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Welcome to the NHK

Review:

Welcome to insanity, paranoia, and dark humor. Welcome to the NHK. Know that it's all a conspiracy, and they are out to get you.

Welcome to the NHK is a weird, weird TV series. The main character, Sato, is a hikikomori (roughly, a shut-in) who stays in his apartment as much as reasonably possible. One day, his appliances (yes, appliances, including his refrigerator) inform him that he is a target of a massive world wide conspiracy, the NHK, to create hikikomori like himself. On one of his nightly treks to the local park, he meets a girl who informs him that she is aware of his condition, and wants to help. She offers Sato a contract -- she will cure him of his hikikomori ways during nightly therapy sessions in the park; if he doesn't show up, he'll have to pay <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=1000000+yen+in+USD">one million yen</a>.

Meanwhile, he finds that his next door anime-music-blaring neighbor is not only an otaku, but a friend of his from high school; they decide to create a dating sim together. Sato's "research" for the game is amusing.

Visually, the series is well animated. Surreal scenes look surreal, and real-world scenes are realistic. The music is light and mostly stays in the background. The characters all have understandable yet quirky personality; although they are occasionally stereotyped by Sato. An interesting but short story arc features Sato falling in love with a catgirl in a MMORPG; nearly anyone can figure out right away that this character is not what she appears to be.

Rating: 3/5 - Good
Format: SERIES
Added to FanCruft: July 13th 2008
[Buy Welcome to the NHK at Amazon]

Angst: 10	Overlord: 1	Experimental: 7	Mech: 1	Weird: 5	Action: 4