The World Ends With You was released in 2007 on the DS in Japan before it got a 2008 release in North America. No matter the date, it has been over a decade since it launched. At long last, fans may finally get some answers to the questions left in the original game via the 2021 sequel on the Switch, Neo: The World Ends With You.
Square Enix seemingly did its best to answer a few questions, but the sequel also leaves some behind and even introduces new ones. There are also quite a few things in the plot that don’t add up. Get ready for spoiler town in the hip-hop district of Shibuya.
8 Why Did Shinjuku Need To Be Cleansed?
None of the villains in Neo: The World Ends With You explain why Shinjuku was destroyed. Later in the game, Hazuki reveals that he sent Kubo to cleanse the area and that Kubo went haywire and decided to attack Shibuya as well.
What part needed to be cleansed? Was something dark lurking in there? For that matter why did Hazuki really step in when he did and also give Rindo another chance? It would be nice to see who these higher powers are in the next game.
7 Are There Other Games Going On?
In the original game, it seemed like Shibuya was the only place in the afterlife that was competing in games. Neo: The World Ends With You introduces the idea that Shinjuku also had games going on before it was destroyed.
What other areas of Japan are ruled by Reapers and Game Masters? Is this a Japanese thing only or are these games set up across the globe? It was nice to see Neku and the old gang again but it would be more interesting to see a completely new area of Japan explored in the sequel.
6 A Couple Questions About Shoka
There are quite a few unanswered questions about Shoka in the game. Why did she never tell Rindo before that she was Swallow? Keeping it vague added to a lot of problems that could have been solved otherwise.
When Joshua warped Shoka away, where did he send her in the RG? Does she have a family? Rindo says it has been weeks since the Reaper game ended, so if she didn’t have a family to stay with, was she staying on the streets? The ending was rushed through leaving a lot on the table.
5 Time Traveling In-Game And In-Story
In the story of Neo: The World Ends With You, Rindo can only use his time-warping pin once a day. It’s only when the pin reacts too. However, this is not true for when out of the story.
Eventually, players will unlock the ability to warp back and forth between the present and anywhere in the past. This includes weeks prior whereas the story’s version of the pin can only warp back a few hours. There’s a big gap between the mechanics and the lore that doesn’t add up in the game.
4 Teaming Up With Non-Party Members
There are a few instances in Neo: The World Ends With You where Rindo’s party is assisted by other characters. For example, Kanon teams up with them to fight Tsugumi at one point.
This is only for story purposes and does not translate into actual gameplay. That’s just one example of many. The reason why is probably as simple as time constraints but they still lead to some head-scratching moments.
3 Everyone Showing Up In The Nick Of Time
This is a complaint about many video games, anime shows, films, and so forth. Why do all of these characters show up in just the nick of time? Beat does this even though he doesn’t know Rindo and has amnesia. Neku does this out of the blue.
Where was he hiding all of this time? Sho is guilty of this multiple times in the story. Even Hazuki and Joshua come out of nowhere as sort of deus ex machina-like solutions to quickly wrap things up.
2 What Was Sho Really After?
Sho might be the most mysterious character in the entire game. For one thing, it’s hard to understand what he’s talking about since he spews nothing but mathematical jargon. He helps Rindo for a time just to get data on the time-traveling bird-like Noise he then uses to power himself up.
Sho somehow survives the transformation, unlike most characters that go through a similar one. He also comes back again to help Rindo before bouncing into the nether. Someone should solve that equation.
1 What Exactly Did Tsugumi’a Visions Do?
It’s established early on that Rindo can time travel which sort of breaks the universe as established earlier. The reason he keeps getting visions is not revealed until the last third of Neo: The World Ends With You. Tsugumi can see into the future and has been the one sending Rindo these visions. But, why?
All they did was spoil that things were going to go wrong in most chapters. Knowing what happens before it does never fixed anything or seemed to be the thing that activated the time pin. It’s a story beat that goes nowhere.