Episode 618: The World Ends With You (Patreon)

Jeremy: Let us take you back to a better time. A kinder time. A time with handheld video games systems had two screens, and expected players to have two brains in order to deal with the wildly different things taking place on each screen. OK, well, that really only describes one game if we're being honest: Square Enix's The World Ends With You. Take a deep dive into a game that went deep into the youth trends and social malaise of Japan circa 2008, told by people who lived that life to varying degrees—from Kat Bailey, someone who lived in Japan at the time and hung out at all the locales featured in the game, to Stuart Gipp, who only knows Japan as the source of that vile rot known as anime. Despite our different perspectives and experiences, we all agree on one thing: This game rules. Actually, two things. The soundtrack rules even harder.

(Note that we recorded this a few days before NIS America announced a collaboration project for Reynatis and NEO, so you can kindly ignore our lamentations that no one remembers NEO. You should be used to this sort of thing by now: We mention a property for which there's been no action or movement for years, and before we hit publish, it suddenly becomes news again.)

Art by Greg Melo; edits by Greg Leahy.

• 09:59 - It's So Wonderful

• 20:04 - Twister

• 30:33 - Long Dream

• 39:11 - Calling (Nintendo DS in-game ver.)

• 49:41 - Calling (5th Anniversary Live ver.) | OWARI-HAJIMARI (JPN)

• 57:13 - Hybrid

• 1:09:44 - Someday

• 1:18:45 - Underground

• 1:29:20 - Give Me All Your Love

• 1:38:06 - It Is Fashionable

• 1:47:38 - Transformation

• Closing - Calling (TWEWY acoustic ver.) (Selections were drawn from the 2007-8 LP/EP soundtrack releases unless otherwise stated)