Click HERE to see this thread with all of the graphics, features, and links.

who is the best strategist of the three whose the smartest

Shikamaru. Armin is piss-poor when it comes to anything outside of thinking outside the box, and Light is just a smart high-schooler who can exploit the anonymity of the internet.

although i think armin might the least smart of the three i think he is worthy to be in the conversation hes very good at taking in information and creating hypothesis' on the fly.


shikamaru and light to me are much smarter because they have the ability to think an enormous amount of steps ahead while also being able to think on the fly.

id prolly say light is the smartest because shikamaru needs a prep time to think up strategies while light thinks of things on the fly and has a contingency plan for almost anything. only readon light got caught is because of the three other equally talented strategists working together

its just interesting to me to think of stuff like this

Light Yagami.

Dude things 30 steps ahead, the only tihng that ever causes him to lose is his own hubris. That doesn't make him a bad strategist. His plans are next level. He's also the smartest.

Shikamaru however has the most potential, but rarely tries. He's certainly a good Shogi player, but his strategies aren't beyond Lights.

Originally posted by Quincy
Light Yagami.

Dude things 30 steps ahead, the only tihng that ever causes him to lose is his own hubris. That doesn't make him a bad strategist. His plans are next level. He's also the smartest.

Shikamaru however has the most potential, but rarely tries. He's certainly a good Shogi player, but his strategies aren't beyond Lights.

Nooo... Light was caught by Near because he was unable to think of simply having himself and whatshisface act like he was going to be killed as well, and write Light's name down without thinking of his face. Or he could have used a fake notebook, and written all the names but one of the agents, making them out to be Kira. There were just a thousand things he could have done to win there, but he didn't think of them.

Shikamaru was able to kill two immortal people with one of his strategies. Nuff said.

Yeah that'd be his hubris, man. It's like, your ego.

remember his whole plan to relinquish his memory of the death note and then help the team find the new owner and then get ownership of it AGAIN all played right into his hands? That was crazy! He can like, think of how people will react and that's wild.

As to your point of Shikamaru being Superior because he killed two immortals...Light was able to plan so specifically that he caused a GOD to KILL THEMSELVES.

On top of that, he had that SAME god take out TWO of his biggest enemies all in one move.

Shikamaru's strategies are cool, and I'd root for him over Light, but they are never as complex as Light's. For example, his big strategy in the fight against Tayuya is "Oh i'll hurt my finger and then her magic won't work."

I mean, it's effective, but not nearly as impressive.

Originally posted by Quincy
Yeah that'd be his hubris, man. It's like, your ego.

remember his whole plan to relinquish his memory of the death note and then help the team find the new owner and then get ownership of it AGAIN all played right into his hands? That was crazy! He can like, think of how people will react and that's wild.

As to your point of Shikamaru being Superior because he killed two immortals...Light was able to plan so specifically that he caused a GOD to KILL THEMSELVES.

On top of that, he had that SAME god take out TWO of his biggest enemies all in one move.

Shikamaru's strategies are cool, and I'd root for him over Light, but they are never as complex as Light's. For example, his big strategy in the fight against Tayuya is "Oh i'll hurt my finger and then her magic won't work."

I mean, it's effective, but not nearly as impressive.

What? Call it what you will, but if he can't plan effectively because he's arrogant, then he's not a good strategist. Plain and simple.

All he had to do was outsmart some stupid Shinigami and manipulate it into killing himself and L. All he did was play off of one shinigami's emotions, which was something that Shikamaru could have done easily. Near was still vastly superior to Light, because he was able to see the connections between all of his plans and determine that he was Kira. If Shikamaru was in Light's position, he would have used a fake notebook and had Kira two write all of their names but one, and framed that person as Kira.

Shikamaru's strategy against Tayuya was much more complex than you're downplaying it to be. He used his shadow possession to control her summons, then memorized her finger controls, and used them as a diversion to extend his shadow possession length, all just to land one attack. He overestimated his chakra capacity, but he WAS fighting someone over ten times stronger than him, and thought of it on the fly.

And Light only made one shinigami kill himself, which he said he would do anyway just to extend Misa's life because she made the eye deal twice. So he coaxed someone into doing something they were already probably going to. Great "strategy".

Either way, Shikamaru also made a strategy to cause one immortal to kill his other immortal partner, as well as set up a scenario to kill one immortal with unknown powers that were far stronger than he imagined, and for the same immortal to walk into one of the few traps that could have killed him. Shikamaru's feats are wayy more impressive.

Hey man, what took Light down was his ego. You stated it was his poor strategizing. There's a difference, subtle as it may be.

As well, Light had long term strategies that straight slayed. He had the ENTIRE World trying to find him. The way he can seem innocent and helpful and then convince people he's good is solidly impressive.

I mean, Shikamaru's strategies are nice but they are only ever used in a fight scenario. Long term? No good. I mean, he can't even beat his dad in Shogi, right?

Originally posted by Quincy
Hey man, what took Light down was his ego. You stated it was his poor strategizing. There's a difference, subtle as it may be.

As well, Light had long term strategies that straight slayed. He had the ENTIRE World trying to find him. The way he can seem innocent and helpful and then convince people he's good is solidly impressive.

I mean, Shikamaru's strategies are nice but they are only ever used in a fight scenario. Long term? No good. I mean, he can't even beat his dad in Shogi, right? Originally posted by Quincy
Hey man, what took Light down was his ego. You stated it was his poor strategizing. There's a difference, subtle as it may be.

As well, Light had long term strategies that straight slayed. He had the ENTIRE World trying to find him. The way he can seem innocent and helpful and then convince people he's good is solidly impressive.

I mean, Shikamaru's strategies are nice but they are only ever used in a fight scenario. Long term? No good. I mean, he can't even beat his dad in Shogi, right? i think shikamaru will win here

unless shikamaru survives his first encounter with his opponent and is allowed time to strategize he loses his record is literally 2-4 when it comes to fights

Originally posted by naurtoisbeast
i think shikamaru will win here

Could a possible bias be involved here, Naurtoisbeast?

Probably Shikamaru. Maybe Light.

Shikamaru's strategy often came along with his own magical powers that he could use at any time, without hiding any facets of his abilities.

He had the ability to literally control people's movements. His strategies were always cool and the character is possibly the best in the series. But some of them are really basic. I mean, one of them was as a simple as "hit their head on the wall behind them."

Meanwhile, Light Yagami was able to keep his identity secret for years. Even while on constant surveillance. Relying on his own wits. He could predict behavior of even strangers and the masses. Pretty wild stuff

Originally posted by Quincy
Hey man, what took Light down was his ego. You stated it was his poor strategizing. There's a difference, subtle as it may be.

As well, Light had long term strategies that straight slayed. He had the ENTIRE World trying to find him. The way he can seem innocent and helpful and then convince people he's good is solidly impressive.

I mean, Shikamaru's strategies are nice but they are only ever used in a fight scenario. Long term? No good. I mean, he can't even beat his dad in Shogi, right?

lol, either way, he still doesn't have feats to back up what you're claiming. He lost. The end.

Yes, he had a world trying to find him, while he didn't even have to be present or know people to kill them. He had a magic notebook that did all the work for him. That is all. No one knew about it, and once they did, they caught him damn near instantly.

True, but has Light ever used strategies in a fight? No, he got his ass beat by a malnourished, closet case who was half his size, just because he knew how to fight. Plus, Shikamaru was able to control an entire army in a war, and use his incredible strategic ability to stop attacks from something that could have squashed 99% of his cast with a step, the Jyuubi.

Yes, Shikamaru's dad beat him in Shogi, but that's only because he's got more experience. Plus, even Kakashi is smarter than Shikamaru. It's been said twice. That just means that Kakashi is ALSO better than Light.

Originally posted by chasedown
unless shikamaru survives his first encounter with his opponent and is allowed time to strategize he loses his record is literally 2-4 when it comes to fights

Well you have to think, he is sorely outclassed in his verse. His only weapon for the most part is his brain, considering that even his strongest Jutsu was overpowered by Hidan, who was weaker than Choji physically.

He doesn't have some magic notebook that lets him kill anyone by writing their name.

Originally posted by Quincy
Shikamaru's strategy often came along with his own magical powers that he could use at any time, without hiding any facets of his abilities.

He had the ability to literally control people's movements. His strategies were always cool and the character is possibly the best in the series. But some of them are really basic. I mean, one of them was as a simple as "hit their head on the wall behind them."

Meanwhile, Light Yagami was able to keep his identity secret for years. Even while on constant surveillance. Relying on his own wits. He could predict behavior of even strangers and the masses. Pretty wild stuff

Shikamaru was never TRYING to take over the world. Plus, he was crazily outclassed in his series. He was weaker physically than most ninja in the series, including a genin like Konohamaru.

Uh, so did Light. He could make someone do just about anything before they died by writing it down. Shikamaru uses the strategies he needs to. He can beat a lot of people with his brain alone, even though he could get physically one-shotted by 95% of the characters in his series.

Light didn't have to do anything. All he did was write in a notebook, and let others do his work for him by writing in other notebooks. There's nothing "wild" about him writing some criminals names down to keep himself alive while acting the same way he had all his life. Hell, I could have done a better job than Light.

Shikamaru though actually planned out strategies for WARS leading the entire WORLD against the people who MADE the planet. Their literal GODS.

Ah man, I'm sorry. Saying you genuinely believe you could have "done better" than Light is just weirdly boastful and, to me, sort of deflates your arguments.

I mean, it's arguable that Light is one of the greatest minds in manga/anime. And you seemed to have genuine belief that Shikamaru narrowly outsmarts him, but claiming that even you could outperform Light is just weak, man. Let's be serious.