Reviews

Sad, paranoid, but ultimately optimistic at its core, Welcome to the N.H.K. is a relatively thoughtful depiction of Japanese subcultures and social problems. Each member of the main cast is used to explore topical subjects e.g. hikikomori, otaku, multi-level marketing scams, and suicide. It's unclear how well this will age, but as things stand it's a very fine anime and altogether quite sobering despite nominally being a comedy. The more objectionable content from the manga is toned down; notably, Sato only becomes addicted to pornography rather than literally filling up his hard drive with loli, and his drug addiction is removed. It doesn't hurt the anime drastically, but it does inevitably reduce the degree to which you can perceive him as dysfunctional. This also affects Hitomi, the girl responsible for his drug problems, who comes across as merely unfortunate rather than actively hurtful to anyone. It detracts somewhat from the rawness of the show, but it's still very convincing as a drama when it wants to be.

As noted, classifying Welcome to the N.H.K. as a comedy sells it short. The best parts of Welcome to the N.H.K. are not comedic. In fact, the comedy in Welcome to the N.H.K. is inconsistent and descends far too often into the unfortunate "EHHHHHH? WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHOUTING ALL MY LINES DOESN'T MAKE THIS FUNNY SATO-SAN?" brand of humor, particularly when the otaku character, Yamazaki, is onscreen. Usually, though, the comedy is merely decent—nothing offensively bad, and the distinctive characters keep the gags from becoming too bland.

Speaking of which, it is those characters who make this show so very good. They're social pariahs—dysfunctional and often unpleasant. Sato is lonely, lazy, and horny, Yamazaki is less lazy but much hornier, Misaki is self-loathing, attention-seeking, and manipulative, and Hitomi is self-involved and depressed. It's nonetheless easy to like and relate all of them and cheer them on as they work through their troubles. These are people who don't—can't—fit in with what we call "normal" and find themselves very easily lost in the world. It's not surprising that they lose hope and begin to see conspiracies hidden behind everyday things—the forces of a society that they don't understand lining up against them.

Welcome to the N.H.K.'s production is simply okay—average music, average art and animation, etc. Frankly, it's indistinct, and the fact that it's so easy to overlook the unexceptional nature of the show's technical quality only serves to emphasize how good the dramatic aspects of this show are. The most impressive visual elements crop up whenever Sato begins to contemplate his N.H.K. conspiracy—the show drifts off into these dreamy, abstract sequences that complement its occasionally hopeless tone.

It's probably not a good idea to watch Welcome to the N.H.K. if you want a light-hearted comedy romp. The show demands investment in the characters' psychological development. Despite its thoroughly Japanese subjects, it doesn't require any interest in Japanese society and its concerns about a lost generation; these issues are treated in such a way that they become more broadly human. To put it like Misaki: if you watch this and you can't relate, the penalty is one million yen!