This game is still an incredible thing. The aesthetic, how they tie it into the game design, which ties into the writing, which then ties back into the aesthetic... it's a miracle they pulled it off, but bringing every aspect of the game back to Shibuya street culture and the game's themes of redemption, resurrection and standing out from the crowd does the job. The combat is crazy interesting and makes it one of those brilliant DS games that literally can't exist anywhere else (sorry, iOS version, you tried), and the scaleable difficulty levels (you can drop Neku back down to any previous level!) is still insanely ahead of its time.
Being a handheld game means the general consensus won't ever catch up, but this is easily one of Square's finest. Shame we never got a sequel to follow up on the promise of the special reports.