Personally, I feel Mello’s more interesting that Near, but that’s maybe because I know how it’ll turn out in the end and you didn’t know it when you wrote that review, since you obviously didn’t read the manga. Mello’s only habit that reminds of L is eating chocolate, but Near’s much more similar to L in the way he acts/speaks. Mello is needed as a balance, because the biggest difference between L and Near is that L was ready to take action and Near doesn’t want to get himself into danger. Since Mello’s so reckless, it was finally him and his actions that made it possible for Near to do his investigations properly. Mello’s more or less the sacrifice that was needed for Near to be successful, but I like him better, because I feel he’s a completely different character than L, unlike Near.

BTW, although I think the footwashing was great %D , it was most likely meant symbolic. Also, you can’t really compare Misa’s appearance to that scene, because that’s exactly what happened in the manga (speaking of Misa now) and not just an additional scene for the anime.