Welcome to the NHK

Life-changing anime, MUST WATCH. Has profound messages about people and life and otaku culture I watched all episodes non-stop! You will enjoy this!
Some of the things the anime talks about are hikikomoris, otakus, lolicons, conspiracy theories, suicide clubs, MMORPGs, pyramid schemes, and of course--there is romance!

This is one of the comedies/dramas of anime that does not have characters too goofy or rediculous. I actually managed to laugh a good amount of times while watching this series and it is not easy to get me to laugh. Most of us should have no problem relating to this anime series because it is about an anti social person.

Tatsuhiro (the main character) never goes outside unless its night and he needs food. He blames the NHK for all of his problems. He is called a neat (a hermit that never leaves his house). Then one day a girl (Misaki) comes up to his door and tries to sell him a magazine about neats. She later tells him that she wants to cure him of being a neat. He eventually agrees and they go through and over come many challenges and of course Tatsuhiro falls in love with her.

This is an amazing anime that will leave with a different perspective on life after you finish it. If you were anti social at one point in your life you will love this anime and even if you were not you still probably will enjoy it. All of the characters are easy to relate to and you can always manage to find some humor in every situation. I do not recommend this series for people under the ages of 16 because of all the suggestive themes.

I could go on and on about this anime and what it did for me, I read about it but kind of push it aside for some time until I read a review that caught my attention, once I started could not stop watching it, now I wish I had when it came out, or at least sooner, this one hit hard in so many levels in my life, a life that I think was going the same road to become a Hikikomori, I’ve been kind of going in and out of it. I wasn’t aware of this life style and social problem which helped me understand what I was going through, and realize how so many are affected by this, I’ve always loved animation and until recently drifted to anime, and thank god ‘cause even as I was feeling on the way to becoming an otaku it lead me to this great story.

The art work is not my favorite but goes well with the environment of the story, and it will bring you all sorts of emotions, not all the ones we love to feel in anime but probably the ones we need to put attention on, although it has them all.
The story’s pace is great at the beginning slows down a bit in the middle, but is setting you up for an ending, that if you are reading this you have to experience, and can’t miss.

This one, kind of should be a required course anime not just for anime lovers but in schools as well. 2 thumbs up, my favorite story so far!

Ev

new member of the NHK
(Nihon Hitojichi Koukan-kai)

I just had to write a review on one of my all time favorite animes! Yes, it's a bit on the dark side of the mood spectrum, but that's what makes this anime so particularly effective in drawing in and connecting to a viewer. You can really get a sense of what Sato (main male protaganist) is feeling. Although there is an arc I consider to be a little on the boring side, the storyline of this anime is its strength. There is a lot of good humor in it as well. I consider it to be the dark-Melancholy of Haruhi Shizumiya, because it has a mysterious charm to it that can't be explained. Please watch and enjoy.

There is a massive conspiracy going on, one huge company is calling the shots. Their sole purpose, to destroy your dignity, self esteem and turn you into a house-bound hikikomori (social recluse). Luckily one brave hikikomori has seen through their scheme and is fighting back, his name is Satou Tatsuhiro.

Satou is a 22 year old, unemployed, university drop out, who has been living holed up in his apartment for 4 years. He sleeps 16 hours a day, only ever leaves when he needs to buy smokes or food and lives off money funneled through to him from his parents. Satou hasn't given up, but any attempt to leave his apartment is foiled by the N.H.K. A real-life Japanese television channel and in his mind an evil corporation whose sole purpose is to stop him from re-entering normal society.

Satou's life is arguably changed for the better though when Misaki, a young girl with aspirations of curing him appears out of the blue. But it's not quite that simple, thanks to his perverted otaku neighbour and friend who ends up getting him into all sorts of morally questionable activities. Like downloading gigs of porn, hiding in bushes and taking photos of school girls and to top if off, attempting to make a hentai game.

It's not all fun and laughs though, with the characters all having to deal with their own traumatic emotional issues and hardships. Which perhaps reflect many of the social and mental issues associated with todays youth and modern society.

The art is that of the usual manga style. It communicates Satou's psych quite well, it can make him change from just an average guy, trying his best, to a crazy depraved molester in mere seconds. It's all in the angles, use of shadows and facial hair. Obviously with such questionable themes comes questionable imagery. Welcome To The N.H.K. is best kept to a mature audience. Also for anyone interested, the original book that the manga is based on is also available in english from Tokyopop and has a very different ending.

Welcome To The N.H.K. is perhaps one of the greatest black comedies ever written, it will make you laugh, cry and even gasp in horror at some of things Satou and crew get up to.