Spoilers Ahoy.
This idea is reinforced by the fact that Koki Kariya alludes to Joshua Kiryu as being a "little prince".
English: Mr. Twister; moist with roistering.Japanese: Mr. Tsuisutā; "motto" to uzuku monsutā.
The Japanese lyrics translate as "Mr. Twister; a monster which aches 'more'."
Remember what Neku calls Joshua at the end of the game?
- Joshua: "The winner gets to be the Composer, and do whatever he likes with Shibuya. If you win, you decide. If I win, I decide. ...Of course, I've already decided."
- Neku: "You're a monster..."
"Douran no pāwā wa sukurīmu."
This translates as "the power of commotions is a scream"; it's strongly reminiscent of the scene at the end of the game, after the 3 weeks, during which the people of Shibuya are conversing with each other loudly and Neku exclaims "What the hell!?", which shows the power and resilience of Neku's soul and his ability to relate with other people, which helped him survive throughout the Game.
"Nishiki no dorīmu wa sukurīmu."
The translation for that is "the brocade's dream is a scream"; it resembles what Another Day Joshua tells Neku (that "the very fabric of Shibuya is woven within these walls") shortly before you get the opportunity to play through the Final Time Attack.
- While this is very good and understandable, hear me out: this isn't Neku's entry fee, but Sanae's. From the Secret Reports, it reads: "Minamimoto is my backup plan to ensure Shibuya's survival. If the Composer does not change his mind, this unique city will be lost. I must prevent that at any cost." It is clear that Sanae loves Shibuya very much, to the point where he became a Fallen Angel just to let Shibuya thrive once more. In all honesty, it seems like Sanae loves the people of Shibuya and Shibuya itself more than Neku.
- original poster here, and my explanation was proven wrong by the countdown being for a remake... but if there does end up being a true sequel than maybe this theory can come true.
- This would also explain the I Never Told You My Name moment between Josh and Neku at the beginning of the week!
- "Brain wave, main wave"
- This does in fact refer to Kitaniji's plan, using an Assimilation Plot to create a main thought or brain wave.
- Psycho got a high kick
- Indicating that Neku, who is Psycho according to some secret reports, is the only one who can stop it,
- Collect and select
- Show me your best set
- This refers to the pins, indicating that he needs to take it seriously.
- "Crystals, blisters"
- It's all over now
- The crystals are clear and impenetrable, just like thoughts are; however, they also cause conflict and pain, hence the "blisters" part.
- Psycho cane
- You're so keen
- I need more candy canes
- Considering this shows up when Uzuki and Kariya appear on the screen, I believe this refers to them. A cane has implications of punishment. The Pyscho cane therefore is Uzuki and the candy cane is in fact Kariya. The "you're so keen" part might be another taunt.
- Alternatively, the Psycho cane part could refer to Kariya, who figured out what was happening in the games, if only somewhat.
- "Cold cake, cold break"
- This one's easy. Cold cake is sort of a deathday cake, a reverse of a birthday cake (which with birthday candles is normally hot). Cold cake indicates how unexpected Neku's death was.
- Freak got a high kick
- Mr. Twister
- Moist with roistering
- The fact remains that "freak" is used exactly like "Psycho" is. I believe this is Joshua this time, however. A Twister would be a manipulator. Moist with roistering means approximately, made damp with rudeness. In the secret reports, it is stated that Joshua is stressing Neku, making him sweat with his rude behavior.
- Stick it up
- Take it up
- Step aside and see the world
- This one is pretty easy, The World Ends with You — it's up to Neku if he wants to see the world outside himself.
- Effect has defects
- "Take a bow to the moon (Bow-wow to the moon)"
- As the secret reports stated, Neku's "defect" was his unstable Soul. The "effect" created a Soul versatile enough to allow him near-infinite pin mastery. However, even with this power, Neku is essentially serving Joshua (who uses the moon as his highest Player attack).
- "Morning rays, Hairspray Queens"
- "Get on their way to their nests, the west"
- This one's a sad interpretation. The Haispray queens are Shiki and Eri due to their fashion obsession. Morning rays represents life, the west sunset or death. Eri is alive and Shiki is dead.
- Another sad interpretation is how the lyrics represent the hivemind set of modern society and standards. Each waking day, dedicated to unity with others through pure material obsession and desires. The west likely means the cultural standards of the world being that of European and American ways of life and fashion.
- "Honest, they once had a dream"
- "Belles of society, in the shells of their unity"
- This refers to the Bito siblings. They aren't as close because of internal conflict, especially Beat's first entry fee. But Rhyme's entry fee was lost and therefore she "Once had a dream".
- Second sad interpretation for this one. People were born and filled with hopes of dreams, driven with well intentions and pure hearts, before society threw down their ideas and dreams as folly and unaesthetical.
- Cornet'n spinet
- "The sound flows, follows till they're home"
- Coronets and spinets are both instruments, therefore these are referring to the players who have to follow the game's rules till they come back to life. It's notable that "Neku" is Japanese for "sound", suggesting that they can find success if they follow Neku.
- Symbolic of the sounds of repetition and everyday routine until the day is over with.
- Dragged by the power of dreams
- That power is yet unknown
- The only reason they want to do this is their own ambitions. The game doesn't know whether they're worth the effort until they prove their potential or "power" themselves.
- People are still driven with desire, dreams, and motivation, but they have not taken the time in themselves to discover, learn, or understand their inner turmoils and complexities of what they want. They are also dragging on lifelessly day by day, with their weight of insecurities and unresolved inner turmoils being the chains and weights that drag them down.
- I thought the game stated that Rhyme's entry fee was her dreams, whilst Beat's was Rhyme's memories of him?
- It wasn't outright stated, just made obvious.
- This is disproven by Beat in W3 D4 when he told Neku that Rhyme had been chasing him when he ran out of the house after a fight with his parents. She never intended to be hit by a car. The Secret Reports also disproves the other as well, since you have to have a good amount of imagination in order to even play in the game. Another report states entry fees are taken for someone to strive for in order to get the most precious thing they have back, testing the will you have to obtain said thing, along with a second chance at life.
- You-Know-Who did say that Sho was merely "retired early" from that particular Game.
- I thought Neku was the only one who didn't know the rules of the Game, and that only because his memory was gone.
- This troper, having read the Secret Reports, thought it was relatively obvious that Kitaniji was trying to conceal the fact that the Composer was absent and therefore couldn't bring anyone back to life by making sure there was no one to resurrect. When that failed, he began bending the rules more and more (using a Player who already won as an entry fee, disqualifying Neku for something his partner had done before the Game without his knowledge or consent, making sure there were no other Players in the third Game, etc.) to make sure the survivors were erased.
- I doubt it. Neku's memory was returned in full at the end of Week 1 (except for his death), but for the entirety of Week 2 he regards Joshua as a complete stranger. Also, considering how much Joshua grated on him initially, it just plain isn't likely that Neku would have tolerated him outside of the Game.
- BUT. Joshua is the Composer. I'm sure he can change his form to whatever he wants, including a person Neku doesn't recognize. Eh, eh?
- Its also possible that Neku doesnt recognize him because Joshua is withholding that memory from him This could be backed up by Neku's reaction to the memorial during week three, he's getting deja vu, but like in week one, he cant remember why
- This also explains the I Never Told You My Name moment between Joshua and Neku...
- For one, This Troper totally buys this, and thinks it makes the game just that much more awesome.
- And, they'd make good fuckbuddies.
- And now you have me wondering about how GURPS could be adapted to the Reapers' Game... Hmm, ability to use more pins comes out of your character point pool? Neku took some mental/social disadvantages (Loner, Bad Temper...) to get more pins?
- Actually, everyone takes at least 1 disadvantage, in the form of the entry fee. Everyone except Neku focused their points into one or two attack skills (Beat: skateboarding, Shiki: psychomancy, or however she controls that cat thing, Joshua: his laser beam move and dropping stuff on people), Neku spread his points around so that he could master as many pins as possible (possibly due to an indecisive player?).
- That explains why Joshua is such an asshole. His player's a Munchkin.
- Actually, Joshua's player being a Munchkin explains Joshua completely. "Oh, not only is he a living human who can interact with the UG, but is also the Composer of the Reaper Game, and he can summon random large objects with his phone. Oh, and he can call down celestial laser beams."
- Incidentally, Minamimoto would be something The GM created as an anti-Munchkin. He had an attack with INFINITY damage, (which Joshua worked around by going in to a whole other dimension, probably said he took Nekky too, but dropped him in the Room after.) He fails, Mr. H makes another workaround where he just says "Okay, and he comes back worse than ever!" with that sigil crud. Of course, even this didn't work in the end game, with Pi-Face under a god darned vending machine, but you knew Mr.H had another sigil in the hallway in case he needed his guy to save the day.
- Pins are a perfect example of the chip set form of modular abilities.
- This may also explain why Neku's head hurts whenever he is around Minamimoto, seeing as Sho's abilities are almost on par with the Conductor's. His imagination isn't quite strong enough to erase Neku's memory, but perhaps it's strong enough to give him a headache.
- Jossed in the manga at least, where Joshua, er... stalks Neku during Week 1 and takes a photo of his backside from behind a corner...
His plans derailed when Neku didn't shoot, and he somehow ended up changing his mind on the matter, probably by Hanekoma talking and/or knocking some sense into him.
And why he didn't just let Minamimoto shoot him? He probably liked Neku better, or else just wanted to see how the game he'd set up would play out.
By this token, the last Game in the epilogue was not a bastardly secret test of character, it was a JOB OFFER. Either Neku shot and killed him, becoming the new Composer and creating a "new" Shibuya, or he shot and defeated Neku, remaining the Composer and taking "his" Shibuya in a new direction.
For Neku it's his friendship with Joshua. If he won their Game, then he might understand what Joshua was up to (by virtue of Joshua's Composer..iness being passed down to him), and would still be able to see Joshua a friend. However, Joshua would be dead, so...
For the Composer, it's Neku's trust in him. If Neku won, then Neku would lose his trust in Joshua by virtue of the fact that Joshua would be dead. Trusting a corpse to do much is a losing prospect at best. If Joshua won, then when Neku woke up back in the RG, he could start to trust Joshua again, because he wouldn't actually be dead anymore. But, their friendship would be forfeit, because this troper is incapable of believing that Neku would want to be friends with someone who had killed him once.
- But in the Epilogue with Neku's big speech addressed towards Joshua at the end, he says "I've got friends now, getting together for the first time in a week! See you there?" proving he does consider Joshua his friend, even if he can't forgive him for the things he did to him.
- You can actually buy the TWEWY OST, full of the songs that played in the game. Now even you can feel like Neku with assorted Jpop-ish songs perfect for ignoring people as you walk through a crowded mall.
- I like to think that he just switched over to earbuds. As for talking, he just plays them low enough that he can still hear.
- Also of note: Neku's idle animation.
- Would you disturb someone tapping their foot, clearly enjoying the music they're listening to? And for the fact that he does it mid-battle; I assume he's done it for so long it's become a habit.
- He tosses the headphones away because no one stores music, good or not, on their headphones.
- What if they're one in the same?
- Not to mention Joshua likes solving mysteries. If Joshua "is" Near, then...it's not too much of a stretch to assume Mr. H is really Mr. L. Scruffy-looking guy, willing to do immoral things for the greater good...and Joshua's predecessor, if you're into the theory Mr. H was the previous Composer before Joshua kicked him out like the insufferable little punk he is. This brings up the question: If Mr. H is L, and Joshua is Near...does that mean Beat is Kira? Think about it...
- Related: Taboo Noise are actually Noise/Heartless hybrids.
- Why can't Noise just be a subspecies of Heartless?
- Aren't Noise usually just the soul warped? This could make them either Nobodies or Hollows.
- Doesn't the game explain the Noise as being akin to a spiritual form of static? The secret reports make a few references to reality being much like sound waves, and that moving between the RG, UG and higher planes of existence is much like tuning a radio to the right frequency once you know how, with Noise being a semi-intentional by-product of this system. This explains why Noise are so lethal to residents of the UG: the erasure metaphor is more literal than it first seems, as losing to the Noise means your effect on the "wave" of the UG is erased from existence (hence why Rhyme could only be brought back as a Noise herself). It also explains why Taboo Noise are illegal to create: not only does it cause more Noise to enter the system (potentially destabilising it), but because they're much more powerful than other Noise, they're harder to defeat (a point of great worry for the Reapers, who could be reasonably be expected to eliminate excess Noise personally or at least use them against the Players).
- With the arrival of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, it becomes more likely that the Noise are somehow related to the Unversed - the Noise generate negative emotions, while the Unversed are the product of them. Their aesthetic is also in general slightly closer than the resemblance between the Noise and the Heartless or Nobodies.
- The Secret Reports make it clear that Neku lost his final game against Joshua — whatever his fee was, he didn't get it back.
- Joshua cheated his way into the game, therefore he didn't pay an entry fee.
- ...Wait a minute, how is it that Joshua lost his final game? He shot Neku, and therefore he won. Just because Neku was doing the right thing by not shooting doesn't change the fact that he failed to shoot Joshua, and so he lost.
- It's the fact that Neku didn't shoot. The whole "You have to shoot me." thing was a test for Neku, who couldn't bring himself to kill anyone, even his own killer... Thus, Joshua lost.
- If Joshua lost, then why is he still Composer, and not Neku?
- Joshua lied. Duh.
- Ah, of course. I'm too used to being in fandoms where you can actually trust characters to not lie about everything.
- It's the fact that Neku didn't shoot. The whole "You have to shoot me." thing was a test for Neku, who couldn't bring himself to kill anyone, even his own killer... Thus, Joshua lost.
- Don't the Secret Reports explicitly state that Joshua defeated his proxy, Neku? Unless Mr. Hanekoma is lying AGAIN, but why would he lie about that?
- Defeated doesn't mean killed. Neku and Joshua had different win conditions. Joshua won by default because Neku backed down, thus keeping his rank of Composer, and Neku won because he made the right choice not to shoot Joshua. Joshua is sad, therefore, because he is still the Composer and thus can't interact with Neku (because Joshua is now on a higher plane of existence).
- So they both won and lost? That's... a little complicated. And it could be Joshua doesn't even have an entry fee. Reapers are involved in the Game, but they don't put up one every week, it's only the Players, who grow from that anyway or perish. Why would the Composer have to put forth an entry fee, even in a Game suggested by him?
- Victory conditions were specified; failure conditions were not. That's how I see Neku getting out of it. I'm not convinced, however, that Joshua had to pay an entry fee; by his own admission, he snuck into his game in the UG, so presumably he dodged the entry fee requirement.
- Defeated doesn't mean killed. Neku and Joshua had different win conditions. Joshua won by default because Neku backed down, thus keeping his rank of Composer, and Neku won because he made the right choice not to shoot Joshua. Joshua is sad, therefore, because he is still the Composer and thus can't interact with Neku (because Joshua is now on a higher plane of existence).
- Several of the reports state that the whole point of the Game is to force Imagination onto the players, and to help resolve the players' personal issues. The very reason the Composer wanted to erase Shibuya was because he thought people were becoming too distant from each other. Kitaniji's plot to win his game with the Composer was to link everyone together in one giant trend: the red skull pins. Between this and the insinuations in the secret reports, it leads to The World Ends With You delivering one message rather clearly: people who mindlessly follow trends have no imagination, and tend to live in their own little bubbles! Obviously, someone at Square-Enix has been on the wrong end of some fashion faux pas...
- That someone in Square Enix is, of course, Nomura. This is all revenge for everyone mocking his zipper/belt-laden tastes. "Just because it's not 'conventional' fashion, you mock me!? You dirty sheep!" Et cetera, et cetera.
- Nomura was the main character designer in TWEWY, so... possibly? I would have thought the main character designer would be pro-fashion trends though...
- I dunno, the game seems neutral on the subject on trends. On one hand they can be used to properly express yourself, as shown with the Prince, but if you let yourself be influenced too much by them you just won't be... you, anymore. Plus the main characters—with the exception of Beat—seem up-to-date or trendy, even Joshua.
- That someone in Square Enix is, of course, Nomura. This is all revenge for everyone mocking his zipper/belt-laden tastes. "Just because it's not 'conventional' fashion, you mock me!? You dirty sheep!" Et cetera, et cetera.
- That would also explain why Mr. Mew was the only thing that she could control, and (if we can believe the secret reports), the idea of the Reaper's Game was to give imagination to players then it is possible that her power only extended to the one object that related to her happiest memories.
- I would think she would only find herself in the UG after agreeing to play the Game, and if she really wanted to kill herself, why would she make an attempt to come back to life?
- Because, she regretted killing herself.
- Also that would make Eri feel guilty of "Killing" her best friend, as she told her that she wasn't cut out to be a designer, giving her the will to give up on everything.
- Sorry, I like that theory as well, but I have to disagree. First off, Eri doesn't, in fact, pause around the word 'accident'; and secondly, Shiki initially only tries getting back to life because she gets to be in Eri's body. But as the Game progresses, she realizes that she'd rather give up on life. If she had killed herself, she wouldn't regret it, and she wouldn't have even gotten into the Game and gotten Eri's body. So I think it was a genuine accident, and she went along with the Game. Only then, when even being Eri wasn't enough for her, did she admit to herself that she didn't want to come back to life (until talking with Neku and seeing Eri during the Game convinced her).
- It's probably worth mentioning that the Japanese word for "accident" (事故, jiko) is often used to describe incidents where people jump in front of trains.
- But did she actually use the word 'accident' in the Japanese version?
- The fact that Shiki wants to get back doesn't automatically mean she didn't kill herself. It's not uncommon for someone to commit suicide and realize that they really don't want to die once it's set in motion. The way Shiki talks about hating herself and feeling worthless is a pretty common symptom of depression, and the crash back into that thinking after getting Hannibal Lectured by Higashizawa makes it at least plausible.
- Jossed, Joshua's entire motivation for destroying Shibuya was to prevent it from corrupting the other areas which means, they have to exist. Also, the Composer is far from almighty; he/she has no power outside his/her city (which of course with the above theory is irrelevant), can not restore the entry fees of players who lost, and has less power than the angels (and in fact is only capable of interacting with the Producer).
- However, this theory could work with a little tweaking, in particular, Haruhi tried to rewrite the universe but either the Data Integration Thought Entity or the Sky Canopy Dominion (or one of their interfaces) hijacked her powers before the rewrite was complete. The hijacker then divided her powers amongst various people (these people would thus be the Composers). The hijacking entity itself is/are the angels and the Producers are humanoid interfaces.
- Yeah, yeah, Kitanji claimed Neku wouldn't get another shot. He was either lying due to not being able to enforce it, using weasel words and the impending end of Shibuya to make it "true" despite not being able to enforce it, counting on his own success at his Game with the Composer to give him the authority to enforce it, or just had his ruling overturned by Joshua.
- If this is true, then how do you explain the people standing in a circle pointing at Neku the fourth time he wakes up in the Scramble?
- Other players, perhaps?
- While that's possible, consider how things are animated in TWEWY. They reuse animations/screens whenever possible — I mean, all the hands (for the timers, holding Rhyme's pendant, etc.) are the same, no matter whose hand it's supposed to be. So I think the fact that a different animation is used when Neku wakes up in the scramble at the end is supposed to send a message that this time, something new is happening.
- The first day of the game establishes the artistic 'code' that plot-unimportant Players are displayed in colour and plot-unimportant citizens in the RG are grey silhouettes. The ring of people surrounding Neku when he wakes up in the Scramble for the last time are grey silhouettes, which were meant to match/contrast the silhouettes that pass him every other time. Neku did not play a Game in that 7-day gap. QED.
- Also worth a mention, the "7 Days Later" gap occurs after Neku's "WHAT THE HELL!?" So he woke up in The Scramble, thought he was playing the Game again, yelled in a crowded area for no apparent reason, presumably got looked at funny, and then went to Hachiko, meeting at least Shiki, if not the others. This also justifies his statement about meeting up with his friends for the first time in a week.
- Other players, perhaps?
- Or Ichihara's shop runs an archetypal, personal Game, or she is God or Satan in the Angel/Reaper hierarchy.
- Or he's Joshua's father. Joshua is a Jesus figure. A Greek writer named Celsus once claimed that Jesus's real father was a Roman soldier named Panthera. What's the name of Hanekoma's noise form? Panthera Cantus!
- Stop making Neopie Paranoid.
- Evidently, this means that Sam Tyler is also a player; replace Shibuya with 1970s Manchester in that case, however.
- One problem. Neku wakes up at the scramble crossing. Presumably, he hasn't been lying there in a coma for weeks. And it'd be a bit much for the Composer to drag him out of the hospital and dump him there for a laugh...
- There's also the memorial/offering that had been left for Beat and Rhyme at Miyashita Park. Admittedly, this troper doesn't know much about how the Japanese regard coma patients, but wouldn't an offering for the dead be a bit premature if that was the case?
- This troper believes that the memories of everyone in Shibuya are rewritten so that they completely forget about the Players merely being comatose.
- Actually, like many Square-Enix games, some of the story isn't present in the "story", if you catch my drift. If you scan the minds of random people, some interesting tidbits show up. One man describes how he often sees people disappear and reappear out of thin air, especially in Udagawa, so I think this indicates that they simply reappear where they died.
- I'm pretty sure that guy was talking about how you become visible in stores.
- Then why are there noise in Another Day? (Besides the obvious)
- To get better pins to play with.
- Since this is an alternate universe, it is very likely that the members and maybe even the hierarchy of the Reapers are completely different.
Why Minato? The Tokyo Tower is there! Also, in the sequel Shiki and Eri will be a famous Desinger-Duo and will have their own brand, called "Sherry" (Notice the pun?), Rhyme will be a famous singer (because of her name, her sweet voice, and how much I think the song "Someday" fits her), Neku will work for Gatito and be married to Shiki. Beat will be dead and has been playing the Reapers game in cycles for almost 20 years (Therefore, an important NPC in the game). Why? Because I like the idea!
- That would be awesome. The only way it could be better is if Neku had ascended to Angelhood. (Presumably Beat would be a Reaper to be playing The Game for that long.)
- Well, I actually wanted to turn that into a fanfiction, but School stress got in my way... Don't worry, I'm a good fanfiction author. Never got any bad critique on my fics. Oh yes, and I also would like to have Neku be accended to angelhood.
- When you are finished, supply a link.
- Back on topic, the Angel hierarchy would very likely be explored in more detailed.
- That can work, after all thay are Neighbour.
- This Troper would rather it be in Shinjuku. We've already gone with the big city approach, let's try a smaller town. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building could be that game's 104.
- This Troper feels that Akibahara has some GREAT possibility for the sequel. Instead of Pins, Japanese phone cards will be the new Psyche medium, and the brands will range from a spectrum of entertainment companies, from video game developers, anime production companies, manga publishers, and even to movie studios, Japanese idol agencies and hobby content manufacturers. We can also only hope for a Macross Missile esque psyche as well. Plus some insight on the issues of the world as well ;3
- Can we at least assume that Noise exist everywhere, and therefore play a role in each region's UG? (On that note, I just imagined several different uses of Noise in said games: a Pokemon-style game, a mounted combat game where you can ride various Noise into combat, and, um... My Little Pony-type Noise. I'm going to assume the last one is the fault of having a female Composer. And of course, the Furry in me has to offer up the idea of the players becoming Noise in a game, or at least developing their own Cantus forms.)
- As a fellow furry, I want to see that idea come to life.
- Oh, dear... it seems that, in suggesting this WMG, this troper has created a monster. Though a monster with potential entertainment value.
- I smell OC fanfictions. Set in New York, Los Angeles and other famous cities.
- Please do. Not since Pokémon have I seen such potential for videogame Elsewhere Fic, and we could all use a break from Neku/Joshua.
- Adding to the fact that Neku never played a fourth Game is the fact that, if you look in the background, there is a circle of people around him, pointing to him.
- It's stated IN-GAME that Ex-players go on to become artists or in some other way creatively active. Shopkeepers are not exactly known for being very creative. Also, most of the things you buy are casual stuff like clothes and, well, food. And face it: Nearly every store in the world sells pins or badges those days. (At least were I life. And Shibuya's probably the same) Also, I suspect you to be eighter Beat or Google-Translation. For obvious reasons.
- I would be Beat Yo! That again Serious Business is Serious Business
- Lapin Angelique shopkeeper Princess K is mentioned several times to be the designer/creator of many of the clothing items in her shop; to ko-robber-ate, a guy in one of the music stores says he'll burn you a CD of his latest music, indicating that he's probably a singer-songwriter, even if he dresses like a square. not to say that all the shopkeepers are designers/players - just that it's pretty possible for some of them. (princess K still gives me Morticia Addams vibes, though. )
- You know, actually... scanning stray thoughts and reading threads info will reveal a lot more about shopkeepers' secret lives : you've got many designers, a few musicians/singers, a DJ, a dancer, a comedian, a skateboarder, a football player, etc. They DO make a mark on society since people are thinking about them. And then of course there's Gatito, whose buyer is CAT, and there's Ken Doi in AD... (and then there's Tatsuya Omura). In short, you really may be on to something here.
- And apart from that, this guess is Intentional Engrish for Funny.
- Note that Ken Doi is the one leaving you all the hidden packages during the postgame, so he's probably in on it too. Who says Ramen can't be an art form?
- Though Shiki does tell Neku to focus his thoughts on her during battle to help with her attacks early in the game, so there's probably some sort of psychic link given by the Pact.
- So, Rhyme's ability to see Beat is akin to Neku's ability to see Shiki.
- Neku and Shiki share HP before he gets the Harmonizer...
- Plus, Beat was well on his way to being erased when Rhyme did. Hanekoma had to work fast to make a pin for Beat to sync with, otherwise he'd have been toast.
- Maybe that why on week 3 time seen to fly away 'cause the Composer is in another world.
- How exactly do you justify Kitaniji brainwashing everyone through the Red Skull pins then? If anything deserves a What the Hell, Hero? moment...
- I noted the What the Hell, Hero? in a pothole up there, and it is true that he's a Well-Intentioned Extremist at best and a Knight Templar at worst. However, given the time limit he was working with and the fact that everyone in Shibuya would probably have been dead or worse had the Composer gone through with his plan, a few days of brainwashing was probably a fairly efficient way to prove his point and win the game. After all, on top of changing all of Shibuya to please the Composer (and do note that the Composer did say he liked Kitaniji's idea just before he was erased, so it probably would have worked if it wasn't for that meddling kid) he had to keep the Game running and attempt to prevent the Composer's proxy from erasing or otherwise stopping him. Although he does start to border on worryingly fanatical during the final scenes... although I, at least, wonder if he was always that way, or if the month and/or his entry fee broke his sanity somehow. He seems a tiny bit different during the brief flashback to before his Game.
- There just two things wrong with that theory:
- Mina talks to Eri about her desings in the Realground and how she hasn't made any, since Shiki is death, meanng, that she was great BEFORE Shiki had the accident, not afterwards.
- The whole fight between Shiki and Eri, that made part of Shiki's angsting over comeing back to life, was based on a missunderstanding, they had when Shiki tried to desng something in the RG. If Shiki and Eri spent a week togheter afterwards, she would sure have explained Shiki how she really meant it and Shiki would have had no reason to angst over this missunderstanding.
- I said it took place FAR before the current game. As in "Shiki and Eri were in one game together (after dying for some other reason besides those mentioned in the plot), came back, spent several weeks / months / years in the Realground being creative, then had the argument and the wangst right before Shiki died (again)." In other words, Shiki and Eri played a "straight" game (Composer and all) long before Joshua's and Kitaniji's game, hence Shiki's shock and surprise to discover that the Composer was not only not there at the end, but that she wasn't given a free pass back into life like last time.
- I wouldn't say weeks, months, or years. Remember Uzuki and Koki's conversation? Uzuki had never seen a game run for multiple weeks in a row; Koki had, but stated that it was unusual. Three weeks in a row was practically regarded as unprecedented.
- Correction, they said it was odd for them to be on duty for multiple weeks in a row.
- You know, we don't know how long Joshua has been the Composer, maybe Shiki and Eri played the game from the previous Composer, and maybe this Composer wasn't a Jerkass like the current Composer.
- Came to that conclusion as well. Also, her personality in Another day seems more like what Shiki decribed Eri to be like and less like Shiki herself.
- See This Shiki have her personality, not acting as her and also she friend to Mina (and Nao-Nao somehow) and I don't know if our Shiki know Mina too, before.
- ...aren't alternates allowed to have alternate lives/friendships/etc? Seriously, Konishi is Beat's teacher. It's plausible that Shiki can be part of a fangirl cheering squad.
- Never think that Canon!Konishi was a Teacher before she lost her life? But You maybe right, I mean Higashizawa is Grily-Man and NO way that our Higashizawa was like that!!
- Nonono, see, she seems to act like Eri because that's what we'd expect, seeing Eri's body instead of Shiki's. After all, Shiki did act like Eri for a while near the beginning~ We're used to Shiki looking like Eri, so we'd expect her to act the way she did before the whole Tomato in the Mirror incident which revealed that that wasn't indeed her body! It's just one big issue with perception.
- Canon!Eri is friends with Mina. I dunno about you guys, but my bff and I are in the same social circle. There's no reason why canon!Shiki can't know Mina through Eri.
- Ah, but Mina didn't know who Shiki was.
- Well, I 'know' most of the people my bffs know by sight, but I don't actually know stuff like their names or how they know my friends. It's fairly possible that Mina would know Shiki if she saw her, but not her name or just by the fact that she and Eri were best friends. (Eri seems like she would have a lot of close friends.)
- See This Shiki have her personality, not acting as her and also she friend to Mina (and Nao-Nao somehow) and I don't know if our Shiki know Mina too, before.
- Actually, if you scamper around Shibuya before entering the Tin Pin Slammer contest, a conversation with Joshua reveals that Nekku is subconsciously refusing to perceive Shiki as she actually is, but rather is too attached to the state in which he met her.
- But, Another!Neku didn't meet Another!Shiki in the same way that Neku met Shiki.
- Joshua actually talks to and about player there, as Neku truly doesn't understand one bit of his rambling, even of whom he's speaking, as you do not meet Shiki by that point (or just I didn't, but Neku doesn't understand either way).
- But, Another!Neku didn't meet Another!Shiki in the same way that Neku met Shiki.
- You know, RG!Shiki is very green. Well, yellow and green, but yellow's taken, and the green there is plenty for Joshua to dub her green. And RG!Shiki was wearing a skirt jacket shirt combo thing. Yeah, you mentioned the shirt thing but... As for the boots thing, we'll pass that off as also hearing what we want to hear as well as seeing what we want to see. Perception isn't just vision, after all.
- You May Be Right... But really, Why would Neku see her as THAT. (Not saying, she is Bad Looking, Just OK)
- The entire thing was a set-up. Joshua was going to erase Shibuya because the people didn't change, so he goes and chooses Neku, who was entirely willing to kill someone to benefit himself on the second day with Shiki. If it is proven to him somehow that people can indeed change, then well, he doesn't erase Shibuya. Thus then Neku, in being unable to shoot Joshua who purposely acted like a humongous ass in those last moments proves that even cases like him can change. Aka, because of choosing Neku, Joshua's win condition for the game was that people couldn't change (Neku doesn't hesitate to shoot him), and his lose condition was that people could (Neku doesn't shoot). Neku changed, so he lost and therefore didn't erase Shibuya.
- It might be needed to note that part of this troper's headcanon involves Joshua washing his hands of Shibuya by getting himself erased by his proxy's hand in his 'win' scenario.
- This means that Kitaniji's running out of time was an illusion created by Joshua, which would explain why the first Secret Report implies that the Neku started playing at the beginning of Joshua and Kitaniji's game. As for the Producer's claim that the Composer beat the Conductor he did defeat him with Shiki, Neku, and Beat's help in the final battle, but that wasn't enough for him to win the game between them.
- Um... That Joshua claims to have beaten you, in a unseen, unplayed TinPin. But Hey, Maybe Neku is right he didn't Played TinPin with him at all, and is it funny that Never ever Play TinPin with Joshua in "Another Day..."
- Didn't Neku beat Joshua in Tin Pin Slammer to win the right to wait for a mission rather than help with his errands?
- Yeah but you didn't even Seen or Played. But Yeah Neku did beat Joshua on Day 4 Week 2.
- Didn't Neku beat Joshua in Tin Pin Slammer to win the right to wait for a mission rather than help with his errands?
- Well this is better then Joshua posessing Mr Mew.
- Well, there's another WMG that says Joshua is Neku's dead best friend, so technically it could still be Joshua.
- That's just because there would be copyright issues if they copied all of it. And... wait, I'd say that the Nice and Accurate prophecies are a bit linked to the weird poem/prophecy that appears in the later stages of the game. So... it's a Japanese Good Omens. Awesome.
- Well this is even better then Neku BFF or Joshua. What Next Mr H?
- Or the Player as will.
- Why not Kariya? In a single day (Week 3 Day 4), he proves exactly why he'd be better for the position than the actual Game Masters, and demonstrates what the Game is supposed to be about. He puts Beat in a position where he runs into trouble due to his flaws (being stupid and being responsible for Rhyme's death), but also gives him everything he should need to overcome them. (Especially if he trusts his partner.) He gives them a fight afterward, and a challenging one that erases the Players if they lose it, but he doesn't go all out and concedes the battle long before he is erased. And after he loses, he gives back the entry fee. At least, he thinks he does.
- Do he even want the Job? He did say he fine working as he is.
- True. I propose that Uzuki will become the Conductor, what with her drive to succeed and ascend; Kariya, since he doesn't want the responsibility, will be her second-in-command (third? Given the structure of the Game) and her moral compass (sort of). With Uzuki's focus and Kariya's ability, The Game will reach new heights!
- Do he even want the Job? He did say he fine working as he is.
- This one probably makes the most sense. His brand is Gatito (Kitten) and Mr. Mew is Gatito brand as an item.
- ...Sorta like End of Evangelion just without the orange tang? Wow...that is a distrubing thought. But it explains why Mr Mew is so good at fighting: it's dominant soul is that of Lilith. Also known asRei. Also known as the Dummy Plug!
- But what about Auto Play?
- The DS itself.
- Dear Composer, what madness have I unleashed?
- Joshua
- Neku's dead BFF
- Eri (Another Day)
- Mr. H
- Everybody
- Mew(one)
- A Demon
- A Cat
- Mr. Mew(!)
- The Heartless
- Axel
- Beldam
- Us with the DS
- Haruhi Suzumiya
- Shinji Ikari
- Some random Timelord
- Kamina
- Ermac
- Geno
- Kefka
- Light
- Phantom Thief Jeanne
- Danny Phantom
- Giygas
- The world's potential
- Shiki Herself.
- The Cheat
- Jesus
- Westley
- Rincewind
- Trope-tan
- Madotsuki
- John Lennon
- Chuckie
- Companion Cube
- Several Frenchmen, over the course of the week
- Spock
- Darth Vader
- A pig
- Scrappy Doo
- Team Rocket
- Yoshi
- Lufia
- The word 'possessing'
- Adam West
- The Nintendo Wii
- A clichéd, overweight parody of Spock
- Wesley Crusher
- Chuck Norris
- Orihara Izaya
- Albert Wesker
- Mama Luigi
- Naraku
- Cerberus / Keroberos
- Mew(two)
- The Fayth
- The Occuria
- Xemnas
- Alice Margatroid
- Vilgax
- Xehanort
- Barthandelus
- SCP-239
- ZAG-RS
- The two voices (Serena and Bellicus) inside Alien X
- Yukari Yakumo
- Drizzit Do'Urden
- Itachi Uchiha
- Asteion
- Marianne vi Britannia
- Michio Yuki
- Caim
- Reynardine
- Lil' Cal
- Two or more of these people
- Junko Enoshima
- Your Mom
- A jaywalker
So far, So good.
This also means:
- Except Players with pacts. Also FUCK YOU, OMEGA. YOU SHAN'T SUCCEED!
- Theoretically, we already have Demons- Fallen Angels. Would Demons be the worst kind of Fallen, or something?
- Nice try, but Fallen Angels is a lower ESP'r rank. Lower than Angels if I remember correctly.
- Even more fun: this troper has heard that in the Japanese game, over 10,000 rounds of battles earns you the rank of God.
- You can get it in the US version too, you just need exactly 10,000 ESPer points.
- Wait a minute.... so this means—
- Given what we know about Haruhi, this means that Kyon is his father. Daddy would be very disappointed in him.
- Given Joshua's personality, I'd say that Itsuki-Niisan came over to "visit" with New Dad Kyon a few too many times while Joshua was still impressionable. Possibly the Itsuki > Kyon led to the Joshua > Neku interactions? There are a lot of similarities...
- By that logic, Hanekoma would be Joshua's father. It's quite plausible really.
- Kyon is Hanekoma. Explains why we never heard his real name. Everything makes sense.
- The purpose of the game is to resurrect artists, and to recruit people to keep the game running. However, various inconsistencies can still be found in the reports. For instance they appear to cover the entire game between the Composer and Conductor, but that game lasted just over four weeks and the reports only cover three weeks. He also claims that their are several paralel worlds (e.g. Main Story World and Another Day World) within each plane (e.g. Underground and Realground). When in fact the planes exist within the worlds. Also he claims that differnt worlds have different vibes which if true would mean that travel between the worlds is actually trivial (e.g. your doing it everytime you enter or leave a shop).
- Wouldn't Kitaniji owning Hip Snake make a lot more sense?
- Maybe he owns both Hip Snake AND Dragon Couture, considering his Noise forms.
- I doubt that they own any of them (with the exception of CAT), but I think you might be on to something with them at least representing certain brands. Neku and his partners all have one or two brands that they like and enjoy most of their stat bonuses from, like Neku with Jot M and Shiki with D+B, so I don't see why the main Reapers should be any different.
- Dragon Couture is definitively associated with Joshua, since it gives him the most bonuses and the final battle, Draco Cantus, is basically Kitaniji hijacking his power. Konishi has Lapin Angelique. D+B is, oddly enough, not associated with Higashizawa, despite the bull imagery. And, for completion's sake, Wild Boar is a dead ringer for Beat's brand.
On a side note, because of the rarity of Players, there are few Reapers, and everyone instantly becomes a Harrier. Points also increase a Reaper's lifespan significantly more there than in Shibuya.
- Pretty sure that by "impeccable player erasure record" they meant that he killed off everybody. The idea behind being a good GM is not to pick them off one by one, Harrier-style, but to kill off players en masse with clever/difficult/fucking impossible without being given the answers by the Composer missions. Which is something Sho's good at (even though he spends most of the second week not doing so in a conventional way; this can be forgiven because he has bigger plans afoot).
- It's been implied in the Secret Reports that you aren't supposed to actually play Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies games, though, and that death counts should be even on both sides. Thus a legitimately unfair mission is foul play. On the other hand, it's indicated that this is his usual behaviour, and he's being praised for it, supporting the second Troper's point. It all comes down to whether Konishi or the Secret Reports' writer knows better about what makes a good GM. Maybe killing every player is a bad thing in other Composer's Games?
- How is that a wild mass guess? This game has a Troper Tales page. That in and of itself is proof that its real.
- Who knows. Whenever they're talking to the Player, there's an equal chance that they're talking to you or Neku. Or maybe Neku's just meant to serve as an avatar of you within the game world.
Mind= Imagination The Psychs work by using Imagination. The Imaginations manipulates Dust into creating different effects on the world.
Soul= Deamons When Uzuki explained how to create Noise she explicitly stated that Noise are made out of Soul. If the body was lost when a Player Dies. And Imagination (as described by the Secret Reports) is destroyed upon Erasure. That simply leaves the Soul taking on a deamonlike form.
Erasure is simply dissolving peacefully into the universe which Word of God (ironic isn't it?) confirms is what most souls want. However those who have the will (Imagination) to keep existing play the Game. Like in His Dark Materials the best get turned into Angels. Like in His Dark Materials Angels are complicated in structure but look humanoid to humans and can travel through universes.
- Nice try but you're missing a step. Shibuya is a district in Tokyo. Hanekoma probably controls all of Tokyo. Knowing this is a Japanese Game he may as well be god.
- Also, please note that judging by speaking styles in Japanese, Joshua is Hanekoma's boss rather than the other way around. (He uses -masu form and refers to Josh as a "kata" rather than a "hito" in The Stinger.)
- I always thought that was sarcasm, or their little joke. Sanae calls Josh boss in English, too, but since according to the reports, Producers are angels and Composers are not, he still has to have higher authority. Still, since most souls fade out when they die, and so many people who play get erased, there can't be that many angels in existence, so it's not completely unreasonable to assume that they'd be understaffed and need to at least watch multiple districts. It gives yet another reason why he's never in the cafe.
- That doesn't make sense. Remember when even Joshua himself revealed that Players who've had their partners erased can only survive for about 7 minutes before they themselves are erased, such as in the case of Sota and Nao? He couldn't have had enough time to find the Composer nor to outwit and erase him. And since Psychs don't exactly work without a partner, I doubt Joshua could've eliminated the GM of the week on his own, after his partner got erased.
- The GM and partner died in a Double Erasure, problem solved.
- Alternatively, he and his partner didn't get the points to come back to life (a possible outcome, even if Kitaniji was lying about only Shiki qualifying for resurrection). Joshua chose to become a reaper, while his partner didn't want to, and instead chose to fade into oblivion. Joshua wasn't happy with his decision, though.
- Taking the premise that Hanekoma is Diego post-mortem and that Mia and Misty were in the same place becuase they also got promoted to angels. I don't but the 20 Minutes into the Future, and time travel could be a possibilty.
- Only Six Faces, my friend. Besides, do we even know how old Josh is? He could be as old as Shibuya itself for all we know.
- Still, ages aside, Joshua mentions that "Mother and Father call me Joshua", although he could be lying about having parents. It's also worth noting that May is probably the most dismissive of you prior to building up your friendship gauge, ("... (Are these children... customers?)"), but eventually warms up to you to the point of developing a crush (reminiscent of how Joshua's time around Neku apparently influences him not to erase Shibuya). In this case, Joshua's father could be a person who doesn't exactly watch what he's saying or enjoys teasing others, leading to the Jerkass we know.
- This troper thinks that this is a very well thought out theory(considering Josh's height change in Composer Mode.) As for the different last names, another reason Sho could resent Joshua is because they're half brothers. Think of it like this. Josh's dad left his mom for Sho's and sometime after Sho's birth went back to Josh's mom. OR OR OR an inverse could be that he resents Joshua because Sho's actually HIS older brother. But that theory isn't as cool as this one now is it?
Not to mention all his talk about making the trends work for you which is an actual part of the gameplay
It's implied that the reason Joshua decides to not destroy Shibuya is because seeing Neku surrender convinced him that if an mega-emo like Neku could change then there was still hope for the people of Shibuya. But when you think about it, Neku had to change to survive. In a game that runs on The Power of Friendship being a brooding loner will only end up getting you killed.
My theory is that while Joshua was playing the Game with Kitaniji he was in reality playing game with himself. Basically, to take the most emo kid in the city and make him care about people. If it worked, he'd spare Shibuya, if not, there always Instrumentality. Rather than being the Composer's proxy, Neku was in fact the proxy of Shibuya itself. Winning three Games in a row basically proved that he's learned to play well with others, but Joshua needed to see for certain if the bonds he formed were real, or if Neku just saw them as tools to win the Game.
So at the end he played the Final Game with Neku. Revealing his true identity made him into someone who Neku truly hates , while making it a one-on-one gun dual made a game where friendship and trust is useless and the only way to win is to be cold and heartless. If Neku still showed mercy it would be proof that he had become a better person. Basically, when Neku lowered his weapon and told Joshua that he trusts him, he in fact won the Game and in turn saved Shibuya and all his friends.
- I beleive this is supporterd by one of Joshua's lines right before the duel. "Remember what Mr. H. said." "Enjoy the moment" certainly doesn't fit here. The World Ends With You would make sense but not in this context. Therefore I have to assume Joshua meant "Trust your partner." This fits well with the ending. "I can't forgive you. But I trust you."
In the UG, you're who you think you are, and after hearing what a dumbass he is so many times, Beat believes it. OH SHI-
- Don't forget the reason Beat is in the UG in the first place is that he's quite literally Too Dumb to Live (this is the guy who tried to take the bullet with a car). Anyway believe he said that Rhyme always was the voice of reason.
- Beat wasn't Taking the Bullet, he was trying to get Rhyme out of the way. He grabbed her instead of pushing her, meaning he was only Too Dumb to Live insofar as he didn't have good enough spacial skills to realize that he wouldn't have had time to save her before the car smashed into them both.
- If you tell anyone something often enough they'll begin to believe it; it has nothing to do with being in the UG (that's not how the UG works, anyway). Beat's a dumbass from the moment you meet him, so if he really is a case of Your Mind Makes It Real, his self-imposed stupidity began before he died, not after.
- AND I JUST LOST THE GAME! (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)
- Considering this series has two WMGs it must be a conspiracy of former players to prepare future players. Note to self if I must die, die in a city.
- Come on, watch the beginning of episode 5 and tell me you don't think that's one crossover that needs to be done. THE COMPOSER IS TELLING YOU USELESS HUMAN TO GIVE UP ON YOUR PATHETIC LIFE, among other things.
- Additionally, it's a very popular theory already that the Composer is part of Shibuya itself. Probably merges with its Soul or something.
- As I think about it now, Composer being the embodiment of collective mind is both probable and... disturbing.
- It explains where all the trash he throws around in battle comes from. And maybe the Jesus Beam is his stand ability?
- In the Japanese version Hanekoma accuses Josh of being lonely at the end, so there's no doubt that he regretted returning everyone to the RG. However, my thoughts are that Neku is the only one that he would truly miss. He never met Rhyme, only met Beat when he was being attacked by him, and only very briefly saw Shiki, so the only reason Josh would feel any attachment at all to them is because they're friends of Neku's. I think Joshua was sulking at the end because Neku chose the company of his friends in the RG instead of Joshua in the UG.
- The final confrontation was a Secret Test of Character for Neku, and Joshua never planned on upholding his end of the bargain had Neku decided to shoot. Josh just wanted to see whether or not he WOULD.
- The stinger ending shows Joshua moping, while watching Neku hanging out with the other Players, where he will never be able to join them. The fact that he spared Shibuya and resurrected the Players shows that he really did have a change of heart about people, and it's understandable he'd be lonely. When Mr. H tries to console him, he flies off without a word, to which Mr. H remarks "Some people just can't take no for an answer", possibly implying Joshua intends to find some way to circumvent his situation. Thus, he creates Another Day, to both have the opportunity to hang out with Neku, and make up for all the pain he put the Players through by giving them fun world to play around in. Think about it, there's really no drama in Another Day, not really. The Reapers are much less threatening, some are straight-up friendly. The biggest conflict involves TIN PIN as opposed to life or death. And throughout AD's plot, it seems like Joshua is really enjoying himself, especially when he gets to tease Neku some more.
- Actually not quite, Mr. Hanekoma mentioned that Another Day was the parallel universe that Joshua made to escape Minamimoto's i level flare He didn't make it, it was already there. It was stated somewhere in the game that there are multiple planes of existence out there, and Another Day was an example of one.
- True, this one's pretty much jossed, but this is such a comforting/heartwarming idea that I now choose to believe this over the game's actual endgame plot. Damn you, troper...!
- While there's no that reason it couldn't be true, there are a couple problems with this theory. Firstly, the game's Shibuya isn't populated by normal, realistic Asians, it's populated by anime characters. In TWEWY's Shibuya, you're just as likely to be blond as you are ginger or ash, and your irises can be any colour under the sun. Konishi and 777 both being blond doesn't mean a lot—Eiji Oji, Rayca Hoshi, Anna Aoi, and Akira Yoshii are all blond too, but none of them the same yellow as Beat and Rhyme. You're also suggesting that Konishi and 777 were on good enough terms to stay together for at least 2-4 years while they made babies, when Konishi was a manipulative ice queen who erased 777 without a thought for helping out "their son". She also, while being the total antithesis of Beat (whom she absolutely despised), crushed and kidnapped her "daughter" just to manipulate him, and then thought that the most satisfying use of her last moments was to break his heart. Even though he wasn't as nasty about it, 777 was pretty excited by the prospect of Offing the Offspring for a bounty, too. If Konishi and 777 were Beat and Rhyme's parents, they certainly weren't very good ones.
- The whole premise of it is pure, unadulterated crack, but with that said... If you wanted to, you could twist things to make 777 be a pretty decent undead parent. For instance, you COULD—and this is a big emphasis on the hypothetical, here—say that Konishi was not being entirely truthful about Beat's entry fee, and that it was his family/loved ones' memories of him that, not just Rhyme's, in which case, if 777 were his father, he wouldn't remember Beat. Konishi is the big monkey wrench here, because she'd be a bad parent, fullstop, and would probably take great care to make sure it was never even a possibility.
- We technically do see Rhyme fight in a cutscene (W1D3), but we only see that she either uses a Positive (mêlée) psych, or poses like she does while Beat kills things. The only time she talks about herself or Beat using pins is when she tells Shiki that they "had extras" of the Cure Drink pin, meaning that one of them was unable to use it. It's as you say: we have no indication either way of what the limit is to Rhyme's power. It's just as possible that she can't use psychs at all.
- But doesn't a secret report say that Neku is able to use all the pins because of his powerful Imagination? Considering that Rhyme's entry fee was her hopes and dreams, that could indicate that she had a powerful imagination. Also, we may not see her weapon because she doesn't have one, much like Neku.
- As for "We have extras", I often find myself with 3 of the same pin after a noise fight.
- But doesn't a secret report say that Neku is able to use all the pins because of his powerful Imagination? Considering that Rhyme's entry fee was her hopes and dreams, that could indicate that she had a powerful imagination. Also, we may not see her weapon because she doesn't have one, much like Neku.
- If there's going to be a sequel, why would they make a sequel with the exact same story as the original?
- Canon!Hanekoma was worrying that his Another Day counterpart might become aware of him. The second Tutorial guy dissapears is the second that you can no longer meet Hanekoma at Pork City. Also Joshua recognizes and is shocked at who Tutorial Guy is, under the hood and he comments on those glasses.
- It's probably actually intended to be that guy you can fight by the end of the quest storyline, the Tin Pin Magician or something, who wears red glasses IIRC. He's one of three guys you never meet in the "canon world", apparently based on game-makers or something. Joshua's dialog with him all but states he's Tutorial Guy.
- Joshua and Kitanji are Philemon/Igor and Nyarlathotep respectively, the pins are Persona and Neku has the wild card ability. Kitanji's plan is similar to that of Nyx, to make everyone apathetic using his power.
- It's possible that it was like that before she died, but it only manifested during the game.
- Neku is a self-alienating character who uses earphoses (which may or may not actaully have music playing. Another similarity) who only wins the game (i.e. returns to life/the real world) by accepting others. Sorta like End of Evangelion and how you return from the LCL sea. Kitaniji's plan is basically Instrumentality (Kitaniji is Gendo?). And Joshua gives of way Way WAY to many Kaworu vibes. Wicked Cultured? Check. Might be in love with the protagonist? Check. Both are basically GODS? Check. Both enjoy messing with their chosen Messiahs? Check. So yeah, The World Ends with You=Neon Genesis Evangelion.
- It would explan so many things. After all, Beatrice is able to create "furniture" to serve her, and the Reapers can do that... at least on a lesser scale. Like in Beatrice's game, there are different rules for each round, but the main goal is always survival, and the game always differ depending on the Game Master. Just like in Beatrice's game, there are external forces that are meant to keep the game under control, and to punish Game Masters who disobey the rules. Not to mention the use of RED TEXT to highlight important details...
- This could tie into the other WMG above about Shiki's soul being in Mr. Mew and simply projecting a psychic echo of Eri's body.
- GLaDOS decided that portal testing wasn't enough and so hacked a computer in a hospital in Shibuya and used it place several different groups of hospitalized people under a mass hallucination. They then begin running around Shibuya believing themselves to be dead. The Reapers are in the same boat and GLaDOS made them as assistants so she doesn't have to do the testing on her own. Mr. Mew being possessed by her raw mind, Joshua is the Anger Core, Hanekoma the Curiosity Core, the Conductor the Morality Core, and all of the GMs, save for Kariya, are the Intelligence Core. The Cores still exist because GLaDOS rebuilt them with the Morality Core simply telling her what things are immoral and not preventing her from doing them. Minamimoto is the only one who figured out the hallucination and tried to get out of it by creating Taboo Noise to overload the system. However, he didn't know that Hanekoma/Curiosity Core was planning it from the beginning to see how the Players and Reapers would react to Taboo Noise. The Noise are GLaDOS' way of weeding out bad test subjects and Erasure is dying for real. The concept of Imagination is GLaDOS trying to learn more about humans by seeing what they like other than cake and parties. The shops are all places where GLaDOS allows the hallucination to partially wear off. Another Day is not an alternate universe but, in fact, what GLaDOS thinks she learned from the experiment, that humans are obsessed with pushing pins around a table. The Player Pins are mind reading devices that GLaDOS built using tech from an abandoned lab owned by the Japanese branch of Aperture Science. None of the "living" people can see the Players or Reapers because either they were ALSO under a mass hallucination or GLaDOS equipped the Players and Reapers with invisibility devices. The Final Game between Neku and the Anger Core ended how it did because it was GLaDOS' final test to see if humans could actually change as drastically as the rest of the testing showed. It worked and in turn reprogrammed Anger Core into a Forgiveness Core. Neku's "WHAT THE HELL!!!!" is him realizing exactly what happened after everybody comes out their hallucination. His speech is similar to Still Alive because he's trying to tell GLaDOS that instead of being angry like GLaDOS hypothesized, he was thankful. The secret ending is Curiosity Core telling Forgiveness Core that it's okay that the hypothesis was wrong because the experiment was a huge success and ought to be made note of.
- "WHAT ARE YOU DOING MOTHERFUCKERS!" it was... Rhyme!
- And then Beat was a zombie.
- I TOLD YOU RADIAN! I TOLD YOU ABOUT ASMYTOTES!
- ... I might actually write one now as a joke.
- And then Beat was a zombie.
- Yeah, but Shibuya isn't the only place with a Reaper's Game. Presumably there are many regions where the Game is played, with just as many Composers and Reapers for each.
Hear me out here. In this explanation, Instrumentality wasn't his main goal, only a feint... or a fallback, if that's what it came to. He manipulated Joshua, who disproved of his plan, into choosing Neku to be his proxy. Why Neku? Because he was the perfect person for it. Kitanji wanted to prove to him that people could change and Neku was the best choice for this. He went to Mr. H and got his help on this, of course. This was why Kitanji didn't just erase Neku outright. Because Neku was still useful. He basically risked everything, to the point of 'What the Hell, Hero?' standards, including his own life. Why? For one, he admired Joshua. Another reason was that he was just too powerful. So he had to take another route. He used Beat to try and attack Neku and Joshua because He knew that he wouldn't really have it in him to kill his friend. Sho was made GM because he knew Joshua was going to enter. The Taboo Noise was the Spanner in the Works that killed off some of their forces and some of the players. And in the Third Week, he took the gamble to it's limits. He made it Neku's last week because he didn't want people getting suspicious. He instigated Emergency Call since the Reaper's Game really was in danger. If Joshua destroyed Shibuya, how the hell were they going to play it? He also started Instrumentality in full effect as his backup plan and to point the focus to him. He removed all of the other players to give Neku a reliable partner: Beat. The Iron Maiden being made the Game Master? He was running out of good canidates and she was the most ideal. It all came to a head AFTER his death during the last 'Game' between Joshua and Neku. Neku had changed, giving Joshua reason enough to believe humanity was actually worth believing in. Thus, not only was Neku spared but so was Shibuya. Kitanji died... but not for nothing.
- Mostly jossed, in regards to the above two guesses. Neku is back in the sequel, but he's a playable character.
- No. Kingdom Hearts itself is a crossover-game. It has never given any other series an excuse to do insane series-spanning crossovers, and it never will.
- Neku is confirmed to appear in Traverse Town, not Shibuya. How he got there is another question entirely, though.
- Judging by what Traverse Town is (a hub for those whose worlds were destroyed), this points to the possibility of Shibuya/Earth/Neku's Kingdom Hearts World has been destroyed or taken by darkness, hence why he's in Traverse Town.
- Not all of the game's tracks play from the beginning of the game onward, and you can get Neku to buy CDs in-game, so it's possible that he began listening to their songs after he was introduced to 777 as well. Def Märch prides itself on being "totally indie", so they've probably reinvented themselves a number of times with different band names, and 777 is just a pseudonym, so they could be any number of the artists on the OST.
- The reason Neku didn't recognize him on Week 1 is probably because he had amnesia.
- Except that his friendship was the very reason Neku couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger.
- Shiki = Ego/Self
- Neku = Id
- Beat = Super Ego
- Rhyme = Anima
- The Composer/Joshua = Shadow Archetype
- Erica.
- Erica Kanjishii. And why not, It was odd whene Shiki said "My Name is Shiki Misaki, But my friend call me Shiki." and knowing that it could be Part of her Act as Eri.
- Eri
- Shooter
- Makoto
- Rhyme
- Neku himself.
- And all of these games shall seem to be completely unrelated except for a single thing that connects them, and once you have beaten them all, a new story appears that has two purposes: to explain everything, and to set up the final game where all the players of the previous games come together to defeat the antagonist. The girl in the new stinger will be the primary protagonist of the Shibuya game.
- Neku and Shiki's daughter
- Neku's friend who died in the accident.
- Or was his Partner.
- Eri without the Dye Hair.
- Someone's Nobody. Roxas was introduced in much the same way.
- Makes sense with the goal of the reaper's game being to find those with the highest imaginations, restore them to life, and let them change the world. The rest of the characters from the first game will probably show up similarly. Neku doing something with graffiti. Beat and Rhyme being... a world famous comedy duo?
- Do ports count? Because if so, then Final Remix confirms this by allowing a second player to control Neku's partner.
- I.E. Colette and Sheena
- Also Naomi Hunter
- Tira to Viola.
- It also help that she voice Cinderella and Aurora in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.
- Or even Phantom Girl and Emerald Empress.
- In Another Day Sho is much nicer in this alternate universe than in the main game to the point where like Neku he seems to have a 180 in his personality. Yet when he gets humiliated by Ken, he gets really angry and says he's better than him. If they were master and pupil, I doubt Ken would allow him to get away with that attitude in front of his customers. But if they're father and son then that would complicate the matters.
- This is just a minor one but Ken wears a blue bandana. Sho wears a red bandana that is covered by his hat. He would later toss them both out in his Taboo Noise form.
- Ken sells the Big Bang or Big Crunch pins . Sho might actually be using these pins in the main game when you realize that Big Bang and Big Crunch when used together create a huge beam of light. Now recall Sho's attack iflare that he uses on Josh. It seems to have the same attributes. Also Sho's favorite quote is "CRUNCH...I'll add it to the heap."
- Established in Another Day is Ken being the creator of Tin Pin (he even sells books about Tin Pin). Sho in the second week sends a mission to play in the Tin Pin tournament and win. Since Another Day also shows that Sho loves Tin Pin, the main game drives it farther by showing that even in death he's obsessed with it (hence his insults when Josh doesn't play and lets Neku play and lose).
- Ken doesn't like talking about his past to anyone. When Tin Pin is brought up, he gets angry (red eyes even like he's possessed). His backstory is implied to not be a good one and we only hear a bit about it from Eiji (him being a personal cook and having to move for reasons not specified). And in game, Sho is established as being the youngest Game Master and has been around for a while. Now recall in Another Day how Ken saves up these special Tin Pins that he gives to Neku and the group when preparing to fight the Black Skullers. He states he never brought them out because reasons but from Josh's description, it sounds like they were made with a lot of love but was just thrown into a box. What if that box is actually meant for Sho? In Another Day he wouldn't need something like this since Sho is alive and well, but what if in the main story that was supposed to be a gift to Sho and he couldn't give it to him because his son is dead?
- Speaking of boxes Ken Doi is seen leaving boxes of special items for Neku to pick up. What if these items were all related to Sho in his younger years (not counting a few obvious ones like female school uniforms?)
- Also about his past, this makes me think that Sho died many years ago hence why Ken no longer seems to be suffering on the surface and only when the past is brought up does it make his wound open. What if they got into a fight that resulted in Sho's death (and would also explain his crazy ass tendencies in the Reaper's Game specifically wanting everything to be perfect because what if he couldn't be perfect for his dad in the main game and died because of it? And this is backed up by in Another Day on how just getting humiliated sets Sho off on Ken and Ken ignores it since it seems to be a normal routine. In Another Day he works so hard to make a new pin that it changes his appearance to that of his Taboo Noise when its explained that he honestly wanted to make something better than what Ken gave Shuto.) Sho's backstory is a mystery but if you put these pieces together, maybe just maybe he has his baggage like teenager in the game (he is 18 which is the age of an adult but just barely).
- This is all pretty much confirmed in Another Day at the end where Sho calls Ken Doi "pops" and Ken Doi responding with "when did my kid grow up so fast?" And at the end Sho refers the ramen shop as our place implying the connection. Since Another Day is just the alternate universe of the characters it only comes off as a tragedy when you go back to the main game and see how far Sho has fallen.
- For no other reason than because it's awesome! That, and their voice actors sounds suspicously alike. After all, who doesn't want someone as awesome as Shinjiro to look like Sho?
- This WMG is rooted mainly on the fact that Beat became a Reaper after Rhyme died. As far as I remember, the game never actually explains where the Reapers came from, just that they have to erase other Players to earn points and stay alive. The current Reapers are former players who lost their partners, and took on the job of being a Reaper just so they could survive. The Reapers' entry fee is the same for all of them—the right to exist. If they don't get enough points, they fade away and lose their own Game.
- The Psyches work by channeling power from another source be it an energy field or another person (the composer?). Players can channel these powers using the pins. This is why the pins don't work without another player you are closing yourself off from the world. It's why you get pins from enemies or buying them from shops. You are constantly expanding your horizons giving you power. It's why Neku can use all pins. Not because of his imagination but because of his potential for connecting with others.
- Because why the hell not.
- Also because why the hell not.
- At the end of "A New Day" in Final Remix, Hanekoma states "Pretty unsettling to have Noise popping up in the RG." I CALLED IT!
- Shiki's Foil will be Sho Minamimoto. Coco's dialogue at the end seems to pretty much confirm that Minamimoto will be Neku's partner, or at least his initial one. Their personalities are complete opposites, Shiki being a Nice Girl while Minamimoto is an Insufferable Genius. Also, Shiki kickstarted Neku's Character Development via Positive Friend Influence. In contrast, Neku will jumpstart Minamimoto's Character Development through Positive Friend Influence.
- Joshua's Foil will be what Hanekoma more-or-less claimed what Joshua was during his week- an ordinary kid who already knew about the Game due seeing dead people. Their personalities and story roles will also contrast- Joshua is a Jerkass who was The Chessmaster of the plot while the new partner would be a Nice Guy/Girl and potentially a Spanner in the Works for the Big Bad's plan.
- Beat's Foil will be Rhyme. Of the five Players, Rhyme has the least amount of focus and introducing more characters might make the cast feel a little cramped. As for Foil status, they're already completely different in terms of personality and demeanor.
- Neku's plot will have him partake in Coco's new Reapers' Game. Minamimoto will be his partner.
- Shiki's plot will have her attempt to rescue Neku from the UG. Beat will be her partner.
- Joshua's plot will have him essentially be fired from his position as Composer due to the events of the first game. The Erasure of Shinjuku and Noise appearing in the RG may also play a part in this. He'll have to find a way to make things right without being able to use his powers, potentially finding out who gave Coco the power to create a Noise able to resemble Shibuya in the process. Rhyme will be his partner.
- Obvious boring Doylist answer: Because the devteam had no reason to care about this tiny detail.
- Hidden interesting Watsonian answer: Because by "fat" she means Hollywood Pudgy, and the whole thing is a stealth Aesop about not forcing yourself to suffer for the sake of impossibly-thin beauty standards.
To push this WMG even further:
- Beings made from the negative energy of humans? Check (the Grudges from PSG, the Noise).
- Angels? Although they act differently, they both have angel wings, and are Heavenly Blue. Check.
- A Composer? Judgement can be compared to one, so Check.
Daten City is a UG and RG (different rules), but obviously a different type of game; one that doesn't rely on pins but instead, clothes that can transform into specific types of weapons. Judgement, being the Composer, replaced the Reapers with Demons. And I'm just throwing this out here: Corset is the GM, and the people that aren't part of the game (everyone besides our main characters) are NPCs. The Zippers are a lower level of Reapers with a lot of restrictions placed on them. Judgement herself has a Proxy, who is Garterbelt.
Alternatively: the plot of PSG is a game itself. But that doesn't lead to much juicy writing.