#koki neo

[voicefromthecorner]

Kariya, are you... talking to us? Genuinely looks like he’s breaking the fourth wall at the end there, which he might as well be, given what he’s saying. He’s calling Sho out on his undesired growth and seems to be admiring him in a certain way. Many a TWEWY fan can relate.

The relationship between these two is minimal and always has been, but it still interests me. They’re fairly big players in both TWEWY games so far. It’d be interesting to see if they ever became more familiar with each other in the future, especially given how different they are from each other.

...a sitcom where these two were roommates would probably be really entertaining...

[staiirax]

I forgot. I forgot I had tumblr

[metalic-madnezz]

Rindo roblos

[syringaledraws]

[theunstablejester]

Sho, Kariya, Uzuki and Coco's concept art.

[bctoastyyy]

more <3

more beat (wanted to redraw it but got eepy) the reapers ever kariya and uzuki, beat in a dress that he rocks, doodle(s) from a fic im writing, and warm up sketches pertaining to an animatic im making and dont get distracted from working on!

[shitpostingkats]

What are your Twewy reaper headcanons?

NORMAL, I HAVE A NORMAL AMOUNT OF REAPER HEADCANONS THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ASKING

Okay so if you count Def March (which I absolutely do) there's twelve named Shibuya reapers. Which fits with the fact that every reaper corresponds to an animal of the chinese zodiac.

I'm just guessing with BJ and Tenho, according to Nomura every reaper has a hidden kanji in their names representing their animal, but I can't read japanese so I took a shot in the dark. Also, fun fact, Minamimoto can't rearrange the radicals in his name to spell boar, like he can with lion, his true noise form. But he's got a lot of boar symbolism, being found in Pork City, and his Leo Cantus Armo form having tusks, which ties into the fact that the Shinjuku reapers all have motifs based on hanafuda suits. MORE ON THAT LATER I AM VERY NORMAL ABOUT HIM.

Ahem. So awhile back I was considering writing a fic on all the Shibuya reapers and how they came to have their current jobs, what their games were like, etc. (Might still write this. I've been busy)

So I sat down to try and come up with headcanons for EVERY named Shibuya reaper, and now I hold every one of them near and dear to my heart.

Kariya is mentioned in game as the oldest reaper, probably having been around for longer than anyone else. I like to imagine there's a huge gap between him and any other current reaper, which drives Mitsuki CRAZY, this chill dude just hangs around and eats candy but also has seniority???? Also he's more powerful than any other reaper save maybe the composer?

The thing that did him in was lung cancer. The lollipop's a replacement cigarette, in much the same way people recommend chewing on hard candy if you're trying to quite smoking. Why did he decide to quit after he died, and he no longer had anything to worry about? Listen the Game's all about growth, and Kariya is possibly the strongest because he is so capable of change, of going with the flow, and learning from his mistakes.

Like every ex-Player, he had a partner when he won his game, and I don't have a whole lot of headcanons for them except 1) they chose to return to life, and 2) Uzuki reminds him of them a lot.

Mitsuki was a woman working her ass off to try and make it in male-led office, until she literally worked herself to death. As you might expect, this royally pissed her off. She was desperate to return to life, but unfortunately, her entry fee came as a pair. What her partner, a simple farmwoman from out of town, valued most was the ability to go unnoticed and unremarked on, while Mitsuki deeply coveted every scrap and morsel of recognition she could get.

So their partnership was cursed so no matter what they did, people's eyes would skate over Mitsuki, dismiss her, and Mitsuki's partner would be lauded with the credit. Mitsuki became almost invisible, while her partner was forced to step up and do most of the talking.

This led her partner feeling more comfortable with being seen, with taking up space, so when the chance came to return to life, she took it with grace. Mitsuki, on the other hand, came to realize she liked working from the shadows. And besides, she could have more power as a reaper than anything a stupid company of the living could offer her...

Higashizawa is pretty simple, both in the game and in my headcanons. He's a cook. Maybe an army cook, but the point is he values food as a part of life, and had to cope with entry fee in the game being unable to eat, despite all the other players, including his partner, being able to.

I picture his partner on the younger side, maybe a cadet, maybe not. They had a very sweet dynamic, very paternal. Even though he couldn't eat, Higashizawa would break into restaurants that didn't have a reaper decal, and "commandeer" their kitchens to make dishes, which, despite only one of them eating them, saved them enough yen and gave enough stat boosts for them to win the game. And led to a spiked increase in reports in "haunted kitchens" for the week they were playing.

Kitanji is TRANS. I know this for a fact. Mr. Square Enix himself told me.

"Megumi" is technically a unisex name but much more commonly a feminine one, something that is actually brought up in the manga, when my dumb cat son tries to nickname Kitanji and Kitanji snaps back that he's very sensitive about his name and was bullied as a kid. This is a trans guy.

He ran a record store in life that unfortunately fell victim to an armed robbery, and Kitanji was killed. His most important thing, his name, was taken from him as his entry fee. This further parallels him to Neku, who woke up in the game knowing nothing but his name. It could also explain why he's so distrusting of Shibuya and thinks the world would simply be better if everyone conformed; after being on the end of transphobic bullying in life, the idea of standing out and embracing the chaos of being a unique soul terrifies him.

MINAMIMOTO is my dumb stupid goth catboy son and I am INSUFFERABLE about him. I have SO many headcanons it's insane.

First off, he died of general exposure, as he was homeless for most of his life. This nicely ties into his habit of collecting garbage, making trash into something brash and artistic, and his general attitude of making himself heard and assertive, while still being so in tune with the flow of the city and people that he has powers unseen in any other reaper. Minamimoto was ignored by the city in life so in death HE IS GOING TO KILL GOD AND TAKE HIS PLACE. WHILE BEING EXTREMELY LOUD ABOUT IT.

So it stands to reason that his entry fee, upon entering the game, was his voice. For the entire game, he was completely mute.

(One of the first things he did as a reaper, was get his megaphone.)

His partner was a diver from the coast who's entry fee was her memories of her home. She knew she had one, she just couldn't remember where, and who was waiting for her in the living world. They developed a series of hand signs for Sho to communicate with, both having a rough grasp of JSL, Sho from some fellow homeless people who were deaf and her from her experience as a diver.

My other big, big headcanon for him is, about 3/4s of the way through the week, she died. Sho, knowing about the seven minutes rule because he picks things up quickly, knew he didn't have long to live if he let her soul energy dissipate and that she would never find out where he home was, but it was MOSTLY about his own survival, shut up, collected up her soul data and tried balancing her equation and a bunch of other Minamimoto nonsense I am not smart enough to write. x = acos(t) and y = asin(t) over root 2 and all that.

He turned her into a noise.

After all, transformation is kinda his thing, and he's notably skilled at manipulating Soul and giving it new forms. He was the one who discovered the loophole that Beat would use to save his sister in week 1. It's what originally put him on Hanekoma's radar as someone to keep an eye on. Hanekoma also made note of the process in case he ever needed it.

After that, Minamimoto went on to win the game, have his partner restored to life, and was now far too curious about studying Soul and Noise to even think of doing anything else but staying in the UG.

His noise form, while originally a boar, he managed to by complete force of will shape into a lion, just because he wanted to be a lion.

He had a short tenure as a wall reaper, where he would ask impossibly long math questions of the "A train leaves Philadelphia at 8:00am traveling 90 mph" variety. This caused him to be promoted to an Officer just to stop him from being a Harrier, and some rules to be laid down regarding what can and can't be a viable quiz for the wall questions.

Def March was a real band before they died, probably in some hilarious way, that killed all three of them. Being Shibuya's only instance of a rare three person pact, their collective entry fee was their memories of knowing each other in life, but they decided to stick together anyways despite having no idea who these random two other guys they woke up in the afterlife with were. Cue clown music as they proceed to become best friends and vow to start a band together once they win the game.

They decided to stay as reapers once they won because none of them could think of anything cooler than a metal band that was actually dead.

Although still very passionate about music, most of their memories of being a band getting erased meant they had some space to explore new hobbies. BJ and Tenho decided to combine their newfound loves of bar trivia and local history into a new method of Harrying, known as the Reaper Review.

Coco wasn't able to see much of the city when she was alive, being hospital bound for most of her life before losing the fight to a chronic illness at a young age. So she took to being a reaper with gusto, diving in to the local trends and culture like she was starving for it. Her entry fee might be considered a paltry thing to most, the ability to see color, but it truly was the thing about herself she valued most. After a life of drab grey walls and sterile surfaces, color was deeply important to her, none moreso than the colors she chose for herself.

She's also the most adventurous of the Shibuya reapers, being the one to actually leave the district and travel to other places in the city, which is how she and Tsugumi became friends.

Uzuki is the second newest reaper, having died recently of a heart attack (see the sprites where she clutches her chest when taken off guard) Like Mitsuki, she was originally deeply annoyed by her life being cut short, but adapted quickly to the new structure of the reapers and is aiming high after realizing how much more being a reaper can offer her. I genuinely have no idea what her entry fee might have been so I am currently in the market for a good headcanon there.

Joshua is the most recent addition to the Shibuya reapers

Okay, hear me out.

First off, I am obsessed with the fanon that Joshua and Fret knew each other in life. Joshua is heavily implied in the first game to have taken his own life, while Fret speaks in the second about losing a friend to what is heavily implied to be suicide. The idea that the loss that set Fret down the path of repression and insincerity was Joshua scratches my brain in such a satisfying way.

Second, he's a prodigy in all things UG related, but has the general attitude and personality of someone actually the age he appears to be. Boy is chronically 15. I think it's much more likely he died a little more than a year or two ago before the start of twewy and rose through the ranks quickly, rather than being some eternally 15 twerp whose been around for years.

It is mentioned he knew Hanekoma in life, and would visit CAT street frequently to talk about the UG, which is something he could see even before he died. He killed himself knowing where he would go, and how he was special.

So I think his entry fee is he got to the UG and couldn't see anything.

No noise, no reapers, no players. Hanekoma was waiting for him, being just enough of a non-game-related entity to at least give him a heads up and see he got a Pact. Joshua himself doesn't know much about his partner, being unable to see them for the entire game. But he did rely on them. Trust your partner. In Josh's case, he had to.

Also, think about the blood vessel Uzuki would pop if she learned that the all powerful composer who wields the power of the entire city with a mysterious anonymity had actually been with the UG shorter than she has.

[bravadoting]

Feel free to put your thoughts in the tags >:D

[graffiti-bri]

Happy Kariya Day~! 🥳🎉🍭

[anixdraws]

Happy (late) birthday Kariya~!

I totally didn’t forget to draw birthday art for him, nope, just took extra time to paint him with my wonderful Karfield~!

[gramoturtle]

Wings: Reapers, Pig Noise and Soul Pulvis

While playing around with ideas for my AU, I came across some interesting similarities between Reaper Wings and Soul Pulvis Wings.

We've seen both in the TWEWY and in the Animation that Minamimoto has had quite interesting wings. He has multiple pairs of wings. They can shatter or can gain a purple Taboo haze depending on the media. They're messed up in some way.

Even though Minamimoto isn't a Reaper in NEO, could our Chaotic Math Man have a new type of messed up wings as he continues to absorb dangerous birds?

Let's dive into that and see where that leads.

Shibuya Reaper Wings

First, let's take a look at a couple of Reaper Wings. We see some variations with the Shibuya Reapers.

Since they are similar to bat wings, I'm going to try and use the same terminology where I can.

Generally speaking, we have the Arm leading up to a central point called the Wrist where the Thumb(s) and Fingers can extend from. One outer Finger forms the outside edge of the wing and then multiple inner Fingers extend out from the Wrist and along the Arm. The Reaper wings also have a smaller extrusion right by the Thumb too, which can either be a second Thumb or another Finger. The Fingers extending downwards are connected by an Arc, which connects back to the Arm.

Coco's wings are smaller and more curvy while Kariya's are larger and sharper. Uzuki's are even larger, very rigid, and the inner Fingers don't all extend out from the Wrist, but along the Arm.

For the extra piece by the big Thumb, I'm leaning towards it being another Thumb, for theory crafting reasons way below. But if sticking with bat terminology, it would be another Finger I think.

Shinjuku Reapers

We kinda get to see Shinjuku Reaper Wings. I did some Level Correction to see some of their wings better. (Mourn the variety. It's hoodies only in Shibuya, if you're not good enough, or something.)

Anyways, they generally follow Kariya's wing style.

Pig Noise

In TWEWY, Pig Butoh (along with Polka and Tango, blue and red colour palette swaps) have Reaper like wings. In NEO, we have Pig Mambo (light) and Pig Bolero (dark). It's a little hard to tell but they appear to have the same wing shape as they do in TWEWY, just that they curl around in front. The overlap might make it look like it creates a "gap" like the wings like for the Pig Mambo (light).

Both the Reaper and Pig wings have a connecting Arc across the Fingers. However, the Pig Noise has an extra piece where the Arm connects to the body, not like the little Thumb or extra Finger by the big Thumb for Reaper Wings, and there is a circular cut or hole removed from the Thumb.

But in general, we can see that Reapers and Pig Noise have a similar structure to their wings.

Now let's get theory crafting!

Soul Pulvis

So how are Soul Pulvis wings and Reaper wings related?

I stumbled on this by trying to make a Reaper Wing look a little more like a Soul Pulvis wing, and then made a Soul Pulvis wing look a little like a Reaper Wing. Added an additional step, modified the other stages and I got something like this:

With that, we can see that the Soul Pulvis has a similar wing structure to the Reaper Wings:

The fully connected inner Fingers in the Reaper Wing gets separated from the Wrist. One Finger moves down to where it would connect to the body, kinda like the Pig Noise or maybe like Uzuki's Wings. A star "eye" symbol appears in the gap between the Arm, outer Finger and Arc. The Arm and Thumb have shrunk. The second Thumb or other Finger by the old big Thumb has grown and now is curving in the opposite direction, away from the Thumb. We could say that the central Star Eye is part of the Fingers or is an entirely new thing.

So what does this mean?

Well, if we were able to see Minamimoto's Reaper wings during NEO (say if, an Angel could still see them), I think they could be at various stages of the above transformation. Maybe they would not reach the same design as the Soul Pulvis wings, but I think they would at least have gotten influenced by his bird snacking.

But that's not all.

There is something else that is similar to the Soul Pulvis and is linked to some Minamimoto:

The open floating eyes that Felidae Cantus, Minamimoto from NEO's Another Day's Noise form, has. And it can be hard to tell, but there are Soul Pulvis flying circling around the fight, in addition to the mathematical formulas.

Keeping the Soul Pulvis and the open floating eyes that Felidae Cantus has in mind, we can see similarities. Let's do another transformation to make it clearer:

Most of the transformation occurs on the side closest to the body. There is a question of how the body side of the wing either grows another Finger or if the innermost Finger strengthens its attachment back to the other inner Fingers. But really they're not that different. And there are some similarities to the Reaper wings too. The tips of the Fingers are closer to the pointy Reaper wing spikes instead of the Soul Pulvis curves.

If the floating Eyes are not something separate, they could be Soul Pulvis wings that separated from their body.

This is why if we continue to use the same wing structure terminology, the Soul Pulvis and the floating Eyes that the extra bit near the Thumb, might be a second Thumb. Although, it could be that for Reaper-like wings that it would be a Finger, even though it's pointing in a different direction and isn't connected by an Arc.

So what does all of this mean?

Super theory crafting time! Let's consider everything so far:

Reaper Wings and Pig Noise Wings share similar wing structures.

Minamimoto in TWEWY and the Animation can have 2 additional pairs of wings compared to regular Reapers.

We've seen from TWEWY and the Animation that his (totally 100% normal) six wings can get messed up by shattering (TWEWY) or get a purple Taboo haze surround them (Animation). The Animation makes it clear that the haze is Taboo haze, which he gains once he gets very Taboo-ified.

Minamimoto has been consuming Soul Pulvis in NEO, so it may mess up his wings again.

There is a possible transformation from a Reaper Wing to a Soul Pulvis Wing.

Felidae Cantus has Soul Pulvis circling around their fight.

Soul Pulvis wings are very similar to the floating open Eyes that Felidae Cantus has.

Therefore, it is possible that our mainline NEO Minamimoto has messed up wings by absorbing the Soul Pulvis, and if Another Day Minamimoto is an even further Soul Pulvis infused Minamimoto - and if those floating Eyes are not something separate or a transformed/part of a Soul Pulvis - there is a possibility that the floating Eyes are his wings.

Now there are only 3 in the fight, which is not 2 or 6. But this is a different Minamimoto. Maybe his wing growth is in progress. Maybe he's learning and can't convert all his Wings into Eyes. Maybe he wants the fight to be fair(-ish). I dunno! But let's consider a Minamimoto who grew so skilled that he could turn his wings...Into weapons!

Anyways this was mostly an exercise in seeing how I could potentially mess up Minamimoto's Reaper wings and this is where it got me. If there is cool fan media of this or someone makes cool stuff based on this, feel free to send it my way cause I'd love to see it!

(Master Post of TWEWY Series Analysis)

[voicefromthecorner]

YO, THIS IS EPIC!!

We’ve assembled the flippin’ Avengers of Shibuya, including various former enemies from various eras of the series, all to combine our powers and save the city from doomsday!

And Rindo, our Rindo, is calling the shots on it! Absolute champion! Look how far he’s come!

Honestly, there’s a piece of me that feels a little sad seeing it. Because Ayano, Susukichi, Kanon, Fuya and even Motoi, they all likely would have loved to be here and wanted to help. Whether they were following the lead of Rindo or Shiba, they’d have contributed to a chance to save Shibuya, be reunited with their friends and, for the Players, finally go home. I think Kanon and Ayano especially would have been proud to see Fret and Shoka here, respectively.

This scene also has one heck of a bonus:

THAT’S THE THING!

HE’S DOING THE POSE!

HE SAID THE LINE!

THAT’S NEKU’S SCANNING POSE FROM THE FIRST GAME!! THE KING HAS RETAKEN THE THRONE!

Seeing him redo an exact portrait from the first game really highlights how much older he looks. Somehow, it looks cooler to me without the headphones! I’m also just noticing that he has two wrist-warmers. I’m pretty sure he only had one in the first game. That’s pretty cool!

[twewywhispers]

[lentl-soup]

Happy 15th anniversary to TWEWY and 1st anniversary to NTWEWY!

Not relating to the anniversary specifically, but here’s a piece I did for It’s So Wonderful: A TWEWY pride zine!

🏳️‍🌈🎉

[twewytransswag]

Round 2A, Match 3

[alto-tenure]

KARIYA: Now that you mention it, I did hear [Hishima] was the number-two guy back in Shinjuku. Musta been real close to Shiba. Real partners in crime.

UZUKI: That asshole… Things go south with your partner and then that's it? [jump forward, now talking to Hishima] You gonna sit back and let that happen to your partner? To your friend?

I find the description of Hishima and Shiba as partners fascinating, in light of the fact that the original TWEWY was all about partnerships, and even more so with the fact that Uzuki and Kariya are the ones that call them partners in the first place.

As you might recall from the original game, Uzuki and Kariya are unique among Reapers -- they have a pact, just like Neku. They're partners just like Neku and his partner. The Reapers all know each other, but they're the tightest-knit pair, and their pact is part of what makes them so formidable. While I don't know how this works with the ports of the game, a part of their ability as partners is that during battles, one of them fights on the top screen and one of them fights on the bottom just like Neku and his partner -- they're the only enemy like this who isn't split between the screens, and it makes them tougher to fight.

The word "partner" in The World Ends With You means something. It carries a connotation of importance, of a bond so great that if one is erased the other has to follow. So to put Shiba and Hishima as ex-partners as defined by a pair that we know are bound by a pact means something about how Uzuki and Kariya are seeing their relationship -- and in turn, can explain something about their own.

The dynamic between Uzuki and Kariya is that Uzuki is constantly trying to work her way up through the Reaper hierarchy, whereas Kariya is more laid-back, and doesn't really care about promotion: he's happy right where he is. The conflict between them is Uzuki trying to get Kariya to show more ambition, while Kariya is trying to get Uzuki to take her time a little -- not stop, just slow down a little, appreciate what she already has.

It's implied that the split between Shiba and Hishima happened when Shiba became the Game Master -- that is, as a result of aspiring towards something higher. Sound familiar?

Yes, Shiba and Hishima are representative of what happens when one partner tilts the power balance -- instead of approaching things as equals, Shiba becomes the man in charge (at least -- he believes he does) and Hishima stays right where he is. It's a cautionary tale for Uzuki and Kariya and the possible future of their own partnership, and in the act of recognizing them as partners, they avert the same fate.

The recognition of their partnership -- ongoing or former -- is important here, too. Uzuki says in not so many words that even though she's still ambitious, she still wants to work her way up, she won't give up on her partnership with Kariya. It's not that easy to let go of a partner. She's not going to let her partner get hurt. If they go down, they go down together.

Trust your partner -- and even though the Game may not rely on that principle in NEO, it's still important to keep in mind.