Difference between revisions of "Welcome to the N.H.K"

Revision as of 11:51, 13 March 2007

Welcome to the N.H.K
Original Manga	Tatsuhiko Takimoto Kendi Oiwa
Director/Artist	Yūsuke Yamamoto
Format	Anime
Made By	GONZO
Episode Length	25 mins
# of Eps/Volumes	24

Genre

Comedy, Drama, Romance, Slice of Life

Sum it up in a Sentence

Description

Satou is a 20 year old unemployed college drop out, who lives the life of a hikikomori (an apparent socialogical phenomenon in Japan, where reclusive young adults withdraw and live in extreme isolation) in his single room apartment, when one day it hits him. The conspiracy! The consipracy of the Nippon Hikikomori Kyokai (the Japanese Hikikomori Association), the evil oganisation that has forced him into this reclusive failure of a lifestyle. As he ponders this, he is visited by a cute young girl, Misaki, who invites him to join her 'project', promising to cure him of his hikikomori ways.

Welcome to the N.H.K is misleading. It draws you in as a comedy with promises of hentai games, lolita complexes, and paranoid shut ins, but becomes something much deeper, dealing with the complex relationships between the characters and their bizarre range of psychological problems.

If You Liked This, You Might Like...

• Genshiken
• Rec
• Honey & Clover

Personal Opinions

Samuel Q. Boxman

For me, this anime has a perfect balance of everything. It's got comedy, drama, emotion, tension and even a healthly bit of romance. As mentioned, the show starts out fairly light heartedly, mainly focusing on the comedic side of things, but the plot soon advances and into a much more detailed, heavier analysis of the characters, the dark origins of their problems and their attempts to overcome them, and their relationships. A lot of the comedy is fairly black and is done really well, fitting with the themes of the show, for example when Satou decides to embrace his newly discovered lolita complex and takes a trip to his local school with his camera.

It's fantastic. Watching Satou trying to get over his hikikomori ways as he tries to deal with the various other problems he encounters on the way (MMORPG addictions and suicide cults, to name a few) is as hilarious as the emotional scenes are touching. Probably the best aspect of this show is how it manages to balance just the right amount of seriousness with stupidity, and how it deals with the darker elements of the plot without going over the top and taking itself too seriously.

Although the animation seems to take a massive hit towards the middle and second half of the series, other than that it's fine quality stuff. The music in the series is awesome, especially the first ED which is so trippy it fits in perfectly with the rest of the show. If you like black humour, socially awkward and somewhat insane characters, and poking fun at the darker side of nerdy sub-cultures then you can't go wrong with N.H.K. Watch it, it's great.

moodgiesanta

Welcome to the N.H.K. is pretty much a fantastic show. If you are looking for a pure comedy, or a pure drama, however, you'll likely be disappointed by either the first or second half of the show, respectively. It starts off in the first few episodes very strongly, but does kind of lose some steam, as the show focuses more on interpersonal relationships than pure humor. That isn't to say that the show isn't funny at all in the second half.

One really positive aspect of the show is that it takes on a lot of rather heavy themes without moralizing them to death. It deals with some rather serious themes, like suicide (more than once), alienation, isolation, paranoia, and even abuse. While the makers of the program never forgot that the show is meant first and foremost as entertainment, you get some fairly well-delivered drama about characters that are both deeply flawed and very interesting.

No show is perfect, however. The animation ranges from acceptable to downright terrible at times. The show feels like it ends several episodes too soon, wrapping up a few major plot points in a matter of a couple minutes. Additionally, while I find it extremely funny, I would have a hard time reccomending this to people who aren't at least somewhat familiar with the "geek subculture." I hate to use that term because it makes it seem like more than what it really is, but there are several episodes, mainly in the beginning of the show, that would lose a lot of their interest to someone completely unfamiliar with or uninterested in, say, MMORPGs or Hentai games like the ones Zack Parsons reviews on the SA frontpage.

Popular Trio

A dark anime. Makes Higurashi look like Mrs. Doubtfire.

Links

• SA Thread
• Japanese Welcome to the N.H.K site