Thread:KylaraE/@comment-33030270-20180519173752/@comment-24021004-20180520013857

Soichiro: Light's spent his entire life with this man, so yeah.

L: His main opponent. Plus L also analyzed everything Light would do, and at the moment we're comparing them both so this doesn't mean much

Yuri: Predicted she wouldn't brag about the date; however, he's spent many years with her at school.

Rem: Part of his Yotsuba plan, he managed to analyze just what Rem would do to save Misa. However, the only thing he had to know was "Rem cares about Misa" and based his actions off that so yeah, not too special.

Namikawa: Knew he wasn't Kira, but L did the same and at the moment we're comparing them both so it doesn't mean much.

Now, as for L:

Naomi: He only interacted with Naomi once in person and the rest of his interactions were through a computer screen, so it's quite a feat that he managed to analyze the kinda approach she'd take from Raye's death.

Light: His main opponent. Plus Light also analyzed everything L would do, and at the moment we're comparing them both so this doesn't mean much.

Namikawa: Knew he wasn't Kira, but L did the same and at the moment we're comparing them both so it doesn't mean much.

Soichiro: L knew a very specific thing Soichiro would do, that he would kill Light then kill himself, and keep in mind that he's known Soichiro for some months compared to Light's entire life, so yeah, great.

So Light's amazing analyses are Mello and Near, while L's amazing analyses are on Naomi and Soichiro. So yeah, it's kinda equal. However, during the timeskip, Light is still really healthy considering he still looks really hot, and judging from how he recommended the Task Force to take a break once, he still seems to manage the stress from playing three distinct personalities pretty well and doesn't seem to be losing much sleep. However, despite having poorer health, L still had years and years of experience and a minimum of 3,500 cases he solved, so yeah, I'd say Light takes the cake here for the smartest person between Light and L. It's also worth noting that Light and L, for the majority of their battle, knew each other in person, while Light, while analyzing Near and Mello, never met them in person.

Keep in mind that I'm not really using the game as a reference. See, while Light did indeed beat L fair and square at equal footing (I say equal footing because while Light had supernatural elements despite limited resources, L had A LOOOT of resources, so while Light had a weak offense due to limited resources and strong defense due to knowing how to counter L's realistic resources, L had a weak defense not knowing how to counter the supernatural stuff properly while having a strong offense with all these resources), one could still say L outwitted Light by preparing backups, so it's kinda up to personal interpretation from there on.

As for Near. Now I like to believe Near is smarter than L, because of the thematic consistency. See, Mello was an extreme version of L's initiative with some of L's intellect, and since we know Near represents L's intellect and that Near still took some initiative, that must mean that Near was an extreme version of L's intellect with some of L's initiative. And since both of their strengths were at extremes while inheriting some of the other's strengths, that's why both of them together would take down Light super easily.

Now, we just have to pit Near against Light. So, Near won against Light, but with L solving half the case, and Mello's help (sure, Mello did indeed deprive Near of most of Near's resources, the SPK, but Mello did more good than harm, considering he was the catalyst to Near deducing who Kira is with the kidnappings plus his death at the end). But then again, there is the fact that Near severely overestimated himself and thought Light was an utter idiot for most the battle, but Light thought the same about Near. Buuuut, Near is indeed younger than Light, with Light having reached past the 18-year old mark at that point of the series while Near was just barely 18, being 17 for a decently large chunk too. Plus, while Light didn't have much experience, Near still had much less than Light, the Kira case being his first case, plus Light still had years of being L.

See, during the timeskip Light must​​​​​​ ​have still done some tricks and lies to avoid suspicion from the Task Force like he did in Part II, but nothing like his battle with L, and Near/Mello, judging from Ryuk's comment of how things were getting "interesting" again during Mello's kidnapping shitsies. So while Light didn't necessarily lift exhausting and excessive weights daily (considering he wasn't too stressed), he still did moderately healthy cardio every day during the timeskip. So yeah, Near still had much less experience than Light did. H O W E V E R, Near did indeed participate in a lot of challenges with Mello in Wammy's, and we can assume these challenges teaches one how to be L properly, BUTTTTTT Light did indeed have a detective as father and he must have studied his father and detective-work judging from how that's his hobby, how he helped with two cases, and how he's studying to be a detective.

So, Near was indeed inferior to Light during the game, but that's while Near is younger, had less experience, and was much less healthier. So it's kinda ambiguous as to who would be smarter, but I'd personally go with Near.