The World Ends With You

The World Ends with You, known in Japan as It's a Wonderful World (すばらしきこのせかい Subarashiki Kono Sekai?), is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts team and Jupiter for the Nintendo DS handheld console. Set in the modern-day Shibuya shopping district of Tokyo, The World Ends with You features a distinctive art style inspired by Shibuya and its youth culture. Development was inspired by elements of Jupiter's previous game, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. It was released in Japan in July 2007, and in PAL regions and North America on April 22, 2008. An enhanced version for iOS devices, titled The World Ends With You -Solo Remix-, was released on August 27, 2012.
In the game, Neku Sakuraba and his allies are forced to participate in a game that will determine their fate. The battle system uses many of the unique features of the Nintendo DS, including combat that takes place on both screens, and attacks performed by certain motions on the touchscreen or by shouting into the microphone. Elements of Japanese youth culture, such as fashion, food, and cell phones, are key aspects of the missions.
The World Ends with You received positive reviews, which praised the graphics, soundtrack, and integration of gameplay into the Shibuya setting. The few common complaints were related to the steep learning curve of the battle system as well as the imprecise touch-screen controls. In the week of its release, the game was the second best-selling DS title in Japan, and the top selling DS title in North America. Shiro Amano, writer and artist of the Kingdom Hearts manga, later created a manga based on the video game.

[ PLOT ]
[ Setting ]
The game takes place in a fictional version of the Shibuya shopping district in Tokyo, Japan. While everyday life goes on in the Realground (RG), the chosen dead are brought to an alternate plane of existence called the Underground (UG). The UG is also the venue for the Reapers' Game. By offering their most treasured possession to enter the Game, the dead (players) gain the chance to contest for the prize: to be brought back to life or to transcend to a higher form of spiritual existence. Most of those who choose to transcend become Reapers, the opponents of players in future Games. Lasting a week, each Game is a contest to judge the worth of humanity. Players set out to accomplish objectives under the rules created by the Composer, who is a god-like entity who maintains Shibuya. Another Reaper, the Conductor, tasks other Reapers to obstruct the players' efforts. Failure to complete a mission will disperse the mind and spirit of the player or Reaper, thus erasing his or her existence.
A player in the UG is invisible to the living in the RG, though one can sometimes read and influence their thoughts. The UG is frequented by creatures called "Noise", which are attracted by the negative feelings of the living. To progress in the Reapers' Game, players are often required to defeat Noise by killing or "erasing" them. However, each Noise exists in two "zones" simultaneously, and can only be defeated by two players fighting the Noise from separate zones; Players are therefore required to form a pact with another player to survive the Noise. Players receive assignments via text messages sent to their cell phones, and their right hands are imprinted with a countdown indicating the time left in the mission. After a day's mission is complete, the remaining players find themselves at the start of the next day's mission, having no sense of the intervening time in between.
[ Characters ]
The player assumes the role of Neku Sakuraba (桜庭 音操 Sakuraba Neku?, ネク Neku), an anti-social teenage boy who claims he does not "get" people, and rarely interacts with others. Computer-controlled characters make up the rest of the cast, which includes Players who are paired with Neku. In the first Game, Neku is paired with Shiki Misaki (美咲 四季 Misaki Shiki?, シキ Shiki), a teenage girl who takes on the form of her best friend; her physical appearance was her price of entry for the Game. Subsequently, Neku's partner is an intelligent and sly teenage boy, Yoshiya Kiryu (桐生 義弥 Kiryū Yoshiya?), who prefers to be called Joshua (ヨシュア Yoshua?). Neku's final partner is Daisukenojo Bito (尾藤 大輔之丞 Bitō Daisukenojō?), an ex-Reaper who calls himself "Beat" (ビイト Biito?). Beat became a Reaper to find a way to bring his younger sister, Raimu Bito (尾藤 来夢 Bitō Raimu?) (nicknamed "Rhyme" (ライム Raimu?)), back to life. Rhyme had sacrificed herself to save her brother from a Noise attack. Sanae Hanekoma (羽狛 早苗 Hanekoma Sanae?, ハネコマ Hanekoma), the Producer, bound her soul to a pin from which her Noise could be summoned, and gave it to Beat. The final Game Master, Mitsuki Konishi (虚西 充妃 Konishi Mitsuki?, コニシ Konishi), crushes her Noise form and transformed it back into a pin.
Besides the Composer and the Conductor, there are other high-ranking Reapers. For each week of the Game, Game Masters are assigned by the Conductor to lead the opposition to the Players. Of the Game Masters opposing Neku, Sho Minamimoto (南師 猩 Minamimoto Shō?, ミナミモト Minamimoto) is the most dangerous. He willingly circumvents the rules in an attempt to supplant the Composer. Participating in the Games with the aim of earning promotions for their performance, the Reapers' goal is to ascend to the highest form of spiritual existence, the Angels. Angels supervise the Games and if the stakes of a Game are particularly high, they send down one of their own to serve as the Producer. For the three weeks of the game's story, Sanae Hanekoma is the Producer. Disguised as a Shibuya cafe owner, he guides new players and narrates the "Secret Reports" that are obtained by completing additional missions after completing the game.
[ Story ]
The game's story follows Neku over the course of the three weeks that he plays the Game, paired with partners Shiki, Joshua, and Beat for each week, respectively. Neku is confused at first, lacking knowledge of how he died or how he arrived at the UG. As he develops friendships with his partners, he starts to understand the rules of the Game. After the first week, only Shiki is allowed to return to the living, and she promises to meet Neku at the statue of Hachiko. He also recovers his entry fee, which was his memories, except for the events leading up to his death. However, Shiki has become what Neku values most, and she is used as his new entry fee for the second week. During the second week he recalls small details of his death; eventually, he recognizes that he was shot at by Sho Minamimoto, one of the Reapers he faced during the Game. At the end of the second week, Joshua seemingly sacrifices himself to save Neku from an explosion created by Minamimoto.
Since Joshua was actually alive, the Game is nullified and Neku is forced to replay the game a third time. His entry fee this time is all of the other players, meaning Neku cannot form any pacts and stands no chance against the Noise. However, Beat immediately defects from the Reapers and rejoins Neku. Neku and Beat find that the Reapers and the entire population of Shibuya are wearing special red pins that cause them to think the same harmonious thoughts. Without any missions to complete, the two venture to the fabled "Shibuya River", which Joshua was looking for during the second week. At the river, they find Megumi Kitaniji (北虹 寵 Kitaniji Megumi?, キタニジ Kitaniji), the Game's Conductor. Kitaniji explains that he created the red pins in an attempt to remake Shibuya, which the Composer challenged him to do; if he fails, both he (for losing) and Shibuya will be erased.
At that moment, Joshua reappears and reveals himself to be the Composer. Joshua returns the missing part of Neku's memory of death: Joshua himself shot Neku, choosing him to be his proxy in his challenge with Kitaniji. Minamimoto, who had been trying to usurp the position of Composer, was trying to kill Joshua in his weakened state as a human. After failing to defeat Neku by using his friends against him, Joshua gives Neku one last challenge: To fire upon Joshua to determine the fate of Shibuya. Neku is too conflicted to make a choice, and is shot down by Joshua. Neku finds himself once again at the scramble crossing, confused by events, but alive this time.
The game's credits show scenes seven days later in the RG. As Neku walks from Udagawa to Hachiko to meet Beat, Rhyme, and Shiki, he discusses how the past three weeks have changed him for the better. In a statement directed at an absent Joshua, Neku says that although he will not forgive him for what he has done, he trusts him. Neku then asks if Joshua will be present at Hachiko as well. Secret reports that can be obtained by completing additional missions after beating the game reveal that Joshua, after seeing the change in personality of Neku over the weeks of playing the game, decides to spare Shibuya, now believing the city to be ideal.

[ Gameplay ]


What do you say guys?
PLAY IT? or LEAVE IT?