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The original was posted on /r/hobbydrama by /u/red-f1sh on 2025-01-04 10:28:29+00:00.
The World Ends with You (or TWEwY for short) was released around 2007-2008, but by the time I played the game it was already 2012. Like many others at the time, I’ve heard murmurings of a sequel- according to something related to a mobile port of the game. Even though the game tied its loose ends pretty well, I was curious- what were they going to do with a sequel? So I looked into it.
And there she was.
Unbeknowest to me then, Hype-chan would continue to haunt TWEwY fans until the year of our lord 2020, where we would finally get an announcement to the sequel of TWEwY.
Disclaimer: I’m not going to go in depth about the plot, but I will mention a few spoilers for context. So please proceed with caution. This is my first time writing something like this, so I hope some people enjoy this ^^
Some context.
Before I can go too deep into TWEwY, I have to talk about Square Enix.
Square Enix is a pretty big name in AAA gaming with well known titles such as Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts under its belt. I don’t actually follow Final Fantasy too closely but I was a really big fan of Kingdom Hearts back in the day. KH fans know best how SE loves to blueball fans with hints of a sequel. This started pretty tamely with them releasing a Japan exclusive remaster of the original title with the inclusion of a secret ending foreshadowing the events leading up to the story in KH2. SE would then continue to include a secret ending in the following remaster for KH2 and subsequent games.
Eventually this game of blueballing will eventually escalate to SE dangling KH3 in front of fans for the next 14 years. However, SE will satiate fans’ hunger with “side games” to fill in the blanks of lore before the long awaited Kingdom Hearts III. But in the meantime, existing SE fans are already familiar with this play and expect somewhat the same thing from TWEwY2 teasers.
Previously, on TWEwY
As mentioned earlier, TWEwY was initially released in Japan in 2007, and released globally in 2008. Although it was a popular title, it didn’t actually reach the heights of FF and KH. The game was originally published for the Nintendo DS and uses the dual screen system for it’s unique- albeit unconventional- combat style. Again, the fanbase wasn’t as big as SE’s other titles, but there was still a dedicated following for TWEwY.
The game’s story is split into three weeks and in the first week you learn that your character, Neku, is actually dead and you are fighting in a week long death game for a chance to revive yourself. The story does end with Neku being revived.
What made TWEwY stand out from KH despite being from the same team was how TWEwY seemed to tie its loose ends pretty nicely and there wasn’t really any hints for a potential sequel after this title. After all, character arcs were resolved and the final goal was reached.
Right?
Square Enix strikes again
In 2012, TWEwY was ported to mobile under the title TWEwY: Solo Remix. People didn’t really think much of it since it’s pretty much a remaster of the game but for mobile.
Wait. Doesn’t that sound a bit familiar?
So far it seems like the only major change is the new character Coco but she only serves to be the NPC for microtransactions. She shows up in some new cutscenes too but it’s really more like filling in blanks from the initial release. I guess all that’s left to do is to finish the rest of the game and hopefully-
Oh.
After completing the game and secret missions, the player will see a single still after the main game ending. There wasn’t anything else in the game to confirm any other details, with players skeptical about its message- was SE hinting at another TWEwY game? With nothing but a single image, fans just have to wait for news from big boss itself.
The rise of Hype-chan
Fans never got another announcement from SE regarding TWEwY. In the time between 2012 and 2020, there was only one image haunting the fandom. This was different from the wait for KH3, fans of TWEwY only had one image with some girl in a school uniform to speculate with. Who was this girl even, anyway? They never gave us a name.
Over the years, the hope for a sequel dwindled and fans gave the girl a proper name: Hype-chan, the only sign of a potential sequel. Many theories rose from Hype-chan, with people guessing that maybe she’s a new ally for us or perhaps she is the child of Neku in the far future? All fans could do is recycle theories about Hype-chan using the context clues from the image itself or from game assets. But alas, there was no answer to our questions.
Eventually Hype-chan and the TWEwY sequel became a meme amongst the online community. A tumblr blog was even made to document how there is still now sequel or any news of a sequel. Theories became less serious as hope was lost to the Reaper’s Game.
Perhaps this is the end. Perhaps, there will never be a TWEwY2.
Neo: Hype-chan
In 2018, Square Enix released another remaster of TWEwY on the Nintendo Switch, this time with one more change. The game came with a new chapter but in classic Square Enix fashion, it ended with a cliffhanger. The fans rose up again, we’re finally given something other than Hype-chan!
Soon after, SE would announce a sequel the to the series- Neo: The World Ends with You- which would then release on July 27, 2021. And there we will finally find out the true fate of Hype-chan.
extra notes
Before I end this post, I do want to include the reaction from Square Enix’s ARTNIA Cafe from 2014. An official sketch of Neku was revealed and fans at the time went rabid at this singular crumb and the fact that Neku was revealed to have a neck, as his original design covered his neck. This was a long while ago but I distinctly remember someone making a Neck-u joke. Anyway other than Hype-chan this was the only other sequel “hint” that was given to fans.
