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

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Welcome to the NHK!

Japanese: NHKにようこそ!

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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: 8.13¹ (scored by 25,329 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #536²

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

Popularity: #283

Members: 60,214

Favorites: 3,143

Resources

Wikipedia

8.13

Ranked #536Popularity #283Members 60,214

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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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

Kobayashi, Yuuichi

Supporting

Midorikawa, Nanako

Supporting

Reviews

Aug 14, 2008

Fradez

Recommended

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 ...

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May 22, 2024

AironicallyHuman

Mixed Feelings

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.

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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Jul 30, 2010

Foolness

Not Recommended

What happens when a series about social issues is not really enlightening on said social issues but is praised because it addresses them?

Welcome to NHK in my opinion is among the "untouchable" series in an age I dub the generation of fantastic hypocrites.

It's not that manga has never been experimental or fantastic nor am I saying many of the fans of this series are dumb.

If anything I think it's the reverse. We've come to the point where intellectual laziness is so... on the surface that we now have a culture that's "smart" enough to belittle the moral cliches of underdog stories, harem, fighters shouting out ...

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Poll: manga or anime is better? aznboy999 - Dec 20, 2014	6 replies	by xBuster6 »» Jan 9, 6:56 PM
Poll: NHK ni Youkoso! Chapter 33 Discussion AlexSadist-sama - Dec 15, 2010	3 replies	by bocurgat61 »» Dec 27, 2024 11:44 AM
Poll: Welcome to the NHK Chapter 27 Discussion AlexSadist-sama - Dec 15, 2010	1 replies	by bocurgat61 »» Dec 27, 2024 9:53 AM
Poll: NHK ni Youkoso! Chapter 19 Discussion AlexSadist-sama - Dec 15, 2010	8 replies	by bocurgat61 »» Dec 24, 2024 12:54 PM
Poll: NHK ni Youkoso! Chapter 40 Discussion ( 1 2 ) GrumpyFelo - Jan 26, 2009	66 replies	by Fatephile »» Oct 16, 2024 4:17 AM

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