| Neku Sakuraba | |
| |
| Full Name | Neku Sakuraba |
| First Appearance | The World Ends With You |
| Species | Human |
| Affiliation(s) | Players (in the Reapers' Game) |
| Latest Appearance | The World Ends With You |
| Portrayed by | Uchiyama Kouki (Japanese) Jesse David Corti (English) |
Neku Sakuraba is the main protagonist in The World Ends With You and an unwilling participant in the Reapers' Game. Usually having to only go through one week, Neku has to go through two more weeks additionally due to the circumstances. During the first week, his partner is the optimistic and positive-thinking Shiki Misaki opposed to the independent Neku. Only Shiki is allowed to return to the living, however, and Neku has to go another week. During the second week, his partner is the mysterious Joshua. Neku doesn't like his time much with this partner, since he tends to tease Neku a lot, but Neku is surprised when Joshua risks his life for him. Since the "composer" think this is bending the rules, Neku has to go through yet another week. Through the third week, his partner is Beat, who is very protective of his sister, Rhyme, and can also get very aggressive. Overall, Neku makes good friends out of all and at the end of the game learns to accept others.
History[]
The World Ends With You[]
Before the Reapers' Game
Before entering the Reapers' Game, Neku is just an anti-social 15-year-old boy that claims he just "doesn't get people." When CAT, an artist, does some graffitti murals, Neku is mesmorized and admires CAT's work. Though Neku doesn't really know who CAT is, when he looks at the art, he thinks somebody actually gets him. His favorite place to be is in the Udagawa district in Shibuya. One day, while in Udagawa admiring CAT's latest work, another 15-year-old boy comes along running with a gun. Neku is surprised, and thinks he's aiming for him, but when he turns around, he sees that he was aiming for an 18-year-old behind him. Neku, thinking he's going to get shot now, gets missed and the bullets almost hit the 15-year-old boy. Strangely, the boy stops the bullets without moving a finger, and the 18-year-old is forced to flee. Still confused, Neku turns around only to get shot by the 15-year-old. Collapsing, Neku is left to die in Udagawa as the mysterious boy drops a pin on his chest.
Week 1, Day 1
Neku wakes up at the intersection (referred to mostly in the game as the "scramble") in Shibuya. The only thing he remembers is his name, but he finds a strange pin in his possession. He realizes he can read minds with it when he hears voices. He also finds a cell phone in his possession with a message waiting for him: "Reach 104. You have 60 minutes. Fail, and face erasure. -The Reapers." Neku thinks this is odd, but, mistaking it for spam, tries to delete it. It doesn't work and, out of nowhere, frog-like creatures attack him while his hand gets struck with a timer. Unable to fight them, Neku runs and tries to escape, and screams for help. Strangely, nobody can hear him. He is then stopped by a 15-year-old girl who makes him forge a pact with her. With the pact, they can fight the creatures together. Neku uses a pin she gives him and the two defeat the creatures, known as "Noise". After the battle, the girl tells Neku she's Shiki Misaki and explains about the Reapers' Game to him. He doesn't want to believe any of it, and the two don't work well together because Neku just doesn't like people. Neku is first confused as to why she's following him, but she proclaims they always have to stick together because they're partners. Because of this, he nicknames her "Stalker" among other things. Unable to understand eachother, they reach 104 (sometimes said ten-four) and the timers disappear, thus ending Day 1 out of 7 of the Reapers' Game.