welcome to life 6.7.08

At first when I heard "Welcome to NHK", I pictured this is about some protagonist working in the Japanese broadcasting station, more or else, with some twisted humour. Not really - it is a new introduction into a world that is different from any other things I have watched before. It goes deep within me, for a comedy-drama anime with a psychological attachment and a dark side of society. Funny and touching in one package.

When I watched its first few episodes for the first time, it seemed absurd, I couldn't believe I was watching this - I could not understand why my ex-schoolmate Abe, who is the expertise in this anime/manga field, recommended this to me. He is good at it, with the titles he had recommended to me so far had not been a waste - this guy's first words spoken to me were whether I knew of the anime where the guy protagonist had a girl attached to his right hand (Midori no hibi), at the time, I had no idea what the heck he was talking about. But hear me out first; I wouldn't waste this space to comment about a story that I have recently watched if I didn't think it was worth it. Not just another anime - indeed, it has a storyline I could relate to, so very deeply with my own life. Writing reviews on my blog - is once in a blue moon - this may be that once.



Welcome to the NHK is about several people living in Tokyo:


1) Satou Tatsuhiro = a 22-year-old man; a NEET (Not in Employment, Education, or Training) as he is a university dropout and not working; a hikikomori (acute social withdrawal, anti-social) as he lives a reclusive life staying in his messy apartment not going out at all but only to the convenience store; has a strange conclusion that it happens because of some conspiracy by an organisation called N.H.K. - Nihon Hikikomori Kyokai or translated as Japanese Social Withdrawal Association. According to him, supposedly NHK aims to turn people into hikikomori and NEETs, based upon the "supposed fact" that hikikomori are needed in society for the purpose of giving people someone to look down upon, making themselves feel superior to them. Satou wants to break free from NHK's clutches, but unable so, since he finds it too frightening to go out by himself. He's not really an otaku, but similarly, is a hikikomori - who are all afraid of rejection by the society around them.

2) Nakahara Misaki = female, 17, claims to be able to cure Satou of his hikikomori ways; not much is known about her until few episodes before the series ends; manages to slowly get Satou to get out of his hikikomori life when she invites Satou to join her special "project" to cure him of his hikikomori ways.

3) Yamazaki Kaoru = male, 20, Satou's neighbour and high school junior, an otaku; works with Satou together to create the greatest hentai game of all time.

4) Kashiwa Hitomi = female, Satou's senpai in high school who was in the Literature Club with Satou, also fascinated by the concept of conspiracy theories; has deep depression and takes pills for it.

Source: Wikipedia and some anime blogs (2008) --> I love citations :)

After beginning to watch it, I thought the idea of the conspiracy was brought up so often, it didn't make sense to me. The small blue mascots of conspiracy are really annoying too at first. It was even hard to remember or even pronounce hikikomori. But it is fun to watch this when I decided to go on and see what was gonna happen next to Satou, with those funny moments and dark humour. In the beginning the story seemed light and, (yeah, of course - to me anyway) ridiculous, but as I went on the storyline became more painful for the characters, that is, quite more serious. The story reflects real life social problems, and some of them could identify me so well.


To note that Satou really wants to get out of his hikikomori life and live like a normal person, but unable to do so, he felt so miserable and useless - eventually leads him to sink into a deep depression, as if being dead might have been a better option - but death is just not the solution. He might sometimes pretend he is all right, and goes on with his hikikomori routines, played games for days and sleeps 16 hours a day - in the end he succumbs to it, in pain, wondering how much longer would he be living that way. Afraid of changing his ways, he feels better if he could just disappear. It is hard to change, and this I can feel too well. To think that death and pain is just simply easier than changing, is a thought that is rather too simplified to deal with life's hardships, but it isn't as simple as it looks like; it only causes more pain and trouble, whatever the consequences are. Then comes a person who wants to help and care for him, Misaki, without him knowing anything about her other than her name. She appears in his life quite out of nowhere offering "cure" for his hikikomori ways, secretly having her own tragic past that goes unfolded later in the series.


Because of her past and the life she is having, she feels her life is filled of loneliness - so Misaki tends to think she is useless, too, but in a different way than Satou. So she helps others - tries to, help Satou, hoping to feel needed by someone, so as to prove she isn't as useless and troublesome to the people around her in the world as she thought she was.

Welcome to N.H.K. originated from a novel by the same name, or N.H.K. ni Youkoso, and also made into a manga before the anime came out. Drugs are also involved in the novel/manga as it seems, but not portrayed in the anime - I'd love to get the novel, someday...

Other than the anime itself, Welcome to N.H.K. also has great music with it. Hearing the 1st ending song (Odoru Akachan Ningen) for the first time, I didn't like it; at least the Ababa thing was what I didn't like going into my ears - other than that, I like the song especially the piano and drums. That's just me, though. Eventually though, I came to like the song (Odoru Akachan Ningen), as I think it's fun and banging from the start, and the other songs and soundtracks for this anime, are great as well. And, kinda annoyingly, I am hooked with the song Purupuru Pururin that came out in the early episodes of this anime. Can't help it; it's happy and catchy. No wonder Satou too ended up singing it without realising it, much to his annoyance, after hearing that song being played loudly over and over again by his neighbour. The melancholic Modokashii Sekai no Ue de is also nice, sung by the voice of Misaki, with its frustrated yet hopeful lyrics.

Strange way to put it, but Welcome to N.H.K. has left me with different thoughts upon how I look at certain things than before. It is funny yet touching, it got me thinking deeper than usual after I ended watching this, still occasionally having those thoughts till today (it has been days). There are a lot of things from this story that I could relate to myself - like mixing a part of Satou- being afraid of the world and leads a reclusive life as a result of this, with that of Misaki- caring much for a guy whom she was trying to help - just to name a few of those things, which all seem so familiar to myself. It comes out as my personal favourite - one of the best out there. Thanks, Abe. I would definitely recommend it to anyone out there - not to stop watching it just after the first few episodes, as the good parts will come about as you go further.

Warning: May contain nudity. -_-" Makes me wonder if men's thoughts are always like him in this case??
Did I mention absurdity?

But still, recommended story =)

Anata wa hitori ja nai kara.
[You're not alone.] - Kurosagi
- just to say we are never alone, therefore we should not give up on life, ever -