Neku and Joshua appear in Dream Drop Distance from which Square Enix game?

Neku and Joshua appear in Dream Drop Distance from Square Enix’s The World Ends with You.

The two characters originate in the Nintendo DS role-playing game set in Shibuya, Tokyo. Neku Sakuraba is its guarded protagonist, while Joshua serves as Neku’s partner during the second week of the Reaper’s Game. Dream Drop Distance brings them, along with Shiki, Beat, and Rhyme, into Traverse Town.

Their appearance is notable because Kingdom Hearts had traditionally centered on Disney characters, original figures, and selected Final Fantasy characters. The World Ends with You crossover expanded the series’ Square Enix connections beyond Final Fantasy and fit Dream Drop Distance’s themes of identity, friendship, and parallel realities.

A common mix-up is assuming Neku and Joshua come from a Final Fantasy title because they are Square Enix characters and appear in a Kingdom Hearts game. They do not: their original game is The World Ends with You, later known in some regions as NEO: The World Ends with You’s predecessor.