NHK ni Youkoso! (Welcome to the N.H.K.)

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Alternative Titles

English: Welcome to the N.H.K.

Synonyms: Welcome to the NHK!

Japanese: NHKにようこそ!

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 8

Chapters: 40

Status: Finished

Published: Dec 26, 2003 to Apr 26, 2007

Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Shounen, Psychological

Authors: Ooiwa, Kenji (Art), Takimoto, Tatsuhiko (Story)

Serialization: Shounen Ace

Statistics

Score: 8.20¹ (scored by 19,886 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #372²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #215

Members: 44,176

Favorites: 2,848

8.20

Ranked #372Popularity #215Members 44,176

MangaShounen AceOoiwa, Kenji (Art), Takimoto, Tatsuhiko (Story)

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Volumes: /8

Chapters: /40

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Synopsis

Tatsuhiro Satou is a 22-year-old hikikomori who dropped out of college and is now entering his fourth year of unemployment. He consumes hallucinatory drugs to escape reality, leading him to come up with various conspiracy theories. One such theory concerns the existence of a secret organization called the Nihon Hikikomori Kyoukai (NHK), which is supposedly responsible for Tatsuhiro's shut-in nature and the increasing number of hikikomori people across Japan.

On a quest to fight back against NHK, Tatsuhiro swears to leave behind his socially inept self. However, Tatsuhiro soon realizes that socializing may be too far-fetched a dream for him, as he struggles to get through even the most basic interactions with others. With the help of the mysterious Misaki Nakahara, who claims she can cure him of his current lifestyle, will he be able to turn his life around?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

NHK ni Youkoso! is the manga adaptation of Tatsuhiko Takimoto's novel of the same title published on January 28, 2002. The manga series was published in English as Welcome to the N.H.K. by Tokyopop from October 10, 2006 to September 16, 2008. VIZ Media republished the series digitally under the VIZ Select imprint from June 16 to December 9, 2015. It was also published in Brazilian Portuguese by Panini Comics from November 2010 to February 2012.

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Related Manga

Alternative version:	NHK ni Youkoso!
Adaptation:	NHK ni Youkoso!

More characters
Characters

Satou, Tatsuhiro

Main

Nakahara, Misaki

Main

Yamazaki, Kaoru

Main

Kashiwa, Hitomi

Supporting

NHK Agents

Supporting

Kobayashi, Megumi

Supporting

Jougasaki, Akira

Supporting

Satou, Shizue

Supporting

Midorikawa, Nanako

Supporting

Minegishi, Go

Supporting

More reviewsReviews

Aug 14, 2008

40 of 40 chapters read

Overall Rating: 10

Fradez (All reviews)

108 people found this review helpful

This is one of my favorite manga and, since it had few reviews, I thought I could add a bit more of information for those who are uncertain whether to read this or not.

Well, as it says on the synopsis, this manga follows the life of a hikikomori, who thinks an organization called NHK is targeting him. (oh really?!) xD
The main character actually posseses psychological problems, such as paranoia ,which leads him to believe his life is being controlled by NHK, and all the bad things that happens to him are their doing.

Suddenly, he meets a girl called Misaki who says he had been chosen read more

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Jan 18, 2009

40 of 40 chapters read

Overall Rating: 8

Akaike (All reviews)

57 people found this review helpful

Ok, first off let me say that this is definitely not what you would call an 'average' Shounen manga. If anything , this is more psychological in its nature, and in turn it can be pretty thought provoking at times. However, in the same breath, it can also seem to drag in places - which makes it kinda bland. But in saying that, the good definitely outweighs the bad. The manga tends to dwell on certain psychologies of the characters, and it often gets as close to reality as any manga will ever get. Every single character has some flaw read more

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Jan 19, 2009

40 of 40 chapters read

Overall Rating: 7

AironicallyHuman (All reviews)

40 people found this review helpful

After re-reading volumes 1-6 before moving onto the final volumes of Welcome to the NHK, I finally managed to finish reading the manga just now. My feelings are fairly mixed: I did enjoy my read but, at the same time, I was left thinking that there was waaaaaay too much padding forced in--far more than in the anime. Because of all the needless content, my enjoyment dropped considerably after the first two excellent volumes. If only for the fantastic art I can't score it lower than 7/10, though.

Volume eight was by far the most disappointing in the entire series. It all felt so pointless and, in comparison to the earlier volumes, it was far less entertaining. There was lots of chatter yet I never found myself caring about what was being said, or even following most of it. The story ultimately never went anywhere in the end; instead going in circles as Misaki pushed forward with her love contract, Satou went along with it because he had nothing else and Yamazaki rambled incomprehensibly about starting a revolution. All I saw were the difficult to follow conversations of not-so-sane people that were shoved in to extend the story to 40 chapters.

Whilst I am still covering the negatives, I will also add that I was not best pleased with how the original story was changed in the manga. There were lots of small (but important) alterations that were made; some of which seemed to have been made as the manga was on-going. A good n example is how Satou first said he was not a virgin (in the novel and anime he slept with his senpai whilst still at school) and then later said he was. The most bothersome change was how Misaki only lied about having a bad childhood in the manga: it made her already difficult to like character outright dislikeable... for no reason. Too many silly changes were made in order to extend the length of a fairly short story.

On the flipside, I did like the first two chapters of volume seven quite a lot. The events that took place in those chapters never occurred in either the novel or anime, and they were only able to work so well because Satou was still a virgin in the manga. Kashiwa's easily my favourite character in NHK, and the 'so near yet so far' romance between Satou and her is the most emotional part of the story for me. So, a few chapters that gave the pair more time together were very welcome additions. It was nice to see Satou confess his feelings in this version... even if he later went back on what he said because he did not have what it would have required for him to take his relationship with her forward. Life truly does suck.

In general, I do not like how open-ended every aspect of the NHK story is left, but I have still always found the relationship between Satou and Kashiwa moving. I actually came close to crying during episode 14 of the anime simply because, even. The reader/viewer fully understands why Satou doesn't do what his heart tells him to, yet it is hard to watch when you know the two could have been happy together. If only he had had the balls to put his arm around her when he was not a recluse and she was not married now--his future might have turned out slightly happier. What makes the whole situation agonising is the fact that Satou is a better match for her than her the guy she ended up marrying...

...Anyway, to sum it up, my thoughts are that, although still very good, the manga is definitely the weakest of the three versions of NHK's story. It has some nice additions but the majority of the new content does not actually add anything. We did not need to see Satou spend time at his parents, coming up with masturbation plans whilst he was supposed to be finding work, and we also didn't need to see him spend time wondering around homeless. The novel was a bit too short, the anime got the length just right and the manga dragged on for too long. I certainly do not feel bad about spending over £40 on the manga but I do feel I should have spent the money the anime instead. OH WELL!

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Dec 30, 2010

40 of 40 chapters read

Overall Rating: 8

Reksho (All reviews)

34 people found this review helpful

Shutting yourself in your room is so tempting. Nobody talks to you; nobody harasses you and most importantly nobody judges you. Finally peace and quiet down that pool of chaos that we call our mind. But that, as many things, is something temporary.

Welcome to life! Get ready for the best and biggest journey you’ll ever have. Meet Satou Tatsuhiro. This guy will accompany you on your trip. Or actually, you will be accompanying him on his trip. Satou is 22 year old and is an amusing character with idiotic quirks. You’d probably want to know that Satou has shut himself in his room for the past three years and is rapidly approaching the fourth one. He lives in a one-room apartment; doing things completely on his own including cooking, watching TV and being lonely. He also likes playing erotic videogames and is doing drugs.

Would you still like to accompany Satou on his trip? It’s okay, you don’t have to. It’s understandable if you think that all those things he does is disgusting and not acceptable as a normal functioning human being. So let me ask this one important question: What IS normal?

Welcome to the NHK! centers around this one question. No doubt that you and everyone around you has wondered what is acceptable and normal in this world to do so that nobody will think you’re weird. That’s human nature. No one wants to come across as somebody weird that can’t function in society. No one wants to be at the mercy of others, constantly in need of help. But at the same time, we all need help. Even something petty and small like feeling lonely can’t be overcome by one single person and could turn into a vast problem.

Satou doesn’t understand that. So what he does is something that many people would do when it all gets too complicated: shut himself in. Physically and mentally. This is what this manga is all about. Either go with the flow and live your life by the rules of society, or be an outsider and do things your way. But the thing is for Satou, it’s not a choice, he’s forced to live alone in his apartment. Not because somebody told him to, even worse, he told himself he had to. He can’t live by the rules of society. Problems like not being able to talk normally to strangers arise when trying to get a job are seriously huge rocks in his life that hinders his way. He does not choose to be an outsider and live with all these problems he didn’t ask for. He wanted to have a normal life, with a normal job and normal people around him. And it didn’t happen. Getting something so normal, so plain that many people in this world have, is so unbelievable difficult for a shut-in like Satou. And now he’s stuck in his own apartment, getting addicted to it and is rotting away.

And then there comes an angel. A savior, somebody who cares about you and thoroughly believes that you deserve a normal life. You deserve those things that other people get to have. Her name is Nakahara Misaki. An 18 year old girl who’s strangely interested in oddballs like Satou. The two meet when she and her grandma knocked on his door to talk about religion. She knew something was going in there and she wanted to help by providing Satou counseling. But why? Why would a young female stranger help somebody who has shut himself away from society? The answer is as simple as getting a feeling of self-worth.

Misaki is not different from Satou, only that she thoroughly realizes her problem and does something about it, albeit in a dubious manner. She helps Satou simply because she wants to help herself. Her feelings of defeat, hatred and resentment all flushes down through Satou and she regains new strength. In a way, she’s using Satou to make herself feel better. But is that normal? Satou is already in a position where he can’t go lower much further so any help is appreciated. And if it means that the other party gets to feel better, it’s a nice bonus. The action is what matters, not the thought behind it. Or is it?

The series makes you wonder about Misaki’s actions. It makes you realize that she’s just another human being with problems and trying to solve them. The interaction between Satou and Misaki is truly remarkable. Satou is the kind of character which you can easily relate to. Because his problems are so common, although in a less extreme form with most people, you can put yourself easily in his shoes and understand what he’s going through. This puts you at a position of a judge. You’re perceiving Misaki’s actions through Satou’s eyes while formulating your own opinion about it in your head. The manga does not tell you directly what is wrong or right, you simply see things through Satou’s eyes. And because the writer of the manga created Satou in a way that he’s in a low position and as such does not give you a solid opinion of his own, you are free to interpret the story in your own way.

Too bad that the story itself is not so special. Great characters create great stories. But in this case, it is not the case. Do not expect a manga about the psychological problems of a person shutting himself away from society. That is simply not it. All the characters are open, some are funny and some are sad but never does it take you to the depths of the human mind. The story is almost that of a slice of life series. There is no common thread through the story, events just happen because they happen. There is no goal where the characters work towards and therefore marks when the series is supposed to end. There are simply just some characters with problems and things occur. Not too deep and definitely not too shallow. It’s just that the story does not impress overall. You’re waiting to see the characters, to see how they will develop and how they will interact with each other. And therefore, you’re seeking an unfolding story to act as a playground for those things. It’s almost as if the events in the manga happen at random without the will of the writer, maybe it’s intentional but it’s probably not.

Welcome to the NHK! is a manga like none other. It’s classified as a romance series combined with some humor. If it were to have a label that’s just right for this manga, it would be ‘’fun psychological problems’’. It will never talk about the deep aspects of human psychological problems of shutting yourself away from society, but it does talk about what those problems do with you on a global scale. And with humor, something very important to note. The characters will make you instantly fall in love with them. Satou is just the nice guy next door with some problems and Misaki is not necessarily a complex characters but does make you think about her actions. And those two ultimately mix together amazingly well in a manga with an okay story and solid art.

They say desperate times ask for desperate measures. Those times may not come often, but when they do, they show which choices truly matter.

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