Welcome to NHK! is a magnificent slice of life show depicting the life of hikikomori, Satou Tatsuhiro, and his struggles to overcome this dreaded condition. The quality of psychological insights, pace of plot and an ability to tie all lose ends is certainly something no one could have ever expected from a show coming from GONZO, but, well, miracles happen it seems. Satou’s struggles will give you a lot of insights at many Japanese sociological problems and otaku life, moreover it’s a pretty high level psychology material and first-rate romance show at that. Definitely watch it if at least one of the things I’ve mentioned spurt your interest - Welcome to NHK! is amongst the best anime ever produced.

Unlike the others, I can’t believe in God since I have a poor imagination. If an extravagant miracle would occur before my eyes, like in the Bible, then… Then I could at least blame all the bad things that happen on God.

Originally written as a novel and later adapted to manga by Takimoto Tatsuhiko and directed by Yamamoto Yusuke (Keroro Gunsou) Welcome to N.H.K. follows a life of a single guy and his attempts to cure his hikikomori (he is scared of interaction with people so much he can’t even leave his house) condition. However, thanks to a particular turn of events he manages to meet an otaku, whom he was friends with in the past (who, for the better, or worse, introduces him to the world of anime and moe), he also meets a girl, who for seemingly no reason decides to cure him no matter what. It doesn’t take too long to lose sight of who is the patient and who is the doctor though, as both the viewer and Satou himself soon realize that he might be the most mentally healthy individual out of the bunch. So what are you waiting before delving into the world of self imposed isolation; anime, eroge, mmorpg addictions; solipsism, suicide, depression; multi-level marketing schemes, conspiracy phobia and various obsessions?

Not only NHK is one the best shows I have seen in a very long time (and I watch at least one show a week), but it also has the most psychically warped cast of characters since the times of Evangelion. And you bet, that’s saying much. Anyway, this show is obviously intended for otaku and I discourage you to watch it if you are not at least aware of what the therm eroge means yet. I haven’t read the original novel, or the manga adaptation yet, so my viewing experience comes without any prejudice. However, at the same time I can not tell if either the original work was so good that even the highly trained team of high potential screwing elites from GONZO couldn’t do anything about it, or if GONZO hired new people to make this anime into a really great show. Either way, NHK ni Youkoso is a really well made piece of work, with little to no boring moments and lots of feed for a psychology-hungry mind. Add the fact that all of its core is told in ironical, even sometimes sarcastic way, and you have one hell of an anime. It’s not as depressing as Neon Genesis Evangelion, but damn, when you think about it, world’s an evil place after all.

Animation: 3

It’s ironical that being the best show GONZO (Last Exile, Gankutsuou) has ever made, NHK has probably the worst animation out of everything GONZO has ever animated. Though low by GONZO’s standards, animation is still quite good when compared to most mainstream shows of the date. Well detailed, but not too flashy character designs catch the sense of realism going around the plot pretty well, blue hair would have killed the show instantly. Color palette is slightly more vivid than you would expect from a realistic anime, but it goes well with the sarcastically funny nature of the show, not to mention that it helps some backgrounds look much better than they would in blander colors. Being a hikikomori anime NHK offers a surprisingly wide variety of places and backgrounds, all of which are above average and rarely waver in quality. Motion fluidity might be the only part of the show you could gnaw at, especially since it is visibly better in the beginning and end of the show, when compared to its middle part, it still doesn’t go below average though. On the other hand, since NHK is mostly action-free I found motion fluidity of little concern and rather immersed myself into attractive character designs. If there is one thing to say about the animation, is that it doesn’t stand out much. You certainly wont remember this show for being an eye-candy, but it’s just because other parts of it are just so good.

Sound: 4

Pretty good opening theme Puzzle by ROUND TABLE feat. Nino accompanied by clever animation sets the mood for the show very well. Ending songs are pretty good as well, Odoru Akachan Ningen by Ohtsuki Kenji is a beat up half-funny half-sad satire of the plot of the show, while Modokashii Sekai no Ue de by Makino Yui is an emotional, lonely song very well suited for the latter half of this anime. Pearl Brothers have certainly made a good choice with background music as well, some of the pieces suit the show so extremely well, that… Well, there were a few occasions where the same song was playing, never stopping, even though the show actually changed its scene three times, and not only it didn’t feel awkward, it felt as if the piece was actually reacting to those changes, good stuff. First episode of the show is actually a good background listening material, substitute for my winamp playlist, thanks to such good picks of music and, pretty much, a never ending flow of it. The only somewhat disappointing point is that it lacks variation. You can hear the same song in every episode and it makes you wonder if there weren’t more cool songs to fit the scenes. Anyway, the music really stands out in the first and last episodes of NHK. It creates the mood and is really pleasant in the middle too, but for some reason, unlike the first episode, it kind of blends in, maybe thanks to repetition or that the most emotional scenes are packed in the first and last episodes.

Voice-acting, though not overwhelming, is quite good in freshness sense. Particularly Makino Yui (Tsubasa Chronicles as Sakura) does great job at sounding both cute and weird at the same time as Misaki. It’s no surprise her voice-acting feels fresh as apart from Sakura’s role, which is probably the best thing out of that anime, she has no other big roles under her record. I sure hope she gets more roles in the future, as she is genuinely talented. Satou’s voice by Yutaka Koizumi is pretty good, if not particularly distinctive. A real surprise that he only has one or two other roles in his record.

Story: 4

A magnificent tale about Japan’s sociological problems. The plot is fun, there are no visible fillers and it has enough layers and twists to never let you dose-off. While you wont sit on the edge of your seat through the whole show (it’s a slice of life, common) you will certainly be entertained through the whole go, especially if you are interested in either psychological disorders or what is happening in Japan, or of course if you are a hikikomori too. Heh, I have lived through more than half of the mental disorders present in this show, and I wouldn’t really mind to shut myself in for years, though for different reasons than the characters in this show. NHK is also the first work of fiction I have read in my entire life to finally prove me, that God can serve a positive function even for intelligent people. Finally it is also great that GONZO actually managed to finish their anime without lose ends for a change.

Characters: 4

The best thing about characters in this show is freshness. Out of all the hundreds of anime I have watched I haven’t seen characters like them elsewhere. And they are good characters. They develop, regress and then repeat the circle, which makes them extremely human-like. It’s actually not that common to show how characters regress in fiction, rather than develop, but this show doesn’t mind it and I love it. NHK doesn’t follow any archetypes, nor it tries to make its characters have over-expressed personalities like many anime do, and though that is usually a bad thing in my book, it does great things with psychological slice of life here. What’s better is that even though they are human-like realistic, every single one of them is not exactly what you would call normal from society’s view, and that is precisely what makes them so interesting. I think it took me two episodes to completely fall for Misaki, and I don’t fall of characters easily. Despite having much screen time and a lot of chances to express her personality she is extremely hard character to analyze, not only because she is, simply told, weird, but also because you never know when she lies. To some extent same could be applied to the main character, who lies, sometimes even to himself. Now stop and think about it, how many anime have characters lie to deceive themselves and make viewers fall for it? Not many. I like dissecting my characters with Myers Briggs types, but this time it proved extremely difficult and I have no confidence in my predictions. It shows exactly how different and deep the characters of this show are, though that might not exactly be obvious for an inexperienced viewer.

Conclusion: Recommended for ages 17+ due to violence and profanity NHK ni Youkoso! is a must watch for any otaku or person who has even the slightest interest in psychology or social problems. Unless you have read the original manga (and knowning GONZO…) you wont be disappointed with a great investment of time this show offers. Actually, now that I think about it, it is very vaguely and slightly reminiscent of Neon Genesis Evangelion, though you might as well compare it to Genshiken. Or a combination of the two.