Your friend, the psychologist: "Don't be sad!"
Feelings are quite unique and human. You can experience deep pain and true happiness, fear something or love it, desire it or completely reject it. Human relationships are all about feelings and understanding, about loving and hating... Sometimes, people can have those feelings blocked, or maybe they are completely buried in their brains. They experience a philosophic attitude called "nihilism". Nihilism comes of the latinism nihil, translated in english to "nothing". The nihilist rejects all posible morale and human sense, expressing that life has no meaning.
Anime has come this far... You can see the giant boobs of a hot demon, you can watch a betrayed girl decapitate his cheating boyfriend, you can experience time travel and magic powers like alchemy, with great stories behind them..., but a few shows manage themselves to show the true pain of living your life, "carrying that weight". NHK ni Youkoso (NHK, for the sake of briefness), is one of those morale lessons you don't want to forget any soon.
The story follows Satou Tatsuhiro, a 22 year old NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) that left university (or better, was kicked of) and became a hikikomori. One day, he meet a mysterious girl called Nakahara Misaki while receiving publicity in his house. She offers Satou a "project" in order to end his hikikomori useless and miserable life.
You know, the plot isn't that amazing if you compare it to Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood or Cowboy Bebop, but do not let NHK's simplicity fool you, this one is a big one. The main thing about NHK is not its complexity but how it is told. Sometimes, you see an anime and think, "wow, who in the world would believe such an stupid thing?", and that is completely OK, because this is fiction. But here, the line between fiction and real life is crossed in the wake of realism. This is a story you could fit everywhere: in the new Hollywood act, in a motivational book, or even in tomorrow's news. NHK does not want you to go out there feeling you are unique, but quite the opposite. Slice of life was never so good...
Gonzo is not known for its great animation projects... In fact, last thing I saw about Gonzo was..., terrible (Saint Seiya: Saintia Shou), and here..., well, it was 2006 and a studio that lacked money, but..., I think it is... ok? It manages itself to create his own style, but I can say this is the weakest part of the show.
Sound was amazing, all the way. The opening did not engage me but the OST was GREAT. Imagine Cowboy Bebop's jazzy mood mixed with Trigun's spaghetti western music and you can imagine how good this is. Voice acting is also excellent. Satou is voiced by an unknown Yutaka Koizumi, who did little apart from NHK! But that doesn't talk about how good does his role here. His voice resembles Miyano Mamoru's works (Okabe, Light), and Misaki's seiyuu is also really good.
Character creation is the best this show can offer. Great representation of loneliness, despair and raw pain. Every character is somehow flawed but not to the way of being completely unbelievable. The main couple, Misaki and Satou, develop an amazing relationship, focused on how they evolve or involve. They get better, worse, they cry, laugh and are totally relatable in every single moment. I would not say more, because you have to experience it yourself to know what I'm talking about.
So, is it NHK! any good? Fuck yes. It is not only good, it is not only great, it outstands in every single way an anime can outstand. It is not a cheesy drama about how lonely the main character is, but it isn't about how stupid he is: it is about how human he is, and that is what I most liked about this show.
Absolutely incredible.
