The World Ends With You - The Animation is Square Enix's new anime series based on the popular role-playing The World Ends With You video game, which is expected to release worldwide at a yet-to-be-determined date in 2021.
Today, during the Anime Expo Lite event, the developer took the opportunity to release the first official teaser trailer for The World Ends With You - The Animation, which will give fans of the series a pretty good idea of what to expect from this upcoming anime series.
It was initially rumoured that Square Enix would be announcing a brand-new The World Ends With You video game when new art work by Tetsuya Nomura was shared by the official Anime Expo Twitter account in May of this year, although it was officially confirmed that this would not be a game, but an animated series.
Interestingly enough, this isn't a continuation of the video game, as this teaser trailer for the series reveals that it is a retelling of the events that took place during the game; making it the perfect excuse for those who aren't into video games to be exposed to the franchise.
For those of you interested in the more technical aspects of The World Ends With You - The Animation, the series is being produced by Domerica and Shin-Ei Animation, and will be directed by Kazuya Ichikawa, written by Midori Goto, and feature Tetsuya Nomura and Gen Kobayashi's distinctive art style.
Square Enix also shared the synopsis for The World Ends With You - The Animation, which will be posted, as per usual, below the anime series' official trailer.
The World Ends With You could be considered to be a pretty old game right now, having released in 2005 for the Nintendo DS, although there have been some recent re-releases that still make it easy to come by; even in this current generation of consoles with the Nintendo Switch version that launched in October of 2018.
Take a look:
The main character Neku wakes up in the middle of a busy Shibuya Crossing Intersection unaware of how he got there. He’s in an alternate plane of existence called the Underground (UG). Unknowingly forced to participate in the “Reaper’s Game”, Neku must partner with Shiki, a teenage girl player whom he meets. Neku must fight to survive by completing the missions thrown at him and defeating the creatures called “Noise.” By doing so, he will confront the “Reaper’s Game” along with the truth buried deep inside his memory.
The World Ends With You - The Animation is expected to release worldwide in 2021.