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

Add to My List

Add to Favorites

Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Welcome to the NHK!

Japanese: NHKにようこそ!

More titles

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 8

Chapters: 40

Status: Finished

Published: Dec 26, 2003 to Apr 26, 2007

Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Themes: Otaku Culture, Psychological

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Shounen Ace

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

Statistics

Score: 8.15¹ (scored by 24,017 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #483²

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

Popularity: #278

Members: 56,772

Favorites: 3,082

Resources

Wikipedia

8.15

Ranked #483Popularity #278Members 56,772

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

Add to My List

Volumes: /8

Chapters: /40

Edit
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]

Edit
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.

Edit
Related Manga

Alternative version:

NHK ni Youkoso!

More characters
Characters

Satou, Tatsuhiro

Main

Nakahara, Misaki

Main

Yamazaki, Kaoru

Main

Kashiwa, Hitomi

Supporting

NHK Agents

Supporting

Kobayashi, Megumi

Supporting

Satou, Shizue

Supporting

Jougasaki, Akira

Supporting

Midorikawa, Nanako

Supporting

Kobayashi, Yuuichi

Supporting

Reviews

Jul 21, 2021

somesorta

Recommended

I don't know what to say when talking about NHK. I really enjoyed it in the end, I found myself to love the characters -though admittedly their personalities are pretty frustrating most of the time. At first, I wasn't fond of the premise, following a hikikomori around as they constantly make promises of redemption that are never kept was kinda grading...but the psychological spins that would unravel made up for some of that. I think the main thing for that kept this from being something more special than it was, is the fact that you have quite a dark premise with some quite realistic themes ...

Open

Gift

Jun 29, 2021

Kryptonot_7471

Mixed Feelings

While the Manga is still funny and has some of the same Humor it's definitely the weakest of the 3 versions of the story. If I can even call it a story - that is. The plot is a complete mess. Characters from the novel are butchered and the ending provides no resolution to the plot.

The characters are so badly written it feels like I'm reading Rick & Morty rather than NHK. The subtlety of the Novel and Anime are nowhere to be found. It over-exagerrates everything and the characters are impossible to take seriously.

For this kind of story to work it has to ... feel like it can actually happen, instead of being so goddamn absurd that you feel disconnected from it. This is something both the Novel and the Anime exceed at. Which is why they feel real and get you to give a sh*t.

If you want to read it, don't expect much from the story. The Novel is the best version of the Story and the Anime is fantastic in it's own right. The Manga fails at story and characters

overall: 6/10 (it would've been lower if it weren't for it's humor)

[Spoilers Section]

Misaki who is both in the Anime and the Novel: a tragic character who's selfishness comes out of a real genuine misery is reduced to a cartoonishly crazy character and manipulative evil psycho for no apparent reason. The changes are jarring and serve no purpose. Satou - who does become a freeter by the end of both the Novel and the Anime - in the Manga he uses Freelance as an excuse at the end, the same way he uses the Ero-Game as an excuse - so basically nothing changes. The Entire Manga is a waste of time when it comes to the story and characters.
The portions of the Manga the Anime adapts it improves on significantly. For example, Suicide Island Pact isn't in the Novel, but the Anime improves on it significantly, not only does the changed setting of the mountain instead of the tent make it more realistic and believable, the way each character quits is done so superbly that you never question the characters intentions on if they wanted to kill themselves to begin with. In the manga, this is not the case, it is done so abruptly and without explanation that it doesn't feel realistic at all. In the Anime, the inclusion of the characters coming to rescue them adds significantly more to the stakes. And not to mention, Satou's Class Rep's Story is also handled much better in the Anime. In the Manga I was physically cringing when they tried doing a fucking love triangle between Misaki and the Class Rep's brother. It was so incredibly cringy! I have no idea WHY they inserted that shit into the story. And his conclusion in the Manga doesn't make much sense either. Whereas, in the Anime he provides to reinforce the theme that was ever so present in the Novel & Anime that in order for you to break the cycle of being a NEET you have to be FORCED off your ass to work. Which was the point in both the Novel and the Anime. This entire theme is completely dropped from the Manga despite being one of the central themes for the Novel and Anime and being realistically grounded in the real world serving the intent of the author. The Manga pretends to adapt the Story but completely forgets the intent of why the Author wrote the story of Welcome to the N.H.K. to begin with. Which is why it comes across as Pretentious when compared to the Anime and Novel.

[Spoilers^^^]

The Manga is narratively a Mess and the Characters are completely butchered and are made bafflingly shallow and unrealistic.
The only thing that saves this Manga is the Humor. It was funny enough which is why it still gets a 6/10. If it didn't have the humor, on it's own merits it would fail.

Story: 5/10
Characters: 4/10
Art: 7/10
Humor: 10/10

Open

Gift

Jun 13, 2022

Panchokechup

Not Recommended

An excelent premise, good firsts volumes, but sadly, a poorly executed work and lots of wasted potential.

Welcome to the NHK is one of my favorite anime of all time, so i checked out the manga to see what it was like and... it was VERY dissapointing.
Leaving my expectations besides, the story and character arcs in this Manga are very poor. Both the Story and the Characters go in circles for WAY too long. You get angry at them because you don't feel any sort of progression in the story whatsoever.
None of them has any sort of real resolution or redeemable qualities at all! They end ...

Open

Gift

More stacks

Interest Stacks

Slice of life with dark elements

by Nightmare_Eyes

47 Entries · 256 Restacks

Manga about shyness or unsociableness

by Nancy_Drew

40 Entries · 92 Restacks

Transfeminine Manga part 3

by Keizakomu

50 Entries · 6 Restacks

More recommendations
Recommendations

View All

More news
Recent News

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

Poll: manga or anime is better? aznboy999 - Dec 20, 2014	5 replies	by Goatee »» Nov 18, 6:41 PM
Poll: NHK ni Youkoso! Chapter 40 Discussion ( 1 2 ) GrumpyFelo - Jan 26, 2009	63 replies	by urlocalcoolkid »» Oct 14, 9:09 AM
Poll: NHK ni Youkoso! Chapter 37 Discussion AlexSadist-sama - Dec 15, 2010	4 replies	by StiffmeisterXD »» Apr 27, 7:57 AM
Poll: Welcome to the NHK Chapter 25 Discussion AlexSadist-sama - Dec 15, 2010	4 replies	by integraiwakura »» Mar 24, 2022 1:58 PM
Poll: NHK ni Youkoso! Chapter 12 Discussion AlexSadist-sama - Dec 14, 2010	5 replies	by integraiwakura »» Mar 19, 2022 12:24 PM

NHK ni Youkoso!
Welcome to the N.H.K.
Edit

What would you like to edit?

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Resources

Edit
Synopsis

Edit
Background

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Edit
Related Manga

More characters
Characters

Reviews

Interest Stacks

More recommendations
Recommendations

More news
Recent News

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

NHK ni Youkoso!Welcome to the N.H.K. Edit What would you like to edit? SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Resources

EditSynopsis

EditBackground

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

EditRelated Manga

More charactersCharacters

Reviews

Interest Stacks

More recommendations Recommendations

More newsRecent News

More discussionsRecent Forum Discussion

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

NHK ni Youkoso!
Welcome to the N.H.K.
Edit

What would you like to edit?

Edit
Synopsis

Edit
Background

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Edit
Related Manga

More characters
Characters

More recommendations
Recommendations

More news
Recent News

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion