A personal letter about digital death planning

I need to tell you something that's been on my mind lately, and I hope you'll stick with me because it's important. You know that anime Death Note? The one with Light and the supernatural notebook? Well, I recently realized that a manga from 2003 understood something about digital death planning that Silicon Valley still hasn't figured out.

I know that sounds weird, but hear me out.

Here's what struck me about Death Note: when Light wrote someone's name in that notebook, it was done. No ctrl+z, no "oops, didn't mean to," no customer service to call. That permanence forced everyone—characters and viewers—to really think about the weight of their actions.

Now compare that to how tech companies handle your digital legacy today. Google's like, "Hey, your photos will get deleted after two years of inactivity. Want to download them?" They've literally turned your digital death planning into a file management chore.

That's not how death works, friend. Death isn't about storage quotas.

Death Note had 13 specific rules. Not suggestions or "we'll try our best" promises. Rules. Rule #1 was crystal clear: "The human whose name is written in this note shall die." No fine print, no exceptions.

Now look at typical digital will services: "We'll attempt to deliver your messages, subject to technical limitations, legal requirements, and whether we're still in business." That's not good enough for something as important as your final message, right?

Here's something beautiful about Death Note that I think gets missed: Light didn't just write names. He wrote entire scenarios—how people would die, what they'd do first, their final moments. The Death Note wasn't just about ending life; it was about crafting narrative.

Your digital death should be the same way. Not just "here are my passwords" (please don't put those in final messages, by the way), but your actual story. Your truth. Your last real human connection. Tech companies forgot that posthumous messages are about love, not logistics.