered in the bathtub later. The left arm was taken by Beyond Birthday for some unknown reason, with some theories heavily implying he may have eaten it. Two Wara Ningyo were found nailed to the walls in a similar manner to the other two cases.
Rue Ryūzaki[]
In conclusion, Beyond's last victim was himself; or his false identity, "Rue Ryūzaki". After completing the murder of Backyard Bottomslash, he and Naomi Misora headed for a hotel- in which he tricked Misora into thinking that the next victims would be the guests of two rooms since the initial letters of their first and last names began with the letter B. Still with the mantra of a detective, Birthday suggested that Misora stay in the female guest's room while he stayed in the male guest's room, as a tactic to ambush the killer, who by then, unknowingly for Misora, was himself. While in the male guest's room, Beyond set himself on fire in the hope of dying as a victim of his own murders and thus making a case that L couldn't solve. However, Naomi Misora discovered his plot at the last second and saved him from suicide by arresting him.
After a serving a considerable time in prison, Beyond Birthday died of a heart attack in mid-2004 as an alleged victim of Light Yagami.
Artwork[]
An artwork from Another Note. Left: Beyond or L. Right: Naomi Misora.
Due to his resemblance to L, it is unknown if the artwork featured in Another Note is Beyond Birthday or L. Some fans believe it to be L, especially since he does not have red eyes, which the fans have begun to connect with Shinigami Eyes. However, it was mentioned in the manga that it is impossible for a human to see if another human has "The Eyes" or not, making Shinigami Eyes appear normal.
Others have pointed out that it is unlikely that there would be two protagonists in the artwork, as opposed to the protagonist as well as the antagonist. In addition to that, there is a distinguishable "B" in between the two characters, implying that the character may very well in fact be Beyond Birthday. However, there is no way of knowing until it is either confirmed or denied by Nisio Isin.
Trivia[]
- Beyond is considered by many the third most intelligent character in Death Note universe, only behind L and Light Yagami.
- In the movie L: Change the WorLd, when L is on his laptop and sending the message that Watari is dead to the members of Wammy's House, the letter B is seen on L's mailing list. It is currently unknown if this was Beyond or not.
External Links[]
- Beyond Birthday on the Death Note Wiki
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 Villains
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Light Yagami and Allies Shinigami Yotsuba Group Criminals Others Film Series | ||