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"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. |
"The Reapers' Game" (死神ゲーム) is the first episode in The World Ends with You: The Animation. It covers the first three days of the original game.
Plot[]
Neku finds himself face-down in a crosswalk at Scramble Crossing with two player pins in hand and unnoticed by the pedestrians passing by him. He scrambles to his feet, realizing that the pedestrians are not walking around him, but instead through him. Dazed and confused, he looks around. The light changes, and vehicles begin to zoom past, the drivers taking no heed of him. He shuts his eyes as a truck barrels through him. Surprised, he opens his eyes to find himself unscathed.
Neku makes his way to Hachiko where he receives his mission mail to get to 104. Right away, Neku is attacked by Dixiefrogs and sees other Players be erased by them. He is then saved by Shiki who forms a pact with him. Neku then gains the ability to use (seemingly most) psychs and uses them to dispatch the Noise. Neku and Shiki make their way to 104 and just before falling back asleep they are taunted by Uzuki and Kariya.
On the second day, Shiki explains to Neku the basics of how the UG and RG work. She also shows him that he can scan people by putting his hand through them. He tries to do this on Beat only to realize that he is a Player. Beat then accuses Neku and Shiki of being Reapers but Rhyme calms him down and Shiki shows him her Player Pin. They soon receive their mission the lift the statue's curse. Immediately, several Garage Wolves immerge from Hachiko. Neku swiftly attacks them on his own and becomes angry at his partner for trying to help. This anger consumes him and attracts more Noise. Uzuki (who was watching the scene unfold) takes action and tells Neku that if he doesn't erase Shiki, he will be erased. Neku, under the influence of the Noise around him, attempts to do so without hesitation. He is stopped and Shiki is saved by a mysterious man. He tells Neku that in order to survive The Game, he needs to trust his partner.
On the third day, Neku wakes up alone in Scramble Crossing. He is shocked when Shiki quickly finds him and still wants to work with him. There he tells Shiki that he has amnesia. Their mission is the defeat the master of O-East. On the way there, they meet Futoshi who is possessed by Noise. Shiki wants to help him and free him. Afterward, Futoshi accompanies the pair to O-East where it is shown that he works with 777, who is soon performing there with his band Death March. To show his gratitude, 777 gives Shiki a Keypin and allows the pair to enter the stage.
Inside, they encounter Vespertilio Canor. Neku first tries to defeat it on his own but quickly realizes that he needs to work with Shiki if he is to survive. Beat and Rhyme also arrive to help. Afterward, they all agree to work together for future missions and watch 777's performance. Afterward in the Dead God's Pad, Minamimoto arrives for a meeting late as pointed out by Konishi. He asks why Higashizawa is there and Kitaniji tells him that Higashizawa is the Game Master for the week. Kitaniji promises him a promotion if he is able to erase every Player. Back at O-East, Shiki wonders how 777 and Futoshi could see them and Neku informs them all that the two must have been Reapers.
Cast (English, Japanese)[]
- Neku Sakuraba - Ben Balmaceda, Kōki Uchiyama
- Shiki Misaki - Morgan Garrett, Anna Hachimine
- Uzuki Yashiro - Jessica Peterson, Satomi Arai
- Koki Kariya - Andrew Kishino, Anri Katsu
- Daisukenojo "Beat" Bito - Van Barr Jr., Subaru Kimura
- Raimu "Rhyme" Bito - Dani Chambers, Ayana Taketatsu
- Sanae Hanekoma - Brandon Potter, Kenjirō Tsuda
- Futoshi - Drew Breedlove, Hayato Furusawa
- 777 - Ricco Fajardo, Shûhei Sakaguchi
- Sho Minamimoto - Brent Mukai, Takayuki Fujimoto
- Mitsuki Konishi - Marisa Duran, Hitomi Nabatame
- Megumi Kitaniji - Christopher Wehkamp, Hiroshi Shirokuma
- Yodai Higashizawa - Anthony DiMascio, Kenji Takahashi
- Yoshiya "Joshua" Kiryu (no lines)
- Sota Honjo (no lines)
- Nao (no lines)
- Ai (no lines)
- Mina (no lines)
- Makoto Miki (no lines)
- Shuto Dan (no lines)
- Itaru Yokoyamada (no lines)
Noise[]
Differences from the Game[]
- The opening of Neku telling people to shut up is replaced with a blurry version of his death.
- Neku notices he has two Player Pins when he wakes up on Day 1 and sees them in his hand. In the game, this is only pointed out by Shiki in Day 2, but this is moved to Day 6 in the anime.
- Most of Neku's inner monologue is removed, as a result some of his more snarky dialogue is omitted and his amnesia is established halfway through the episode, not when he wakes up.
- Neku also only remembers his given name and has to be told his surname is Sakuraba by Uzuki.
- Neku and Shiki's powers aren't explained in this episode, not directly explaining Neku's abilities come from pins.
- Certain fights are skipped.
- At the end of Day 1, Uzuki sends Noise at Neku and Shiki.
- Neku and Shiki only hear Uzuki's voice in the original game, rather than meeting Uzuki and Kariya.
- Neku and Shiki wake up at the Scramble Crossing on Day 2 and Day 3: In the original games they wake up at Station Underpass and the Concert Stage respectively.
- The Hachiko mission is shortened. Neku, Shiki, Beat and Rhyme are already at the statue, removing the section of the mission about finding the statue and its curse.
- This also skips Higashizawa watching Shiki.
- Neku does try to kill Shiki after being asked to, but he does it because he was possessed by Noise rather than being tricked into thinking Shiki is a spy for the Reapers.
- Beat and Rhyme are present for this event.
- The part where Shiki shows Neku the picture of her and Eri is skipped.
- Futoshi is revealed to be a Reaper, and leads Neku and Shiki to the concert hall in the anime. In the original game, Futoshi is a Realground human and Neku and Shiki already know where the concert hall is from waking up in it.
- In the anime, 777 gives Shiki a keypin as thanks for helping Futoshi. In the game, this pin was given to Neku and Beat during Week 3.
- The third mission is cleared when Neku and Shiki defeat Vespertilio Canor, rather than when Beat and Rhyme erase the golden bat.
Trivia[]
- The episode has a similar name to Shiki, Day 1.
- Many of Neku's psychs are references to pins he used in the original game. The icon for these pins flash on screen when he activated his psych. They are:
- Pyrokinesis
- Shockwave
- The Shockwave psych itself was also changed with it now being used as a kick.
- Murasame
- Murasame is used to boost jumping power instead of Vulcan Uppercut.
- Thunderbolt
- Various graffiti in the background when the opening theme plays contain informational text such as the logo for The World Ends with You followed by the phrase "based on an original story by Square Enix" as well as the names of members on the development team.

Joshua's cameo on the left.
- Joshua can be seen in the first two minutes of the episode, when a Player disappears and the Statue of Hachiko is positioned on the right side of the screen. He can be seen hiding behind a wall.
- Many frames of animation are direct references to sprites from the original game.
- Shooter and Yammer can be seen walking in the background at the start of the third day and they are in they are both posed like their original sprites.
- When Neku startles Shiki at the start of the third day, she does the same pose as her shocked emoticon sprite. In the same scene, she also does her embarrassed emoticon sprite.
- When Futoshi is possessed by Noise, he is posed just like his original sprites.
- When 777 is introduced, he is posed just like his original sprites.
- Neku and Shiki utilize cross combos against the Most Grizzly and Vespertilio Canor.
- This episode marks the first time in the series history that Rhyme's psych can be clearly seen.
- An 80-second preview of the first episode was released to the public on September 18, 2020.
- The episode had a special online premiere on March 14, 2021, hosted on ZAIKO.
Gallery[]
The Animation episodes |
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The Reapers' Game • Shiki • Erased • Reapers • CAT • Turf (Episode) • Joshua (Episode) • Emergency Call • Rhyme and Beat • The Countless Wrongs of Our Day • The Hour of Reckoning • It's a Wonderful World |