Welcome to the NHK! ep.1

July 9, 2006 | 16 Comments

Opening Theme: Puzzle by ROUND TABLE feat. Nino (12.1MB, for PSP/Quicktime)

This is a slightly disappointing adaptation animation-wise. I think those who expects this to be similar to Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu will be especially disappointed. NHK ni Youkoso! definitely lacks the mass entertainment factor that Suzumiya Haruhi possesses. However, if you're into character development and an in-depth look into the problem of modern society, then this is a good series to watch. The opening theme, Puzzle, is actually quite pleasant to listen to. Unfortunately, the animation that goes with the music looks quite bad which is unusual for an opening scene.

The episode begins with a guy called Satou Tatsushiro declaring that this is unmistakably a conspiracy. As he said this, two huge spotlights are pointed towards him and he is immediately surrounded by bullets. Because of this, he has no choice but to run. As he does this, the background changes from featuring magical girls to world war artillery. His body is then propelled by a large explosion to a snowy area, where he can see a girl carrying an umbrella. His attention, however, turns to a shadow of a monster that is hovering in the sky. Satou decides to run towards the monster and jump off a cliff while carrying a strange looking doll which also serves as an explosive. Before he can throw the explosive, however, it already detonates, producing countless grey dolls in Satou's stead. Satou then wakes up in his bedroom saying how lately he's been suffering from a headache and wonders if it's because he always sleep around 16 hours per day.

Satou is also annoyed because his next door neighbour keeps playing the same anime song. He now hallucinates about a bunch of female puddings singing in front of him and when he tries to shut the puddings off, they multiply. Satou wishes he could open the door, kick the door next to his room, and force the guy to shut down the music. Unfortunately Satou can't even get out of the room because he starts hearing voices of other people on the street making fun of him. This was why Satou quit college and locked himself up in his room. After giving up on the idea, Satou ends up laying on his bed again. As he does this, he starts seeing the same weird grey man giggling and saying "conspiracy". He is then reminded that his senpai once told him that there is conspiracy in this world. Back then, in order to impress the senpai, Satou also ends up defending another student who got bullied. However, he got beaten up as a result.

Satou's imagination eventually leads him to realise that his real life is a mess. He has no money to support himself, his room is a mess, his mail is unsorted, and he smokes like a chimney. He then starts to imagine that appliances in his room can talk and inform him that the one who is responsible for the conspiracy is NHK (Nippon Housou Kyoukai - Japan Broadcasting Corporation) TV channel. The TV then shows Satou an anime program called Henshin Mahou Shoujo Pururin. This makes Satou believes that the TV channel has been airing anime which turns youth into Otaku and eventually into Hikikomori and NEETs. Because of this, Satou is convinced that NHK is actually an abbreviation of Nihon Hikikomori Kyoukai (Japan Social Withdrawal Organisation). Feeling pleased for being able to figure out the conspiracy, Satou begins to think that he too can break a bottle with bare hands.

The effort, however, brings Satou back to reality because his hand is now bleeding from contact with the glass shards. To make matters worse, the doorbell suddenly rings. He doesn't feel like opening the door but realises that it could be the electric company. Since he could not bear the thought of his electricity being turned off, he ends up walking through the door and look through the peep hole. He is surprised to see a beautiful girl with a pink umbrella and decides to open the door. The girl herself looks quite surprised upon seeing Satou but their quiet moment is interrupted by a woman who immediately screams upon seeing the blood in Satou's face. As it turns out, the woman is there to hand out information about Hikikomori. Satou freaks out upon seeing this and wonders if this woman knows that he is a Hikikomori sufferer. He begins saying that he could not possibly a NEET or a Hikikomori who has not been in contact with other people for a year.

Everything then goes downhill from there and he ends up admitting that he is indeed a Hikikomori sufferer who quit college and has no future. He then slams the door and sinks into the floor in frustration. From inside the room, however, he can hear the woman calling the little girl "Misaki-chan" so he decides to open the door again and finds the girl looking at him in curious manner before smiling and leaving the place. Because of his encounter with Misaki, Satou decides to clean himself up and get out of his apartment to look for a part-time job. He then goes out of his room chanting the line he's going to use when he gets to the manga cafe where he planned to apply for the job. Unfortunately for Satou, the first person he meets at the manga cafe is none other than Misaki. He becomes nervous and ends up talking about bike instead of the job. Satou realises that he's making a fool of himself and decides to leave the place and accidentally drops an envelope.

At home, he tries self-strangulation to end his life but fails miserably. Because of this, he ends up imagining Misaki as a nun and how from time to time she's tempted to pleasure herself and has to hold herself back by saying that God is watching. Satou is excited by the thought and is about to grab a box of tissue but he's interrupted by the doorbell again. Through the peephole, Satou realises that the person is actually Misaki but when he opens the door, she already left. Satou, however, finds the envelope that he dropped in his mail box. When he looks at the back of the envelope, he sees a message from Misaki telling him that she has selected him as her project and therefore she needs him to see her at the park at 9PM. That night Satou decided to come but quickly regretted it when Misaki didn't appear. Much to his surprise, however, Misaki eventually appears and asks him why he ran away the previous day. She knows he's afraid to venture out and suffers from Hikikomori. She then tells him that she'll help him to recover from it.

Impression:

I have to say that the first episode is not that bad despite the rather inconsistent character design. There are some scenes where the character design actually do look good. In general though, I think Misaki suffers a bit more in this regard than Satou. In the manga, Misaki looks really cute but her look does not translate well in the anime adaptation. Satou's character design is a bit better although it's not consistent from one scene to another. The part where he acts out his secret agent fantasy looks a lot better than his ordinary life scenes. Voice acting-wise, I like the actors who voice Satou and Misaki since their voice exactly matched how I imagined the characters would sound. Satou has that mature male voice instead of a teenage boy, while Misaki's VA perfectly alternate her voice between sweet and commanding.

The music within the episode itself is quite good to listen as well. My favourite is the one that was used during Satou and Misaki's first meeting. If I didn't already like their pairing, I think that music would have sold that scene to me. I think that is the moment where both Satou and Misaki realise that their life is about to change due to the presence of each other. True enough, Satou begins making his first step out of the apartment after his encounter with Misaki. Speaking of encounter, I'm surprised to see Satou's perverted imagination making it into this adaptation. I thought for sure that it'll be excised from the anime. Having said that, I don't think the rest of the story will be full of this kind of perverted imagination. If I remember correctly, the perverted imagination only appear in the first few volumes of the story. After that, the story takes a drastic turn into a serious matter. So if the perverted imagination turns you off a bit, just skip that part.

The story itself is the main reason why I want to at least cover the first episode because it's a very interesting topic. Some people probably already aware that this is a story about a Hikikomori sufferer and his struggle to overcome his fear of the outside world. The storyline will probably turn many people off, especially those who actually look at someone like Shinji from Evangelion with contempt. Just like Evangelion, this series started out as a comedy but it eventually turns serious and becomes an in-depth look into the problem of modern society. Those who are hoping that this will be a romantic comedy or a perverted one will be disappointed in the long run. In addition to this, while there are several characters in the series, Satou is the main focus of the story and a proxy for other characters. Therefore, in order to appreaciate this series, you have to be able to, at least, sympathise with him instead of dismissing the guy as a pathetic loser.

Ending Theme

Ending Theme: 「踊る赤ちゃん人間」 - Odoru Aka-chan Ningen by Otsuki Kenji and Kitsutaka Fumihiko (16.4MB, for PSP/Quicktime)

Hmm....right, not exactly my kind of music. I also wonder if this is the kind of music that a reclusive, Hikikomori sufferer would listen to. I would think something more soothing, relaxing - more emo like that song from Evangelion, Komm Susser Todd would be more appropriate. But hey, weird animation to go with it! So it's not a complete lost.

© memento 2003