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Anime First Impressions

NHK ni Youkoso! (Welcome to the NHK!) – Anime First Impressions

NHK ni Youkoso, or Welcome to the NHK!, follows the tradition of Genshiken by having an otaku in the starring role! Everyone seems to love the manga, so the anime should be good as well. Plus the OP is done by Round Table (feat. NINO) so I’m pretty much contractually obligated to watch this.

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NHK ni Youkoso, or Welcome to the NHK!, follows the tradition of Genshiken by having an otaku in the starring role! Everyone seems to love the manga, so the anime should be good as well. Plus the OP is done by Round Table (feat. NINO) so I’m pretty much contractually obligated to watch this.

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Quick Note: I watched this anime raw (without subtitles), so if there’s stuff in here that’s obviously wrong, please let me know!

The anime starts off with Sato Tatsuhiro having a bad dream. Y’know, like the ones that Pee-Wee had in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure? Except without the clowns. Sato is a hikkikomori, much like Jun from Rozen Maiden.

On this particular day, Sato seems to be hallucinating a lot. He sees a jello girl, multiple pudding women, and his home appliances coming to life. This is obviously the work of a conspiracy!

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Anti-Hikkikomori lady and hot girl pay a visit after Sato cuts his hand thinking he can karate chop a beer bottle. Yes, this anime kind of makes no sense. Sato yells at the two for not understanding him, but hot girl seems to be quite enamoured by him…

He finally decides to stop being emo and goes to the manga store to get a job. But wait, hot girl works at the manga store! Instead of asking for a job (baito), he just says he likes bikes, and runs away. Good job, Napoleon!

The girl, Nakahara Misaki, leaves him a note, saying that she wants to meet him at the park for her “project!” Score!

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So right now, NHK ni Youkoso! is all about the mystery. Why does Misaki like this hikikomori dude? Is the NHK really conspiring against him? Where can I get a sub of Henshin Mahou Shoujo Pururin? I really liked Genshiken because it gave a look into the lives of nerdy otaku. I’m getting the same kind of vibe here, though it’ll probably go less in depth in that subject.

I guess there also might be a love story between Tatsuhiro and Misaki. Otaku and hot girl? Hey, it’s just like Densha Otoko, without the train!

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The character designs seem kind of out of place for this anime. Aren’t hikkikomori supposed to be fat and ugly? Aren’t girls who work at comic book stores supposed to be fat and ugly? I can forgive the character design for Nakahara Misaki though, because she’s way cute without being overdone.

The animation is fairly good. I liked how the opening credits had the colored text that people were walking around. It reminded me of the Honey and Clover OP, due to its delightful weirdness.

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As I stated earlier, the OP is done by Round Table feat. NINO. This means I’ll instantly like it. I like everything they do, and this is no exception. The ED is this weird song that’s apparently about dancing human babies… It’s weird!

Download the OP: “Puzzle” by ROUND TABLE feat. Nino
Download the ED: “Odoru Akachan Ningen” by Kenji Otsuki and Fumihiko Kitsutaka

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I generally like anime about otaku culture, so I’m pretty confident that this anime will be good too. Hopefully they’ll ease off on the weirdness. I was having flashbacks to the Brave Little Toaster for a second there… As I said earlier, the reception to the manga has been good, so I’ll keep watching the anime based on that. Well, that and the cuteness of Misaki. NHK ni Youkoso indeed!

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15 replies on “NHK ni Youkoso! (Welcome to the NHK!) – Anime First Impressions”

One thing you gotta remember is, whenever you think, “Is he high?” the answer is yes. He is. I’m guessing most of the drug references will be cut (unfortunately, since it’s kind of confusing that way). Ah, I don’t want to spoil too much, but… keep watching.

This isn’t some story about an otaku fanboy. It’s about a seriously-disturbed social recluse. Some of the pursuits that he finds himself following in the confines of his apartment are certainly geeky, but most of that is a distraction like the the T&A that shows up in most series (think half of what Mikuru did in Haruhi Suzumiya no Yuutsu). Oh, and Misaki has her own issues.

You’ve seen nothing yet. I’d wish this is a romantic comedy, but when viewed from the perspective of someone that makes Ikari Shinji look like a superhero, it doesn’t work out like that. I hope they don’t cut out the pedo obession chapter out from the anime, as it would tell you exact what kind of person we are dealing with here. (and its damn funny too)

Geeky don’t come even close. It is HIKIKOMORI for a reason.

“I was having flashbacks to the Brave Little Toaster for a second there… ”

I laughed out loud at that comment; I can see how that would be the case!

To clarify a couple of things…

First, the beer bottle-breaking scene. He comments on the strength that karate masters obtain when they exile themselves (hence the scene before Satou decides to break the bottle), thus concludes even he can break a beer bottle due to his self-imposed exile from society (Spoiler: He does).

Secondly, as someone stated previously, drug references were cut. In the manga, he was sniffing coke (IIRC) and the talking appliances were a repercussion of that. In the anime, he’s been… smoking too much? Perhaps drinking as well, although it’s not directly implied.

Thirdly, there is no romantic interest between Satou or Misaki at this point in time. Misaki sees Satou as a prime candidate for her project, and Satou sees prime fapping material in Misaki. That’s all for now, but the thread between the two will probably progress further as the story goes along (if the manga is any indication).

Almost forgot the Plrin scene; the jello figure and the pudding hallucinations were the result of Satou trying to figure out why that mahou shoujo’s name was Plrin. The effect, before and after, was due to his constant annoyance with the same song being played over and over (for a month) from next door.

Most of the music i’ve heard in the show so far has been great and very fitting for the scene it’s in. can’t wait for the OST to be released.

[…] One thing that playing this visual novel has already taught me is to appreciate Welcome to the NHK more. There’s an episode where Satou plays hentai game after hentai game nonstop. Before I had played any of these games, I figured he was just a little obsessed. Now I know that in order to get every ending, Satou must have played a hella lot!!! BTW, the game I’m playing, Ever17, doesn’t have any hentai content in it, so feel free to let your kids play it (maybe not…)! […]

I must admit I started to like this stupid mahou shoujo theme song after some episodes. I liked the opening and animation immediately but I disliked the ending song first. However, after paying attention to the lyrics and hearing it after each episode, I started to like it as well albeit it has a rather unconventional style especially for an anime show.

CAUTION: SOME SPOILERS

I love the anime so far for one major reason: it encompasses some normal scenery (a budding relationship with past loved interest = possible trouble in the future?) and it also has a dark, realistic feel to it that this could actually happen (except to a lesser degree in my opinion). With that said, as of episode 9, there is relationship forming between Sato and Misaki.

With the drug references being mentioned in the manga, the anime scenes where his appliances talk to him makes much more sense instead of just blaming it on his exile from mankind.

Also, Sato’s pedophilic nature is somewhat covered in episode 3 of the anime. Maybe they may cover it some more later. Who knows as of yet.

Sato himself is brought into the otaku land by his neighbor Yamazaki. He isnt initially a fanboy of any sorts. Yamazaki is the one who plays the Plrin song constantly, and is the one who shows Sato the life of a galge player (look up galge on wikipedia if you are unsure what this means).

I personally love the ED. Crazy lyrics and good music.

I found this anime very intriguing. I felt like I was on bad acid in the first episode, from intro til the segue of his dream sequence. Once I got past that I enjoyed it more and more. I was wondering if anyone can direct me to a manga download that’s translated. I don’t have much patience for anime anymore. The manga also conveys a … less tampered with story in most cases, while still covering the same great story. …

anyway, [email protected] if anyone would be kind enough to contact me.

I know evil genius subbed the manga, but I’m not sure where to download the subbed manga. Try torrentreactor.net

The bottle breaking was a reference to Mas Oyama, founder of Kyokushin Karate.. he famously chopped the neck off of a wine bottle, which is what Sato is emulating. Oyama also fought a bull, a bear, and broke river stones for fun. Seriously.

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