English Dub Review: The World Ends with You The Animation “Shiki”

Overview

On the fourth day, Shiki tells Neku about her friend Eri, who helped her design clothes, before the two help some squabbling friends in the Realground that are causing Noise to spawn makeup with each other. It is then that they come across a Realground girl who looks identical to Shiki…


Our Take

After the heaviness of the premiere episode, we take a small detour for now, with the primary focus being on Shiki as we learn about her as a person in terms of having the audience connect with her, and I think that everything about her as a character makes sense and fits perfectly. Her hobbies, her struggles, her personality, etc. Though strangely enough, Neku is still pretty much a nomad, but mentally processing this better with Shiki as his partner.

As for the twist itself, I guess the deadly game these characters are thrust upon isn’t called the “Reapers game” for nothing, it makes a whole lotta sense. There’s also that feeling of despair and unpredictability that anything could happen at any time. That revelation about the Reaper’s Game though. What a cliffhanger…

Overall, a pretty good episode that raises the stakes and sense of urgency of the character’s current situation while giving us the breathing room to help us get to know the other side characters as people. I haven’t played the game, but I feel like this anime’s abnormality has no bounds. The art is colorful and well done even if the human character designs feel a bit Digimon-inspired in places, and I think the pacing was also way better this time around. While the first episode felt a bit rushed, there were a lot of characters introduced, but at least this episode helps them remain compelling to keep watching.