The Phone, which receives Memes.
A meme (キーワード keyword), re-named to keyword in NEO: The World Ends with You, is a game mechanic in The World Ends with You and NEO: The World Ends with You. They are texts Players receive when they hear words that have a connection to the mission. These memes can then be used to imprint people in the Realground and affect what they think. In-game, memes have various roles. They may serve as a plot device, a bonus item extra, or simply a wrong answer that may bring a cutscene.
The World Ends with You's definition of a meme is closer to meme theory as coined by Richard Dawkins in 1976, rather than the more commonly understood Internet memes that came around in the decade after the game. The World Ends with You The Animation removes memes, meaning Players only require their own thoughts to imprint.
The World Ends with You[]
Shiki learning about the power of Memes.
Memes are first introduced in Shiki, Day 3. Rhyme teaches them to Shiki, and she and Neku receive their first meme, "Blackout". They imprint the meme "Fuse" onto Futoshi to get him to find a fuse that will fix the lights in the Concert Stage. Optionally, imprinting "Cough drops" before "Fuse" makes him buy cough drops for 777's cough, which he will award Neku and Shiki Lucky Star for doing it. They also get the red herring meme "Ramen" on this day. "Reaper Creeper" is used on Ai and Mina in Shiki, Day 5 to make them play Reaper Creeper and sort out their argument. Neku and Shiki receive memes for Makoto Miki's slogans for the Red Skull pins, and imprint them on him to help him distribute them across Shibuya.
Imprinting memes appears again in Joshua, Day 3 when Joshua and Neku are helping Ken Doi. The memes for this day are "Spicy tuna roll", "Dessert", "Yellow", and "Simple": while "Dessert" and "Yellow" give short scenes of Ken Doi's ramen ideas, the one that advances the story is "Simple".
Sanae Hanekoma writes about imprinting with memes in the Secret Reports as a form of inter-planar contact between the UG and the RG that requires no manifestation into the RG. Due to how the recipient's interpretation colors the message, he considers imprinting "unreliable at best" for getting messages across.
NEO: The World Ends with You[]
Memes are now known as keywords. Keywords must be found while scanning certain people. Unlike the original, the player must string together two words to progress.