The player assumes the role of Neku Sakuraba (桜庭 音操 Sakuraba Neku, ネク Neku), an anti-social teenage boy who claims he does not "get" people, and rarely interacts with others. Computer-controlled characters make up the rest of the cast, which includes Players who are paired with Neku.[6] In the first Game, Neku is paired with Shiki Misaki (美咲 四季 Misaki Shiki, シキ Shiki), a teenage girl who takes on the form of her best friend; her physical appearance was her price of entry for the Game.[7] Subsequently, Neku's partner is an intelligent and sly teenage boy, Yoshiya Kiryu (桐生 義弥 Kiryū Yoshiya), who prefers to be called Joshua (ヨシュア Yoshua). Neku's final partner is Daisukenojo Bito (尾藤 大輔之丞 Bitō Daisukenojō), a Reaper who calls himself "Beat" (ビイト Biito).[8] Beat became a Reaper to find a way to bring his younger sister, Raimu Bito (尾藤 来夢 Bitō Raimu) (nicknamed "Rhyme" (ライム Raimu)), back to life. Rhyme had sacrificed herself to save her brother from a Noise attack.[9] Sanae Hanekoma (羽狛 早苗 Hanekoma Sanae, ハネコマ Hanekoma), the Producer, bound her soul to a pin from which her Noise could be summoned, and gave it to Beat. The final Game Master, Mitsuki Konishi (虚西 充妃 Konishi Mitsuki, コニシ Konishi), crushes her Noise form and transformed it back into a pin.
Besides the Composer and the Conductor, there are other high-ranking Reapers.[10] For each week of the Game, Game Masters are assigned by the Conductor to lead the opposition to the Players. Of the Game Masters opposing Neku, Sho Minamimoto (南師 猩 Minamimoto Shō, ミナミモト Minamimoto) is the most dangerous. He willingly circumvents the rules in an attempt to supplant the Composer.[11] Participating in the Games with the aim of earning promotions for their performance, the Reapers' goal is to ascend to the highest form of spiritual existence, the Angels.[12] Angels supervise the Games and if the stakes of a Game are particularly high, they send down one of their own to serve as the Producer.[13] For the three weeks of the game's story, Sanae Hanekoma is the Producer. Disguised as a Shibuya cafe owner, he guides new players and narrates the "Secret Reports" that are obtained by completing additional missions after completing the game.
