Anime Welcome to the N.H.K.

[2010DigitalBoy]

Despite my usual trendy nature when reporting brand new anime to the chagrin of all those who can't find ways to view it; this show actually aired last year (in Japan. It has NOT been released in America) I only just learned about it. I didn't see a thread in the directory, so I figure ya'll haven't seen it, so now I'm gunna tell you that you should!

[B]Welcome to the N.H.K.[/B] is a bit of an acid trip right off the bat -- at first it will take you by surprise, bt you get used to it pretty quick. It's genre sits somewhere between insane comedy, intricate drama, and deep pshychology; namely because all of the characters are out of their freaking minds.

The main character, [B]Tatsuhiro Satou[/B], is a 23 year old [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEET]NEET[/url], or a peson not in a job, in education, or in training. He is also in his third year of being a [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori]hikikomori[/url] (follow link.) Basically, he lives in complete seclusion and has essentially lost his damn mind. We start off learning that for almost a full year he has had to put up with this anime music blaringly loud coming from next door. He hates it, and yet he knows the song by heart - he bathes in dementia.

Satou has all these flashbacks to when he was in high school. He was apparently in the literary club with this girl who was obsessed with conspiracies. She thought the whole world was a conspiracy and as a result Satou has come to believe it as well. He thinks that the Japanese broadcast network NHK is trying to take oer the minds of japanese youth with moe anime and turn them into hikikomori. there's one part of the episode whee he even finds himself talking to his furniture, though this doens't really show up later from what I've seen.

Evidently he became a hikikomori when he was on his way to sign up for college. He suddenly heard the voices of everyone coming down on him, ridiculing him, and so he fled back home.

The story truly begins when the doorbell rings. Satou has to answer fearing that it's a bill collector that will shut down his electricity, which he needs for a comfortable life. what he finds instead is a teenage girl with her aunt who are handing out panflits about curing hikikomori through prayer, saying how it's a big problem in Japan. Satou thinks they are part of a conspiracy and basically goes crazy in front of them and closes the door, going inside to be freaky.

Satou is surrounded by weird fantasies, wondering about the girl. Was she really ther to help? Was she part of some conspiracy? Also, it should be noted that he has a really sick mind when it comes to thinking about her >_< just a warning.

Anywho, she ends up dropping him a letter, asking him to come out to the park at 9. When he convinces himself (roundabout way) to go, she tells him that she's known about him for a while and that she wants to cure him. as part of her 'project' he has to sign a contract to let her cure him.

Well, Satou doesn't plan on succumbing, and the next series of events is really wild. in episode , he finally bursts into his neighboor's house to tell him to turn off the music and he finds the entire place to be positively [i]coated[/i] in anime crap, namely eroge games. The resident actually turns out to be an underclassman he'd known from high school whom he was friends with.

To put the insanity simply, one thing leads to another and they decide to make their own ultimate eroge game, and all kinds of other crazy stuff. The story takes place on a lot of fronts, circling around Satou's stuggle to cure himself of his hikikomori ways and yet maintain his sanity which, when cracked, leads to freakish results.

It's hard to accurately describe this show. I've only even seen 6 of the 24 episodes, but it moves fast and has a lot of stuff to wrap your brain around. As I said the show is a complete trip and all-around fun though highly perverted at times.

The animation and art are amazing. It's a [B]GONZO [/B] show, so that's a given, but the original art designs from the novel it's based on were done by [B]Yoshitoshi Abe [/B] ([B]Lain[/B], [B]Haibane Renmei[/B], [B]Texhnolyze[/B]). Not to mention the show has a simply outstanding soundtrack.

I've been getting really into this show, and I reccommend it to fans of stuff like [B]Paranoia Agent [/B] who are okay with some comedy spliced into their insanity.[/COLOR]

[Dagger]

[QUOTE=2007DigitalBoy][COLOR=DarkOrange]
The animation and art are amazing. It's a [B]GONZO [/B] show, so that's a given...[/COLOR][/QUOTE]
Don't get too invested in NHK's looks. It's a bit infamous for a couple of really horribly animated episodes (which, to add insult to injury, weren't even corrected for the DVD version).

ADV is going to release the first DVD in "late 2007," in case anyone's interested.

~Dagger~

[2010DigitalBoy]

[QUOTE=Dagger]Don't get too invested in NHK's looks. It's a bit infamous for a couple of really horribly animated episodes (which, to add insult to injury, weren't even corrected for the DVD version).

ADV is going to release the first DVD in "late 2007," in case anyone's interested.

~Dagger~[/QUOTE]

[COLOR=DarkOrange]I've never been one to complain about animation in a series, and i always get pissed when fanboy-riots center around an episode or two with bad animation. For instance, the whole issue with Gurren-Lagann episode 4 made me sick. I recognize when a series has good animation, but it's not like that's what I look for in anime anyway, so I really don't care about the little mishaps. I only brought up the animation for those who are GONZO-junkies.[/COLOR]

[Ayokano]

Yeah, Welcome to the NHK is pretty great. I finished it a few months ago and enjoyed it.

Coming from someone who kind of lives like Sato, it hits home hard. Though it still has great laughs and drama, depending on the episodes. Some of the characters are a little unlikable, but saying who would kind of spoil it for anybody who hasn't finished.

I've been meaning to check out the manga though, which I heard is a little darker.

[2010DigitalBoy]

[QUOTE=Ayokano]Yeah, Welcome to the NHK is pretty great. I finished it a few months ago and enjoyed it.

Coming from someone who kind of lives like Sato, it hits home hard. Though it still has great laughs and drama, depending on the episodes. Some of the characters are a little unlikable, but saying who would kind of spoil it for anybody who hasn't finished.

I've been meaning to check out the manga though, which I heard is a little darker.[/QUOTE]

[COLOR=DarkOrange]Ah, yes, seeing both the manga and the novels would be interesting. I'm sure if the DVDs do well enough we'll see them reach our shores. As a huge fan of light novels, I'm all game (plus Yoshitoshi Abe = one of my favorite artists. I'm mad he didn't do the manga, lol.)

I know what you mean about Satou - every time i look at him i see myself a few years from now >_< It's utterly frightening. There are some great moments in this from all across the spectrum. For instance in episode 7 after he gets a call from his mom and he's saying [spoiler]how she shouldn't have believed him[/spoiler], I was moved - and then I saw his friend in those imaginary [spoiler]cross-dress[/spoiler] scenes and I burst out laughing. i love the variation.

My favorite part of this show is easily Satou's mind. It reminds me of my own in that he's so very demented and always wondering what other people think. I find it cool... and then moments later I always have this utter terror creeping over me :( [/COLOR]

[Meggido]

I've seen the series and am now slowly working my way through the manga as it gets released. The manga actually moves faster then the anime and imo is better then the anime. The comedy is just great in both though.

In the manga however [spoiler]his hallucinations are explained by the fact that he takes drugs which is not explained the anime[/spoiler] Also one of the great things I love is the second arc in the manga. [spoiler]The Suicide arc is so much funnier when his friends don't try to go save him, in fact the friend goes to the comicon (or whatever it's called) instead and the Misaki follows him all the way thinking they were going to save Sato. Also the suicide meet, they try to gas themselves with carbon-monoxide instead, so once Sato passes out in the tent they drag him out and back home[/spoiler]

Note: I'm useless with remembering names.

[affection]

[COLOR=DarkSlateGray][SIZE=1][FONT=Georgia]I've never seen this show but it seems so hard to follow.
Is it really worth watching or more of a whatever sort of thing?
If you honestly think it's worth watching, I will try and get a hold of it.
Thanks :)[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[2010DigitalBoy]

[QUOTE=affection][COLOR=DarkSlateGray][SIZE=1][FONT=Georgia]I've never seen this show but it seems so hard to follow.
Is it really worth watching or more of a whatever sort of thing?
If you honestly think it's worth watching, I will try and get a hold of it.
Thanks :)[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

[COLOR=DarkOrange]As of episode 8, this is one of my favorite shows and probably my favorite of the ones I'm watching. If that's not enought of an indication, nothing it. this show isn't for everyone, and it will require at least mild otaku-ness to get some of the references, but if you can dig the style, you'll be sure to love it. Like I said, I'd reccommend it to fans of stuff like [B]Paranoia Agent [/B] or[B] Boogiepop Phantom [/B] (I would say [B]FLCL[/B], but there's too many people who like that for no reason)

On that note, so far ep 9 was the greatest and fully excentuated what this show was about. Firstly, the music at parts was brilliant. It had the most powerful moment yet ([spoiler]When Satou holds up the PC and yells ' I bet this heroine is based off of her, isn't it?!'[/spoiler]) and one of the funniest things in anime history ([spoiler]when they start screaming 'go to hell bitches' i was rolling, but the best of all was when Satou goes 'everyone... go to hell.'[/spoiler]) that was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time in anime.[/COLOR]

[affection]

[quote name='2007DigitalBoy][COLOR=DarkOrange]Like I said, I'd reccommend it to fans of stuff like [B]Paranoia Agent [/B] or[B] Boogiepop Phantom [/B'][/COLOR][/quote]

[FONT=Georgia][COLOR=DarkSlateGray][SIZE=1]I will have to try it out. I've watched Paranoia Agent in the past and found it amusing :)
Thanks a lot.[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT]

[2010DigitalBoy]

[QUOTE=affection][FONT=Georgia][COLOR=DarkSlateGray][SIZE=1]I will have to try it out. I've watched Paranoia Agent in the past and found it amusing :)
Thanks a lot.[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/QUOTE]

[COLOR=DarkOrange]Yay!

I just finished watching this last night (watched from like 12 to 24 in a marathon, lol) and this is probably now my third favorite anime of all time, pushing Kanon out of the way. In fact it might even surpass Haruhi for the number 2 spot. This anime really toyed with my emotions and coincided exactly with my way of thought. The creepiest part, though, is how well it relates exactly to my current situation.

Like in the anime, I was on an emotional roller coaster for like 6 months, and now I'm at the point where [spoiler]i've decided that even though life is fruitless, there's no reason to die yet.[/spoiler] This anime, I think, carries the most truth and the biggest life lesson I've ever seen in a show. The ending was really great. [spoiler]As much as I was begging to see Misaki and Satou kiss or at least hug, I think the more subtle ending worked.[/spoiler] And also, who would've guessed Satou would have [spoiler]become a traffic cop?![/spoiler]

The best part to me, though, is just [spoiler]imagining their future. I know both could just up and kill themselves at any moment, but I don't think they will. I can see the way their future will probably play out. They continue to do the lectures, gradually fall more in love, after Misaki-chan graduates they'll get married, and go on with the rest of their lives. I don't doubt there will be those 'this is worthless, I should die!' moments, but overall I think their situation was so perfect in the end it makes me smile just thinking about it.[/spoiler]

And now, I need to quickly avoid thinking about the series at all. Whenever i watch something like this, I always get really deperessed. Because while you know that [spoiler]everything worked out, you can never convince yourself that it would actually happen to you. That instead, you'll die all alone. But at the same time, you think 'wasn't that the point? that it can happen?'[/spoiler] I always end up thinking about it too much and getting really sad and crying. So I'll stop ^^;;[/COLOR]