June 18, 2022|

Filed under: Editorial, Featured, Guest Article, History, Impressions

The World Ends with You: A Retrospective About Identity and Mental Health (Guest Article)

This guest article was created by @_TheyWhoRemain_ on Twitter.

Identity can be a massive portion of a person’s life, and incredibly important to someone trying to find their way in the world. When I was younger, I never had the opportunity to question who I was, and if how I was acting, presenting myself, and interacting with the people around me might be different. Growing up in a conservative neighborhood presented its own set of struggles, and it was only recently that I learned more about myself and what was “wrong” with me. While several experiences on a long, arduous journey led up to me finally realizing who I might be, one stands tall above the rest.

In 2018, Nintendo and Square Enix announced a remaster of the 2007 cult classic JRPG The World Ends With You for the Nintendo Switch. I had heard about the game before this announcement but had never given it much thought. It wasn’t until that year that I decided to finally give the game a chance. Suffice to say, I was very quickly enthralled by the world, story, and characters of this game, and after just a single playthrough, it became one of my favorite games of all time. To celebrate Pride Month, I’d like to detail how TWEWY tackles themes related to Mental Health and Identity, specifically through the eyes of a queer person. Thank you to Source Gaming for giving me this opportunity and platform to speak on.

Introduction

The plot of TWEWY revolves around Neku Sakuraba, a 15-year-old antisocial teen who is brought into a contest called the Reapers’ Game — one he must survive for seven days. The Game has many rules, and one in particular is that you must team up with another Player, forming a pact to become Partners for the week. I’ll be talking about TWEWY’s plot, and explaining how its story touches upon some of the themes I found and related to, but I wish to clarify now that I don’t think it was intended to be seen the way I do, or at least not in as great detail as I took it, and that is completely fine.

One of the best things this game has to offer is that its story and themes are completely subjective, and you can interpret them in whatever way you want. In this way, TWEWY can feel personal to the player, and it’s something the game has received a lot of praise from its community. At its core, TWEWY‘s main theme is about opening up to the world around you. Coming to terms with shortcomings, learning that there will always be a group you can call family, and understanding that “the world ends with you”. This message is important and in the game, Neku realizes its meaning to be that he can only grow as much as he’s willing to try. Pushing past the borders of his own making allows him to finally open up.

Neku and Being Introverted

As mentioned, Neku is antisocial for the game’s first week. His first Partner is a girl named Shiki Misaki. Shiki is a talented seamstress with dreams of making it big with her best friend Eri. At first, the pair cannot get along, due mostly to Neku and his refusal to open up. The end of the second day has a Reaper present Neku with a choice. If he erases (kills) Shiki right then and there, then he will be granted an escape from the Game. He is fed lies about how Shiki is betraying him, and based on assumptions he’d made about her earlier, he agrees. He is, luckily, stopped before he can go any further, but Neku’s actions show just how detached he’s become from the world around him.

I see myself as an introvert. I simply do not go out of my way to make connections with people. It’s something I’d like to fix, and I’m working on it, but Neku’s introverted nature and his response to the Reaper’s offer sparked a realization in me. I imagine Neku’s acceptance of the offer is because he saw it as the easy way out. There have been times where I’ve put myself in situations where I’ve had to do something that, I imagined, would be to the detriment of someone’s perception of me. But in return, I got to keep things simple and “how they should be.” If I went through with this self-imposed ultimatum, I’d get to return to my comfort zone. This sequence matched so closely to experiences I’ve had before that I could empathize with both him and Shiki immensely. It can be difficult to accept change, and to me, this represents how that struggle can feel internally.

Shiki and Self-Hatred

Throughout the week, we learn about something called an Entry Fee. An Entry Fee is essentially something taken in exchange for entering the Game (this action is slightly intrusive since it seems most people don’t choose to join to begin with, but I digress). Every Entry Fee is unique to the Player and is what they hold most dear, and with this, we move on to Shiki. Shiki’s Entry Fee was the appearance of her friend Eri. Shiki has internalized jealousy (and implied depression) of her aforementioned friend. This jealousy is brought about by her becoming less confident in herself and her abilities as a seamstress, seeing Eri as a stand-up role model who’s doing better than her while ignoring everything she has done up to this point. This eventually leads to her becoming so disillusioned and jealous of her that she hates her appearance.

While I will strictly stay within canon when discussing the game, for the most part, it would be impossible for me to not mention the theory myself and other members of the TWEWY community have that Shiki could be a transgender girl. At face value, her story is obviously about self-worth and self-love. However, a lot of her themes tend to overlap with experiences some trans people might have. Speaking again from experience, there was a time when I thought I was trans. One of the biggest struggles that came with that was my appearance. It is very easy to see that, while all queer folk are treated harshly by a lot of people, trans women, more often than not, get harassed especially hard by the media. They’re often mocked for their appearance and voice, among other things, and that terrified me from ever trying to change my appearance.

Could I have magically changed my appearance to look how I wanted, I absolutely would have. This is something I quickly sympathized with Shiki about, and while I know she probably wasn’t written to be trans, and that the idea of hating your appearance isn’t strictly tied to being trans or queer, it is easy to see why I and other TWEWY fans agree with the headcanon. On top of this, I also loved seeing her talk about her love of fashion, but also how she so quickly gave it up.

During that phase of my life, I began to give up on some things as well because of what I was struggling with. I couldn’t cope with what was happening and called myself a failure so many times. But then, I saw the ending of Week 1. One of the biggest reveals that comes from the first week is Shiki’s realization of what her Entry Fee truly meant. As I previously stated, an Entry Fee is what you care about the most. For Shiki, she initially thought this was Eri’s appearance, a thought coming to her solely because of her self-hatred.

But because the Entry Fee is what you lose, this obviously doesn’t make sense. Shiki represents self-compassion and love, she learns to embrace the identity she has, and she boldly and proudly proclaims that “What I value most is me!,” thus completing her arc of learning to be comfortable with who she is, without the need to compare herself to others. The struggles Shiki went through mirrored some of my own, and the ending of her journey really pushed me to try again, and learn to be happy with who I am, even if that was hard. But as I would soon find out, there was a lot more the game had to offer.

Joshua and Anxiety & Depression

As Neku finds himself back for a second week,his next Partner forces himself onto his team. Yoshiya “Joshua” Kiryu is a bit of an oddball; he’s very snappy, and a bit sassy towards Neku. He seems to have some sort of hidden agenda and knows more about Neku than he really should. It takes until Week 3 for us to discover that Joshua is the Composer of the Shibuya Reapers’ Game, the highest overseeing authority who has near-complete control over the Game, but not its Players.

Over some time, Joshua became depressed and disillusioned with the city he was supposed to oversee, seeing it as dull and lifeless. Starting a game with his second-in-charge, the Conductor Megumi Kitaniji, the prize on the line was Shibuya’s right to continue existing. To further prove his point that Shibuya was beyond saving, Joshua picked someone to be his Proxy in the game, choosing an individual he believed would show that the city was incapable of change.

His Proxy was, of course, Neku. However, it wasn’t as simple as picking the worst person out of the population of Shibuya. Neku, at this point, reflects how Joshua acts towards the city. Both of them have shut out the world around them, they find it hard to open up, and most importantly, they didn’t think they could change. They both grew to be content with what they became.

To me, playing then, Joshua represented self-destruction and internalized trauma. He became fascinated with the Reapers’ Game when he happened upon its existence one day. Fascinated, so much, that he decided to simply join permanently. I think this serves as a fairly blatant hint that Joshua was suicidal, as established earlier with the Reapers’ Game being only accessible by those who have died. He becomes Composer, likely having shown an enormous amount of potential in the Game, and found a new purpose in life. However, eventually, those old feelings caught up with him again and he ended up where he was before, only now with far more power.

By the end of The World Ends with You, Neku changes and grows past his flaws, and this change finally inspires Joshua to take a step back and let Shibuya grow as it needs to. That’s ultimately because Joshua saw himself in Neku, the boy he picked because he was the worst of Shibuya. He knew—or at least thought—people like him and Neku would never change. Neku was supposed to be his easy justification to destroy Shibuya and himself. Instead, Neku’s journey shows Joshua that change is possible for him, too. In the game, it gets explained that the city reacts to the way its Composer is feeling, so I think of the City and the Composer as essentially being the same. I feel this represents how the damage caused to someone who is depressed doesn’t only impact them; it radiates outward. Essentially, if Joshua was down, the city would suffer too.

Joshua also appears to have an underlying theme of perfectionism. I noticed this pretty quickly, partially since at the time I was scrutinizing everything I was doing, to the point where I hated hearing how I spoke and looked. I became hurt and frustrated that I couldn’t fit this idealized image I had of what a ‘girl’ had to be. You might have heard the term “gender dysphoria” before; this is what it felt like for me. I think many can relate to the idea of seeing yourself in other people in some way. I often pictured myself looking like these people I admired, or wishing I could express myself the way they did. Just as often, though, I found myself relating to others’ struggles that were similar to my own as well. Change eventually came to me as it did for Joshua, but it was the next and most important character, to me, who really helped me break free of the insecurities I’d built up.

Beat and the Weight of Expectations

Bito “Beat” Daisukenojo is a bit of a ruffian. When he first meets Neku and Shiki, he, along with his Partner Rhyme, comes off as fairly friendly—if a bit of the abrasive side, as he doesn’t initially trust Neku. Halfway through Week 1, Rhyme sacrifices herself for Beat and gets killed by a Noise monster (a creature native to the Reapers’ Game). With only a few minutes left to live, Beat is escorted away by a character named Mr. H, and we don’t see him again until Week 2.

Once Beat comes back into the story, we finally learn that he’s joined the Reapers. Initially, we are led to believe he had simply joined their side as a result of him becoming angered at the loss of Rhyme. Week 3, however, tells us the truth about his decision to join the Reapers.

For his third Week in the Game, Neku’s Entry Fee is the life of every other Player. He is to survive on his own for seven days. This, of course, is impossible without a partner, and so Beat decides to team up with Neku to give him a fighting chance, hating the Game Master’s unfair decision and knowing Neku would be at a disadvantage. For this betrayal, Beat is stripped of his Reaper status, and the week continues as ’normal’.

Each Week has a different Game Master who gives out Missions, and ultimately it is a Player’s goal to defeat them at the end of the week. Week 3’s GM is Mitsuki Konishi. She is a powerful, feared, and respected Reaper, and is loyal to the Composer. What’s most important about her here is her role as Beat’s main foil. One of the new additions to Beat when he returns is a tiny squirrel-like Noise. We don’t know anything about it, but it becomes apparent what is going on when Konishi comes to collect Beat’s Entry Fee. It’s Noise, which we eventually learn is Rhyme. Her Soul was collected and reformed by Mr. H into a sustainable form.

As we continue through the week, we find flowers that have been set down on the side of a busy road. Beat eventually opens up that this was the place where he and his sister Rhyme had lost their lives. Beat explains that he ran away from home one day after a particularly nasty altercation with his parents. Rhyme had always tried to stick up for him and comfort him, and when he ran away, so did she to try and find him. On that day, however, Rhyme was about to be hit by a passing car, and Beat jumped in front of her to try and push her out the way, but ended up getting both of them hit instead.

Beat has been carrying the guilt of stripping Rhyme of her life and ambitions because he never had any, and always wanted better for her. To make matters worse, we then learn that his original Entry Fee was Rhyme’s love for him, explaining why she couldn’t remember Beat as her brother.After a pep talk from Neku, (something which greatly surprises Beat, and is one of Neku’s biggest points of growth in the story), Beat finds a new resolve to continue fighting—and to meet and take the Composer’s spot as the leader in order to bring everyone back to life.

Beat represents self-doubt and the effects of peer pressure. In his life before the Game, Beat was not aspiring to achieve much, at least according to his parents. His passion for skating was simply not something they cared for, and whilst it might be understandable that they’d be upset at him for not pursuing something more “meaningful,” it is not fair to push so much expectation onto one person, let alone your child. Whether intentionally or not, parents can be the source of a lot of stress for a queer child, be it that they don’t understand and unknowingly hurt their child, or they, more often than not, end up deliberately doing things that hurt them. Another factor that plays a part in gender dysphoria is caused by the people around us, if someone close to you continues to misgender you, for example, it can lead to intense feelings of self-hatred and doubt, because in the eyes of those who you looked up to and trusted, you’re not good enough to pass.

More specific to my struggles, in the past, I’ve been told by people to simply give up on my dreams and passions. It was heart-wrenching to be told by my seniors that my goal to become a writer wouldn’t turn out to be any good, and that I needed to do what they wanted me to do. While I can’t say my writing has helped me financially, I can say that I’m glad I chose to continue writing creatively and move on from their demands. Did it happen immediately? Gods, no. It actually got triggered by me replaying TWEWY, unsurprisingly. That was one of the worst things I ever experienced, and I think just how bad it was for me is why I relate to Beat so much. Much like Beat, I came to learn I was not on my own, and my growth as a person can be linked back to my friends. Without them, I wouldn’t be here, and for that, I’m incredibly grateful.

Then vs. Now

Comparing myself now to where I was back in 2018 is like comparing night and day. For one, I’ve finally accepted an identity for myself. For those who don’t know, I identify as non-binary and I change names like they’re going out of fashion! I owe a lot of my growth to TWEWY, as it showed me it wasn’t too late to clean the slate and try again. To explain this to both you and myself, I’m going to try laying out my growth in comparison to how the Reaper’s Game is structured.

I would say my positive view of the world “died” in 2018. That was when my struggles hit me hardest and when I took a lot of issues to heart and refused to open up to others, and it made me very unapproachable in hindsight. Another thing that died was my old self. 2018 is when I first properly started questioning my identity. To say it was a weird time would be an understatement. To explore the analogy further, my Entry Fee would be my writing. I used to write quite often, but after essentially being told “no”, I gave it up for a while. Since then, my “mission” has always been to figure out who I am and to get out of the hole I dug for myself.

I think I still have a ways to go to fully come to terms with myself and who I am, but I’ve made a lot of progress there and it’s something I can truly be proud of. Nowadays, I’m back into writing and anything to do with literature. This article right here is a project I’ve had in mind for a while, and completing it is an accomplishment I needed to do, both for myself and for the people I’m writing this for. I’m more open and I’d like to think I’m more sociable (online at least, that is), and I keep in touch with my friends more often than I used to. I have an identity I’m comfortable with, and I’m surrounded by positive company.

Finding A Place To Feel At Home

I want to highlight something that I think was crucial in me reaching where I am now, and that’s The World Ends with You‘s community. Back in 2019, around the peak of Smash Ultimate‘s hype cycle, I created one of many “For Smash” accounts. I campaigned for TWEWY and Neku specifically, running the account mostly focusing on Smash, but I also wanted to reach out to the greater TWEWY fanbase which was relatively niche at the time. Thanks to the TWEWY community, I was able to learn more about myself through my interactions with the people I became friends with as the account steadily grew.

(Courtesy of sp00kikiwi)

The community is incredibly diverse and full of many talented and creative people, people who served as inspiration for me to try new projects. I ran the account on my own for about a year or so, until I decided to ask someone to help moderate the account and a subsequent Discord server. I got exactly what I asked for and more with Miyrea. Teaming up with her to run the NekuForSmash account was a big challenge for me as I knew I didn’t work well with others. We were not exactly friends at that point, and although we did hit it off quickly, that first step was hard.

There’s a line from the game that talks about how we can’t grow if we don’t clash. This is true, in my experience, and especially here. Miy and I didn’t know each other, and in her own words, she was “…nervous and cautious about accepting to work with them because it meant having to share my input and opinions on things,” and being asked to do that basically out of nowhere can be scary. As time went on, however, we grew closer and helped each other out whenever needed. Even now that the account is gone, I can gladly say we’re still very good friends.

We got on incredibly well, thankfully, and that was due in no small part to how well we communicated. Times weren’t all easy, and something I owe thanks to Miy for is her patience with me. I know I wasn’t the best at communicating outside of video game-related stuff, and when I needed to take breaks because of certain issues, I’d cause hiatuses spontaneously and it wasn’t very fair on her or our followers. As I finally opened up to her, things did sort themselves out, and in 2020, we decided it was time for me to leave. Miy and I both learned the very important lesson that it’s fine to need help and that you can take breaks.

(Courtesy of TPEWY)

Since then, Miy took the For Smash account and, with the help of other community members, turned it into a TWEWY-themed podcast. They’ve had the opportunity to interview the cast members of both TWEWY and its sequel, and became fairly recognizable among the community reaching over twelve-hundred followers on Twitter. Together, Miy and I grew a lot and got to have new opportunities we never would have had otherwise. We pushed our boundaries as far as we could, and it ended up being for the best. I am very grateful and thankful to Miy for helping me out with the account, I wouldn’t have learned as much about myself and others without her help.

Conclusion

The World Ends with You is a game whose story is easy to relate to. One of many themes explored in the game is individuality and how it can affect the world and people around us. Individuality isn’t just about standing out or being different. It can be as simple as understanding you are different, that there’s never anything wrong with being the way you are, and this is one of the core messages I learned from this game. Having the courage and strength to accept yourself is important, and the way TWEWY explores this concept is fantastic, simply because it knows how relatable its message is.

My experiences do not reflect those of others who have played this game, and I encourage any other players to take a step back and think about what lessons they’ve learned from it. Self-reflection from time to time is always good, as is charting who you are now compared to who you were. And most importantly, we can’t grow if we don’t clash. That clash can be different for everyone, it might be challenging a different set of ideals to your own, or it may be trying something new and out of your comfort zone. But being stagnant isn’t safe or healthy, and clashing challenges yourself as much as anyone else.

To directly quote The World Ends with You, “the world ends at your borders.” You need to push past them to make any progress in life. It won’t be easy, but my biggest takeaway from this retrospective is understanding it’s always important to try. Lastly, please try this game out for yourself if you haven’t had the chance to already. Despite how in-depth I was able to go with the main cast, this is just a fraction of what the game has to offer, and the sequel adds a lot more to this that I didn’t even get to mention. I strongly recommend the game to anyone who may be interested, as this is without a doubt, one of the best games I have ever had the pleasure of playing.

Special Thanks to MiyreaZED, Hamada, and Wolfman Jew for help with edits; the TWEWY Wiki for information and resources on the game including images; sp00kikiwi for providing her fanart for this article; and This Podcast Ends With You for their continued interaction with the community.