Neku wakes up dead in Shibuya with no memory, forced into a game where the only rule is survive the next seven days or disappear forever. The animation snaps to life exactly when it matters, the combat sequences feel like playing the game itself, the soundtrack punches like a physical force, and the entire thing moves at the speed of someone running for their life. It's a condensed story that knows what it's sacrificing for pacing, trading breathing room for the actual sensation of drowning in a city that doesn't care if you make it out.

Neku regains consciousness in the middle of Shibuya's busy Scramble Crossing with no idea how he arrived there. He has been pulled into the Underground, a separate plane of existence, and made an unwilling Player in the mysterious Reapers' Game. A pair of black pins lets him hear the thoughts of people nearby and see the Noise, hostile creatures that can erase people from existence. Trapped within the city and warned that failing a mission will erase him, he teams up with a girl named Shiki Misaki. The Game lasts seven days, with a new mission each day. Together they fight the Noise, cross paths with other Players and Reapers, and slowly piece together what the Game really is. Based on a Square Enix action role-playing game, this supernatural action series runs for 12 episodes.