Manga Review: Welcome to the NHK (Complete Series)

Welcome to the NHK is a haunting and chilling story, but in a good way. It takes risks that most stories never would, but question is, do those risks pay off? Well, for the most part, yes.

The story of Welcome to the NHK revolves around Sato, a hikikomori. He dropped out of school, has no job, and lives in his apartment by himself, too depressed and afraid of the world to go outside because he is convinced that the NHK, a popular Japanese television broadcasting company, is one big conspiracy to turn people into hikikomori just like him. One day, a religious missionary comes to his door trying to spread the word of God. Sato passes it off as a simple annoyance and tries to pretend that he’s just fine on his own, but the missionary’s niece Misaki sees right through Sato’s act, and goes on a quest to cure him of his hikikomori ways and integrate him back into society. However, Misaki has her own personal reasons for doing this, and as more and more people get pulled into her tenuous relationship with Sato, truths are revealed that will change these people’s lives forever.

This story goes deep, and I mean deep into the worst that humanity has to offer, from abuse to affairs to drug use and beyond. It shows a depiction of the world from the perspective of people who have been beaten down by the hardships of life in the worst of ways. This tale is crafted in a rather ingenious way that I can’t quite describe, but it works beautifully at what a good story is meant to do, which is pull us in and make us care about the characters. However, in order to reach all of this goodness, you have to wade through the rather unimpressive and slow first half of the story.

The first half of any story is usually filled mostly with exposition, explaining who the characters are, how they wound up where they are, and where they want to go. However, Sato doesn’t really want to go anywhere, which makes for a very interesting story as others pull him around in ways that they feel is best for him. Still, the chapters of the first four volumes read more as just an odd coincidental series of easy-to-relate-to events until the second half of the story hits. Then it gets incredible as the characters begin to change and grow and make some rather shock decisions and conclusions about their lives.

The one thing that is constant throughout the manga, however, is the odd feeling of a choppiness to the reality of the story. One minute you’ll be viewing a scene of Sato out on the town with a few characters, and then in the next panel he’s back in his apartment and you begin to wonder “Was that even real? What is going on here?” This frustrated me a bit at first, but as I was about three-quarters through the story, I realized that this feeling was actually a brilliant way of presenting the story.

As Sato sinks deeper into his fantasies and hallucinations, we are reminded that this story is largely told through his point of view, and the distortion of what is real and what isn’t is a perfect representation of how he sees things. This also becomes an interesting vehicle for the story’s creator Tatsuhiko Takimoto to make some cleverly hidden social comments about the ridiculous way the world views things that are different from the norm and how those views can effect a person with devastating results.

Still, in the end, the core of this story is really about hope and how having the strength to hold on for just a little big longer can make all the difference. It’s a very depressing but uplifting story at the same time, and the roller-coaster of emotions coupled with engaging characters make Welcome to the NHK a story that you won’t soon forget. It may seem a bit slow at first, but it is more than worth sticking with to get the end result.

Welcome to the NHK is currently on sale and is licensed and distributed by Tokyopop.

ENJOYMENT
Slow at first, but oh so satisfying in the end

4/5

RECOMMENDATION VALUE
This is one manga that is NOT to be missed!

5/5

REREAD VALUE
Because of all of the back-and-forth scenes, rereading this is probably a good idea

3/5

Purchase Welcome to the NHK at RightStuf