Warning! Unmarked spoilers below.
The characters have lots
foils because of their different backgrounds, abilities, personalities, and choices.
- Neku with all of his partners, a few Reapers, and one Hot-Blooded Kid Hero.
- Neku and Joshua. They are the very obvious foils, and it can be argued that this contributes significantly to both of their character developments. Both have very negative outlooks on the world, initially, and have extraordinary trouble understanding other human beings around them. Joshua even goes so far as to constantly point out these similarities between them, egging Neku on about it. But instead of showing outright disdain like Neku, Joshua opts for a more smug, self-righteous temperament. While Neku has made this mindset more or less his way of life, finds himself caught between his old worldview and newfound beliefs throughout Week 2 and eventually develops a desire to actually understand people and not give up on them altogether. Which comes as a genuine surprise to Joshua. Also, there's the fact that Joshua was responsible for Neku's death and involvement in The Reapers' Game, making him technically an antagonist all along, which makes their similarities equal parts interesting and ironic, and even emphasizes the different viewpoints between the two of them. It's also implied that Neku's change of heart over the course of the game is what spurs on Joshua's change of heart and ends up actually saving the day.
- Neku and Shiki. Shiki being a cheerful, empathetic, energetic Nice Girl to Neku’s initial sour, cynical, self-centered Jerkass personality. However, it then gets revealed that they’re both lost and confused about themselves, which Neku himself notes and relates to.
- Neku and Beat. The former is a Deadpan Snarker who gradually learns to open up to people and fight for the sake of people besides himself, while the latter is especially devoted to his partner and sister to the point where he would join with the Reapers in the hopes of restoring her to normal. Even the game manual tells you that they're opposites. However, they both have massive guilt complexes over their failure to protect what mattered the most to them and Neku even notes how he can relate to Beat’s confession on how he wasn’t crazy about anything when he was alive.
- Neku and Kariya. Both of them are calm, smart and powerful, partners with people that are more open than them. However, Neku is a teenager with issues but overcomes them, a player, has a lot of partners, and more stoic; while Kariya is an adult who has already experienced it, a reaper, only seen with Uzuki, and more laid-back. In gameplay, all of Kariya's attacks are supercharged versions of Neku's psychs.
- Neku and Kitaniji. Kitaniji is essentially a look at what a grown-up Neku would be like if he had never learned the lessons he did in the game, with both of them wearing headphones, having a passion for the arts, and having a mutual dislike of other people, seeing them as inherently flawed and worthless. However, whereas Neku learns to fully embrace Shibuya, faults and all, and appreciate other viewpoints and ideologies, Kitaniji flat out rejects them, instead of trying to force his will on others in an attempt to achieve total conformity.
- Neku and Minamimoto. Both are highly talented and motivated Broken Aces with huge amounts of Imagination (Neku is one of the most powerful Players in the game while Minamimoto is regarded as a top-class Reaper with one of the highest erasure streaks in the history of the UG) that Hanekoma takes a personal interest in for their use when it comes to the Reaper’s Game. They both believe that no one can ever truly understand them and share a distaste for cooperation and other people in general, and are mostly in it for themselves. However, whereas Neku learns to let go of his self-centered mindset and to use his talents for the benefit of other people besides himself, Minamimoto never chooses to reflect upon himself and stays a total asshole to the very end.
- Neku and Shooter. Both of them are The Protagonist/The Hero in their stories (Neku in Main Story and Shooter in Another Day), have friends that foils to them (Neku with Shiki, Joshua, and Beat and Shooter with Yammer), and are Tin Pin Slammer's players and fans (although, for AD!Neku. Main Story Neku doesn't treat it like Serious Business). But whereas Neku is a Deadpan Snarker Byronic Hero who is brooding, calm and calculated, Shooter is a Hot-Blooded Idiot Hero who is passionate, strong-willed and brave-hearted. Even Shooter treats Neku as a rival at Tin Pin Slammer (Again, Main Story Neku didn't want to involve himself with Shooter. But, AD!Neku gladly accept it). Neku and Shooter even get corresponding color designations in Another Day, where Neku is Blue while Shooter is Red. And they even play as a TPS team called "Kindred Spirits" where Shooter is The Hero and Neku is The Lancer. A complete Shout-Out towards Ash and Gary.
- Joshua already has an example with Neku above, but foils with Shiki and Minamimoto.
- Beat, the same with Joshua already has an example with Neku, but also has foils with his partner and sister (Rhyme) and his enemy (Konishi).
- Beat and Rhyme. Beat seems to be a Hot-Blooded and devoted to becoming the best skater ever, while Rhyme is calm, but doesn't have a dream of her own. It eventually turns out that they're the opposite of how they seem at first; Beat initially lacked motivation, while Rhyme "had a million reasons to live", in Beat's words, and she kept believing in him. Not only that, but they're also siblings.
- Beat and Konishi, in many ways. Whereas Beat is a loudmouthed Idiot Hero with a penchant for charging into a fray with no plans and being fiercely devoted and protective of the people he cares about, Konishi is a calculating Manipulative Bitch who always tries to plan two steps ahead of everyone else and will backstab just about anyone to achieve her goals.
- Uzuki and Kariya. Both of them are Affably Evil Reapers and have Villainous Friendship towards each other. But while Uzuki is an Alpha Bitch who is easily excitable, easily angered and wants to do nothing but get promoted up through the ranks of the Reapers, she's eventually revealed to have issues with her own failings as a Reaper, and wants to move up in order to bring Kariya up through the ranks with her, not wanting to feel like she’s dragging him down to her level. Kariya, on the other hand, is calm, laid back and very affable; while he seems like a slacker at first, he's shown to be highly intelligent, powerful and surprisingly philosophical at times. The reason why he rejects his promotion is because he wanted to enjoy the little things at life as well as enjoy time with Uzuki. They also use different weapons: Uzuki uses her pistol in order to dish out damage and Kariya tends to rely on his bare hands in order to shoot energy blasts.
- Shooter and Yammer. Both of them are Best Friends, Tin Pin Slammer's players and fans, Younger Than They Look, and wear fingerless gloves. But whereas Shooter is Hot-Blooded Idiot Hero who simply slams his pins with his heart and soul, Yammer is Deadpan Snarker extremely knowledgeable of Tin Pin Slammer who illegally customizes his pins to have additional abilities. As result, Shooter is much better at Tin Pin Slammer which made Yammer jealous of his skills.
