The plot centers around a hikikomori (or shut-in) named Sato. He lives alone in a tiny apartment, doesn’t work, and seems to be a little bit insane, blaming his whole failure of a life on conspiracies. When the college drop-out is chosen by a high school drop-out named Misaki to be part of a special project, he reluctantly agrees and winds up going on a series of pretty strange adventures. At first, Sato tries to get out of these special meetings with Misaki by saying he has a job and is going to be successful. By using his next door neighbor and best friend Yamazaki, Sato convinces her that they are working on a gal game. The duo do begin to work together on a game and this begins Sato’s strange adventures. The first story arc where Sato learns about internet porn, finds himself obsessed with gal games, and learns of anime stores is some of the funniest freaking animation I’ve ever seen. It’s very dark humor that may not be acceptable to the tastes of some, but I found to be absolutely hilarious. The series doesn’t ever match that humor in the proceeding episodes, but still maintains a certain dark humor about it that is borderline depressing. Sato winds up meeting with a girl he had a “thing” with in high school who takes him to a suicide party, he gets obsessed with online video gaming, and he winds up caught in a pyramid scheme. While looking at it from Sato’s standpoint during the episodes, these things aren’t funny. But after everything is said and done and you can look back at the series, you realize just how funny all of these things really are. They’re funny in a more depressing way, and the series points this out toward the end. And, as I said, you can look back and laugh at it, but it’s a mild laugh because sitting over all of that humor are some rather weighty and in-your-face lessons and issues.
What I truly appreciate is how these issues are handled. Welcome to the NHK is not like most anime where the characters pull some happy simile or metaphor from their ass with which to explain things away and make you feel good. You can go away from a lot of anime learning lessons, though they are typically bullshit like “You can be what you want to be” or “As long as you do your best, it’s okay”. You leave Welcome to the NHK with lessons such as “Life is meaningless” and “You’re going to spend ninety percent of your life depressed and unhappy”. It’s depressing (thanks for contributing to the ninety percent anime). This is compounded with the lives of two characters, rather normal lives to tell the truth, who have gone through so much that they have given up. Sato’s story isn’t substantial or fantastical like so many other anime stories, his story is rather normal. He dropped out of college, has social issues, and can’t handle himself. Hell, I have social issues, so I could relate to that. And every time he attempts to do something he fails. Well, I can relate to that, I’ve failed a million times and have felt depressed because of it. Misaki has issues as well, stemming from her childhood and upbringing. Together, they are strong. Divided, they fall. It’s not a very hard concept to understand, nor are any of the concepts of the show. Welcome to the NHK does what very few seem to have the balls to do; it provides realistic and down to Earth concepts that while depressing, are reality. It doesn’t sugarcoat it. It just tells us “Life’s a bitch, then you die”.
And what I appreciate more than the bluntness of the lessons is how you can’t help but enjoy yourself watching it. You never feel depressed. The depression comes afterward. And that’s why this anime is so successful in what it does. It’s violently entertaining to the very end, then leaves you with a dark cloud over your head after everything is over.
Reality is rarely a subject of anime considering it’s…well, not reality. But Welcome to the NHK handles reality with such grace and style, maintaining the illusion of a cartoon while being the weightiest anime I’ve ever seen.
The grace doesn’t translate to great animation though. While it is dated because…duh, it’s older, the animation seems to take a turn for the worse at certain portions. Most of the show maintained the same appearance, though one scene at Kobayashi’s house kind of fell apart and looked really bad.
But the grace does translate to an excellent soundtrack. The opening and closing do not disappoint, while the series has a strong series of songs playing during the show. One of the smaller things I enjoyed about Welcome to the NHK was the fact it never had any breaks of awkward silence. It had music during conversations and all other scenes. And, as odd as this sounds, music does make a show much more enjoyable and fun to watch. A lot of anime have tracks during the show, but they only play at key moments and it’s typically pretty simple to tell when a piece will play (case in point: Shiki). But having a good soundtrack that persists throughout keeps things so much more enjoyable.
And on top of that, I thought the English dub was pretty good. I saw no major hiccups, nor bad voice acting for the most part.
Of course, as stated, the characters are really good. Sato and Misaki play off each other well, and the romance that seems to develop (though doesn’t go anywhere) is entertaining to watch. Sato’s falling into various forms of insanity is fantastically executed, and the ability of Misaki and Sato to be crutches for each other ascertains a long standing friendship that transcends the screen.
Yamazaki is a fun character as well. With a serious collection of gal games and anime figures, he is both comedic relief, and a character you can grow to care for. While he is no way on the level of Sato as far as character development, he is still a very well rounded and entertaining guy.
The other characters all serve their purpose well and are usually just as much fun as the main characters. I didn’t particularly find Kobayashi as entertaining a character as the others, but that’s because I just flat out didn’t like her.
Overall, Welcome to the NHK deals with a variety of weighty issues from suicide to depression with a finesse rarely seen in any medium. It manages to make these things entertaining, and even funny, but still maintains that weightiness I spoke of that leaves you thinking about how meaningless your life truly is. It’s really hard to explain how the series does this, as I’m sure those who haven’t seen it don’t understand how depression and suicide can be made both entertaining yet depressing, but I assure you that after watching Welcome to the NHK, you’ll see.
Welcome to the NHK is very unique and I assure you that if you’re looking for entertainment that also manages to give you a reason to hate the world, you’ve come to the right place.
