#i think nagi is a very important person in frets life

[wickedremind]

headcanon to do list

fret’s friendship with nagi & how he feels about her/values her

actually do the family headcanon dump like i promised

[greysfall]

My 4444-word review of NEO TWEWY (with personal illustration + heavy spoilers)

My overall critical score for the game is 7.5/10, while my personal enjoyment score is 8.5/10. This review is posted as I have 80% completed the game, got the secret ending and achieved the Angel psychic rank. I’ll first start with the main pros and cons as follows.

PROS:

-        Enjoyable as a whole, still upholding the first game’s spirit in world building and sharing the same backbone - which was mostly revealed in the Secret Reports, it’s impossible to grasp the story without reading them.

-        The new cast and new game is charming in their own way

-        The old cast’s return is one of the biggest highlights for sure, it was fun and impactful. Everyone stays true to themselves and also had their own stories wrapped up nicely.

-        Boss designs are cool, new pins are fun to use and collect

-        The connection between the old and new cast is well written and executed, including but are not limited to the tension between the old and new protagonist, the weird but fun interaction between the 2 Composers, the new friendships revealed and formed

-        Sho being in the main cast is something so uniquely TWEWY and uniquely Sho

-        Still good music

-        Still many fun side quests, some of them really uphold the same quirky spirit of the old game and some are surprisingly touching

-        Many new nice stores and yummy looking foods to explore

-        The map is really easy to memorize for me, it’s fun to travel around the “current” Shibuya to see all the differences compared to the past

-        The social network is crazy and interesting to read through

-        Has an anti-frustration system to help 100% complete the game more easily and earn money faster, so post-game is relatively managable.

-        Overall, I really feel the efforts the team poured into making this as their passion project, not just during the development process but for all the last 14 years. They showed the vision of what they wanted to make, at the same time giving something to both the old as well as new fans.

CONS:

-        The biggest problem with the game is scenario writing. The story is so heavily back-loaded. The director himself thought it would be better to balance out the tension flow by adding more at the beginning but gave in to the scenario writer in the end, probably due to time pressure. This results in an underwhelming execution of characterization and lots of wasted potentials for the first half of the game.  

-        I struggle to view it as a stand-alone game, since the backstory and the old cast both play such an important role in the core of the game. If someone plays this game without having played the OG, they can only enjoy it on surface value at best.

-        The new cast is nice but most of them aren’t quite as intriguing as the old cast, maybe it’s cuz they’re all too nice deep down that they lack a little bit of an edge, of that batshit craziness that everyone in the OG used to have? I think some characters (Fret, Nagi) ended up weaker in terms of characterization because the writer is too afraid of making them unlikeable – which kind of backlashed cuz they only became likable in the most expectable way to cater for a specific group of fans. I would have wished for the other team leaders to be more crazy too, had they not suffered 30+ loops of the Game…

-        The CAMERAWORK IS HELL.

-        Gameplay does get tedious at certain points with all the time travels.

-        Shiba is so badly written as a villain, some Shinjuku characters should be given more screentime cutting into Shiba’s– like Hishima or Kaie or even, Hazuki (though his limited presence also solidified his importance).

-        Some of the main character designs, for example Beat’s hairstyle and his food reactions are hilariously bad. What’s the point of covering up most of his unique facial features?

-        Some of the minor/side characters’ design are too cool for them to have such a small role (eg: Ayano, Eiru). Ryoji did get much screentime but is nowhere as fun as Makoto was.

-        Overall the scope of this game is made a little too big for the team to handle as perfectly as the last game that was very compact, it felt somewhat rushed in development too so the missing pieces are clearly there in the final picture

The entry fee versus paying for it all in the end

An important difference between the Neo game and the original Shibuya game was that the Shibuya rule asked for an entry fee that is the Player’s most important asset, stated as a chance the Composer gives them to reexamine themselves. Meanwhile, the Shinjuku rule neither encourages nor allows personal growth and ultimately aims to erase as many Players as possible. It’s a pity we were never introduced to the full Shinjuku rulebook, as it seems like the system there focuses more on building up power and a grand government to compare with the individuality-driven system of Shibuya.

When you have to compare the new game and the original game (OG), this is an important factor to consider. Also, the OG has a serious storyline running through and through, locked with a different partner/GM creating unique atmosphere for each week and you don’t get to see your old partners again until the end. NEO’s team system does not allow such deep insight and communication between the Players. All of your teammates are always there throughout, the dynamic does change with each new addition but it is not as prominent as a partner change.

Another important factor is how the OG was built from scratch for a new platform as “something no one has ever seen before”, while Neo recycled a lot of old unused ideas from the previous development (check out this interview for more details). The development team for NEO lacks 2 key members and had a change of writer so the final product is not as strongly bound together as the last game.

The new cast is definitely inspired by today’s teenagers (from the view of creators), compared to the old cast they’re more sociable and always seem to take whatever works for them despite feeling unstable inside. They are all innocent and genuinely nice kids, avoiding to hurt each other to a degree that they end up keeping some sort of distance. They’re also unable to communicate at deeper levels, always stagnant at this half-baked stage of equilibrium without any motivation to get to the core of things. That is the cost of entering the game without an entry fee, without even dying or having a reason to be there/to fight seriously. These kids were stolen from the RG into a Game that was decidedly the worst environment for them to change or develop, just wandering around cluelessly to find a way “out” until tragedies started to unfold one by one and they ended up being charged the total sum of the price for their actions – ultimately losing everything in the end.

That is, I believe, a story arc which can resonate more to the youth of today rather than of my generation. If the message of the old game was to “listen”, enjoy life to the fullest and accept to trust others, the message of the new game is to “speak up” from the inside, trying to understand yourself and take actions instead of just going with the flow and finally, to take responsibility for such actions.

If Neku was handpicked by the Composer for being the special one with an all-dense soul to ensure victory of the game then Rindo was just a normal kid chosen out of random by Kubo to be his back-up plan, who just happened to have a high enough imagination to awaken the incredible power from his pin. Rindo was then officially chosen by the Composer as Josh picked up and handed the pin to him again, this time not as Josh’s personal Proxy – but as the Proxy to represent the normal people of Shibuya and via whom he could gamble if humans can fight for their own fate.

The underworld heroine and the hero with little of his own

Shoka is for me a refreshing and layered heroine. She’s the kind of character that took at least 3 trials of creators to form as a complete individual – that included Nomura who gave her the base design and Reaper background, Gen who gave a more cunning touch and the writers who made her English dialogues more punchy. Dishonesty equals “tsundere” is such a cliché, so the English writers tried really hard to avoid that trope in my opinion, while still letting her good intention come through.

She serves as the character who is informed of everything the players should have known, and there was almost nothing she could do about it. Almost. Until she met Rindo.

They were drawn to each other by sharing a state of “not having anything of their own”. They both started out with not being able to truly know themselves, Shoka even hated her RG life but also managed to mature from that stage before Rindo. She must have vibed with Shiki’s love and passion in the Gatto Nero threads, initiating her connection with Shibuya and understanding herself more. With Shoka as Swallow, they were able to open up to each other and offer mental support… but was still not getting to the centre of their problems because for all this time, Shoka could not tell Rindo the most important things about herself.

How did Shoka feel when she met Rindo at the UG? She probably didn’t want to hope that he would live the day until she witnessed the Twisters’ potentials. From the very beginning, they were both incredibly conscious of each other and also constantly frustrated that the person they happened to “notice” was such a condescending bitch/a clueless loser. The Shinjuku Reapers are overall quite drunk in power and uncompassionate to Players, Shoka included. She is also a master of dissociation, which results in her constant boredom, tone swings, haughtiness and subconsciously distancing herself from the friend – the boy she cares about – from false hope, as she judged from facts that it was a hopeless situation where nothing could ever be. Maybe she is naturally a bit of a chameleon just like her name suggests (Shoka 紫陽花 = hydrangea, the color-changing flower), so putting on an act and always dissociating herself from what’s important was easy, while hiding her contradiction was impossible. It was the ex-Reaper Beat who broke it out to her, that she should decide whether she really cared and wanted to do something for a change. He knew how it felt like to cross that line, and knew she wanted to too.  

Shoka is endeared by many of the Shinjuku Reapers and has shown independent acts of kindness (the Shinjuku ghost), proving that her kind and truthful side is as real as her harsh and dishonest side – which makes her a nice mirror to the previous heroine Shiki, who also embraced a dichotomy of self-complex and self-love within her character. In the end, she was the first of the new cast to ultimately accept all that is important to her and independently made the decision to help save Shibuya despite all costs.

She was jealous at Rindo’s interaction with Tsugumi and Kanon but remained silent cuz she wasn’t at a place to have any say about it. She also didn’t reveal about Swallow because that would only add an awkward irrelevance to their current situation, as she was too ready to face erasure at the end of the Game. She only wished to “play a game” with him, be it FanGo or the Reapers’ Game. The tension that the team could only feel at the end, she’s felt it the entire time. The song “DIVIDE” is applicable to not just one bond in the game, but it always makes me think of theirs. There is always a “divide” between her and Rindo throughout the course of their journey, as the living and the dead, as a Player and Reaper, as someone who has a place to return to and someone who doesn’t, someone who knows little but wields too much power and someone who knows a lot despite not being able to do much.

“If only I had the chance to connect with you on the other side

But time goes on, and without us realizing it

The battle is getting heated

Time goes on, and without us realiazing it

Divided again”

To be honest, maybe I didn’t grow any affection for the new main cast from Rindo’s perspective but from Shoka’s. Since I started to sympathize with Shoka, I started to see the boy in a more “real” way. The real Rindo, behind his peaceful façade with others, would lash out on Shoka for her unfairly harsh attitude while none of the others cared. He could also subtly feel that mantle of unspoken secrets from her, her own contradictions, the unresolved chemistry between themselves – and not knowing what to do with it rather than to feel angry with all the unfairness he could not process. (As a Libra too, he’s triggered the most by unfairness!)

It is actually a positive development as he’s at least “reacting” to something strongly now rather than to keep evading his problems. During my replay, I clearly saw the difficult situation Shoka was in, her remaining harshness after the Motoi incident was due to her internal struggle with a mission to save her own life, versus a chance to really be with the team. Her decision was to do both at the risk of losing favour from both sides. Rindo started to accept her layer by layer, as the person who resonated the most to her contradicting nature from the start and knew that via learning her resolve, he has learnt his too.

Later into the game, she even got too much of his attention. Maybe even without knowing she’s Swallow, he’s familiar with her thinking direction and Swallow had always been closer to him than any other friend. It was only after she had to betray her important ones twice that she could start being truly honest. The scene when she died a 2nd time left a strong impression in me, the little reveal let Rindo know that he is also losing Swallow as he’s losing Shoka – and that only death could drive the last secret out of her. Her final “Later, loser” echoed through Rindo as it was the final truth, with only him remaining to hear it: they had actually, already lost everything.

Rindo was the boy who never dared to face all that matters to him until he lost it all, fighting an unfair battle in the faith that they would somehow still win. Shoka was the girl who always knew what was dear to her, but never dared to think she could be together with them ever after and still threw her all into a battle she knew was losing. I think they stir each other on naturally to fill out their gaps, similar to what the Shibuya game partner systerm would have aimed for. The end reward was a little divine intervention to help close up the divide between them once and for all.  

During the game there was not enough space to process anything personal so at the ending when they officially became “friends”, it was an important affirmation of their bond. Some people complained it was friendzoning but it’s not, they just have arrived at the perfect place to start something more. “From now on, we will truly be together” – I read it as that kind of message.  

The heroine from a lost battle, with her story taken away

After reading the secret reports and playing the game to be surprised of how small a role Tsugumi had in the main game despite being the “Hype-chan” thought to be a major character of the next TWEWY installment, many fans would feel sad at a missed opportunity to see the Shinjuku arc in full depiction.

It was shown clearly that, a Shinjuku arc was very carefully planned out and is a vital part of the whole story, yet it could not be made due to various circumstances behind the development scene. I would assume, that the team were not able to make a TWEWY game that ended on a despairing note, but it already happened in their mind, thus becoming a mental burden that forced them to break away from it and started the game anew with NEO. A significant part of NEO became the healing arc for the Shinjuku characters, especially for Tsugumi though I really wished more emphasis should have been placed on her rather than Shiba. We didn’t even get to see her brother – Shinjuku’s Conductor who had a vital role and instead was given the clueless Shiba, who had absolutely no idea what’s going on all the way until the last day in NEO. It’s as if Tsugumi has had her story stolen away from her, because her own battle ended with a saddening loss.

I think every time the game creators look at Tsugumi, they would feel that sadness too. Maybe to them, she is a bigger character than what is seen by the fans, as despite their failed effort to depict her story, she’s lived in their mind for all these years through periods of destruction, healing and rebuild.  Though it is a pity we could not get to experience the full scope of the Shinjuku story, the creators was clear about the place they wished for it to arrive at.    

Individuality, connection and the social network

The team system adapted from Shinjuku rulebook does not allow much room for personal development, as the team dynamic is closer to a work relationship forced to bear results, than a spiritual bond to max out all corners of understanding as found in the partnership system. The old Shibuya system allowed only 1 winner and 1 week limit per game, while the new rule declares for a 1 winning team and only the team at last place will be erased – the other teams will enter another loop. Furthermore, whichever team to challenge the unwinnable Ruinbringers will face the risk of ending up dead last followed by erasure. As a result, the longest-standing teams are most likely not the strongest ever recorded, but the ones who have figured out a strategy to simply survive until something changes, enjoying their newly found social constructs while they are at it. Basically, it is a system to hypnotise players into the illusion that they are still “living”.

Therefore, we as players would not get to the core of each Player individually as fast and directly as we did in the last game. The Twisters were able to stand out not because they’re powerful, they only started to have a real chance after growing enough to each form a meaningful and personal connection to another teammate. It did not come as a team, nor did it intiate from the existing friendship between Rindo and Fret. In fact, I did not find much solidity or anything truly note-worthy about the main team and new characters within themselves until they started clashing with other team members, Reapers and new recruits from week 2 onwards. Rindo found his personal development with Shoka (via a clash with Motoi and pretty much a mini dating sim between them), then via the confrontation of his role with Neku; Fret found his with Kanon then Nagi, the team learned about the real Neku via Beat, Neku entered the UG via Coco’s wish to save Tsugumi… it was not the team but their personal links that empowered them to fight and solve each of their problems.

The other team leaders may have failed because they did not form such personal links, after 30+ hopeless loops Fuya’s team all fell apart to pursue their own interest even at the cost of erasure, Motoi quit his KOL façade to work like a dog for the Reapers (probably to save just his own ass not his team), while Kanon dropped her tricks to find changes via honest cooperation in acceptance of a fair loss. The despairing note in that is huge without making much of a scene because their failure didn’t happen at their best effort to “win”, but in their last attempt to find a way “out”. Even Shiba got his way “out” in the end thanked to his personal friendship with Hishima and Tsugumi.

Something has shifted in the mindset of the game creators in the last 14 years, as both games are about “connection vs individuality” but the last game focuses more on connection between just individuals and this one on the overall network that is formed out of those individual connections.

The introduction of Beat into the main cast was truly the bridge between old and new, they helped each other out in several turns before officially recruiting him. Beat is a character whom a lot of fans including myself have felt somewhat concerned about after Neku disappeared from the RG, so when the new kids welcomed Beat with warm and organic interaction and Beat seemed happy, I started to feel like I wanted to help them out too! I think the overall team chemistry is enjoyable enough for new players, but I could warm up to the new kids more from the pov of a returning character – whom I’m glad to be Beat, as the older brother figure who is genuinely kind, fun, serious and upbeat at the same time; who is needed and needs the kids in return.

The social network is a fun and refreshing feature. You can read all of the crazy tidbits about Shibuya and the links each character have formed with the town people, it’s also fun to visualize how the characters act off screen. Characters’ profiles provide extra insight into their background too, like how it reveals Tsugumi has been friend with Coco during her time in the RG. During the game when not all characters have showed up, you can sometimes guess which empty spot will belong to whom. For example there is a 1 character linking to Neky that is not linked to anyone else, so I could guess that was Joshua, and that another character linking only to Joshua was probably Hazuki, hinting that the 2 Composers are related before either of them even showed up.

Hazuki only showed up for 5 minutes, but his presence is so vital and true to the game that I think he is the most memorable out of the new cast. The two Composers have such an intriguing bond, with their yin/yang or phoenix/dragon themes, opposite color design, the sempai/kouhai tone and the way they keep some sort of distance/work relationship as if it’s mandatory between Higher beings, yet at the same time they can talk so casually because they are truly equal – and different from one another. I have written a separate meta on them here.

Some people pointed out, that all Shinjuku characters’ names and themes are based off Hanafuda cards and the Phoenix in Hanafuda belongs to the Paulownia suit – which is Joshua’s name flower. This is so interesting because it feels like the creators somehow saw it as a sign to interweave the Shibuya and Shinjuku storylines together. Though it doesn’t come out much on the surface, it’s fascinating nonetheless considering both Josh and Haz had at some point interfered with the other town’s affairs.

“Shibuya tour with Haz” was such a special scene, as it happened between 2 characters who do not/no longer have a reason to care about Shibuya, on the subject of what is worth saving about Shibuya. Hazuki carried out the purification of Shinjuku and stepped in to restore Shibuya just as part of his job and unlike Hanekoma or Joshua who both possess profound understanding of humanity, he really didn’t know humans at all. Rindo’s irrational wish invoked in him a sense of curiosity, to try gambling on something irrationally and learning a bit of what his senior have experienced. With all the pieces put together, it provides an overview on Higher beings as a whole, and that Joshua and Hanekoma are really the odd ones out with Hazuki being somewhere in between them and the rest.        

The old friends

It’s easy to have returning characters overshadow the new cast as they have already matured out of their personal story arc and stayed in our hearts for all this time. In the end, I have managed to enjoy both the old and new cast separately and altogether, and they will both find their own place in our memory of this game for the long term.

Sho is truly as crazy as ever, the game wouldn’t be the same if Sho is any less of what he is. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like Neky or Beat is younger than Nagi at all, with moments when it seems like Neky has aged 14 years instead of 3 years. His friendship with Coco surprised me pleasantly, and their interaction together with Beat was fun to watch. Rhyme’s found a new dream and her friendship with Kaie is precious too, especially considering that she can still talk to him online after the game ended. Josh and Neku’s interaction suggested that they have resolved the past and are on equal terms now, they even parted ways in good spirit and I don’t feel any worry about them like I did before.

Neku and Shiki’s reunion scene was beautiful, theirs is such a special bond that it has grown and supported them even without being able to see each other. I am so happy to see them all again and that they stay true to who they are, albeit looking more grown up, cooler and happier than ever before.  

Overall, NEO can’t become a classic on par with the OG, but is definitely a good sequel and a good game in its own rights. I’m happy with whether or not there will be a 3rd game to complete the 3 monkeys theme, but if there will be – I hope the creators can really find the time to learn from the last 2 games and start over with a fresh mindset and strong core.  

[scramble-crossing]

sho for the character thingy!!

Anon thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about my favourite cat bastard <3

Favourite thing about them

I love how his entire existence is treated like a shitpost (especially in og twewy) and yet he still manages to have an extremely interesting narrative if you're willing to look past 50+ text bubbles full of incomprehensible math jargon. When he's not reciting pi and blowing himself up I can't help, but wonder why he so desperately craves power, what his relationship with Hanekoma was like, or how he really feels about the Wicked Twisters, whether or not he, in his heart of hearts, regretted betraying him. He's a weird and utterly unique character and just so fun to make headcanons about.

Least favorite thing about them

His um...speech patterns are very funny and endearing to read, but absolute HELL to write. Nagi has the same problem. They’re almost too unique to the point where it’s hard to replicate how they talk in canon. 

Favourite line

Three-way tie between “This is subtracting from my arts and crafts time”, “HA HA HA. 3.14159265358979323846″ etc etc, and that time in another day when his Dad told him that his Totally Cool and Epic Homemade Beyblade wasn’t that great and he said “I’m better than you” and ran away crying like a five year old. 

brOTP

God everyone, but him and the Wicked Twisters especially. I thought it was really cute how much Rindo and Fret relied on and looked up to him. Nagi needs to cool it a little but I think Mina could really benefit from having a positive relationship with someone in his own age group. I also really hope that he and Neku get an enemies-to-friends arc. Neku choosing to see the good in him and believing he’d changed for the better despite everything he’d done to him is very important to me. 

OTP

I’m a staunch non-partnering aroace Mina believer so I’m really not interested in shipping him. However I think the sheer chaotic energy of uzukarimoto would be absolutely hilarious. I want Uzuki and Kariya to be in a romantic relationship and then post-redemption Mina starts hanging around with them so often that he becomes an honorary queerplatonic partner. Guy in a polycule that’s not dating anyone he’s just there.  

nOTP

Basically all Mina ships sorry :/ but I'm particularly not fond of ShoBeat or ShoNagi. ShoBeat just isn't my thing. I don't really see anything super interesting in their dynamic, personally I think his relationship with Neku is leagues more interesting (not in a romantic way tho). Also Nagi just very obviously makes Sho uncomfortable and it's kinda painful to watch. Rating: NOT CUTE!! THIS CATBOY IS IN DISTRESS.

Random headcanon

I love the idea that he was somehow able to see the UG even while he was alive, and that growing up surrounded by so much violence and death desensitized him and allowed him to become abnormally vicious and cruel as a Reaper.  Also, I like to think that he was a small, sickly kid, and died of a very slow, very gradual illness. In a way his erratic behavior as a Reaper is him compensating for his sheltered and unhappy childhood. 

Unpopular opinion

I think that a lot of his egotism and bravados is a cover, or even a survival mechanism, and that deep down Mina is actually rife with dissatisfaction and insecurity. Josh calls him an “attention seeker” and I think subconsciously that’s exactly what he’s looking for when he’s siccing taboo noise onto other Reapers or building those massive trash heaps. Heck, in ntwewy a lot of that old cockiness has been literally beaten out of him by the Composer. Granted I’m not sure if Mina’s meant to be a very deep character, so this is more of a “I think this would be narratively interesting” opinion rather than a “I think this is where the writers are going with him” opinion. 

Song I associate with them

I have an ever-growing Mina playlist that I think kind of rocks ngl. My favourites are God’s Whisper by Raury, Crying Lightning by Arctic Monkeys, and Sailor in a Life Boat by EURINGER. And PLEASE listen to Mathematical by Canadian Softball it’s so funny. 

Favourite picture of them

There’s something so catboy about this that I can’t explain. The anime did a great job with his look.

[pmiller1]

Enter Fee! [N:TWEwY/Neo Zeta Earth]

"Entey Fee?" Fret said, being the one to voice everyone questions, when Neku and his friends had been telling them they experience in there Reaper Game at Hachiko Café. "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh right, you guys never payed your fee for the Game." Neku said, "Are ye saying that Reaper Game had be payed in order to played the Game, Lore Neku?" Nagi ask him. "That what it was back in our game." Shiki told her.

"Yeah, I knew Shibuya's Reaper Game had some payment that you’d get as your prize." Shoka explained to them. "Gotta say, I like the concept, shame that never carry over once Shiba became Game Master. Never really had it back in Shinjuku."

"I take it isn't something to do with Money paid in joining a organization?" Rindo ask them, already his phone close by him, already checking the google search about it.

"I wish yo." Beat said "It far worst yo, there take what is most impoted from you?" The other was a little confused by what Beat said, only for Rhyme speck up. "He mean that, they take something that was important, something that you'd value."

"Something that you'd value, eh?" Fret ponder "So what if say Boss was in Shibuya's game, would she not remember EleStra or something like that?"

"Tis must say, it is most be likely that my memory of EleStra would be my enter fee." Nagi said then fix up her glasses, "Elegant Strategy isn't just a Game that I am admittedly obsessed with, tis help me about to understand the very core of a persons, in and out. Without knowing EleStra would be unbearable to me, I cannot imagine, nah, do not want to life in a world where I am remain unaware of EleStra."

"Dang Pinny, that is some deep stuff." Beat said, "And given that you come out and told us that you're under the autism spectrum, I can see why you;d think so." Rhyme said. "You had my think Lady Raimu."

"Of course, I'd hypothesis that if I where in that Game, with my fee being a memory of Elegant Strategy, I'd would had suggest with commutating with anyone, let alone with my so call partner in this would be Game."

"Eh, I sure your partners can handle you, Boss." Fret said "I sure would had handle you if you was my partner." "Tis would be benefited." Nagi said "Given our experience in those three weeks."

"Specking off, what do you think Fret's entry fee would be?" Shoka ask, "Yeah, I bet it would be good look or his liking to older people." RIndo said.

"Dude that is so not cool man." Fret said, "Beside, how can someone take my good look?" "I think this a good time to tell that my enter fee was my own appearance." Shiki said. "Woah, Really? They can do that?" Fret said "How would that work, you’d just had no appearance, did you become a faceless nobody?"

"No. I ended up with another person appearance." Shiki said, "Let me guess, You ended with the other fonder of Gatto Nero, Erica Kanjishii, Or better known as Eri, right?"

"Yep." Shiki said taken a drink then carry on, "In someway is what I wanna to be her and yet, it wasn't what I wanted to be her. It sure make me realised that envy her, And..." She turn to Neku, "If it wasn't for him, I could end up being a Reaper myself. Never knowing how me and Eri needed each other." Neku by that, very to cover his red face. "I see..." Shoka said, giving a small look to Rindo, where he blushing red too.

"Then again, it wouldn't be any of them." Fret said "Seriously though, they could take my whole memory as part of my fee."

"Yeah, Beat told me about your old friend. You must hold those memory dearly." "You know it." Fret said, holding his cheat. "I hold those memory, part of me doesn't want to forget that, even if it hurt. Him and Kanon... There mean alot to me and I just don't want to forget them."

After some short silent, Shoka speck up and ask Rindo, "What about you Rin? What's you think your fee would be?"

"Me?" RIndo ask, giving the time to think. "Well to be honest, it could be you." "Me?" Shoka said. "Well more like, your old account Swallow. You kind of was my 1st friend for those three year, I not sure what to do without you, or without Swallow. Since I never knew you as Shoka."

"That really sweet." She said "Really is a bomber, Since I not really sure what my enter fee would be?"

"But what about you love for Gatto Nero? Or what about me, y’know as Rindragon?" Rindo ask her. "Yeah, those would be my entry fee now, dumdum." She said "I'm taking about before all of that, before I move to Shibuya."

"Like there where a reason why I became a Reaper in the 1st place." Shoka said, having her head with her noodle. "I had nothing in the RG to go back to, I had nothing valuable, I'm not even sure if I would be allow to played in Shibuya's Game if I had to pay for a Fee to even enter."

"If it wasn't for Tsugumi supporting me even if I was a player at the time. I sure I would be a gonna." Shoka said. "Guess she must had saw a bright futures in me and she want me to follow thought with it."

"Wouldn't really pass it with her." Rindo said "I wish she give us full context with those vision she give us."

"I think she couldn't to much with that, send you know, her soul was trap within Mr Mew." Shiki said, holding the kitty doll tight.

"Say, what was you're enter fee Beat?" Fret ask him. "Oh right?" Best said "Like, I didn' know it before, but turn out that Rhyme memory of me was my fee."

"Wait, is that even allow?" Nagi ask "Taken someone else memory as part of ye fee."

"Well I was part of game with him." Rhyme said "I say it was fair game, I only recall having a brother, but not him as my brother."

"Tis is interesting, to say at least." Nagi said "Having a vague awareness of someone you know, but never known who that person one was."

"Good thing it was my fee." Beat said "Hate to think you forgot abou' me."

"Why?" Rindo ask, "Yes, Why is is a good thing that Lady Raimu Memory of you was a good thing, Lore Daisukenojo?"

"BRAWW! At least call me Lore Beat Yo!" Best yelp out. "Very well, Lore Beat."

"If it okay I'd answered that question instead, Nagi?" Rhyme ask, "Sure, if you may." "He just saying that he glad I get to remember him, as opposed to my own enter fee."

"Rhyme..." Neku said. "Nono, it fine, Neku, I already got a new dream after all." Rhyme said, waving the worry look from Neku. "As I was saying, my enter fee was my dream."

"As in you didn't dream when you are sleeping?" Rindo ask. "Yeah, How can you know don't have a dream, when you just wake up in the next day, all those black out are quick to pass the time, y'know." Fret said.

"I think she meant a ideal future of her." Shoka said, "There not wrong." Rhyme said "I didn't remember having any dream. Beat knew that I had dream. And even Shiki start to get that I used had dream."

"That true." Shiki said "You did say you didn't had dream when we talk about it."

"So what?" Fret said "She got them back, she can dream. That all that matter."

"Um... About that..." Rhyme said, as the other three looking awareness toward the four Wicked Twisters. "I've lost."

"WHAT?!" The Wicked Twisters yell out. "What do you mean you lost?" Rindo ask, "Tis telling me that ye didn't reclama your victory?" Nagi said, "Seriously, You lost the Game?!" Fret said. "Doesn't that mean that you got Erased?" Shoka ask her.

"Yep. Taken the one for the team. And I did get erased." Rhyme said, "And before you ask, It was thank to a friend of our, Mr Sanae Hanekoma, he save up her energy into a pin." Neku said "He... one of the higher up."

"Given what my Player Pin did with all those fallen timeline, it wouldn't really pass me." Rindo said "Angel sure are something."

"Guess that mean, that since you lost, you didn't get your fee back?" Shoka ask. "Yep. that fee is now gone for all I know." Rhyme said "But still I got a new dream and it really working out for me."

"Witch remind me." Neku said "Someone tell me why Rhyme became a hacker? Why is that her new dream?"

"You're guess is good as mine." Shiki said, surging, "I only find out once she heck into a up coming game that she wanna to played."

"There make a mistake and I don't want to miss the opportunity." Rhyme said, "Beside, we wouldn't have save Shibuya it wasn't my hacking skilled."

"That and my time travel ability." Rindo said "Of course you and Shiki did your part well. We all did."

"Yeah, you made a right choses, your choses." Shoka said, putter her hand on his shoulder, with Rindo holding onto it.

"I guess it my turn for my entry fees, all three of them." Neku said, "Wait, Three?" Fret said, "Once for each weeks?" Rindo ask. "Hah, thought, you get one week, no loop, I understand that this Reaper Game didn't do points. Just all player wins or all loses."

"Well the last two still count as my enter fee." Neku said, "Right Shiki?" "Y-Yeah..." Shiki sutter, as was heading her face with Mr Mew.

"As for my 1st week, it was my memory, didn't remember anything other then my name." He said. "Man, that really suck." Fret said "And to think, I'd would had no memory in your Reaper Game."

"And it the same reason too." Neku said "I use to had an old friend before he pass away, only I shut off everyone, wild you mask yourself from everyone."

"Oh man, I had something in common with the legendary Neku." Fret said, eyes flowing down with tire. "And what was you're 2nd fee?" Shoka ask.

"Me." Shiki said, her hand up. "I was his next enter fee." "What? As in, they taken you as a person as his enter fee?" Shoka said, looking at Shiki with a blank eyes.

"Yeah. I was taken as his fee." Shiki said "Like I don't blame him for having me as her enter fee, It show how much he care about me."

"Is that even allow, to take a person as a enter fee?" Shoka ask them. "I don't really think so." Neku said, "Nor would taken rest of the other player for my 3th enter fee."

"Come again?" Nagi said, "You mean you was playing solo?" Rindo said. "Yeah, Neku would had been a gonna if I having save his ass." Beat said. "Well, you did made a pack with me, even if it would make you back as a player." Neku said.

"Come now, The Reaper Stuff was Bad. Right Kitten Girl?" Beat said. "Yeah, I agreed with Worm-for-Brain here." Shoka repay.

"That being said, I understand that the Enter Fee was something to help a person into become a better person, to changed them in a way." Shoka said.

"Yeah, I sure had changed sent the Reaper Game." Neku said, "We all did in fact. I wouldn't be where I am without the game, they wouldn't be a Gatto Nero brand." Shiki said.

"In someway we too had changed without the need of the enter fee." Nagi said "Tis could be the fact that our life was in sake in a unfair game. The Ruinbringers sure had make sure that none of the people get another changed."

"Yeah, Boss is right there." Fret said "I sure come out as another person." "You sure about that?" Rindo ask, "You seem like same Fret then before." "Hey, At least trying to put up a facade around you guys." Fret said. "I sure had able to contend with some people other some mar Character." Nagi said.

"And I for once feel like I had a place where I belong." Shoka said. "I glad that get to be with you guy, my world wouldn't be special without my friends." Rindo said.

[u23art]

A LOOK AT NEO: THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU (SPOILERS AHEAD)

A Look at Neo: The World Ends With You (Spoilers Ahead) The World Ends With You was and is a very special video game. It wasn’t just a typical RPG, it was an experience that took the gimmick of the DS’s two screens and created a wholly unique style of combat. That combat would in turn compliment the characters, and those characters would enrich the story all the more. Anyone who played it through fell in love with it and waited enthusiastically for any kind of follow up to it. And on July 27th, 2021, Neo: The World Ends With You. The story is a familiar affair. The protagonist Rindo gets sucked into the Reaper game and his party has to survive over the course of a week or 3. The gameplay consists of fighting the enemies such as the noise and the Reapers, collecting and leveling up pins, replaying segments with time travel, “remind” mini games and deep diving into NPCs for fighting challenges. This game, is middling at best. I’ll explain this by drawing comparisons between Neo and TWEWY, an entirely fair comparison to make. First on the chopping block, the combat. The first game required the player to split their attention between controlling one character (Shiki, Joshua and Beat) with the directional pad on the top screen, and then activating pin psyches with the stylus on the bottom screen with Neku. It sounds like a mess on paper potentially but it could be mastered. By making uninterrupted combos you could build up a meter to 3 levels which could unleash limit break moves with visual flair unique to the partner character you have at the time. In Neo, everyone uses pins, and your interactions with your party members amounts to a tap of the buttons they’re mapped to. This can be a disorienting affair, especially when you have pins equipped to the trigger buttons on one side. This ends up making no particular character feel unique with the exception of their evasion animation. Psyches in the first game were a manifestation of characters channeling energy through objects, Shiki fought with Mr. Mew, Joshua with his phone and Beat with his skateboard. Only Neku had the power to fight with pins. In combat, the characters don’t matter, the pins do. When everyone’s super, no one is. The smaller touches peppered into the game during navigation like “remind” and “diving” are forgivable. Remind is a cute unscrambling mini-game and diving can provide extra fights with extra rewards. The character shoka’s ability, flight, is more often a miss as what could have been a useful fast travel option ends up being an option to look in nooks and crannies of the map with usually nothing to find. The absolute worst new edition to this game, is time travel. During points of the game, usually when you’re about to go up against an anticipated big fight, Rindo can take away a player’s right to choose and force you to replay segments. Within the context of the story, this is meant to make a fight easier despite the fact that a fight is supposed challenge a player in the first place and shouldn’t be something to avoid. You travel back and replay scenes but you have to select dialogue options to make the scene play out differently. Heck, most of the time there are no dialogue options, Rindo will automatically alter the scenario.

This is especially annoying during the final big stretch of the game. The final week boasts the grand finale of facing against Shiba, Kubo, and a giant noise phoenix. In a typical RPG, you earn the chance to face the ultimate foe when you’ve conquered the challenges in a final area. Before you can face these bosses, you have to cycle through eons of text as you repeat events over and over again so the characters can move events in their favor. This doesn’t build excitement or tension, this doesn’t challenge the player’s mastery over the gameplay, this is utterly deflating. Time travel in this game is wheel spinning fluff that asks nothing of the player and trivializes the problems in the game, and is a problem that’s reared it’s head in other Square games, but I digress. My next shortcoming I’ll be forthcoming with. With the exception of Shoka, the protagonists made for this game: Rindo, Fret and Nagi; they could not carry this game without the help of the legacy characters. At least not with how they were written. Sure, it’s conveyed that these characters have problems and insecurities to overcome, but I ask you this; at what point in the game did those 3 have any friction between eachother? They’re passive aggressive towards eachother, but that’s it.

Rindo has an apparent inability to make decisions as the game explains and yet uses time travel to fix events from the moment he realizes he has it. Fret forces himself to be cheery and deflects responsibility with no proper explanation besides a quick mention of how a friend of his died. Same with Nagi, why does she so heavily retreat towards her favorite game for comfort and obsess over collecting merchandise? There are arcs here ready to be explored yet they’re never leaned on or overcome, any chance to get meaningful stories out of these characters is squandered. In the spirit of fairness, Neku’s reason for being emotionally distant isn’t explored but that problem still manifested in captivating ways, like when he’s so indifferent about being involved with people that he was willing to murder Shiki to get out of the Reaper Game. Even without that, TWEWY still had strong personal stories with Shiki and Beat who both struggled to either be comfortable with themselves or overcome their feelings of inadequacy. On a petty point, design, specifically with Rindo and Neku. I hate Rindo’s design, his coat is outrageous and the mask annoys me. Not because he has one but because he’s not wearing right, if he’s not properly wearing it over his nose then it’s just a jaw bikini. As for Neku, he puts on display Nomura’s perpetual weird fascination with plaid that won’t go away and keeps appearing in his current character designs. His coat is dumb and clashes with his motif. Petty point #2, the final phoenix boss. It makes it’s appearance after very little build up after another villain was being built up….in a game about time traveling. I’m getting flashbacks to Final Fantasy XIII-2 and I don’t like that one bit.

I think there was potentially a good game to be had here, and here’s how I’d fix it. 1. One partner at a time. Bring back the double character play style, you couldn’t do it with touch features because the switch couldn’t replicate the DS experience in a way that’s comfortable to hold. But overcome that problem and you have time to explore the characters. 2. Shoka could have been the protagonist. She’s a recovering antagonist, that’s an issue to be explored and was such a waste to keep to the way side.

3. Character specific weapons. Rather than collect pins, shops could offer items the character could use as weapons. -Fret could manifest power from scarves. -Nagi could summon varients of her favorite Elestra character through her own preferred pins. -Beat would have Skateboards

-Neku could get a selection of pins to use. -Shoka could also summon, like monsters from FanGo because she cherished her time with Rindo. Give the characters abilities derivative of their personalities. Uniqueness for the characters is so important for the sake of the games name. The World Ends With You. Neku’s world was small to him because he isolated himself, by knowing other people did he learn life can be so much richer.

I understand my criticism is biting, but this game is a sequel in name only. TWEWY is a phenomenal game to have as a foundation to build upon, but this game at most becomes a cautionary tale of what you shouldn’t do when making a follow up to TWEWY. Please Square, have more thought put into the writing of your new RPGs. And for the love of God; Stop. Using. Time. Travel. In your stories. You sure do like having it in your games despite the fact that you don’t want to make games for the Chrono Trigger franchise anymore. Like time travel? You’ve already got a franchise for that.