Growing up is tough. Young people are often robbed of the right to make their own decisions, overruled by adults who think they know better. As many of us learned, that isn’t always the case, and rebellion often surfaces alongside resentment as we seek to find our own place in the world. Counterculture is created in response to societal norms that force us to buckle down, whether that be in popular trends that emerge in the wake of uniformity, or political alliances that recognise the flaws made by our elders and hope to make the world a better place. Our existence is inherently political, and thus the media we consume often seeks to reflect that state of mind and explore them in ways that reality simply can’t.
NEO: The World Ends With You understands the struggles of youthful rebellion, the millennial and zoomer generations who are growing up in a world defined by climate change, economic disparity, and older relatives who either recognise the challenges that face us in the future or overlook them in favour of their own interests. Protagonist Rindo Kanade likely wouldn’t hesitate to push Jeff Bezos in front of a moving train because he knows the impact these power structures have on the everyday people like him and his party members, but much of this understanding comes after his untimely demise. The Reaper’s Game is, quite ironically, a wake-up call for young heroes who are now lost to the world, and must come to realise the problems that underpin it to claw their way back to the land of the living.
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The Underground is ruled by neighbouring teams commanded by adults, individuals who have spent years toiling away in the afterlife fighting off rivals and maintaining the status quo because there is no place for them in the real world, so they instead exist in a perpetual limbo where their only purpose is to wipe out the ignorant fools who dare try to usurp them. These groups aren’t accustomed to meaningful retaliation, having fallen into a routine of dispatching weaklings and answering to a higher power that remains shrouded in mystery. When Rin comes along and refuses to take his unexpected death without a fight, those above him aren’t sure how to react, using pompous overconfidence to hide the insecurity eating away at them.
The World Ends With You was a reflection of youth culture and fashion when it first released in 2008, and its sequel aims to recreate this dedication to Japan’s cultural zeitgeist while ensuring the experiences of its central characters reflect the modern day. Their dialogue and text messages are filled with slang and emojis, as you’d expect, but they’re far smarter than the adults in this world are willing to give them credit for. Their actions are dictated by a system far out of their control, so once they begin fighting against the requirements of Reaper’s Game in search of something more, those in the positions of power react with panic and bewilderment. They save face by acting like unstoppable forces of evil, but the cracks in the facade are evident, and all we need to do is keep pushing until it all falls apart. I won’t spoil where the narrative goes, but NEO is masterful at cementing your position as the underdog, a passionate millennial desperate to live a life that was so unfairly snatched away from them. Much of it is done with lighthearted humour, yet once the true stakes emerge, you feel invested in these characters and the plight they need to overcome.
While certain fans would love to say otherwise, JRPGs have always existed as products of political retaliation, a firm statement on the issues that plague our society. Environmental destruction, unfettered capitalism, the climate crisis, and so much more have made themselves known in the likes of Persona, Final Fantasy, and The World Ends With You. Some favour fictional settings where real-world discussions can be composited with a slither of disconnect, but Persona and The World Ends With You don’t intend to provide that luxury. The latter’s rendition of Shibuya is realistic in its style and layout, albeit with a visual flair that makes it feel like an alternate version of our own reality. I’ve walked these streets myself a number of times, so revisiting them through a screen harbours all the same feelings of discovery and a thirst to know more, even if so much of what it has to say will go over my head.
Shibuya is at the heart of Tokyo’s inner city, and Square Enix seems to use it as both an homage to the capital’s emergent fashion scene and the political machinations that have defined it for decades. There’s so much to be extrapolated from here, and with young people feeling increasingly alienated from the generations that preceded them, video games are the perfect model to form their own outlook on the world and gather the knowledge needed to make it a better place. NEO’s wider message is reflected in both its characters and setting, and I took many of them away with me, some of which you can delve into in our full review, but its dedication to representing youth culture and the joys, struggles, and unique identities that come as a part of that are so important, and a bold reflection on how the game was made and what it wishes to represent.
We need more games like this, and less JRPGs that are so willing to abide by tired genre archetypes and cliches than having something important to say. You can have your cake and eat it, with Final Fantasy 7 Remake the perfect example of living up to fan expectations while taking the original vision into uncharted territory. As the same creators revisit properties they helped birth several decades ago, it’s fascinating to see their shifting worldviews reflecting in the stories they intend to tell. They’ve become wiser and more introspective, considerate of the world and people around them in a way that games simply weren’t when the medium was still in its infancy.
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