Heartwarming / The World Ends with You

The World Begins with You.

The World Ends With You is ultimately a Coming of Age Story about a bitter, angry, and reclusive young teen learning to let go of his hatred of others and to go out and discover and appreciate the value of life and other people. As such, it should come to no surprise that due to this, the game has quite a lot of poignant and heartfelt moments.

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

• Hearing Eri's side of the story. The whole thing. "I'm nothing without her." and how she describes Shiki in much the same way Shiki described her ("She had (...) all the things I don't have.")
  • Even before that, we’re shown a scene of Shiki feeling incredibly down and berating herself for her perceived shortcomings due to a combination of her Entry Fee and Higashizawa’s "The Reason You Suck" Speech. Cue Neku genuinely encouraging her and actually telling her that he likes her just the way she is.
• Neku calling Shiki by her name.
  Shiki: Once you see the real me...will we still be friends?
  Neku: Count on it. You’ll always be Shiki.
  • And even before that, Neku telling Shiki to go on without him to come back to life and to not worry about him is a combination of this and a Tearjerker.
• Really, Neku’s and Shiki’s entire friendship is this. At the beginning of the game, Neku couldn’t give a rat’s ass about Shiki while Shiki had the unfortunate habit of nagging him when it came to certain issues, and yet, by the end of the first week, they gradually become more and more closer as friends and learn to appreciate and care for one another. Shiki offers herself up as a substitute for Neku at the end of Week 1 just so he can go on to come back to life and Neku himself puts up with a lot of crap, such as having the play the Game again and dealing with the revelation that Joshua might’ve killed him just so he can save Shiki and bring her back to life with him.
• The end of each week, seeing Neku so close to his partners, especially when you replay the whole game, are reminded of just how closed-off he was at the beginning, and realize just how far he's come by the end of the story.
• The ending. The whole thing, particularly seeing Rhyme. And Shiki.
  • The World Begins With You.
  • The originally embittered Neku managing to win over Joshua with the Power of Trust? Definitely qualifies.
  • The entirety of "Lullaby for You" is also this, especially when you look at the lyrics. Also counts as a Tear Jerker.
  A lullaby for you...
  Don't you worry baby,
  I'll be there by your side.
  Make tomorrow be wonderful, too.
  Close to you I hope to stay,
  Endlessly from today,
  Even through cloudy days,
  You are not alone.
• The end of the storyline in Another Day, seriously, it's hilarious but still honestly touching and cute.
  • Getting to battle Shuto at the end, and Neku's admission that he'd been hoping for that. And winning just feels really, really good.
• Reading the last Secret Report. Hanekoma is talking to Neku - or, well, to you the player.

  One last thing. To the Composer’s pick. Neku Sakuraba. The future you must choose is within you. I am glad to have had the chance to meet you.

• During Week 2, after Beat attacks Neku and Joshua as a part of his duties as a Reaper, Neku finds that Beat dropped Rhyme’s pendant during the fight and resolves to return it to him the next time they meet up. When he does so later on, free-of-charge, Beat questions him on why he did so only for Neku to respond that the pendant must’ve been important to him. This moves Beat so much that he ends up saving Neku from Uzuki and Kariya during Week 3 solely because of Neku’s kindness.
• When Shiki discovers that she was Neku's second week entry fee — and promptly getting flustered upon figuring out what that implies. ^{As a reminder...}  a Player's entry fee is whatever's most important to him/her.
• The conversation about Kariya refusing promotions. Of course, ambitious Uzuki is infuriated about it, but...
  Uzuki: I mean, what is that!? You got a crush on me or something? Can’t bear to leave me!? I don’t want to be your freakin' ball and chain! It’s not fair!
  • Kariya explains he just likes field work better... but concludes with:
    Kariya: ‘Sides, if I join the officers, how am I gonna sucker you into buyin’ me ramen?
    Uzuki: ...Jerk.
    • When they discover that the Rhyme pin Konishi gave them was actually a fake, they become legitimately disgusted by Konishi’s scheming, to the point that Kariya even gives Beat his own keypin despite the risks of him being Erased for it and Uzuki legitimately apologizes to Neku and Beat over leading them on a wild goose chase the day before.
• Beat's entry fee. It turns out that Rhyme's memories of him weren't her entrance fee. They were his entrance fee. Her relationship with him was the most important thing in his entire life. D'awwww!
  • Rhyme's entrance fee is another doozy. It is heavily implied that her fee was her own hopes and dreams. Sounds like a more self-focused fee initially, but one quickly remembers that she was trying to give Beat an example, help him find a dream to live for. In a way, the most important thing to Rhyme was being able to help her brother.
  • While the fact that Rhyme ultimately loses said entrance fee forever is a Tear Jerker, Hanekoma puts a surprisingly optimistic spin on it during Secret Report 17, believing that if the players can get through the Game without what they value most, they can return to life with newfound perspective. The way the report's written gives you the impression that Hanekoma cares about Rhyme and hopes that she'll be able to overcome the loss of her entry fee.
• It's a small thing, but what about, in week three, Makoto's old boss trying earnestly to give Makoto good advice? Initially he plans to use Reaper Creeper, but throws it away, deciding that this is too important. It's especially heartwarming considering that in an optional scene, you can see Makoto acting arrogantly toward his boss when striking out on his own, but the boss is nice enough to mentor Makoto one last time when he swallows his pride and asks for help.
• Another Day, while mostly hilarious, also gives you the fuzzies with its complete lack of real angst or danger. Everyone, even the villains, is just having fun by the end.
• "You're not my "partner" anymore, man. You're my friend." One of Beat's lines during the endgame. It's a sweet enough sentiment when it's first said, but in the final sequence, the line is flashed back to, and this time given voice acting. The heartfelt, sincere way in which Beat says it is so powerful.
  • Beat has a good number of surprisingly touching lines. "Listen up Phones! Cause I ain't asking twice! Please... Help me... You gotta help me save Rhyme..."
  • Neku himself also gets a good amount of moments like these with Beat. In the middle of the week, Beat starts berating himself over his various failures and inability to save Rhyme before Neku immediately cuts him off from doing so and genuinely encourages him to try and achieve the very best for himself, even using Beat’s Yo while doing so, and actually succeeds in cheering him up.
• The icon for one of the sub menus on your phone menu, the "Friends" section, is a picture of Beat and Rhyme bumping fists. Aww. Their relationship in general could count as an example, to be honest.
• In a rather cute scene, Joshua lets slip to Neku that Hanekoma is CAT, the artist and role-model that Neku looks up to and that they’ve been visiting his cafe all along. How does resident Deadpan Snarker Neku react? With complete and utter joy, to the point that he temporarily freaks out that he got to personally meet and talk to CAT.
• Meeting Sota and Nao-Nao, fellow Players, during Week 2. They are surprised to learn that this is not Neku's first playthrough, and even more surprised when they learn that his entry fee for this game was Shiki, his partner from the first. They are immediately very sympathetic and supportive, and pledge they'd play the game a million times over for each other. After Nao is erased, Sota's final words are for Neku and Joshua to rescue Shiki and live. The two might be Sickeningly Sweethearts, but they are downright genuinely nice.
  • The best part is how, right before they pledge to play the game over and over for each other and/or be the other's entry fee, they help Neku, who's blaming himself for the fact that Shiki didn't get to be brought back to because she's his entry fee, out his funk, telling him that it proves how much he cares for her, and that he shouldn't feel guilty about that.
    • It also kind of implies that, had Neku been chosen to be brought back instead of Shiki, he would have been her entry fee.
  • When collecting the Secret Reports, the player will be given the objective to ignore the people getting attacked by Taboo Noise and to move on past them. This can be done with the one Reaper and Uzuki and Kariya. Try to do the same with Sota after Nao’s Erasure, however, and Neku will flat out reject it and still go on to try and help Sota out.
• After Sota and Nao’s aforementioned Erasures, Neku starts beating himself up and calls out the Reaper’s Game for its mechanizations (a far cry from his previous reaction to Rhyme’s own Erasure) and for how it treats its own Players. Joshua is genuinely surprised by this, considering that Neku was so previously closed off before, and Neku responds with this:

  Neku: No...
  Joshua: No what?
  Neku: Sure, other Players are strangers. Not just Players. Everyone. I don't know who they are, where they're from, what they care about. But... since I came to the UG, I... I've talked with them a little. Got to know them a little. Felt them a little... Felt my world grow. Just a tiny, tiny bit. It's different now. They're not just some strangers. I can't shut them out like that.
  Joshua: My, my. This isn't like you at all. Well, just don't get your hopes up. You'll never really understand the people around you.
  Neku: Enjoy the moment.
  Joshua: Hmm?
  Neku: Enjoying your world means making it bigger. I finally get that. The world as one person sees it is tiny. You've gotta... gotta reach out to other people.
  Joshua:... Hee hee. Maybe so. Only by allowing strangers in can we find new ways to be ourselves. It's possible.

• In the end, Neku's monologue to Joshua, wherever he is. It highlights how much he's changed. It's the longest fully voice-acted scene in the game, too, so you can really hear Neku's sincerity.
  Same streets, same crowds too. Yeah, Shibuya hasn’t changed a bit. But still, I don’t think I can forgive you yet. You don’t see it, but... those few weeks were very hard for me. Learning to trust people, having that trust broken... Finding out the town I pegged as small, and stifling, and empty... wasn’t any of those things. I’m glad I met you guys. You made me... pick up on things I probably would’ve just gone on ignoring. "Trust your partner." And I do. I can’t forgive you, but I trust you. You took care of things, right? Otherwise, Shibuya would be gone... and my world with it. Hey, did I mention? I’ve got friends now! We’re getting together for the first time in a week! See you there?
• Helping fix Ai and Mina's friendship in week one.
  • The entire reason Mina was keeping secrets from Ai in the first place? She was actually trying to get tickets for the Molco slam-off to give to Ai and Makoto in order to get them to hook up. When Ai finds out about this, she is immediately apologetic for badmouthing Mina and even offers to take her out for something to eat, which Mina happily agrees to.
• A small example, but in Week 2, Neku and Joshua get roped into helping 777 and his two other bandmates, Tenho and BJ, try to solve the mystery of their stolen mic. Later on, it gets revealed that Tenho was the one who originally stole it. His reason for doing so? 777 and BJ were getting into arguments over who would get to do vocals and in a desperate attempt to not want them to break up, Tenho hid it away in order to stop the arguing. When 777 and BJ find out, they are immediately understanding and apologize for putting him through all of that grief.
• Surprisingly enough, Kitaniji himself gets a small moment after the truth about his and Joshua’s Game comes out. He legitimately congratulates Neku for defeating him and, before disappearing for good, addresses Neku by his first name and claims that it’s up to Neku to protect Shibuya.
• This particular bit from Secret Report 18, in which Hanekoma points out what's wrong with Kitaniji's plan.

  So long as there is individuality, it is impossible to fully eliminate loneliness. There is no such thing as a shared reality. Even people who believe they share a connection are not truly connected. They must actually make contact, clash, and learn about others through their foreignness. Differences should not be denied; they should be accepted and enjoyed.

• Befriending some of the less friendly shopkeepers can be surprisingly sweet (even if you do so by spending money at their stores). For example, while Banzai Ayanokoji, the proprietor of the Herbal Remedies store in the Shibuya Department Store, comes off as a Grumpy Old Man at first glance, if you max out his friendship gauge, he actually comes to respect you and offers to introduce you to his grandson, Shuto.
  • Likewise, when visiting the Burger Shop at the Shibukyu Main Store, the cashier, Shigemi Konno, will start to develop a crush on Neku and even think about asking him out, only for her to be too shy to do so. Awwwwww...
• What's the first thing Neku and Beat do after escaping Coco's pseudo-parallel world in A New Day? Call Shiki and Rhyme. The girls have no idea what happened, but the guys are happy to know their friends are alright. Damn shame that Coco ruins the moment...
• In the anime, Neku pushing Shiki out of the way of a rampaging Ovis Cantus' fist in order to take the hit onto himself, which Shiki then proceeds to immediately return the favor by having Mr. Mew grow bigger to have it act as a makeshift cushion for Neku to safely land on after getting sent flying.
• In the anime, there's a scene present in Week 2 that is not anywhere in the game: Eri buying flowers for Shiki (who was still dead, as the Composer wasn't actually around to revive her)
• The anime's final episode reveals that Sota and Nao were Spared by the Adaptation. Neku and company run into them and they are quite happy to see each other. Later on, it's revealed that 777, BJ and Tenho were also spared, and they are back to being Def March. Joshua returned all of them, and who knows how many others.
• As a small taste for Neku’s character development throughout the game, on Day 2 of the first week, when he was told by Uzuki that he had to kill Shiki or he would die himself, Neku was legitimately considering not killing Shiki and letting himself die. Sure, he changed his mind thanks to Uzuki tricking him into thinking that Shiki was a Reaper herself and that she was using him, but considering how he acted towards her and Beat and Rhyme, it shows that for as blunt and anti-social he is, he’s NOT a bad guy; just someone who is stuck in a bad situation and got tricked.