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Welcome to the NHK
Anime DVD Review
It's not his fault. It's all a dark conspiracy!
Sato's life is going down the drain. He's dropped out of college, only goes outside once a week and sleeps sixteen hours a day. Surviving on a steady diet of internet porn sites, he finds himself falling further into a pit of despair.
Then he has a sudden epiphany. Sato decides that the sinister broadcast company known as The NHK is trying to transform their viewers into jobless, societal recluses, and they bombard them with images of cutesy anime girls. Unable to resist the charms of such addictive programming, innocent victims like Sato are soon too busy watching TV, reading erotic comics, and playing pornographic computer games to pursue a normal life.
 In Sato's darkest hour, he has a chance encounter with a beautiful girl named Misaki, who claims that she can cure him of his perverse ways. Is this mysterious visitor an angel of mercy, or a devilish agent of the NHK? Will he get a job and counter the evil organization, or will he submit to his weakness and download porn all day? Swimming in a sea of corruption, Sato prepares for the battle of his life. Welcome to the NHK!
A TV series that pokes fun at the otaku lifestyle, while also brilliantly portraying a total loser who will of course, resemble you and me in some way (sorry dude, but if you're reading this site, you're an anime otaku), Welcome to the NHK is a welcome addition to any anime fan's collection, because it hits so close to home.
 Just as many women see themselves as characters from Sex in the City you're sure to find something here that you can identify with regardless of age, class, color or religion. You'll quickly recognize that this anime series uses art as a mirror, reflecting ourselves into the part of Sato, as we explore the surreal landscape of modern taboos, while simultaneously enjoying the slapstick comedy and social satire of Sato's upside-down life.
If you live in constant fear of being perceived by your friends as a nerd, you're already borderline hikikomori. Now the question is: Will this series crack you from your shell, allowing you to finally experience the world, or will you be sucked in deeper, to be come a reclusive, perverted, messy, smelly super-fanboy? And what do you think will happen to poor Sato?
Below: Scenes from Welcome to the NHK.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, December 2007
Below: A panel from the Welcome to the NHK manga.
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