Our lives are run by conspiracy. The grand organization controlling this is the cause for otaku-ism and are the reason you fear to leave your house. They want to make you socially inept and unable to live in the outside world. They want you to become a neet, only for the reason to have people feel better about themselves because they aren't as pathetic as you. As you buy into the moe and the "puru-puru", the group is slowly brainwashing you to lose your mind and stay locked up forever. Get ready to delve into the mind of the man to figure this conspiracy out. I would love to be the first to tell you all; welcome to the NHK.
Welcome to the NHK is not just a great anime, but a study on the human behavior as well. I have never been deeper into a characters mind in any other kind of visual storytelling, and never have I felt so threatened by a fictional conspiracy than in this series. The story begins with a 20-something man named Sato, who for the past two years has been living in his home as a hikikamori; someone who fears to leave the comfort of their home and avoids being social. It begins with Sato having a conversation with his lively and anamorphic home appliances, like a computer monitor, his TV and even his fridge. Together, they all come to a shocking realization: all of the bad and miserable things in Sato's life is all apart of a giant conspiracy called the NHK, an organization hell-bent on controlling hikikamori's. His main influence on this claim was from his high school senpai, Hitomi, who believed that her life was also part of a conspiracy. One day, Sato is visited by a beautiful teenage girl, who is following her aunt in missionary work to help cure the hikikamori lifestyle. After Sato grandly refuses, he finds a letter in his mail that instructs him to meet this anonymous girl in the park close by his home. For one reason or another, Sato finally agrees to meet her there, still in fear of being tricked into her missionary ploy. It turns out that the girl, named Misaki, is willing to give Sato free lectures in hopes to help cure his hikikamori symptoms, but all the while, she seems to know a lot about Sato's personal life and past history. While still deciding whether or not to go through with the teachings, Sato finds out that his otaku neighbor is an old friend from high school that he saved from some bullies named Yamazaki. Finally finding a social tie after two years, Sato and Yamazaki catch up and discusses the mysterious Misaki. Sato, denying that he's a hikikamori, lies to Misaki that he has a job as a video game creator, and makes a deal with her to prove it by presenting her a game that he has personally made. After begging Yamazaki to help him make a game in time, the two finally decide to do it, but only on one occasion: the game must be a hentai game. From there, Sato starts to find help in friends and begins to slowly fight his lifestyle, but, due to various factors, things don't work out as planned.
The storytelling of NHK is some of the best I've probably ever seen. The series begins in the mind of Sato, who is so out of it and damaged that he hallucinates talking to his household appliances and believes solely in conspiracies. This isn't a typical view through the eyes of a crazy person; this is a self loathing and depressed man who previously was normal. The most intriguing and amazing part of the show is that, at the beginning, you begin to wonder whether Sato is disturbed, or if everything really is a conspiracy. The series strongly hints that the conspiracy actually exists, and you never really know if statements that other characters make have second or secret meanings behind them. For every odd, out of place instance where it seems that the conspiracy is real, there are two explanations for it; one that shows that it was a misunderstanding, and one that supports it. To go deeper into this, many of the misunderstandings confuse you about whether or not the NHK is real, as topics that seem too suspicious are usually dropped or are changed into different subjects when it seems to get too close to being real. It really does make you wonder until the final episodes, and whether you thought the conspiracy was right or not, your answer will be satisfyingly reveled in the final episode in grand, dramatic, and epic fashion. Maybe I'm being a little too complex with the themes and might be reading into things a little too hard, but it was nice to have what is essentially a slice-of-life anime with this level of depth to it. By the end of the series, I really wondered about what was reality and what was actually simply a figment of Sato's mind.
On an artistic note, Welcome to the NHK for the most part looks really well done. The series perfectly captures both the look of elegant character models and also nails the way moe is presented as it parodies throughout Sato's and Yamazaki's otaku-ism. The models vary depending on the characters ( like Sato's rugged and sharp appearance in contrast to Misaki's smooth and elegant look ), and each has a sense of their own unique personality. The English dub is very well done, with the most acceptable jobs being Sato and Yamazaki, voiced by Chris Patton and Greg Ayres, respectively. From Chris' hilarious readings of curse words to Greg's high pitched and grungy voice perfectly fit for an otaku, the two stand out as the best ( with a shout-out to the lovely Luci Christian as Hitomi, and the not-always-so-perfect Stephanie Whittles as Misaki ). On the topic of sound, i must say that this anime may have one of the best uses of its soundtrack that I've ever heard. When the moment arises, the soundtrack plays the perfect song to accommodate what's happening. It has both songs that make me laugh out loud, or send shivers down my spine from how sad it is. This may be the first anime I would be willing to buy the soundtrack for and listen to it because I was so amazed with it.
I thoroughly enjoyed Welcome to the NHK and I nearly couldn't stop myself from completing episode after episode. I would imagine everyone being pleased with this series, seeing as though only a few would like this view on an otaku and hikikamori lifestyle. There are moments in our lives when we just might wish the worries of money, jobs and responsibilities would just go away and leave us in peace to just do nothing and waste time. I loved the story of Welcome to the NHK not because I knew what being like that felt, but because I can say that there were moments in my life where I just felt like I could kind of relate to the situation. While it's nice to see Sato come out of his shell during the duration of this amazing series, I feel that the way a human could behave compared to the way society not only wants us to behave but how they would perceive them if they don't includes a large gap that we've yet to come across and figure it out. Perhaps we can either blame ourselves and society as a whole... or maybe... just maybe... our whole life's just all just a huge conspiracy conducted... by the NHK.
- Marcus Speer
Welcome to the NHK is not just a great anime, but a study on the human behavior as well. I have never been deeper into a characters mind in any other kind of visual storytelling, and never have I felt so threatened by a fictional conspiracy than in this series. The story begins with a 20-something man named Sato, who for the past two years has been living in his home as a hikikamori; someone who fears to leave the comfort of their home and avoids being social. It begins with Sato having a conversation with his lively and anamorphic home appliances, like a computer monitor, his TV and even his fridge. Together, they all come to a shocking realization: all of the bad and miserable things in Sato's life is all apart of a giant conspiracy called the NHK, an organization hell-bent on controlling hikikamori's. His main influence on this claim was from his high school senpai, Hitomi, who believed that her life was also part of a conspiracy. One day, Sato is visited by a beautiful teenage girl, who is following her aunt in missionary work to help cure the hikikamori lifestyle. After Sato grandly refuses, he finds a letter in his mail that instructs him to meet this anonymous girl in the park close by his home. For one reason or another, Sato finally agrees to meet her there, still in fear of being tricked into her missionary ploy. It turns out that the girl, named Misaki, is willing to give Sato free lectures in hopes to help cure his hikikamori symptoms, but all the while, she seems to know a lot about Sato's personal life and past history. While still deciding whether or not to go through with the teachings, Sato finds out that his otaku neighbor is an old friend from high school that he saved from some bullies named Yamazaki. Finally finding a social tie after two years, Sato and Yamazaki catch up and discusses the mysterious Misaki. Sato, denying that he's a hikikamori, lies to Misaki that he has a job as a video game creator, and makes a deal with her to prove it by presenting her a game that he has personally made. After begging Yamazaki to help him make a game in time, the two finally decide to do it, but only on one occasion: the game must be a hentai game. From there, Sato starts to find help in friends and begins to slowly fight his lifestyle, but, due to various factors, things don't work out as planned.
The storytelling of NHK is some of the best I've probably ever seen. The series begins in the mind of Sato, who is so out of it and damaged that he hallucinates talking to his household appliances and believes solely in conspiracies. This isn't a typical view through the eyes of a crazy person; this is a self loathing and depressed man who previously was normal. The most intriguing and amazing part of the show is that, at the beginning, you begin to wonder whether Sato is disturbed, or if everything really is a conspiracy. The series strongly hints that the conspiracy actually exists, and you never really know if statements that other characters make have second or secret meanings behind them. For every odd, out of place instance where it seems that the conspiracy is real, there are two explanations for it; one that shows that it was a misunderstanding, and one that supports it. To go deeper into this, many of the misunderstandings confuse you about whether or not the NHK is real, as topics that seem too suspicious are usually dropped or are changed into different subjects when it seems to get too close to being real. It really does make you wonder until the final episodes, and whether you thought the conspiracy was right or not, your answer will be satisfyingly reveled in the final episode in grand, dramatic, and epic fashion. Maybe I'm being a little too complex with the themes and might be reading into things a little too hard, but it was nice to have what is essentially a slice-of-life anime with this level of depth to it. By the end of the series, I really wondered about what was reality and what was actually simply a figment of Sato's mind.
On an artistic note, Welcome to the NHK for the most part looks really well done. The series perfectly captures both the look of elegant character models and also nails the way moe is presented as it parodies throughout Sato's and Yamazaki's otaku-ism. The models vary depending on the characters ( like Sato's rugged and sharp appearance in contrast to Misaki's smooth and elegant look ), and each has a sense of their own unique personality. The English dub is very well done, with the most acceptable jobs being Sato and Yamazaki, voiced by Chris Patton and Greg Ayres, respectively. From Chris' hilarious readings of curse words to Greg's high pitched and grungy voice perfectly fit for an otaku, the two stand out as the best ( with a shout-out to the lovely Luci Christian as Hitomi, and the not-always-so-perfect Stephanie Whittles as Misaki ). On the topic of sound, i must say that this anime may have one of the best uses of its soundtrack that I've ever heard. When the moment arises, the soundtrack plays the perfect song to accommodate what's happening. It has both songs that make me laugh out loud, or send shivers down my spine from how sad it is. This may be the first anime I would be willing to buy the soundtrack for and listen to it because I was so amazed with it.
I thoroughly enjoyed Welcome to the NHK and I nearly couldn't stop myself from completing episode after episode. I would imagine everyone being pleased with this series, seeing as though only a few would like this view on an otaku and hikikamori lifestyle. There are moments in our lives when we just might wish the worries of money, jobs and responsibilities would just go away and leave us in peace to just do nothing and waste time. I loved the story of Welcome to the NHK not because I knew what being like that felt, but because I can say that there were moments in my life where I just felt like I could kind of relate to the situation. While it's nice to see Sato come out of his shell during the duration of this amazing series, I feel that the way a human could behave compared to the way society not only wants us to behave but how they would perceive them if they don't includes a large gap that we've yet to come across and figure it out. Perhaps we can either blame ourselves and society as a whole... or maybe... just maybe... our whole life's just all just a huge conspiracy conducted... by the NHK.
- Marcus Speer
