This is gonna be a long one, by the way, so grab a drink or something.
I have this really odd thing about how to handle certain situations and/or circumstances, especially the ones I could've had impact on. I guess one could say the same thing as my doctor back then when he diagnosed me with something he called an "affective disorder" - or, well, depression, as one may call it. I didn't really get how he'd come to that conclusion, I thought: "Well, I hate getting up in the morning to go to work, I have called in sick a bunch of times because I wasn't able to get myself together and felt like shit for no particular reason, there was this one time I took a two-week-vacation to stay at home to play video games (even though I actually wanted to visit my family during that time, but I was way too ashamed of myself and my nerdiness and my, well, "me" to go there, so I lied about being sick with the flu or something), and that other time I didn't leave the house for a month because I was afraid to face the people at my work place (author's note: I was a mobbing victim for quite some time. Wasn't pretty.), and I can't stand to look at myself in the mirror because I fucking hate my stupid-ass face more than anybody else - BUT I'M FINE."
It took me another two months or so to actually come to terms with the fact that I was, in fact, not fine. The thing about getting a diagnosis like this is a) you don't really actually believe it yourself at first and think everyone's full of shit and b) you subconsiously know that you're the one who's full of shit and that you are indeed ill - you're just not ready to accept option b), yet. The thing that finally pushed me over the edge and made me admit I needed help was - of all things - a goddamn Japanese cartoon. More specifically, it was "Welcome to the NHK" that gave me the push.
Tatsuhiro Sato (which is basically the equivalent of having the name "John Smith" in English) is a NEET (= Not in Employment, in Education, or in Training) who hasn't left his appartment for quite some time after a hot summer's day that made him realize the world was full of conspiracies against him. When the young, enigmatic Misaki offers to cure him of his hikikomori-"disease" by counseling him, he learns how to integrate himself back into the world, step by step - which, as it turns out, is a rocky-ass road that is paved with loads of disappointments, disastrous situations, addictions, gallows humor and some of the most (sometimes more, sometimes less) charmingly fucked up characters I for one have ever seen in a television program, anime or not.
What makes NHK work so incredibly well - especially for people like me who know how it feels like to be left out of the world, voluntarily or not - is, for one, that it's based on one of the best contemporary novels I've ever read. The anime stays very true to Tatsuhiko Takimoto's novel, adding at least one plotpoint and changing a few others, to make the series flow a little better and make it a little more TV-friendly (e.g. it downplays Sato's drug problem, which is a big factor in the novel). But don't let that fool ya: this series is relentlessly vicious and downright brutally honest with itself and its characters. The way it deals with otaku culture alone, exploring the good aspects as well as the bad ones without holding back, deserves a big high five towards its creators GONZO.
Yes, _the_ GONZO. The same dudes who gave us Vandread, Burst Angel and the infamous Witchblade-anime. They had already proven with SaiKano, Gankutsou and Blue Sub No. 6 that they were actually able to create anime that went beyond "Bigass titties and gore". You can say about their output what you want, but they created their own little masterpiece with NHK, in almost every category.
The artstyle is very stark and takes a realistic approach at its character designs most of the time. The occasional, GONZO-typical animation hick-ups and some pretty jarring moments of characters completely loosing shape and all kinds of body proportions make the art and animation kind of inconstistent, but whenever it's good, it's REALLY good and downright inspiring. My favorite moments are the flashbacks to Sato's highschool days and some intense moments featuring a certain person being tormented by another person's presence.
Soundwise, you really can't go wrong, both dubs (Japanese and English, that is) work really well, the voice actors all turn in really good performances and clearly enjoy voicing the most broken-ass people you can imagine in a slice-of-life'ish anime series. I want to highlight the English dub in perticular for its well-written, well-translated script and the - excuse my French - FUCKING AMAZING performances by Chris Patton as Sato and Greg Ayres as his hardcore otaku-buddy Yamazaki. Holy cow, these guys steal the show and run away with it. Especially Patton's performance is a sight to behold. The very independent-movie'esque soundtrack and the awesome opening song by Round Table are the icing on the cake. One minus point for excluding the trumpet part in the "second" opening, though (which is basically a remixed and - in my opinion - less fun version of the first one).
By the by: "You ask if I'm okay? OF COURSE I'M OKAY! I'm fucking BETTER THAN OKAY, thank you very much!" may also be one of my favorite lines in anything ever.
The real deal about the series, and the thing that ultimately sells it, is its characters and story. It's rare for me to actually connect with anime characters on such an emotional level, because it's rare for me to see anime characters that remind me of people I know. Yes, some things about the people in NHK are blown up to a ridiculous degree for dramatic purposes, but holy shit, Sato reminded me so much of myself during my depression-phase it wasn't even funny anymore. I have friends who talk and act like Yamazaki, I knew a girl once who was very much like Misaki (and people who know about NHK's plot know how well that relationship turned out). The fact that the novel as well as the anime are grounded in reality like that, without loosing their respective anime-edge of occasional fanservice-moments (though presented in a completely different light than you might expect) just works so amazingly good. And I like the fact that GONZO did not add some shitty ending to the series but finished it the same way the novel ended. Unlike the manga, which took everything I mentioned above about "stuff being blown up for dramatic purposes" way too much over the top and turned everything I liked about the novel and the series into shit in favor of a yandere-storyline that, ironically, felt as tacked on as a lot of GONZO's endings. So, good job there, GONZO! And as for you guys: stay the hell away from the manga, read the novel instead.
Welcome to the NHK is, in my opinion, a must watch for everyone who's even remotely interested in otaku culture or good character drama in general. It's sometiems incredibly funny, sometimes incredibly sad, but always eager to show you exactly what you came here for: characters in emotional peril who try to seek a way out, and behave really fucking stupid while doing so. Just as I did back then and just as I do nowadays from time to time. It's firmly placed on the second spot of my favorite anime of all time and it shall always stay there until I forget everything about Trigun (which, I hope, will never happen).
In the end, everything's going to be at least okay.
