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Neku Sakuraba
Redirected from Neku
| Neku Sakuraba | |
|---|---|
 Artwork of Neku Sakuraba | |
| Age | 15 |
| Sex | Male |
| Fighting Style | Psychomancy (usage of Psychs) |
| Partner(s) | Shiki Misaki Joshua Beat |
| Classification | Player The Composer's Proxy |
| Nicknames | Phones Blue Black 'n' Blue Bruise Orangeylocks Nekky Brown & Blue Hollow-skulled Hectopascal Tiger |
| Race | Human |
| Affiliations | Players |
| Voice Actor(s) | Jesse David Corti (English) Kōki Uchiyama (Japanese) |
- "At fifteen, Neku is an ardent fan of graffiti, but far less enthusiastic about forging relationships with other people. When the Reapers' Game throws him into contact with other Players, he has two choices: open up...or get picked off."
- — Game manual description
Neku Sakuraba (桜庭 音操 Sakuraba Neku?) is the main protagonist of The World Ends with You. He was born and raised in Shibuya, Japan. When Neku wakes up in the Scramble Crossing, he finds that he cannot remember anything except his name, due to his entry fee into Reapers' Game.
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Appearance
Edit
Neku is tall and slender, with spiky orange hair in a unique hairstyle and blue eyes. He almost always has his signature indigo headphones on. He wears a sleeveless shirt with a funnel-shaped collar, and an indigo stripe outlined with gold going down the middle. He also wears a sweatband on his left arm, and white shorts held up by a loose fitting belt. He wears black shoes with an indigo stripe outlined in gold, similar to the color and style of his shirt.
PersonalityEdit
- "All the world needs is me. I got my values... so you can keep yours, alright?"
- — Neku Sakuraba
Neku's personality is generally unsociable; he claims he "doesn't get people", and because of this, he usually dislikes interacting with other people. His opinion of others is so low that he tends to see people only for their use. Neku refuses company, as he feels that friends only drag him down, cause him pain when they fail him and make him feel like "unnecessary baggage" to them. Neku sees society as simply an annoyance that forces their values on him, pester him and expect him to do things he doesn't want to do. As such, he admires the designer CAT for their motto, "do what you want, how you want, when you want".
Though at first his negative world view keeps his friends alienated despite their best efforts, Neku slowly softens as he listens to the advice of everybody around him. He becomes more open and trusting as he gets to know people like Shiki, Joshua, Beat, Rhyme, and Mr. Hanekoma among others. As time passes, he begins to understand more about others and believe in his friends.
StoryEdit
On Day 1, Neku wakes in the scramble crossing, with no idea how he got there. He opens his fist to find the Player Pin, and he finds he can hear others thoughts through it. He gets a text from the Reapers, saying that he must reach 104 or face erasure. The mission's timer appears on his hand, and Noise attacks him. Unable to defend himself, he flees to the Statue of Hachiko. There, the Noise attacks him once again, but he is saved by Shiki Misaki. They form a pact and successfully fight off the Noise. They reach 104, and meet Uzuki Yashiro. After defeating a Grizzly Noise, the two fall asleep and re-awaken the next day in the Station Underpass, and receive their mission: "Set the Cursed Sculpture free". Shiki thinks that the statue is the Statue of Hachiko. In the West Exit Bus Terminal, they meet Beat and Rhyme, who give them valuable information and even a Cure Drink pin.
After Neku annoys Beat, he and Rhyme leave, which also annoys Shiki. The two set free the Moyai statue located in the West Exit Bus Terminal and the Statue of Hachiko located near the Scramble Crossing. After erasing the noise, the two complete the mission. Uzuki Yashiro, the Reaper that appeared to them yesterday, then appears to Neku and Shiki, and forces them to fight. Neku prepares himself to attack the Reaper, which amuses Uzuki. Uzuki offers Neku a deal - she will let him out of the Reapers' Game if he erases Shiki, who she accuses to be a spy for the Reapers. The headstrong Neku agrees, and prepares to erase Shiki, before being stopped by Sanae Hanekoma, who drives Uzuki off. Hanekoma gives the two a Harmonizer Pin before the two fall asleep. They re-awake in the Concert Stage. Neku searches for Shiki in the dark, and bumps into her. Shiki has found the exit, but will not leave without Neku. The two receive their mission: "Defeat the master of A-East".
In Another DayEdit
In the parallel universe of Another Day, Neku is much more optimistic compared to his "main" counterpart, stating his love for Shibuya and praying to the Lord for a great day. He also has "emo urges" and is a huge fan and skillful player of Tin Pin. While progressing through Pork City, he mentions a close friend who told him about CAT's Udagawa wall tag, but died in an accident on the day they agreed to meet there. As there are no further details about this friend within Another Day or even any mention of him within the main storyline, his identity is unknown and he may not even be Neku's friend in the main storyline if he exists there at all.
Non-canon appearancesEdit
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop DistanceEdit
- "You're so loud...stupid Noise."
- — Neku in the TGS Trailer
Neku made an appearance in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance in Traverse Town. He was first seen in the TGS 2011 Trailer. After surprising Sora by appearing out of nowhere, the two meet up. Neku explains that he is a Player in the Reaper's Game, which takes place in Traverse Town. With his Timer running short and no Partner at hand, Sora, who isn't following Neku's explanation, happily agrees to help anyways. Neku's Dream Eater is a Neko Cat, a brightly colored cat-like creature with a music note for a tail.
In the Jump Festa 2012 Trailer, he is shown casually talking to Sora. Sora talks about Neku's name, saying that it is interesting. Neku says that it's just a name. Neku learns that Sora can also fight the Dream Eaters. In another scene, a man in a black cloak appears. After Sora shouts at the man, Neku states "Hey! This isn't what we promised!" and moves to attack the cloaked man. In the short version of the Jump Festa 2012 trailer, he asks Joshua if they can ever return to their world. Joshua replies with saying, "What are you talking about? You're not giving up, are you Neku?". In both trailers, this is followed by Joshua repeating one of his lines from The World Ends with You - "Give up on yourself, and you give up on the world".
Jesse David Corti has been confirmed that he will reprise his role as Neku.
Gallery Edit
RelationshipsEdit
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Shiki MisakiEdit
Added by DarkLucas07Shiki Misaki is Neku's first partner in the Reapers' Game. At first, Neku dislikes Shiki and only stays with her to survive. He also calls her "Stalker" because she follows him around. When Shiki talks, Neku generally keeps to himself, only responding when he becomes irritated by her chatting. Early on, he seems to show little regard for her, as he is even willing to kill her when the Reaper Uzuki Yashiro offered him a way out of the Game in exchange for doing so, albeit reluctantly.
Despite the incident, Shiki continues to treat him the same, and does her best to understand him. As time progresses, the two develop a bond of friendship as they become closer and open up to each other. When they spot Eri, Shiki's best friend in the RG who strangely looks exactly like her, Shiki starts to run from Neku, but he stops her and gets her to tell the truth about her past. Neku learns that she was not happy with who she was, and always felt jealous of Eri, so when she entered the game her entry fee was her appearance, teaching her that she shouldn't be jealous.
Added by Avis PraedaThrough this experience, Shiki and Neku grow closer. When they learn that only Shiki will move on to the RG, and that Neku must play the Game again, Shiki states that she will wait in front of Hachiko everyday until Neku returns.
There is some amount of irony at the beginning of the second week when Shiki is taken as Neku's entry fee. While this is a bluff on the part of the Conductor --because only the Composer can restore life to Players-- Neku finds the entry fee credible enough to stake all of his efforts on Week 2 on getting Shiki back, strengthening his feelings for Shiki. Shiki is highly embarrassed when she finds this out at the end of Week 3.
In the ending, Shiki meets up with Neku, Beat and Rhyme in front of the Statue of Hachiko, as promised.
BeatEdit
Neku first encounters Beat in Week 1 Day 2, where they get off to a rocky start. They meet again the next day, where Beat is reluctant to give them advice. However, at the end of Week 1 Day 3, Beat and Rhyme appear and save Neku and Shiki by completing the mission. Afterwards, they seem to be on good terms, and agree to work together for the rest of the week.
When Rhyme is erased the next day, Neku, Shiki and Hanekoma talk him out of fighting the shark Noise that attacked Rhyme. As he leaves with Hanekoma, Neku and Shiki agree to avenge Rhyme in Beat's place. He joins the Reapers at the end of Day 7, surprising both Neku and Shiki.
During Week 2, Beat is assigned by Megumi Kitaniji to defeat Neku and Joshua. He attacks and overpowers them a number of times, but never brings himself to erase them. Despite their misgivings, in one encounter Neku is compassionate enough to return Rhyme's pendant (which Beat had dropped the previous day) to him.
At the start of the third week, Beat chooses to leave the Reapers to become Neku's partner and save him from certain demise (being the only Player, Neku could not form a pact). As partners, the two become closer, and work together to survive the week, save Rhyme and attempt to dethrone the Composer. During their time together, Neku learns more about Beat's background, why he is in the Reapers' Game. In the final battle, Beat states that he no longer sees Neku as a partner but as a friend. Together, along with Shiki, they defeat Kitaniji in both his Noise forms.
In the ending, Beat and Rhyme both meet up with Neku and Shiki by Hachiko, and the friends are reunited.
RhymeEdit
Neku first encounters Rhyme in Week 1 Day 2 along with her partner Beat, where they get off to a rocky start due to Neku's anti-social attitude.
They meet again the following day, where Shiki asks them about the mission. Beat finds the situation with Neku awkward and leaves,after calling Neku a piece of dirt, with Rhyme tagging along behind him. Later that day, Neku and Shiki fail to complete the mission, and just as all hope is lost and with seconds to spare, Beat and Rhyme complete the task. In Week 1 Day 4, Rhyme jumps out and saves Beat from a Noise,the Swing Shark, sacrificing herself. Neku acts coldly and pretends not to be upset by the event, telling Shiki it is why he doesn't rely on anybody or want to forge relationships, as he ends up getting hurt.
Rhyme appears later in the form of a squirrel Noise as a Pin that Neku can use to fight the Noise. Despite the two not being shown together much, the two are shown interacting well in the game's final scene.
JoshuaEdit
Added by TwinlightEquaNeku finds Joshua especially irritating, as he often teases him and his snobby attitude tends to get on Neku's nerves. However, Neku, motivated by his desire to bring Shiki back to life, does everything he can to put up with him for the week. Despite their many disagreements, Neku finds that he can - in a number of ways - relate to Joshua. They have similar views of society and the world, which often come up in their conversations. This does gradually change however, as Neku's philosophy changes greatly over the course of their week together.
During the few days where no missions are issued, they make frequent visits to Hanekoma and his cafe WildKat, where it is revealed that Joshua and Hanekoma have a long history with each other. Joshua claims to be searching for a way into the Shibuya River so that he can take on the Composer and "Jack" Shibuya - or in other words, gain complete control over it.
Neku eventually becomes incredibly distressed when he scans Joshua and sees flashbacks of him dying in front of the mural in Udagawa, leading him to accuse Joshua of being his killer. Joshua neither confirms nor denies this throughout the week, and there is a great deal of tension between the two for the remainder of time they have together.
On the seventh day, when they battle the Game Master, Sho Minamimoto, Neku sees another flashback which leads him to believe that it was actually Minamimoto who had murdered him. After defeating him, Minamimoto unleashes a level i flare, and Joshua pushes Neku out of harm's way and takes the brunt of the attack, seemingly erasing both Minamimoto and himself.
Neku deeply regrets that he never got to apologize to Joshua for accusing him of murdering him, and feels guilty for his death. Allowed to play the Game one more time, Neku vows not to waste this chance which Joshua had managed to give him.
In the final day of the third week, Joshua returns after the fight with Megumi Kitaniji's Noise form, shocking Neku. Before they can talk to each other, Kitaniji absorbs Joshua and the final battle begins. Afterwards, Kitaniji is erased and Joshua reveals that he himself is the Composer and that everything that had transpired was part of a Game he had set up with Kitaniji - one that would ultimately decide the fate of Shibuya. Wanting to erase Shibuya, Joshua chose Neku as a proxy to play the Game for him - and he had won. He also returns what is missing of Neku's memories, revealing that Joshua had indeed murdered Neku, just to send him into the game.
Joshua has one final Game with Neku - a duel, in which the winner becomes Composer and gets to decide Shibuya's fate. They both receive guns and Joshua begins a countdown for them to fire. Tearfully, an enraged Neku aims his gun and prepares to shoot - however, in the end, he cannot bring himself to kill a friend, and lowers his gun. Joshua, however, smiles coldly and shoots Neku, supposedly killing him.
Added by Avis PraedaFollowing the duel, Joshua has a change of heart and decides to spare Shibuya, having seen and observed the change in Neku firsthand. Neku then wakes up in the middle of the scramble once again, crying in pain as he thinks that he must play the Game once more (note the people staring at him, indicating he's back in the RG). In the ending, Neku wishes to see Joshua again, hoping he will show up at Hachiko with everyone else. He states that while he can't forgive him, he trusts him. Joshua does not arrive however, and watches the friends from atop 104 along with Hanekoma.
AbilitiesEdit
Neku is able to use many different pins that he finds to perform quite a variety of attacks. Other characters comment on his mastery of Psychs, indicating that this ability is unusual. Although he cannot use every pin in battle (Pins 246 through 261 being the most obvious exceptions), the wide selection of attacks adds to his unpredictability and therefore to his value in the Game.
Also, he is the only person who is able to summon Noise that is not a Reaper. He performed this unique action while fighting Mitsuki Konishi in the final day. He summoned Rhyme's Noise form after all his other pins are stolen by Konishi. She expresses surprise after her defeat that Neku is able to accomplish this feat. Neku explains it by saying that Rhyme is his friend.
EtymologyEdit
The kanji of Ne-ku Sakura-ba literally translate to: sound, manipulation, cherry, garden. This is likely to be a reference to the idea of Neku closing out the outside world with his headphones, ignoring the wonderful world ("cherry garden") around him, and his astonishing skill with psychs. Additionally, sound may refer to the music theme in naming the characters.
GalleryEdit
TriviaEdit
- Neku either has an extraordinary memory or is very intelligent, as on Day Two of Week Two he was able to give Joshua the square root of 3 up to the 7th decimal point. He also knew the periodic symbol for gold.
- Neku's three entry fees for Weeks 1, 2, and 3 respectively are as follows: Neku's memory, Shiki Misaki, and the existence of every other Player. The final "game", a duel between Neku and Joshua, had an entry fee which Joshua had "already collected", but was never disclosed.
- Neku bears a resemblance to Sora, the protagonist of Kingdom Hearts, and bears an emotional similarity to Roxas, Sora's Nobody from Kingdom Hearts II. Neku's Japanese voice actor, Kōki Uchiyama, also voices Roxas and Ventus in the Kingdom Hearts series. All four characters were created by Square Enix.
- Neku's name is very similar to the word "neko", the Japanese word for cat, which may relate to the name of Neku's favorite designer, CAT, and in Kingdom Hearts 3D, his Dream Eater that follows him around is called a "Necho Cat".
| Characters |
|---|
| Players Neku Sakuraba · Beat · Joshua · Rhyme · Shiki Misaki · Sota and Nao |
| Reapers 777 · BJ · Koki Kariya · Megumi Kitaniji · Mitsuki Konishi · Sho Minamimoto · Tenho · Uzuki Yashiro · Yodai Higashizawa |
| Other Characters Ai · Eiji Oji · Ken Doi · Makoto Miki · Mina · Mr. Mew · Sanae Hanekoma
|
| (v · e) |
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