Welcome to the N.H.K.

Welcome to the N.H.K. (N・H・Kにようこそ!) 24 episode slice of life anime based on the novel of the same name by Takimoto Tatsuhiro.  The anime originally aired during the Summer and Fall of 2006.

    Satou Tatsuhiro became a hiki during his first year of college after suffering a nervous breakdown on the way to school. He began thinking that everyone on the street was chastising and ridiculing him. He fled in terror and locked him self in his room. Now he is a hikikomori NEET (Not of Employment, Education of Training) who lives on an allowance his parents send him, watching TV all day long. He sits in his one room apartment smoking, drinking and not doing anything. The series starts off with him being rudely awoken to the muffled sounds of a bi-shojo anime theme. His new neighbor has been playing the same song continuously for a couple of weeks and it is starting to grate on his senses. He envisions himself kicking in the door and yelling at the otaku to knock it the fuck out already. Yet he remembers that he is a hikikomori and can't stand to have any sort of contact with other people. He begins to daydream about his high school years spent doing nothing with the only other member of the literature club, his senpai Kobayashi Megumi, playing cards and debating conspiracy theories. He developed a deep infatuation with his senpai but was never brave enough to confess to her. Thinking about conspiracies leads him to believe that he is the way he is due to a conspiracy. 

    Suddenly his reality shifts and his appliances begin talking to him (in the manga this happens after he downs a bunch of pills). They tell him the organization that is behind his life of misery is the NHK (Nihon Hodo Kyokai; Japans PBS or BBC equivalent), re-branded as the Nihon Hikikomori Kyokai or Japanese Shut-in Corporation. He comes out of his delusion with a strong sense of power and thinks that, due to his seclusion, he should be able to break a glass bottle with his bare hands like a karate master. He attempts it and cuts himself. In the middle of trying to clean up the mess his doorbell rings and without a second thought he answers it. Standing at the door is a mysterious pale girl holding a parasol. Before either can say anything the girls' aunt steps in front of Satou, pushing religious tracts on him. He notices the issue she holds up has an article about hikikomori and he freaks out saying he couldn't possibly be one himself and retreats into his house. After lightly attempting suicide he decides he needs to improve his situation and get a job, as his electricity is close to being shut off. He gathers up all of his courage and heads out into the world to find a job. He stops at a manga café to apply but seizes up when the pale girl from before is working the counter. He stammers on about something meaningless, drops his resume and flees back to the safety of his apartment. He wonders why the girl was there and begins to imagine her as some sexually deprived/yet needing good little catholic girl…like the standard hentai plot line. Then she shows up at his house with his resume in hand. She introduces herself, Nakahara Misaki, and questions why he didn't apply for the job at the manga café. In the course of the conversation he admits that he is a hiki of which Misaki is overjoyed. She says she has come to save him from his miserable life, that she has a course that will cure hikikomori.

    Satou then meets his otaku neighbor face to face to find out it is an underclassman from high school named Yamazak Kaorui. Satou ended up saving Yamazaki from being beaten up one day in school only to impress his sempai. Due to that, Yamazaki has felt strongly indebted to Satou. Yamazaki is in Tokyo for school to be a video game programmer. Yamazaki is a true otaku, his apartment is filled with manga, anime, figurines and posters and, as Satou knows, anime soundtracks. This gives Satou an idea on how to convince Misaki that he isn't a hikikomori. He meets her that evening at a near by park and tells her that he cannot be a hiki because a hiki doesn't work, he works but it's just at home. She asks what he does and he tells her that he is a game designer. When she asks for proof he tells her that he is working on a new game and he will show it to her when it's done. He then goes back to Yamazaki and tells him they need to make a game, Yamazaki instantly jumps on the idea and takes it to the next level. Their goal now is to make the biggest most ground breaking ero-game ever and take over the video game world. Since Satou has no skills he is given the task of writing the scenario for the game. In order to understand what they are trying to achieve Yamazaki lends him a stack of ero-games. Once Satou understands what to do he becomes obsessed not only with the games but with downloading porn as well.

    The series continues on it's course and deals with Satou and Yamazaki trying to make their game, Misaki-Chan trying to save Satou from being a hiki, using her self made course material and other people from Satou's past either taking advantage of him or trying to rekindle some old ideas/emotions. Satou's senpai tries to destroy her 'perfect life' by cheating on her boyfriend with Satou. The class rep, from Satou's class, has gotten sucked into the treacherous world of pyramid schemes. All in all it is really about Satou and Misaki-Chan’s social and self-esteem, issues and how they react towards each other. Satou is trying to find a place for himself, some sort of reason to live…and to loose his virginity. Misaki is trying to feel some sort of self worth and latches onto Satou as someone who needs her to survive. The series has a lot of insane humor, sight gags and cultural puns but near the end it turns towards a more serious tone and the comedy starts to take a less prominent role. It's a well-written series that is based off of a manga that was based off of a short book. I have not read the book but I have read the manga. The manga and the anime are different in certain things; some of the story arcs are not in the anime or are slightly different. There is less emphasis on sex or sexuality and there is almost no reference to many of the characters drug habits/problems. The drug thing is understandable for broadcast TV but it helps to explain why the characters act they way they do sometimes.  The characters really are into drugs, there is a great little story arc that leads to the climax of the manga that involves Satou and Miyazaki doing some pills and going to a hot spring…funny stuff.

    This is a must see anime for anyone who is a fan of anime. The way it takes apart the lives of the desperate; society-shunning otaku is both highly entertaining and insightful. The entire series is available in English as is the manga.  Highly recommended!