Welcome to the NHK is one of the best anime that I’ve ever watched. This is probably because it was the first anime that got me into watching anime ‘as a hobby’, or because it’s just a very good anime. Welcome to the NHK is an anime that has the themes of hopelessness, loneliness, anxiety, and how it can keep us down. What we see around us can be changed by it, and we can make ourselves think that everyone about us is out to get us and laughing at our very existence, even though it is all just in our head. Welcome to the NHK aired in 2006, but its very story is ever so relevant in the current day.
The protagonist in Welcome to the NHK is Sato Tatsuhiro. Sato is a 22-year-old hikikomori (someone who has withdrawn from all social life). He spends his days in his small apartment, without having a job or going to school, sleeping the day away and living life without a purpose. Sato has been a hikikomori for over three years, after he had a panic attack while walking to school the first summer at university. He blames his being a hikikomori on the NHK (Nihon Hikikomori Kyokai (Japan Social Withdrawal Association)), an imaginary organization whose sole purpose is to keep him from escaping from being a hikikomori. He hallucinates often, which fuels his conspiratorial theories and makes him go more insane. At the beginning of the anime, he has no reason for existing, just laying down all day, seemingly waiting to die. The only time he goes outside is at night, to either go to a convenience store or to the park – any other outside activity would probably give him a panic attack.
Sato’s life changes one night when he meets Misaki, a younger girl that says she wants to help him to get out from being a hikikomori. Sato knows almost nothing about Misaki, but Misaki knows all about Sato and his life. Even before meeting him, she already knew his name, birthday, and even the fact that he dropped out of university. Sato hesitates at first to accept her offer, pretending to not be a hikikomori, but eventually accepts her offer.
Sato also interacts with Yamazaki, his next-door neighbor, often. Sato and Yamazaki were friends in high school, making their reunion sweet at first. Both are shocked at the developments in each other’s life’s that happened in-between the four years since Sato graduated high school; Sato becoming a hikikomori, and Yamazaki becoming an otaku. Besides Misaki, Yamazaki is the only (mostly) positive influence on Sato.
The only other reoccurring character in this series is Hitomi, who was Sato’s senior in high school. She recruited him to be in the Literature Club, which they were the only members of. She was the person who introduced Sato to the idea of conspiracy theories and is partially the reason why Sato thinks that the ‘NHK’ is plotting to make him a hikikomori for the rest of his life. When they meet again in the anime, Hitomi seems to have her life together. In reality, she is only able to hold her life together because she’s on many medications.
Sato’s takes quite the journey throughout the anime. At times, he seems to finally be breaking out of his shell and unbecoming a hikikomori, only to be sucked back in by unfortunate outcomes and internal forces. When things are going good, Sato often over-thinks, and thinks that whatever good situation he’s in is just the NHK plotting to make him turn into an even more socially-isolated hikikomori. Although gullible, Sato can be quite smart for someone in his situation – he just is not able mentally to get out of his rut. Misaki and Yamazaki try hard to get him to return to regular life, but Sato often reverses the progress he makes.
Almost everything about Welcome to the NHK backs up its excellent and enthralling story. Its soundtrack excites, depresses, or gives the viewer anxiety. The relationships Sato builds up with others are satisfying to see, even if he is constantly messing them up. The animation isn’t that good, but this isn’t the type of anime where that matters all that much. Overall, Welcome to the NHK is a brilliant anime that showcases the struggles of a man trying to re-enter society.
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