Welcome to the NHK - Complete Series (DVD)

Release date: 2011-06-22
Suggested retail price: $49.95
Age rating: M

ISBN-13: 9330080007974 9330080007974

Description:
Hikikomori - a Japanese phenomenon of acute social withdrawal whereby an individual becomes a recluse from society, typically confining him or herself to the house or a single room for a very long period.

Satou Tatsuhiro is 22 years old and NEET (Not in Employment, Education, or Training). He’s also a shut-in, or hikikomori – his apartment is filled with garbage from cheap take-away food and he spends his time watching terrible TV and internet porn. Not even the obnoxiously loud music from next door can snap him out of his hibernation and he is under a delusion that he is the subject of a conspiracy by the Nihon Hikikomori Kyokai (NHK), a secret organisation whose sole intention is to produce a world filled with hikikomori.

The discovery that his neighbour is actually a perverted otaku only drags Satou further into his psychological black hole, but offers him an interesting opportunity: he will make a “gal game” (i.e. hentai) as proof that he is a “creator”…to impress a mysterious girl!

Welcome to the NHK is an intelligent comedy drama that hints at satire, but never casts judgment on the themes it explores with a lot to say about the adverse effects of consumerism on lonely young people. The characters are superbly crafted and interact with sincerity regardless of their shortcomings. It’s this sincerity and overall realism that makes Welcome to the NHK strongly resonate with audiences and has elevated its status to become something of a modern-day classic.

(added on 2011-08-07, modified on 2011-08-07)

• Reviewed by Luke Carroll (August 21, 2011)

• Encyclopedia information about Welcome to the NHK (TV)