A liquid crystal display device, comprising in the following order: a first polarizer; a first birefringent layer II; a first birefringent layer I having an in-plane retardation adjusted to λ/4; a liquid crystal cell including a pair of substrates facing each other and a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween; a second birefringent layer I having an Nz coefficient substantially equal to that of the first birefringent layer I and an in-plane retardation adjusted to λ/4; a second birefringent layer II having an Nz coefficient and an in-plane retardation that are substantially equal to an Nz coefficient and an in-plane retardation of the first birefringent layer II, respectively; and a second polarizer, provided that the birefringent layers I (320, 340) are defined as a birefringent layer satisfying the relation of nx > ny ≥ nz; the birefringent layers II (315, 345) are defined as a birefringent layer satisfying the relation of nx < ny ≤ nz; and a birefringent layer III is defined as a birefringent layer satisfying the relation of nx ≈ ny ≥ nz, wherein the device comprises at least one birefringent layer III disposed at least one of: between the first birefringent layer I and the liquid crystal cell; and between the liquid crystal cell and the second birefringent layer I, the first birefringent layer I has an in-plane slow axis forming an angle of about 45° with an absorption axis of the first polarizer, the second birefringent layer I has an in-plane slow axis substantially orthogonal to the in-plane slow axis of the first birefringent layer I, the second polarizer has an absorption axis substantially orthogonal to the absorption axis of the first polarizer, the first birefringent layer II has an in-plane fast axis substantially orthogonal to the absorption axis of the first polarizer; the second birefringent layer II has an in-plane fast axis substantially orthogonal to the absorption axis of the second polarizer, and the device displays a black screen by aligning liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer substantially vertically to the substrate surface; and characterized in that the liquid crystal display device satisfies Nzq < 2.00, -0.45 ≤ Nz2 ≤ 0, and 5 nm ≤ R2 ≤ 133 nm, where the Nz coefficient of each of the first and second birefringent layers I (320, 340) is defined as Nzq; the Nz coefficient of each of the first and second birefringent layers II (315, 345) is defined as Nz2; and the in-plane retardation of each of the first and second birefringent layers II (315, 345) is defined as R2. a first polarizer; a first birefringent layer II; a first birefringent layer I having an in-plane retardation adjusted to λ/4; a liquid crystal cell including a pair of substrates facing each other and a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween; a second birefringent layer I having an Nz coefficient substantially equal to that of the first birefringent layer I and an in-plane retardation adjusted to λ/4; a second birefringent layer II having an Nz coefficient and an in-plane retardation that are substantially equal to an Nz coefficient and an in-plane retardation of the first birefringent layer II, respectively; and a second polarizer, provided that the birefringent layers I (320, 340) are defined as a birefringent layer satisfying the relation of nx > ny ≥ nz; the birefringent layers II (315, 345) are defined as a birefringent layer satisfying the relation of nx < ny ≤ nz; and a birefringent layer III is defined as a birefringent layer satisfying the relation of nx ≈ ny ≥ nz,