Shibuya, arguably Tokyo’s most iconic futuristic geography, fizzes with neon hairdos and mini-skirt vitality. With its distinctive train station and the interminably busy Scramble Crossing, it’s a location that has played host to videogames before. But while Jet Set Radio picked these broad streets as much for the gameplay-facilitating multi-tiered architecture as anything else, Square-Enix’s forthcoming DS action RPG, Subarashiki Kono Sekai is out to jump on its carefree joie-de-vivre.

Tatsuya Kando, director of the game known formerly in the West as It’s A Wonderful Life (before Square-Enix’s lawyers ran a google copyright search on the name), explains the choice to us just a couple of short miles from the district: “We decided on Shibuya as a setting for the game before we had decided on pretty much anything else – even what type of game it was to be. Once upon a time Harajuku was the trend setting district in Tokyo but these days Shibuya is where new fashions spring up. As such, it’s a name that has come to symbolise young trends so it’s the perfect place to showcase a new style of game.”

Indeed, Tetsuya Nomura’s bright, typically a la J-mode character designs enforce in the visual style the freshness and innovation the game is seeking to communicate elsewhere. Don’t be fooled by the bright colours into thinking this is a game for youngsters. While the game’s lead protagonist Neku Sakuraba is a cel-shaded, spiky-haired teen typical of Shibuya’s sub-culture, and, while for its central theme the game explores that awkward transition from childhood to adulthood, the game is aimed squarely at the older and experienced games player.

You can read the rest over at Eurgamer here.