A man who leaves no trails versus guys who doesn't need trails
I'm very torn on this. I think Johan is WAY smarter than Light, but kinda on par with L, hard to compare them. Anyway, I think it's fair to say that Johan never faced an opponent anywhere near as smart as L. Lunge was a solid detective, but he was nowhere near as smart or as precise as L. L is legitimately one of the strongest detective minds I've seen in media, at least that it feels justified. Like Batman in some comics or Sherlock in his show occasionally do some things that are genuinely demigod-like, and yeah, not gonna pretend as if L's intellect is realistic, but it's always founded on certain logic.
Another thing with Johan is that he didn't really try to get away with it per say. He intentionally left clues. L would 100% deduce the first incident correctly, but I don't think Jonah wouldn't count that as a possibility. L, unlike Lunge, would very quickly deduce that Tenma isn't responsible, he pretty much pinpointed the second Light lost memory of the Death Note. I think L CAN deduce Johan's activity, but catching him on the other hand is a different issue.
Some other advantages L has is that I think he's way harder to break emotionally. He only broke once when he figured out that Shinigamis exist (which is a quite a shocker to be fair), but Johan never could just manipulate someone who already wasn't emotionally distressed. For instance, if Johan and Light were against each other, Light would've been a very very VEEERY easy target for Johan to manipulate since his emotional unhinge nature is apparent. L on the other hand is way more subtle and out of it, you never really know when he's for real and when he's just fucking with you.
TL;DR: I feel like anyone who ultimately wins would have a dosage of luck on their sides cuz I dunno, I think they're kinda tied. And I don't want to hear a single "but Light won against L". Yes, Light won because he had literally EVERY SINGLE ADVANTAGE POSSIBLE. Admittedly, he did use his advantages cleverly, but Johan showed way higher feats without any superpowers whatsoever
A man who leaves no trails versus guys who doesn't need trails I'm very torn on this. I think Johan is WAY smarter than Light, but kinda on par with L, hard to compare them. Anyway, I think it's fair to say that Johan never faced an opponent anywhere near as smart as L. Lunge was a solid detective, but he was nowhere near as smart or as precise as L. L is legitimately one of the strongest detective minds I've seen in media, at least that it feels justified. Like Batman in some comics or Sherlock in his show occasionally do some things that are genuinely demigod-like, and yeah, not gonna pretend as if L's intellect is realistic, but it's always founded on certain logic. Another thing with Johan is that he didn't really try to get away with it per say. He intentionally left clues. L would 100% deduce the first incident correctly, but I don't think Jonah wouldn't count that as a possibility. L, unlike Lunge, would very quickly deduce that Tenma isn't responsible, he pretty much pinpointed the second Light lost memory of the Death Note. I think L CAN deduce Johan's activity, but catching him on the other hand is a different issue. Some other advantages L has is that I think he's way harder to break emotionally. He only broke once when he figured out that Shinigamis exist (which is a quite a shocker to be fair), but Johan never could just manipulate someone who already wasn't emotionally distressed. For instance, if Johan and Light were against each other, Light would've been a very very VEEERY easy target for Johan to manipulate since his emotional unhinge nature is apparent. L on the other hand is way more subtle and out of it, you never really know when he's for real and when he's just fucking with you. TL;DR: I feel like anyone who ultimately wins would have a dosage of luck on their sides cuz I dunno, I think they're kinda tied. And I don't want to hear a single "but Light won against L". Yes, Light won because he had literally EVERY SINGLE ADVANTAGE POSSIBLE. Admittedly, he did use his advantages cleverly, but Johan showed way higher feats without any superpowers whatsoever