The World Ends With You: The Animation First Impressions

“Avoid negative emotions. They consume you when Noise possesses you.”

The World Ends With You was a distinctive game from way back in 2007, relatively early in the DS’s lifespan. Now, nearly fourteen years later, we have an anime adaptation to coincide with a sequel being released later this year. It’s been a long while since I played The World Ends With You, and I’ll admit to being skeptical of an attempt at an anime adaptation. The game was primarily focused on having the player control two different characters in combat, and I wasn’t sure how well the gameplay focused experience could be adapted to a show. As it stands, the series does an admirable job of presenting the plot in an enjoyable fashion, even if the flow of the story feels a bit off. There are a number of character introductions and action scenes in this first episode, and the whole thing feels a bit rushed. Fans of the original game who want to revisit the story before the next installment is released might find this to be an acceptable substitute for dusting off their DS and replaying the game. Still, however stylish though this adaptation may be, this probably isn’t the best way to experience The World Ends With You’s story for the first time.

The story follows an amnesiac teenager named Neku as he finds himself in a bizarre mirror-realm style version of Shibuya. He has somehow ended up in an event referred to as the Reaper’s Game where participants must face off against embodiments of negative emotions called Noise or face “Erasure.” Unlike the other participants, Neku has no recollection of the rules of the game, but quickly finds himself paired up with a girl named Misami Shiki who helps him learn about the bizarre circumstances he finds himself in. Together with some other participants, they form an alliance to try and clear the daily goals set by the enigmatic Reapers. There are some aspects of the story that feel too heavy-handed. Neku is surly and antisocial to the point of being rather annoying, having hailed from the Cloud Strife and Squall Leonhart school of Square Enix protagonists. The story also cuts down on its attempts to incorporate the mechanics of the game into the narrative, as many of them would likely prove unwieldy. For example, in the DS version of the game Neku and Misami didn’t actually fight together, but instead fought in different dimensions against the same opponent. Trying to draw those types of details into the plot of the anime, along with features like the pin related powers, would probably prove inconvenient.

The production is being helmed by Shin-Ei Animation and DOMERICA. The latter is a lesser known studio, but Shin-Ei has a long resume as a studio. I previously wrote about them just this season when reviewing Those Snow White Notes, but I have to say that I’m a little more impressed by the production here. Due in part to its skinny character models and almost punk color palette, The World Ends With You always had a striking and rather unique visual style, even amongst JRPGs, and seeing that get translated into animation is a little startling. If I had a gripe about the stylings, it would be that the CG animation isn’t quite up to par with the traditional animation. It doesn’t look bad though, and it is primarily used to animate the monstrous Noise that our leads combat, so the sense of visual dissonance surprisingly kind of works in the show’s favor. There is no proper OP or ED for this first episode, though we are treated to a fight scene with the song for the OP, Calling, which was from the game.

Before I wrap up, a few Notes and Nitpicks:

• I’ve actually never beaten The World Ends With You. I bought it back when it first came out, but appeared to have lost it, lent it or traded it in. I borrowed a copy off of Birdy a few years back and… I really should play it and return it to him. I have a section of my room that is devoted to media I’ve borrowed from him and haven’t finished.
• The characters go way too long without questioning how they were able to interact with a particular celebrity in this episode, given that no one else can see them.