Emergency Call

	"It's like... it's the same place, but only we are in a different world."
	The information below contains information exclusive to The World Ends with You The Animation and may be non-canonical to the original game.

Emergency Call
Episode Information
Week 3	Day(s) 1-2
Japanese	エマージェンシーコール
Rōmaji	Emājenshī Kōru
U.S. Air Date	May 28, 2021, 1:25 p.m. EDT
Japan Air Date	May 29, 2021, 1:25 a.m. JST
Episode Guide
←Previous episode	Joshua
Next episode→	Rhyme and Beat

"Emergency Call" is the eighth episode in The World Ends with You: The Animation.

Plot

Neku resolves to win his third game for Shiki and Joshua. He gets the mission mail to go to 104, and begins running. Uzuki doubts the legality of the game, and Kariya calls it the dark grey short of black. Uzuki says it can barely be considered a job and bemoans how she can't show off in front of the Game Master, Mitsuki Konishi, who Kariya calls the Iron Maiden. Neku slams his fist onto the wall blocking the path to 104, and thinks about finding a partner. He receives a postscript saying the game has only one Player. Neku tries to think of a plan for a week, but sees Kariya and Uzuki flying down. He tries to use psychs, but realizes he's defenseless without a partner. Uzuki summons a mob of Frog Noise, quickly overwhelming Neku. Beat crashes through the wall with Noise Rhyme, objecting to only one Player after he was ordered to erase his friends. Beat pacts with Neku, and they run. Kariya stops Uzuki and tells her to report the incident.

At 104, Neku thanks Beat for helping, and Beat is shocked at Neku's openness. Neku asks why Beat pacted with him, and Beat says it as playing against the rules, and also for giving Rhyme's pendant back. Neku says the Reapers will have problems with it, but he tells him it doesn't matter. He notices Beat's wings are gone (they disappeared when he Pacted with Neku) and Beat asks about Joshua, who sacrificed himself to save him from Minamimoto. Beat apologizes and takes him to the Station Underpass. When Beat says he'll break through the wall, Neku doesn't understand, and Beat says he got that from Rhyme a lot while petting the Noise on his shoulder. He explain she was turned into a Noise by Hanekoma when she got erased, and he plans to defeat the Composer to take over and bring Rhyme back to life. He punches the wall and it opens - Beat explains its due to the keypin he got as a Reaper, but only the Reapers on Konishi's level could open the Shibuya River.

At Dead God's Pad, Konishi reports Beat's defection from the Reapers to Kitaniji. She asks permission to punish him as a Reaper, but Kitaniji insists on treating Beat as a Player. He orders all Reapers to wear their Outlet Pins, and puts the UG on Emergency Call in order to erase Neku and Beat. Konishi is shocked and confused, and after Kitaniji leaves, she starts scheming. Across the room, Uzuki complains about her lack of motivation. Konishi says she'll approve any requests of leave, and Kariya tells Konishi she's looking for a challenge. Konishi promises a promotion for Uzuki, but before she can speak to Kariya about a promotion, he cuts her off and asks about her plan. She says she will go on the offensive from a place nobody will expect.

While walking through the Underpass, Rhyme gets agitated and flies off Beat's shoulder. She notices Konishi, who reprimands Beat for his defection and refusal to follow the special operation, protecting Neku from Noise under the guise of combat instead of protecting him. She elects to treat Beat as a Player, and takes his Entry Fee of Rhyme. She restrains Beat, and absorbs Rhyme into her chest.

Neku and Beat wake up on the second day. Konishi's face appears on the Q-Front, and gives her mission of hiding in a specific place for six days. She has to be defeated for Neku and Beat to win. A second announcement appears on all screens across Shibuya, announcing the Emergency Call and ordering Reapers to erase Beat and Neku. Kariya is suspicious of the O-Pins, but Uzuki is excited about it as a secret weapon. She notices they're the same as the Red Skull pins taking over Shibuya. Upon entering O-East, a Reaper assaults them with Garage Wolves. Beat says he saw Konishi go into the Concert Stage, and they run in, past the posters advertising a Def Märch concert, and the sold-out stickers.

Inside, Beat remembers being in the stage less than two weeks ago. 777 approaches them, and Neku congratulates him for the ticket sales for his concert. He says he hasn't seen Konishi in the Concert Stage, but as they leave, 777 stops them. He says he likes his double life of the Underground and Realground and will erase them for being a threat. He says Bito Daisukenojo, but is screamed down by Beat. Neku incredulously asks if it's Beat's name, and he calls it "seriously uncool" and orders Neku to only call him Beat. After defeating 777 and the Noise he summons, Beat leaves. 777 asks them to finish him off, but Neku tells them to play the show tonight. He gifts Neku a keypin that will open more than Beat's, then orders them to leave.

In the empty concert hall, 777 grieves BJ and Tenho, his bandmates who were erased by Taboo Noise. He wears their jackets around his waist in memory. From the shadows backstage, Konishi approaches him. She asks why he fought without his Outlet Pin, and begs Konishi and the Officers to do something about the Taboo Noise attacking Reapers. She erases him for refusing to follow orders. Outside, Neku and Beat hear his scream.

Characters (English, Japanese)

• Neku Sakuraba - Ben Balmaceda, Kōki Uchiyama
• Koki Kariya - Andrew Kishino, Anri Katsu
• Uzuki Yashiro - Jessica Peterson, Satomi Arai
• Daisukenojo "Beat" Bito - Van Barr Jr., Subaru Kimura
• Sanae Hanekoma (no lines)
• Mitsuki Konishi - Marisa Duran, Hitomi Nabatame
• Megumi Kitaniji - Christopher Wehkamp, Hiroshi Shirokuma
• 777 - Ricco Fajardo, Shûhei Sakaguchi
• BJ (no lines)
• Tenho (no lines)

Noise

• Dixiefrog
• Bebop Shark
• Garage Wolf
• Rhyme's Noise

Differences from the Game

• The weather is cloudy in the anime. Also, after Konishi announces the Emergency Call, the sky takes on an unnatural red hell-like tint to it.
• Beat tells Neku the Noise on his shoulder is Rhyme on day one much earlier, instead of day three in the game. This could be seen as making more sense as Beat has little reason to hide this information from Neku.
• In the anime, Beat uses a Reaper keypin to open a wall closer to the Shibuya River. In the game, Beat simply punches it, surprising Neku that the walls can be broken by sheer force. As such, the anime makes the Reapers look less inept.
• Konishi appears to meet Neku and Beat a day earlier at the underpass.
• Konishi reveals that Beat, as a Reaper, was secretly guarding Neku from the Noise under the guise of combat in their previous encounters, which Neku mentions he noticed. This is not mentioned in the game.
• In order to take Rhyme away from Beat, Konishi absorbs Rhyme's Noise into her chest, while in the game, she squeezed Rhyme and converted her into a pin.
• On day two, Konishi appears on TV screens throughout Shibuya to announce the Emergency Call which didn't happen in the game.
• 777 fights Neku and Beat inside O-East, while in the game, he fought them outside at the entrance.
• 777 is apparently seen wearing Tenho's hoodie around his waist.
• The Reaper keypin is black and white in the game, while in the anime, it's orange and black.
• The altercation between 777 and Konishi is seen in the anime. She mentions she noticed 777 isn't wearing the mandatory O-Pin and 777 replies he did not because it wouldn't be fair. 777 is upset that their bosses aren't more concerned about protecting his Reaper friends from the Taboo Noise. Konishi then erases him for not obeying orders.

Trivia

• In the middle of the episode, Kitaniji looks at his palm and says "We're out of time" before closing it. The significance of this scene is revealed later.
• The thumbnail preview for episode 8 on Funimation is incorrect, using a picture of episode 21 from Back Arrow instead, and it has not been corrected in over a week.[1]

Gallery

Title Card

Neku

Beat

Rhyme as Noise

Kariya & Uzuki

Konishi

777