About

Welcome To The N.H.K N・H・Kにようこそ! N.H.K. ni Yōkoso!). is a Japanese light novel manga and anime series created by Tatsuhiko Takimoto. The story follows 22 year old unemployed college dropout Tatsuhiro Satou who has been shut away inside his apartment for 4 years living as a hikikomori. In his isolation, he has come to believe in many obscure conspiracy theories, but there is one in particular which he holds an unshakable faith in: the theory that the evil conspirator behind his shut-in lifestyle is the Japanese television corporation known as the N.H.K. However all that begins to change when Satou is reunited with his otaku underclassmen buddy from high school named Yamazaki and when a mysterious young girl named Misaki offers to help cure him of his hikikomori ways.

History

The original Light Novel

The novel was published by Kadokawa Shoten in Japan on January 28, 2002. and was first published in English by Tokyopop on October 9, 2007.The story revolves around a 22-year-old hikikomori neet who after being shut inside his single room apartment for over a year gets aid from a strange girl who seems to know a lot about him, despite never having met him before. Common themes throughout the story deal with depression, isolation, existential dread, the hardships of life and how people must deal with them in their own way. The novel analyzes profusely the phenomenon, of hikikomori (Shut-ins who dropout of society and stay at home in their bedrooms for more than 6 months) which is relatively widespread in Japan. The author Tatsuhiko Takimoto. was a hikikomori for one year and has stated that he wrote the novel to try and help himself breakout of isolation but in the end it didn't work and that he continued to live as a hikikomori for many more years living off of money he got from the book.

Manga

The manga series was written by Tatsuhiko Takimoto and illustrated by Kenji Oiwa. It was published by Kotokawa Shoten and serialized in Monthly Shonen Ace from December 26, 2003 to May 26, 2007. The manga's forty chapters have been collected into eight bound volumes released in Japan. Tokyopop licensed the manga for release in English, and the first volume was published on October 10, 2006. The manga version diverges from the original light novel later in the story. After Tokyopop's license expired, Viz Media picked up the series in 2015.

Anime

A 24-episode anime adaptation produced by Gonzo and directed by Yusuke Yamamoto aired in Japan between July 9 to December 17, 2006 on Chiba TV and on later dates on other JAITS stations. Hiroshima Home Television, a local ANN station in Hiroshima, aired the series from July 16 to December 23, 2006. The series was coordinated by Satoru Nishizono, featured character design by Takahiko Yoshida, and the music was headed by Masao Fukuda. ADV Films licensed the anime for $240,000 and released the first DVD of the English edition in October 2007. In 2008 the English license was transferred to Funimation. and Siren Visual has licensed the series for release in Australia and New Zealand.The anime has four pieces of theme music; two opening themes and two ending themes. The first opening theme, "Puzzle" (パズル Pazuru) was written by Rieko Ito, composed by Kitagawa Katsutoshi, and performed by Round Table featuring Nino. The second opening theme is a remix of the first entitled "Puzzle (extra hot mix)" (パズル－extra hot mix－) which was produced by the same people as with the first opening theme. The first ending theme used for episodes one through twelve, "Odoru Akachan Ningen" (踊る赤ちゃん人間, lit. "Dancing Baby Humans"), was written by Kenji Otsuki, composed by Fumihiko Kitsutaka, and featured vocals by Otsuki and Kitsutaka. The second ending theme used for episodes thirteen through twenty-four, "Modokashii Sekai no Ue de" (もどかしい世界の上で, lit. "On Top of a Frustrating World"), was written and composed by Yugo Sasakura, arranged by Masanori Shimada, and performed by Yui Makino.

Reception

A. E. Sparrow of IGN gave the novel a nine out of ten while comparing it to Catcher in the Rye, saying "there's enough Holden Caulfield, or even Tyler Durden, in Satou and the events that surround him to make this story a solid read for anyone interested in books that examine the human condition. The manga version of Welcome to the N.H.K. was also positively reviewed. Writing for Anime News Network, Carlo Santos rated the Tokyopop releases of the third manga volume with a B grade for story, an A− for art, and an A− overall. Speaking on the volume's art, Santos noted "it's endlessly entertaining to watch the parade of shocked, disturbed and stressed-out faces as Satou confronts each of society's ills," as well as highlighting the "detailed backgrounds" and "clean, rectangular layouts and frequent speedlines." Concerning the writing, "the dialogue is full of vigor and wit, with a straightforward tone that conveys mad outbursts, tearful breakdowns, and everything in between." And with regards to the adaptation, Santos praised the volume by writing "out of Tokyopop's many, many translations, this series stands among one of their best, if not the best. Santos was more couched in his approval for the fourth volume, giving it a C+ for story, an A− for art, and a B grade overall. While criticizing that "the plot has taken a vacation," he wrote that "those who are into NHK for the highly developed character drama, however, will find these chapters to be some of the most memorable yet," and concluded "it may not be the best or most entertaining volume of NHK, but it does serve its purpose, which is to deepen the story and make the characters even more dysfunctional and twisted than they already are. The anime series was generally well received by critics. In his review for Animation World Magazine, James Brusuelas wrote "Welcome to the NHK is a true anime gem," describing it as "a delicately human tale." He went on to praise the series, saying "This is more than just anime. This is film." Concluding his review, he remarked "I cannot recommend this series enough. It is perhaps the best anime I saw during 2008.

Online Relevance And Fandom

Welcome To The N.H.K. is a fan favorite among many anime fans in the western anime community regarding it as a true classic it has also become a fan favorite among many English speaking NEETs and hikikomori as they see the anime as very relatable and can relate to the characters in some way. Threads discussing the anime and novel have been posted on the /r9k/ and /a/ boards on 4chan there is also the subreddit on reddit r/WelcomeToTheNHK/ where fans of the anime manga and original novel gather and talk about Welcome To The N.H.K. episodes have also been posted to Youtube both subbed and dubbed and Youtuber lily-liver has even done a full audio book reading of the original light novel and other Youtubers have done reviews on the anime as well. There are about 817 results on deviantart tagged with Welcome To The N.H.K. and 121 results on .pixiv.

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External Links

Welcome To The NHK Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_to_the_N.H.K.

Welcome To The NHK Wikipedia Japan

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHK%E3%81%AB%E3%82%88%E3%81%86%E3%81%93%E3%81%9D!

Welcome To The NHK TV Tropes.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/LightNovel/WelcomeToTheNHK

Welcome To The NHK MAL

https://myanimelist.net/anime/1210/NHK_ni_Youkoso

Welcome To The NHK On .crunchyroll

https://www.crunchyroll.com/welcome-to-the-n-h-k

Welcome To The NHK IMDB

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0857297/

The Welcome To The NHK Wiki

https://welcometothenhk.fandom.com/wiki/Welcome_to_the_NHK_Wiki

The Welcome To The NHK Subreddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/WelcomeToTheNHK/

pixiv results

https://www.pixiv.net/search.php?s_mode=s_tag&word=NHK%E3%81%AB%E3%82%88%E3%81%86%E3%81%93%E3%81%9D!

Viz Media website

https://www.viz.com/welcome-to-the-n-h-k

. Deviantart results

https://www.deviantart.com/popular-all-time/?section=&global=1&q=Welcome+To+The+NHK&offset=48

4chan /r9k/ archive

https://desuarchive.org/r9k/search/text/welcome%20to%20the%20nhk/

4chan /a/ archive

https://desuarchive.org/a/search/text/welcome%20to%20the%20nhk/

Tatsuhiko Takimoto Twitter

https://twitter.com/tatsuhikotkmt

Tatsuhiko Takimoto Official Website

http://tatsuhikotakimoto.com/

Interview with an American hikikomori

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/02/the-world-of-american-hikikomori.html