WELCOME TO THE NHK | Review

What the hell was this anime?! Anyway: Welcome To The NHK is an anime that revolves around the life of Tatsuhiro Sato, a recent college drop out who is a “Hikikomori”, a term used in Japan to refer to a socially awkward person who has completely withdrawn himself from others and would rather be alone and stay indoors all day…(Know one of those?) So Sato is an unemployed guy, lives alone, smoker, and believes the world is run by an organization known as the NHK (Nihon Hikikomori Kyokai) – Look it up! So it’s a huge conspiracy in his head and he believes the organization turned him into what he is, also known as a (NEET) – again, Look it up! The guy watches t.v all day, sleeps all day, and enjoys a smoke every now and then, that’s the totality of his life from where we pick up on in the story. That’s our pathetic main character that we’ll follow for the duration of 24 episodes as he meets new people and tackles day to day challenges that deal with a lot of real life issues going on in society today, yes, even an issue YOU reader are dealing with at this time could be explored in this anime…I know mine was.

Before we get into the practical aspects of the anime, I’ll talk a bit more on the story because it’s one that deserves a spotlight of its own. Now, the anime falls in a genre known as “Slice of life”, which in basic cinematic terms is a drama which focuses on various factors of day to day life. Yes, you anime noobs out there, there is also such a thing as anime without fights and screaming. So our boy Sato is a lost cause as it seems, he has lost all hope and is eaten up by depression day in day out. To make matters worse, he has very real delusions of a sinister organization orchestrating a conspiracy against him, you can’t help but worry for the guy. Then, one day, he meets a mysterious girl, Misaki, who takes an interest in him. She offers to help him cure his sickness in a project she has planned for him. Trust her or not, he decides to take her up on that offer to see what happens. Along the way, Sato discovers his very irritating, loud-music-playing-otaku neighbor to be a former junior colleague of his from high school, a guy named Yamazaki. Another offer emerges, as Yamazaki recounts Sato was in the literature club in high school, he offers him a deal to work together on the development of a video game, a Hentai video game…With all this, Sato’s life may be coming out of its misery, right? Or does the NHK actually exist and this is another ploy to trap him further? Watch the anime to find out…

This anime tackles a number of issues that are a major concern largely in Japanese society such as; Otaku madness, Suicide, Addiction to Role Playing Games (MMORPG) and Hentai, but also on a wider scope, matters such as Unemployment, Seclusion, Conmen, and basically life after school are dealt with, therefore a lot of these topics make the situations the characters go through easy to relate to even for us outside Japan. This is the anime’s strongest aspect. Scared? Don’t be! Sure a few of the subject matters hit you deep and are a roller-coaster of emotions, but in the end of the day, it’s still entertaining to the bone. The comedy is ridiculous in that traditional Japanese humor style we all love and the puns just never end. The exchanges between Sato and Yamazaki never fail to leave a smile on your face, or the sudden outbursts of insanity from Sato, without a doubt the funniest moments in the anime and they leave you in stitches.

As far as the art goes, its horribly inconsistent. Some episodes have well defined art, while others seem absolutely messed up. It is common for anime to suddenly change an art style to express certain factors such as emotional expressions or even actions but in this anime it is not clear why the art work was inconsistent. Nonetheless it is a problem that’s almost unnoticeable. The character designs are not over the top, they are meant to portray ordinary day to day individuals, and in fact it is as though each character represents certain subject matters in our society.

Music was recycled quite a bit through the duration of 24 episodes, but that’s very ordinary with anime. At first they are quite captivating as they do well to set the mood in various scenes, then the music just gets real old as the anime comes to an end. But, I’m not complaining, in fact there’s one catchy tune that’s stuck in my mind for life…

My general thoughts on Welcome To The NHK…I loved it. This is an amazing anime! I’m glad it broke away from that habit of “Slice of life” anime being over packed with romance. It’s very bold and sometimes in your face on how real the situations are. I did say earlier that finding common issues in you life with some subjects in the anime makes it very relatable, but also this can be one hell of a depressing anime. So depressing it’s easy to stop watching merely due to that. On the other side, it’s a lot of fun! The anime is an adventure and making it through to the end gives you a sense of wanting to better your life. What I absolutely hated about this anime was the clothes Misaki had on. She rarely changed clothes and this made her design a bit stale with time. There are a number of other things that pissed me off, but not to spoil it for you, I won’t reveal those because they relate directly to the story. I watch a lot of action anime, so despite its depressing nature, Welcome To The NHK felt like a breath of fresh air. Give it a go, but be warned, this anime is not for the faint of heart…