Feb 25, 2024
I have read both the novel and the manga of NHK. I tried to get through NHK anime, but the over the topness/bizzare depiction of Satou's schizophrenia and the extremely subpar animation had me dropping it. I was very interested in the themes that this entire IP depicts though as I was going through a horrible rut which had me bed rotting for 3 weeks, so I gave the novel and manga a try. And I am happy to report that they are both extremely gas.
Every single main character in NHK is probably the worst person you will ever know. That's the point. They
...
are all young adults whose stunted growth as a result of nuture/mental health issues/peer treatment have them lashing out towards the world after their abuse of their forms of escapism (drugs, alc, pachinko, video games, extremely illegal porn, eroges, anime girls, etc.) do not leave them satisfied with the reality that they are living in.
The main character and the so-called love-interest are both dropouts. They are both very mentally ill and unlikable- a lot of mentally ill people are not palatable, likable people. They do stupid awful things that everyone can agree is awful, and so media with the people can easily become torture porn. But what separates NHK from the edgy torture porn slop that what some people seem to think this is is that the characters are always trying to change for the better. They fail a fucking lot, because changing and growing as a person entails falling flat on your face and regressing a lot. Which can lead to you thinking the story is "stagnant" or "sluggish" if you read with your brain powered off. But if you don't do that, you can see them slowly but surely changing. And even if they are probably amongst the worst people you will ever read about, you will start rooting for them, even if only slightly.
Also the art is really good. An amazing adaptation of the novel, even if there were elements changed between them. I would recommend reading them both as it helps with clarity a lot and it's just interesting to compare them side by side. In comparison, I don't really like the anime art. Even if you exclude the animation, which had it's frame count dipping significantly every episode, the drawings themselves were just incredible janky.
I just really liked Welcome to the NHK! and could not take the slander towards it. Besides story and art, part of why is because I stalked the author of the novel after reading the manga and novel. Tatsuhiko Takimoto's life just interests me a lot. It's been 20-25 years since he was a hikikomori, and now he's presumably living his best life. He's in his 40s, in a band, and he's pretty lowkey. He seems to be doing fine, (despite getting into some insane shit as a 20s something if his autofictional novel is anything to go off of.) which made me feel like I would turn out okay too, someday. It greatly lessened the anxiety I felt towards the future into something manageable. I mean, if a man who has had pretty much all the vices ever has somehow made it out of his twenties alive, then maybe I can too.
9 just because there are some clarity issues if you read this without reading the novel beforehand.
ARGH THIS REVIEW SUCKS. Whatever.. I spent 45 minutes on it. It's going out into the world.. I'm going to sleep...
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
