The World Ends With You (TWEWY) is one of those lesser known cult classics within Square Enix’s grand and — at times — exhausting oeuvre of JRPGs. Originally released in 2007 on the Nintendo DS, the game made a name for itself with its unique gameplay, angsty plotlines, urban aesthetic, and absolutely banging soundtrack.

After 13 long years of constant, constant teasing, a sequel was announced for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch on November 23, 2020.

Aptly titled NEO: The World Ends With You, we return to the over-stylized version of Shibuya with a brand new cast of characters.

And the new protagonist’s design is kind of hideous.

Say hello to Rindo. Between the hoodie and trench coat combo, torn jeans, and the goddamn lapels varying between regular stripes, plaid, and then tiger stripes, I don’t know where to begin with this fashion disaster. It’s all over the place. It doesn’t mesh. It’s like he just chose anything he thought looked cool at an Urban Outfitters. He’s wearing a face mask though so at least we know he’s social distancing, and I’m sure his poor taste in clothing helps with that.

Designed by Tetsuya Nomura and Gen Kobayashi, it’s hard to interpret just what type of motif they were going for with Rindo here.

The World Ends with Your Fashion Sense

Take the protagonist, Neku, from the original game for comparison. The design is homogenous. The necklace, the loose belt, the headphones — they all complement Neku’s outfit instead of divert our attention. The slight asymmetry with his uniquely colored wristband lends to the design.

Based on looks alone, we can interpret a lot of who Neku is as a character — someone who dresses to impress but prefers music over the sound of a crowd. He reads and fails to understand Marx but that doesn’t stop his peers from listening to what he has to say, because he is “the deep one” who knows better because he’s aloof. He definitely listens to Panic! at the Disco and My Chemical Romance and sometimes Blink-182.

Now let’s take a look at Rindo again. The entire ensemble is messy. The asymmetry screams at you for attention. No one wants to comment on his failed fashion sense in fear of making him cry. He wears the mask so that he doesn’t have to defend himself in an argument. He believes his actions speak louder than his words.

He’s very soft-spoken and passive and prefers to listen to the “classics” but never clearly defines what the “classics” are. He secretly harbors an interest in classical art but only Western-Euro-centric works, because that’s all he was ever exposed to. He has never raised his voice in relationships, but will always sigh with disappointment and use guilt to cut through to your deepest insecurities as a way to get what he wants.

He is the softest of soft boys. Disgusting.

An Ode to Teenagerdom

The main theme of the original TWEWY focused on making connections with others from the perspective of a traumatized, anti-social teen. If we were to go just off their designs, both Neku and Rindo fit the bill in different ways. Both have a distinct visual flavor of teenage angst.

At the beginning of his arc in the original game, Neku was a pure anti-socialite. As a 14 year old playing the game for the first time, he was absolutely my muse. Between his design and his personality, he was just so damn cool. Through Neku I was provided with a weird, ironic escapism — I wanted to be a well-dressed faux misanthrope too!

Rindo, on the other hand, makes me cringe — if not for the sole reason that I used to dress like him. At 14, I was a Rindo yearning to be a Neku.

While we currently know next to nothing about NEO:TWEWY or Rindo, it seems like he’s going to be much less of a jerk if the trailer is anything to go by. He might be more in tune with his insecurities, and be a generally nicer character going in. In fact, he could be representative of a different area of teenage experience than the first game — the area that makes us shudder in embarrassment when we look back at what we did during those years of our lives.

Whatever the case, I’m excited to revisit this world in the sequel. Part of what makes TWEWY so fun is that it lets me dig up my inner malcontent so that I may re-live all the swirling emotions I had as a troubled teen. It reminds me of old and current insecurities, but also my appreciation for the friends that helped me get through rough patches throughout all of high school— a simpler, messier, more contradictory time.

That said, I hope to god they let you change outfits in the game.