Welcome to the N.H.K.

Welcome to the N.H.K.

Welcome to the N.H.K. is the story about a young man, Satou Tatsuhiro, who, affected by paranoia, decides to isolate himself in his apartment and live as an hikikomori, a person, often young, who doesn't study nor looks for a job, instead secludes himself from society. One day Satou meets a girl, Misaki, who claims to be able to save him from his hikikomori's life, and that's how the adventure begins. Helped by Misaki and his friend Yamazaki, Satou will slowly get out of his shell and aim toward a normal life with alot of funny and dramatic moments along the way. The desperation of being considered worthless by the society and looked down by everyone will accompany Satou in his journey as well as the paranoia of being the target of a large conspiracy made by the N.H.K. (Nihon Hikikomori Kyoukai / Japan Hikikomori Society) to keep him an hikikomori. Satou as well and his friends are all a bit strange, everyone with problems and everyone trying to go on in their lives. Everybody will see a bit of themself in some character in the story and identify with its miseries while reaching out for a little bit of happiness.

Art is simple and effective in describing Satou's fantasies and paranoia. Sounds and voice acting are also great and make the story very involving. Welcome to the N.H.K. shows how everyone have hard times in this life. Modern society tends to take away happiness and especially in countries like Japan, where the competition and the expectations are oppressive, there are more and more hikikomories every day to a point of becoming a national problem. Watching this anime i have asked myself how did our society became like this? Is it really this how we are supposed to go on in this world? Is the dream of being rich and successful really the only one?

Score 10/10

Art 7/10

Sounds 9/10

Characters 10/10