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Neku Sakuraba (桜庭 音操, Sakuraba Neku; ネク Neku) is a fictional character in the Nintendo DS video game The World Ends with You. He is an antisocial teenage boy who claims he does not "get" people, and rarely interacts with others. Under mysterious circumstances, he finds himself participating in the Reapers Game and is forced to fight for his life, teaming up with a girl named Shiki Misaki. He allies himself with several other characters, including: Yoshiya Kiryu, who goes by Joshua; Daisukenojo Bito, who goes by Beat; Raimu Bito, who goes by Rhyme and is Beat's sister; and Sanae Hanekoma, an artist acting as a coffee shop owner.

Since appearing in The World Ends with You, Neku has received mostly positive reception. While some have described him as being emo and "whiny", his growth as a character has received praise. He has been compared to several other characters created by Square Enix, including Cloud Strife of Final Fantasy VII, Squall Leonhart of Final Fantasy VIII, and Roxas of Kingdom Hearts, due to his "brooding" personality.

In The World Ends with You, Neku lives in Shibuya, and is transported to an alternate version of it after being killed. In it, he is forced to participate in the "Reaper's Game" or face erasure, having to solve missions day by day for one week to escape the Game. He has few memories, as they were taken as his entry fee, and awakens in the middle of Scramble Crossing. Initially, he is forced into a pact with a girl named Shiki Misaki after meeting her at the statue of Hachiko.

Neku eventually learns that Joshua, his partner and secretly the Composer of the Game, killed him while shooting at the Game Master Sho Minamimoto, thus placing him in the Game to fight for the right to be revived. He is forced to re-play the game another two times and ends up one of the last Players in the Game. He battles the Conductor, Megumi Kitaniji, who attempted to modify peoples' minds and create a perfect world. Afterwards, Joshua reveals that he chose Neku to be his proxy in his challenge with Kitanji over whether he would succeed. However, Neku is unable to attack Joshua, who remains the Composer, and returns his, as well as his friends' lives to normal.

Neku makes his debut appearance in the Kingdom Hearts series in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, making him the first character to appear in the franchise who is from neither the Disney nor Final Fantasy franchise.¹

Tatsuya Kando, director of The World Ends with You, described Neku as a character who prefers to be left alone, yet feeling lonely and wanting to interact with others. The story of The World Ends With You deals with Neku's growth as a character, so the developers had to focus on his development, such as how he would feel, what thoughts lie behind his actions, how he interacts with other characters, how he will be affected by them, and how do the people around him feel about him. These elements were focused on to make a more believable story. The developers included aspects and daily concerns, hoping that they could be things that players would have to deal with their personal lives, and may be able to relate with Neku and feel like they are a part of the game. They also hoped that this would help players develop an understanding and tolerance for Neku's actions, which could help players feel more comfortable with controlling someone who doesn't act how they'd like them to.²

The character was designed by Tetsuya Nomura. Neku wears the Jupiter of Monkey as the artist considers it the most important part of his design enough that his successor Rindo wears the same. Both leads are based on actually based on the Japanese saying, "mizaru, kikazaru, iwazaru," which translates to “see not, hear not, and speak not”. This saying might be more commonly known as the Three Wise Monkeys and the concept of "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil." With Neku, his signature feature was his big headphones. This concept was tied with "hear no evil", while Rindo has his facemask, which plays into "speak no evil."³

Since Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, the game was created by the same development team contained members who worked for The World Ends with You, Square Enix group decided to use Neku and the rest of the characters from said game in place of Final Fantasy characters.⁴ Neku was included in Dream Drop Distance to come across as Sora's new mentor in Traverse Town."⁵

• https://www.nme.com/features/neku-and-rindo-took-fashion-tips-from-the-three-wise-monkeys-in-the-world-ends-with-you-3008489
• https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/08/technology/personaltech/08games.html?eafs_enabled=false

Since appearing in The World Ends with You, Crispy Gamer editor Steve Steinberg called him the "RPG-standard mopey and disaffected 15 year old".⁶ Neku has received mixed reception due to his brooding and youth, comparable to other Final Fantasy leads like.G4TV editor Jonathan Hunt stated that he was created from the same "brooding mold" as Final Fantasy series characters Cloud Strife and Vaan, Squall Leonhart and the story needs to developing .⁷⁸ Game Zone editor Stephen Woodward described him as a "regular spunky, spikey ha×ired protagonist", adding that he was one of the most emo protagonists ever created.⁹ His design drew has been compared to Kingdom Hearts' protagonist Sora's; Atomic Gamer editor Matt Cabral cited his baggy pants, spiky-hair, and oversized shoes.¹⁰¹¹ The New York Times editor Charles Herald, however, stated that he was not just an angsty teenager, and that the title of the game refers to his need to expand his horizons through self-examination and working with and learning from others.¹²

In an article centered around RPG characters, RPGamer praised his special moves that come from pins but stands out also for being awkward to deal with in a group characters.¹³ GameRant noted that Neku suffering amnesia is a common plot device multiple RPG characters suffer with Neku becoming heroic in the narrative of the game the more characters he meets.¹⁴ JC Fletcher from EndGadget found Neku to have one of the weirdest introductions in gaming due to the nature of the game's narrative.¹⁵ Escapist Magazine in particular liked the relationship Neku develops with the antagonist Joshua due to their contrasting personalities which makes the former come across as growing especially in the second week of the game. The final twist involving that Joshua was manipulating Neku all along to the point of being the responsible for causing Neku's death also appealed to the writer since the villain is moved by the protagonist's growth which subverts the other antagonists interactions, such as Kefka Palazzo from Final Fantasy VI whose desire to become a god became a date trope in role-playing games.¹⁶ TheGamer also said that Neku's original design from The World Ends with You was the outfit in the duology due to the Jupiter of the Monkey type of clothing that is appealing due to the symbolism of the protagonist's arc and can also be bought again in the sequel.¹⁷

When it came to the adaptation of the video game Cartoon Cipher from Anime News Network said that the point of the anime is making Neku realize the importance of the world in which he lives in which makes his early appearances relatable due to his highly antisocial personality which is easy to mock by viewers. However, his character arc was praised for being rewarding similar to how the protagonist grows up in the game as he has multiple interactions with the supporting cast like Shiki. This relationship helps Neku to appreciate more teamwork and people in general The characters's special skills using pins was praised by Cipher for making it well executed in animation.¹⁸ The character's inclusion in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance was also praised by Chris Antista from GamesRadar who found it as an appealing fanservice and interactions with the protagonist Sora, something he claimed multiple other Square Enix to be seen in the series.¹⁹ Before the release of Neo, GameInformer saw that trailers teased the possible return of Neku but claimed that he might not "steal the spotlight" from the new characters as the Wicked Twisters appeared to be the most promising characters appearing in the sequel.²⁰