Question 13: How do Humans Benefit from Using a Death Note?
Answer:
This is probably the worst argument in the book. Basically, what the author says is that the Death Note is an ideal weapon for humans simply because it leaves no evidence. Okay. It looks at the first scene between Light and Ryuk, where Light asks Ryuk what his punishment is now that he used the Death Note. Ryuk says there is no punishment, except for no Heaven/Hell. The author then shifts to the flashback in the ending where Ryuk admits that death is equal, and there is no heaven or hell. It even quotes Ohba saying "When humans die, the place they go is MU (Nothingness)". .... And then after that, it basically says, but that's probably not true, Light just can't go to Heaven/Hell because he's gonna become a Shinigami. The author is convinced that there just has to be divine punishment for using the Death Note, and becoming a Shinigami is suitable.
..It seems to be, if I may be snarky, that the author is missing the point of the whole conclusion that was basically drilled in the manga. Death is equal no matter what you do in life. Everyone goes to Nothingness when they die. Heaven and Hell don't exist. If the King Shinigami - in English, the King God of Death - is the one who wrote the how-to-use manuals, then I'm sure he - again, King God of Death - probably knows what he's talking about. We don't have any reason at all to believe that what is written in this extensive Shinigami manual is a lie, all the other rules are true. Contrary to some popular belief, Ryuk is only reciting what he knows from the aforementioned manual. Ohba even said that s/he felt that the rules about death being absolute in Nothingness was one of the most important rules (HTR 68-69).
Another interesting little Fatally Fun Un-canon tidbit: Only a human's legal name works [in the Death Note] (37).
I personally disagree with this one, but the point here is that this isn't canon... It's true that you need to spell the name how that person spells his name, as is clear from the DN rules specifically about correct spelling, but I'm wondering where what name the government has you registered as has to do with it. It can be argued but it's, again, not canon.
The book states (39-40) correctly that if you find a Death Note and gain ownership, you will lose your memories if you relinquish ownership. It then states that you will not lose your memories if you don't use it... Pretty sure that's wrong. It's a Shinigami who erases a human's memories, and does it to anyone who deliberately gives up ownership. The exceptions to memory-deletion are if you were never the owner at all.
Related on Page 41 - "One can give up the Death Note's ownership just by mentally deciding they don't want it anymore..."
Really? Well, if only Light had known that when he locked himself in L's prison. He wouldn't have had to do all that cheesy out-loud dialogue with the secret message to Ryuk to take his memories. He could have just thought "I discard it"!
Page 56 - Humans who use the Death Note but don't have ownership of it do not become Shinigami when they die. (Argued in specific regards to Raye Penber)... Well, that's new, but since no human becomes a Shinigami when they die, I suppose I agree with this backwards reasoning. lol
