History YMMV / NeoTheWorldEndsWithYou

** Day 5 of Week 2 starts with some Reaper missions that [[LampshadeHanging are so easy the party wonders whether they're going easy on them]], then undergoes an UnexpectedGameplayChange into a HiddenObjectGame and it's one of the shortest chapters to play through. The boss (a T-Rex Noise) can be a bit troublesome, but otherwise this is one of the easiest Days to complete, especially in comparison to the battle-heavy Days 3, 4 and 6 (the former and latter being [[ThatOneLevel Scramble Slams]]). It's justified, as [[spoiler: it's heavily implied Shoka is pulling strings to make the day's mission easier for the Twisters.]]
** Day 5 of Week 3 also isn't all that hard, with the objective simply being to make it to Cat Street [[spoiler: so that [[SixthRanger Neku]] can get in touch with Coco]]. Each area has a necessary battle against Plague Noise, which while troublesome, are nothing you haven't been accustomed to since the start of the week. The boss is [[spoiler: a Plague Pachy (a Mammoth) which is predictably hard-hitting yet easy to read. It helps that, with Neku finally in your party, you now have access to six pins for use in combat.]]
* CaptainObviousReveal: It's not hard to figure out that [[spoiler: the Ruinbringers are cheating]], given that [[spoiler: they're always at the top of the rankings even on days where they don't complete missions, they finish missions unrealistically quickly when they ''do'' decide to compete, and are bailed out by Shiba on technicalities any time it looks like they might lose]]. The real twists are how and why.

** Both [[spoiler: Ayano]] boss fights are unlike anything faced before them, featuring a barrier of rotating swords that massively punishes any attempts to attack in melee, and a special attack used at low HP that disables half your party and forces the rest to either free each member before they take a lethal blow, or deflect it with a perfectly timed shield. The Another Day version ''starts the battle'' with this attack, and if you haven't done any endgame grinding it will one-hit kill you from full HP even on ''Easy mode''.
** Another Day in general is ''designed'' to be this, as the source of most endgame content, but [[{{Superboss}} Felidae Cantus]] completely takes the cake compared to the other high-level challenges. He's insanely fast, hits ''hard'', outright nullifies all of your attacks unless he attacks first, has a ridiculous amount of health, armor that soaks up much of the damage you try and inflict on him, [[FromBadToWorse memorizes the last pins you used on him effectively, nullifying their damage and instantly countering them]], capable of hitting inactive party members, [[YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe and has a few instant-death moves he'll occasionally bust out.]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Oh, but he does have a weakness to water.]] In short, if you want to win even on ''easy difficulty'', you'll need to go over-the-top with HP and defense buffs, from food to threads, be at least level 80, and an over-reliance on the [[InfinityMinusOneSword Year Long Ensemble]] pin set. And if you want the last pin of the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Black Cat Ensemble]] set, you'll need to set the difficulty to at least normal and crank your level all the way down to 1 to set the drop rate to an acceptable margin. '''''[[ThisIsGonnaSuck Good luck.]]'''''
--->'''''Youtube commenter:''''' ''mfw youre struggling with a superboss so you look up how other people have fought him and its... in the exact same way you're doing it''

* EpilepticTrees: After Neku's design for the game was revealed, many began assuming that it ''wasn't'' actually Neku, citing his [[HairColorSpoiler differently-colored hair]] and the seeming insistence on concealing his face. The most common theory [[spoiler: which turns out to be in fact the case]] is that it's actually Beat, based on the aforementioned hair color and fashion sense.
* EsotericHappyEnding: A possible interpretation. Although Shibuya is saved once again, several characters are left with unresolved problems in the aftermath. [[spoiler:Neku, for instance, gets to return to the RG and reunite with his friends, but the Secret Reports confirm the gaps left by the three years he was in Shinjuku have been filled by memories of a Neku from a parallel universe, meaning he's essentially coming back to someone else's life. On top of that, both his friends and the world around him have continued on with their lives in the time he's been gone, and the official ages indicate he may not even get to ''finish high school.'']] None of this is addressed directly.
* FanficFuel: We don't get much elaboration on what happened during the [[spoiler: three years where Neku and Coco were stuck in the ruins of Shinjuku]], other than knowing that by the end of it, [[spoiler: Neku had come to see her as a trusted friend and was able to forgive her for killing him]], which leaves the fans free to fill in the blanks themselves.
* GeniusBonus: When you first meet Motoi, he assures you that despite his foreign vocabulary, he's "as Japanese as curry rice." [[spoiler: Curry rice was not originally a Japanese dish, which hints that he's a fraud and a liar.]]

** Pufferfish Noise don't immediately die when they reach 0 HP, but instead continue to exist until they complete their attempt to selfdestruct in your face. They can move over half the arena very quickly while charging the attack, the explosion hitbox is both wider and longer-lasting than its animation, AND can do enough damage to end your chain in one hit, especially if you're holding multiple party members' buttons at the time. If that wasn't enough, because you can still attack them ineffectively while they're on the death march, you can potentially waste a lot of psyche charges on them before realizing they're down.

* HarsherInHindsight: Rindo getting the angriest about Shoka [[spoiler:temporarily going back to the Reapers]] at the end of Week 2 becomes this when you realize that [[spoiler:Shoka is Swallow.]]
* HeartwarmingInHindsight: Rindo and Shoka's relationship is this with the reveal that [[spoiler: Shoka is really Rindo's online friend Swallow. Also, Shoka was secretly helping the Wicked Twisters. Especially in Week 3 Day 2, where Rindo was essentially there for his online friend when they most needed it just like they have been there for him for years, without knowing it.]]

** [[spoiler:This is also true of pretty much every member of the original cast. Aside from Neku, most of their voice lines in story moments came at the very end of the game. Jesse David Corti's Neku makes him sound way more mature, fitting his new mentor role, Aaron Spann's Joshua is just as conniving and mysterious as you'd expect, Heather Hogan's Shiki fully realizes her true personality while remaining in sync with her original performance, and Crawford Wilson as Beat proves to be a particular standout. Despite keeping Beat's somewhat awkward slang from the original intact, he still manages to make him feel just as upbeat, tough, and caring as before while moving his character forward in terms of maturity.]]
** Paul Castro Jr's Rindo spends most of the game pretty subdued, but his BrokenPedestal moment with [[spoiler: Motoi]] is a powerful performance, being equal parts heartbreak and TranquilFury. Same for his heartfelt reaction to [[spoiler:Shoka's temporary betrayal]] and despair after being [[spoiler:the only one of the Wicked Twisters to survive the assault of the Dissonance Noise.]]

** Joshua continues to be as flirtatious with Neku as he was in the first game. Their long-awaited reunion is incredibly fond, with the two smiling softly at each other while Neku calls him "partner", and the Secret Reports even clarify that Joshua showed up on the Final Day ''just'' to help Neku, his mere presence stabilizing Neku's mind. After the battle, Neku waits for him alone at Udagawa, and they have a private conversation reminiscent of their old back-and-forth teasing. It's notable that Neku acts more like his old self here than his does for most of the game.
*** Joshua himself explains that he sent Neku to Shinjuku to save him after he was shot by Coco. The Secret Reports go on further to clarify that Joshua's actions were to protect Neku from those who would harm him for his abilities, and to have him handle the situation there. In the Japanese version, Joshua even says that ''because'' it was Neku, he knew he could trust him.
*** During the beginning of the first week, an anonymous speaker is seen talking to someone while overlooking the Scramble, stating that they hope this other person will wake up soon so they won't miss all the action. The game files reveal the speaker to be Joshua, and given the context, it's highly likely he's talking to Neku. This not only calls back to Neku's monologue to Joshua at the end of the first game, but also begs the question of how often he's done this in Neku's three-year absence.

** In the release date reveal trailer, 'Neku' was shown, but some fans believed that it wasn't Neku, but, in fact, [[spoiler:Beat due to how he dresses.]] Come the second day of the second week, it ends with the very scene shown in the trailer, but it includes the part where [[spoiler:Beat reveals himself and tells the Twisters that he's not Neku,]] something which the trailers did not show.
** Some fans had already guessed that Shoka would [[spoiler: pull a HeelFaceTurn and join the Wicked Twisters]] before the game's release due to how often she'd [[spoiler: appear alongside them in official art]] and the fact the final trailer included a clip of [[spoiler: Rindo trying to get her to join the party]].
* IronWoobie: [[spoiler: Shoka is forced to deal with her best friend initially hating her despite her actually secretly helping him from the sides, having to turn against and face down her former TrueCompanions in order to save Shibuya, having to MercyKill her big sister figure Ayano to prevent her from suffering a painful death via Plague Noise, be forced to take down a ghostly image of Ayano a few days later, die in ''two'' separate timelines (one of which involves her performing a HeroicSacrifice in order to save Rindo), and do all of this while living with the knowledge that even if she helped the Wicked Twisters ultimately save Shibuya, she won't be around to see it due to the rule of Shinjuku dictating that she either get Erased or stay a Reaper at the end of the week. Yet, despite all of this, she still presses on, all the while [[DeadpanSnarker snarking]] the entire time. It's quite telling that when Rindo finds out about her upcoming HeroicSacrifice, she's more concerned about how it will affect him rather than her inevitable demise.]]

** Tanzo Kubo is a completely [[HateSink irredeemable]] {{Jerkass}} who earns the ire of every single character in the game, and yet, he's ''such'' an unrepentant sleazy jackass that he also steals the show whenever he's on screen. His over the top expressions and voice acting certainly help.

* MagnificentBastard: Sho Minamimoto makes a return, see ''YMMV/TheWorldEndsWithYou'''s page for details.

** "This game was clearly influenced by ''VideoGame/Persona5''." [[note]]Immediately after the game was announced, social media was full of people comparing ''NTWEWY'' to ''Persona 5''. Many found this comparison ridiculous, considering that many of the things that the games have in common are found in multiple other games, and that the first ''TWEWY'' game [[OlderThanTheyThink was released nearly a decade before]] ''P5''. The comparison was widely mocked by pictures of other, totally unrelated games or real-world locations being posted by people [[SarcasmMode sarcastically claiming]] that those things took influence from ''P5'' as well.[[/note]]

** Susukichi posting [[note]]At a few points in the story, the Wicked Twisters have to chase after Susukichi who's hiding all over Shibuya. He sends clues to the heroes by lieu of a blurry selfie and some horribly misspelled words on account of how big he is and how small phones are. The shot of Susukichi has been ripe for edits, putting him in places like a [[https://twitter.com/Lost_MojoLIVE/status/1423308428664004613 McDonalds]] or [[https://twitter.com/t0ky0t3rr0r/status/1424894051149512709 Silent Hill]].[[/note]]
** Tanzo Kubo? Who's that? [[labelnote:Explanation (spoilers)]][[BigBad Kubo's]] ultimate fate later in the game is to be [[RetGone permanently erased from existence]] by Haz, causing everyone to completely forget who the disgusting bastard is. Naturally, [[PlayAlongMeme fans rolled with it]].[[/labelnote]]

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Joshua has gained a lot more respect and popularity when he finally shows up to support Neku and shows that the week he spent time with the latter [[TookALevelInKindness really changed him for the better by supporting the survival of Shibuya]]. Even when he trolled Rindo by resurrecting Shoka without telling him, a lot of people find that as mean spirited it seemed, it was pretty funny.

** [[spoiler: Grus Cantus]] flying into the background, summoning multiple clones and launching a barrage of fireballs. The fireballs are slow-moving but with all the lasers and trap spheres to dodge it can be easy to lose track of them until it's too late, and if someone gets trapped it can easily turn the move into a OneHitKill. Making things worse, she can use it [[KaizoTrap when her health is nearly depleted.]]

** [[spoiler:Ayano]] is an easy boss fight to play keep-away against, but she has LastChanceHitPoint protection which lets her always use her LastDitchMove: trapping every party member except Rindo and [[spoiler: Shoka]] while she slowly walks up to slap each of them in turn for massive damage. They can be freed by dealing enough damage, but that entails knowing in advance to give everyone ranged DPS pins for the fight and that the order they're attacked is [[spoiler: Nagi, Fret, then Beat]]. It's even worse when you fight her in Another Day -- she ''opens'' with this move, and while she only does it once, you're given less time to free the victim([[spoiler:Shoka]]) before [[spoiler:Ayano]] reaches them, and it's an '''HPToOne''' attack now.

** Two words: SCRAMBLE SLAM! Special turf war mission days that consists of nothing more than running around the city and getting into fights, fights and more fights (did we mention ''fights?''), while generally having little plot relevance, making them akin to {{filler}} content (though at least the final one doesn't take up the entire day). Getting the prizes is fairly easy with knowledge of the point-scoring mechanics[[note]]Points are rewarded based on the damage from a Beatdrop, so pins with single massive hits like Pink Matador and Bolt Boar will rack up hundreds of times more points than multi-hit psychs like Shockwave[[/note]], but very difficult otherwise, particularly Week 2 Day 3 which is by far the longest. The reward is ultimately worthwhile, as the pins from the Slams form the main campaign's InfinityMinusOneSword, but the grind to get there is substantial.

** For as much as Minamimoto has been advertised, he reveals little about himself and [[spoiler: disappears after the first week. He only shows up afterwards as a BossBattle, for a BigDamnHeroes moment, and in Another Day]].

** Some were disappointed that [[spoiler: Mr. Hanekoma]] from the first game didn't fill Haz's role.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Hand in hand with SugarWiki/AwesomeArt, but the games use of CelShading allows it to still look like it's a 2D work rather than full 3D. The backgrounds in particular still look like 2D backdrops even though they're obviously 3D models. The characters naturally also benefit greatly from this. The final shot of the trailer with Rindo really shows off how impressive the textures are in conveying this idea.

** The chameleon Noise's electric shockwaves can strike with very little warning and do a lot of damage if you attempt to attack them when they're not actively targeting someone, making approaching the a rather risky endeavor.

** Another Day in general is ''designed'' to be this, as the source of most endgame content, but [[BonusBoss Felidae Cantus]] completely takes the cake compared to the other high-level challenges. He's insanely fast, hits ''hard'', outright nullifies all of your attacks unless he attacks first, has a ridiculous amount of health, armor that soaks up much of the damage you try and inflict on him, [[FromBadToWorse memorizes the last pins you used on him effectively, nullifying their damage and instantly countering them]], capable of hitting inactive party members, [[YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe and has a few instant-death moves he'll occasionally bust out.]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Oh, but he does have a weakness to water.]] In short, if you want to win even on ''easy difficulty'', you'll need to go over-the-top with HP and defense buffs, from food to threads, be at least level 80, and an over-reliance on the [[InfinityMinusOneSword Year Long Ensemble]] pin set. And if you want the last pin of the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Black Cat Ensemble]] set, you'll need to set the difficulty to at least normal and crank your level all the way down to 1 to set the drop rate to an acceptable margin. '''''[[ThisIsGonnaSuck Good luck.]]'''''

* TaintedByThePreview: The announcement of a PC version caught everyone by surprise, only for it to cause backlash after it was announced to be an Epic Games Store exclusive, especially after the whole ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' franchise being released as an exclusive to the service.

** The boss fight on Week 3 Day 4 has the grand return of [[spoiler:Minamimoto, after spending a week or so absent from the game. He returns to seize the power of the Dissonance Noise that's been building up throughout the game, only for it to take over his body and give the Wicked Twisters one hell of a boss fight in Leo Cantus Armo, complete with the NEO remix of Transformation playing]]. A powered up version of the boss also serves as the game's BonusBoss.

* AcclaimedFlop: Despite a positive critical reception and being a highly anticipated sequel the game did not sell as well as Square hoped.

** Tanzo Kubo? Who's that? [[labelnote:Explanation (spoilers)]][[BigBad Kubo's]] ultimate fate later in the game is to be [[RetGone permanently erased from existence]] by Haz, causing everyone to completely forget who the disgusting bastard is. Naturally, fans rolled with it.[[/labelnote]]

* CriticalResearchFailure: One NPC refers to UsefulNotes/{{Hachiko}} as a "she", even though Hachiko was male. It's possible it's just that this one NPC didn't know, though.

** All Rex Noise are this to some extent, but especially the Maximizaurus Rex, who can power itself up by devouring one of your party members. When it does, its roar can become a devastating OneHitKill if your HP isn’t high enough, which is extremely hard to dodge due to there being no indication of its range.

** Another Day in general is ''designed'' to be this, as the source of most endgame content, but [[BonusBoss Felidae Cantus]] completely takes the cake compared to the other high-level challenges. He's insanely fast, hits ''hard'', outright nullifies all of your attacks unless he attacks first, has a ridiculous amount of health, armor that soaks up much of the damage you try and inflict on him, [[FromBadToWorse memorizes the last pins you used on him effectively, nullifying their damage and instantly countering them]], [[UpToEleven capable of hitting inactive party members]], [[YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe and has a few instant-death moves he'll occasionally bust out.]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Oh, but he does have a weakness to water.]] In short, if you want to win even on ''easy difficulty'', you'll need to go over-the-top with HP and defense buffs, from food to threads, be at least level 80, and an over-reliance on the [[InfinityMinusOneSword Year Long Ensemble]] pin set. And if you want the last pin of the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Black Cat Ensemble]] set, you'll need to set the difficulty to at least normal and crank your level all the way down to 1 to set the drop rate to an acceptable margin. '''''[[ThisIsGonnaSuck Good luck.]]'''''

** The Shinjuku Reapers in general don't have that much characterization and seemingly just exist to move the plot along, which is unfortunate as they have good designs and at least some basis for personality. Ayano's characterization is mostly just centered around Shoka, and despite apparently being Shiba's second in command, she doesn't really do much to affect the Reaper's Game. Hishima has a history with Shiba, but outside of being TheStoic, not much is known about him either. Finally, Kaie, despite his unique manner of communication and him occasionally helping out the heroes, nothing's really known about him either.