Story
Welcome to the N.H.K. is about Tatsuhiro Satou, a NEET and hikikomori college dropout who slowly comes out of his shell (and his room) throughout the series by cultivating a friendship and possible career with his neighbor as well as attending “counseling” sessions with a seventeen-year-old girl who comes into his life one day. I won’t include any spoilers in this review, but what I will say is that the story always had my attention despite the fact that it isn’t action-packed or fast-paced. The writers somehow managed to achieve a perfect balance of comedy, story progression, and emotion to keep me hooked throughout every episode.
Art
While at first I felt as though this anime had a slightly older art style (I like crisp lines and more saturated colors) it ended up really fitting the overall mood of the anime. The characters are well drawn and their appearances suit their personalities. I have no complaints here, although I wouldn’t say the art is above and beyond expectations.
Sound
The music in this anime really lends to the feeling of whatever scene is playing. A few times throughout the series some of the music has lyrics, and if you don’t know Japanese it can be a little difficult following along in subtitles with both what is said and what the music is saying, but this only occurs about two-three times throughout the series and is not really a big deal. I really enjoyed the music in this anime, and felt that it went beyond my expectations. The voice acting was well done, and the sound effects were superb.
Character
I feel that the characters were multifaceted and well rounded, and their development over the series was believable and well executed (especially with the main character). My one complaint is that I wish we got to see more of Misaki’s backstory and learn more about who she is as a person.
Enjoyment
I quite enjoyed this anime. It had a perfect blend of comedy, drama, romance, and psychological/philosophical aspects.
Overall
You will fall in love with this anime if you enjoy psychological/philosophical anime, if you have ever struggled with social anxiety/depression/mental illness in general, or like anime with a message. I can’t stress enough how wonderfully balanced this anime is - there was never a moment where I wanted the episode to be over or I felt that I was watching filler. I was entertained and mesmerized from the first minute right to the very end.
