There are two primary groups of characters within The World Ends with You - "Players" who are those that have recently passed away in the Realground to play the Game, and "Reapers" that monitor and oversee the game.
The main Players in the game include:
- Neku Sakuraba (桜庭 音操, Sakuraba Neku) (voiced by Jesse David Corti in the English version, and by Kōki Uchiyama in the Japanese version): Neku, the main playable character, is an anti-social teenage boy that is more interested in keeping to himself and listening to music on his headphones (leading to the nickname "Phones" from other characters).
- Shiki Misaki (美咲 四季, Misaki Shiki) (Heather Hogan/Anna Hachimine): Shiki is a teenage girl who is very interested in fashion and wants to become a fashion design some day. Her in-Game appearance is that of her best friend Eri, as her own personal appearance was her payment for the Game. Neku partners with her during the first week of the Game.
- Daisukenojō Bitō (尾藤 大輔之丞, Bitō Daisukenojō) (Crawford Wilson/Subaru Kimura): Daisukenojō, or "Beat" as he calls himself, is a brash teenage boy, often acting first than thinking things through. He is Rhyme's older brother, who both died when he tried to save her from a car accident. Neku partners with him during the last week of the Game.
- Raimu Bitō (尾藤 来夢, Bitō Raimu) (Kate Higgins/Hitomi Nabatame): Raimu, or "Rhyme" for short, is Beat's younger sister, though in the Game, she is unaware of that, her memories of her brother being part of Beat's payment for the Game. Rhyme is Beat's voice of reason, and is very friendly to others.
- Yoshiya Kiryū (桐生 義弥, Kiryū Yoshiya): Yoshiya, a intelligent and sly teenage boy, prefers to go by the name Joshua (ヨシュア, Yoshua) and appears to know about the Game than he lets on. He is later to revealed to be the Game's Composer, taking the human form as to monitor but not interact with the Game. Neku partners with him during the second week of the Game.
Reapers are responsible for monitoring the Game, taking pleasure in erasing Players that fail in their missions.
- Megumi Kitaniji (北虹 寵, Kitaniji Megumi) ([[Shane Johnson/Hiroshi Shirokumi): Kitaniji is the current Game's Conductor, normally directing the game under the Composer's wishes, but during The World Ends with You, is trying to meet the goals of a challenge put forth by the Composer to save Shibuya. He is an older character, dressing in retro fashions and always wearing sunglasses, earning him the nickname of "Shades".
- Sanae Hanekoma (羽狛 早苗, Hanekoma Sanae) (Bart Flynn/Kanji Furutachi): Mr. Hanekoma, a cool and collected adult, is the Game's Producer, making sure that things run smoothly and helping to introduce new Players to the game. He is also the owner of a Shibuya cafe as well as the artist known as "CAT", whose graffiti covers much of the walls of Shibuya.
- Yōdai Higashizawa (東沢 洋大, Higashizawa Yōdai): (Travis Willingham/Kenji Takahashi): Higashizawa is a twenty-year-old dreadlocked giant with incredible strength, but also an emotional side and a fondness for food. He is the Game Master during the first week of the Game.
- Shō Minamimoto (南師 猩, Minamimoto Shō) (Andy Hirsch/Takayuki Fujimoto): Minamimoto is a young mathematical genius, and often taunts Players with math-related insults, such as being "Zetta slow". He often builds strange pillars of junk in areas as his calling card, leading Neku to call him "The Grim Heaper". He is the Game Master in the second week of the Game.
- Mitsuki Konishi (虚西 充妃, Konishi Mitsuki) (Lara Cody/Hitomi Nabatame): Konishi is a trendy woman that is passive-aggressive has earned her the title within the Reapers of the "Iron Maiden". She is the next highest Reaper after Kitaniji, and is the Game Master in the third week of the Game.
- Uzuki Yashiro (八代 卯月, Yashiro Uzuki) (Kate Higgins/Hitomi Arai): Yashiro is a younger, low ranked Reaper that tends to be scatterbrained through acts as if she is much more important than she is. She and Kariya perform field work for the Game, erasing Players that have failed.
- Kōki Kariya (狩谷 拘輝, Kariya Kōki) (Andrew Kishino/Anri Katsu): Kariya is a young adult male often seen sucking on a lollipop, remaining cool and collected during his partner Yashiro's outbursts.