NHK ni Youkoso!

Twenty-two-year-old college dropout Tatsuhiro Satou has been a hikikomori for almost four years now. In his isolation, he has come to believe in many obscure conspiracy theories, but there is one in particular which he holds unshakable faith in: the theory that the evil conspirator behind his shut-in NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) status is the Nihon Hikikomori Kyokai (NHK)—an evil and secret organization dedicated to fostering the spread of hikikomori culture.

NHK ni Youkoso! is a psychological dramedy that follows Tatsuhiro as he strives to escape from the NHK's wicked machinations and the disease of self-wrought isolation, while struggling to even just leave his apartment and find a job. His unexpected encounter with the mysterious Misaki Nakahara might signal a reversal of fortune for Tatsuhiro, but with this meeting comes the inevitable cost of having to face his greatest fear—society.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Satou, Tatsuhiro Main

Koizumi, Yutaka Japanese

Nakahara, Misaki Main

Makino, Yui Japanese

Yamazaki, Kaoru Main

Sakaguchi, Daisuke Japanese

Purin Supporting

Shishido, Rumi Japanese

Kashiwa, Hitomi Supporting

Kobayashi, Sanae Japanese

NHK Agents Supporting

Kobayashi, Megumi Supporting

Hayamizu, Risa Japanese

Kusano, Yuu Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Satou, Shizue Supporting

Shou, Mayumi Japanese

Jougasaki, Akira Supporting

Tobita, Nobuo Japanese

Chiba, Makoto Producer

Shibata, Tomonori Producer

Yamamoto, Yuusuke Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Shioya, Yoku Sound Director

Reviews

Jan 15, 2009

r290

Recommended

Outstanding thing. Some times it was amusing to watch, sometimes it was painfully.

"Welcome to the NHK" is a kind of collection. Collection of troubles and problems we can meet in our life. It doesn't perceive as anime. It doesn't perceive as something fictitious. It is life. Hateful everyday life gets emotional colors and draws a wide reaction with slowly walking real life on the our side of screen.

In "NHK" everyday events are not shown grotesque and mockingly as in parodies and not weightly depressed as in psychological thrillers but somehow chaotically and ... tragicomicly — you want to weep, smile, think ironically and philosophize simultaneously. Every joke provokes not a roar of laughter but the sad smile as you recognize yourself and your troubles in "fictional" heroes.

Even if you have a job, relatives, interests, it doesn't change anything. You aren't able to get rid of solitude if you feel your purposelessness and pettiness. If you laugh, you laughter is insincere. If you cry, you wail. Problem of self-concept and fear of the life is urgent for many people, but the feeling of hopelessness and despair appears only when there is nobody to support you. You've got tired from struggle along on your's own not at once but gradually. It happens little by little but it does. There are no N.H.K., there is no god, there are only nonchalance, loneliness and despair. You think that people around get everything easier and live merrily and sociable but you simply can not see the same as you as they also are dissociated from the world. It is impossible to meet for such humans but only they can understand each other. It is very hard and cruel. In "NHK" it is shown somehow exaggeratedly but the inner life is described entirely faithful. Psychology is described as much as possible faithfully, all the reasons are named correctly, emphases are placed where they needed.

Art and sound do for this work and don't have any serious shortcomings. All the aspects of this anime are high qualitative.

Such masterpiece anime must be a conspiracy... Conspiracy against what?

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Dec 23, 2015

tsudecimo

Mixed Feelings

Welcome to the NHK was an interesting experience for me, I didn't know what to expect from the show while diving into it, so it's not like I set my expectation high but I was still really disappointed by it, for a number of reasons that I will explain in this review.

The Story. It's about a NEET & Hiki named Satou and his crazy depressing life with several other characters. It was more or less a social commentary about a serious issue in modern society with a black comedy tone. The story was incoherent, at times it was about Satou and his problems and how ... he wants to deal with them and help himself but it shifts that focus through out the story, making it feel like Satou's problems are just delayed. It focuses on the wrong characters and dedicate arcs for them which don't contribute a lot to the overall plot progression or to Satou's character. One of the arcs is really just terrible and it just contradicts any kind of logic the show has. I'm talking about the arc that focused on Megumi and her brother, that was simply just stupid. It showed how bad her situation with her brother is in and how Hikikomoris affect their family life and not just their own, it also introduced online gaming addiction and how it can worsen the life of a NEET but all of that doesn't matter if he, the brother just miraculously recovers from his severe social anxiety thanks to hunger, HUNGER?! that was so unrealistic in so many levels. We have Satou who by far have it better than Megumi's brother but still can't get his life together. I felt like that betrayed the message of the show and how hard it is to recover from being a NEET and a Hikikomori.

They also censored/removed Satou's usage of drugs which explains why he had those hallucinations. He didn't have them because he was so mentally unstable or obsessed with conspiracies like the anime portrayed. It was him just using some drugs, no one gets that mentally unstable from just being a NEET and a Hikikmori. The story ended on an open ending which I didn't like at all, having a conclusive ending would have been much better. It would have showed that going through all this, meant something.

The Characters. They are flawed human beings and this is what story was trying to show, that made them feel real but in certain situations they felt like the complete opposite of real. Example of this would be Satou and his relationship with Misaki and his Senpai, especially Senpai. Satou is supposed to be a pathetic, spineless and an unstable human being but I still find the way he acted in the Suicide Island arc to be highly unrealistic and stupid. He didn't want to die but still went along with it and tried to convince himself that it was okay if he died and he would at least die with his precious Senpai. The anime left a detail that could have helped explain his relationship with Senpai and that was the fact that he lost his virginity to her, I feel like that would have made the fact that he just followed her around and didn't get mad at her for anything, much more believable.

The relationships of the characters didn't get properly developed, Misaki who is supposed to be a main character get sidetracked to focus on other stuff, her relationship with Satou felt really under-developed and iffy. I would have loved to seem them further exploring the psychologically coherent and smart approach of two psychically wounded people healing each other through social interaction and an affectionate relationship. However, they completely dropped the idea somewhere in the middle of the story. Instead we got to see other crazy people and their problems while Misaki turned slowly into a side character. Satou who was head over heels suddenly treated her indifferent, the way he treated her through the story was inconsistent. At the end they didn't go anywhere.

The art & animation: The art was decent, the animation however was for the most part bad and inconsistent due to low budget probably.

Enjoyment. Did I enjoy this show?! it's hard to tell, on one hand I did like the comedy on the other hand I didn't like the execution of the story and characters. And I can't really relate to the main character like some people do since I'm not a NEET or a Hikikmmori.

Overall I would recommend to watch this if you feel like watching something that showcase a real issue on modern society and how scary it is but I really wouldn't recommend watching this if you are looking for a psychological anime with great characters or a well developed bitter-sweet love story

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jun 4, 2016

quakeroatmeal

Not Recommended

I can honestly say that I've never been so happy to be done with a series. This show is barely watchable, and it all stems from the main character.

The Worst Person In The Entire World
At first, I thought I'd really enjoy the show. The first 6-8 episodes or so have a unique feel with some decent comedy and interesting characters, but then it takes a turn that it never recovers from. The main character, Sato, is a twenty-something-year-old version of your boiler plate Shinji character, but it doesn't seem that way at first. Don't be fooled; once he starts exhibiting the cliche weak, hesitant, self-centered, ... clueless characteristics we find in way too many anime, you will loathe him for the remainder of the show.

Sato is not a NEET; he's not an hikikomori; he's not otaku; he's just an awful person. Clearly the author believes he's an hikikomori since they need to say that on average 4 times an episode, but throughout the show you will see him constantly switch in and out of being perfectly fine in society and completely scared. You could argue that the switch coincides with how is life is going, but the polarity between the two states is jarring and completely unconvincing. Additionally, even though he's supposed to be a shut-in of 4 years, he has no hobbies that would indicate he's done anything except stare at a wall for that time. He's not otaku, he doesn't play online games, and he isn't even aware that you can search for porn on the Internet.

What makes the show completely unbearable to watch is how entirely self-centered he is. Unlike him, all of the supporting characters have had real hard-ships (some much harder than others). While he remains completely inward-focused, he never asks his friends about their problems or tries to understand what they are going through. This is a man who even raises his fist multiple times to the one person who is 100% unconditionally supportive and caring to him; even when she's in complete tears, he says nothing to her. Instead, he goes home to contemplate how he is affected by what she was saying. Not even a thought about her or what kind of pain she was going through.

The Saving Angel
Aside from the main character, the supporting characters are actually quite interesting. Most prominently, Misaki, is a beautiful person who by far has been through the worst of it. In all honesty, this show could've been terrific if she was the main character. If it weren't because I wanted to see how her story unfolded, there is no way I could've made it all the way to the end.

Story
Characters aside, the story had a few problems as well. The biggest problem is that the series takes a few random deviations (kind of like mini-arcs) that are incredibly far outside the realm of the main plot. Including an in-world MMO subplot that lasts a few episodes. They were too distracting, not to mention boring. There were also some major consistency issues as it pertains to the passage of time and the balance of money. You could say these are small details, but the passage of time was to the degree that at one moment the implication was that a month had passed and then just a few minutes later that only a few days had passed.

The story is also way too long; it could've and should've ended at episode 13. It even has a great climactic feel to it, but for some reason another 11 episodes of misery await.

Art
I love the way the characters are drawn in this series. The art is without a doubt the best aspect of the show. The only thing that was bizarre is that Misaki was the only character that wore the same t-shirt and skirt throughout the entire show. Every other character had different outfits, but even though she actually had a job, she apparently had no wardrobe. There's one part of the show that could imply this was intentional, but I'll avoid a potential spoiler by dismissing it.

Comedy
The beginning of the show has some funny parts; after that, there's less than a handful of parts to get a chuckle out of. You can see where they were trying to be funny, but it falls flat.

Execution
The visuals and environment are quite nice, and the music is enjoyable too. The voice acting is really well done, and the subs (watched on funimation) were also good. In terms of execution, the show was done quite well.

Final Thought
I wouldn't recommend this to anybody who doesn't want to be on the verge of tossing a perfectly good screen out the window. The amount of frustration that comes from watching Sato continuously portray the type of person who does nothing but completely absorb himself in his own misery had me throwing double-birds at my screen over and over again. Do not start this show because you will probably get sucked into something that seems pretty good until around episode 7.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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