Welcome to the NHK (NHK ni Youkoso) anime review

So I just finished watching Welcome to the NHK (NHK ni Youkoso), an anime which spans 24 episodes which you can get from http://realitylapse.com/info/welcome-to-the-nhk/splash.php. Yeah having nothing to do really makes me addicted to anime and manga more. ^^; I just tried one episode and resulted to episode marathons which lasted for hours.

SUMMARY:
Welcome to the NHK is a story about a Tatsuhiro Satou, a hikikomori and a NEET. A NEET is an acronym for Not in Employment, Education, or Training. A hikikomori, on the other hand, could be translated as person who has acute social withdrawal. Satou had been a hikikomori for four years, always locking himself in his apartment doing nothing. He is a college drop-out, a dependent on his parents, and a failure as a human (DAME NINGEN!).

The reason why he became as such because he thinks everything is a conspiracy, including why he became a hikikomori. He accused the secret organization he came to term as Nihon Hikikomori Kyoukai (NHK) of building conspiracy theories which turns people into a hikikomori. Everything seemed to change when he meets certain people such as Misaki Nanahara, a person who wants to cure him from being a hikikomori.

Genre: Daily life, shounen, a bit of ecchi, comedy, romance (?)
-end summary-

Now this anime has this charm to lure people into watching it. They say that first episodes should give the viewer a gist of the story, and what they would expect in later episodes. NHK didn’t disappoint in that. The first episode actually made me hooked into the anime because of its realism. No exaggeration and corny punch lines here – all that you can relate to (if ever you have a bit of hikikomori inside you >__>). The dialogs of the characters are also realistic, as well as how they act.

Yes, his room looks like that. >__< He’s a really terrible hikikomori that you can cry from his stupidity and his being pathetic.

It’s also interesting that an anime could actually tackle something so simple and easily seen in society – those freeloaders and bums who doesn’t want to try any hard work. The only difference of the hikikomori is that they have the fear of having social contact and also having the fear of the outside world. The anime, interestingly, also has moral lessons which are prominent in some episodes. Issues such as being an addict to online games, blatantly lying, evils of multi-level marketing, and other more.

Satou and Yamazaki, where Yamazaki is getting to hyped up with his anime otaku personality. ^^;;;

Satou influenced with galges by Yamazaki. ^^;;;

The characters are well-built that it constitutes to the anime. Yamazaki Kaoru, an anime otaku who indulges in ecchi, doujins, galges (hentai games), and figurines, is Satou’s first friend who apparently is just beside his apartment. He’s always the one who puts Satou back into reality, even though cynical and pessimistic. Misaki Nanahara is the girl who wants to save Satou from being a hikikomori. She’s bland, cynical, pessimistic, and most of the time carries a poker face which just looks cute most of the times. Hitomi Kashiwa is another character, which I won’t spoil for you here. Hehe

Misaki Nanahara, in her cute mode, as always. ^^ MOE MOE! >__<

The music is good as well. The opening song is a catchy track by Round Table feat. Nino, who also did the opening of the famous Chobits anime. As I watched the opening then, for the first time, I had my suspicions on this anime being an ecchi. ^^;; But no, it isn’t, really, aside from minor nudity.

 

CONSPIRACY!!!! >__<

The first ending song was good in a way that it would make you think of a funny rock band since it talks about being a baby human – or what they term as akachan ningen or kidult. LOL It’s rather catchy. The second ending is good too, but I didn’t like it as much as the first one. ^___^

Now the best song in the anime is the catchy Fushigi no Pururin or Mysterious Pururin. I got the song stuck in my head for days. I didn’t know that there could be a song which could be cute and done by a bishoujo-type character. Now you just have to hear it for yourself when you watch the anime. >__<

I rate this anime five out of five. And I even made a review. lol I really liked the anime. I put it in league with Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya), which is the best anime I’ve seen. ^^