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 are defined as a birefringent layer satisfying the relation of nx > ny ≥ nz; the birefringent layers II 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 is defined as Nzq; the Nz coefficient of each of the first and second birefringent layers II is defined as Nz2; and the in-plane retardation of each of the first and second birefringent layers II 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 are defined as a birefringent layer satisfying the relation of nx > ny ≥ nz; the birefringent layers II 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, <EOS>