Welcome to the N.H.K.: Difference between revisions

Welcome to the N.H.K.
	File:WelcometotheNHKanime.jpg Cast of the anime.
Genre	Slice of life, Comedy, Drama, Romance
Manga
Written by	Tatsuhiko Takimoto
Published by	Kadokawa Shoten
Manga
Written by	Tatsuhiko Takimoto; Kendi Oiwa (art)
Published by	Kadokawa Shoten; Taiwan Kadokawa; Tokyopop; IVREA
Anime
Directed by	Yūsuke Yamamoto
Studio	GONZO

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Revision as of 19:49, 20 December 2006

Welcome to the N.H.K. (N・H・Kにようこそ！, NHK ni Yōkoso!) is a light novel by Tatsuhiko Takimoto, which has been adapted into a manga and an anime series. In real-world Japan, NHK refers to the TV channel and broadcasting corporation Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai, but within the series, NHK also stands for Nippon Hikikomori Kyokai which means "The Japanese Hikikomori Association", a reference to the protagonist's claim of a subversive conspiracy led by NHK (the broadcasting corporation) to create NHK (the hikikomori group). While it mainly deals with the reclusive phenomenon of hikikomori, the plot also explores many other Japanese subcultures — for example: otaku, lolicon, and internet suicide.

In North America, the manga is licensed by Tokyopop, and was released on October 10, 2006, one of the first manga published by Tokyopop to be rated M, for 18 or older audience (Happy Mania, Battle Royale, Yubisaki Milk Tea among others, have also earned this rating from Tokyopop).

Plot

Template:Spoiler The story follows Tatsuhiro Satō, a university dropout entering his fourth year of unemployment. He leads a reclusive life as a hikikomori, feeling that this happened due to some sort of conspiracy. He then meets Misaki Nakahara, a mysterious girl who claims to be able to cure Satō of his hikikomori ways. However, both of them have a tendency of over-doing things, such as hiding the truth. Despite Misaki's offer of salvation, it is Satō's neighbour and high school friend, Yamazaki Kaoru, whom Satō often turns to in moments of need, and who, despite his own idiosyncrasies, is one of the more stable characters in the story.

Characters

Tatsuhiro Satō (佐藤達広), (Seiyū - Yukata Koizumi)

File:SatouWelNHK.jpg

Satō in his apartment

The story's protagonist, at 21 years old, he has entered his third year of being a hikikomori and is a NEET. One to have delusional thoughts, he believes that his unemployment and dropout are the works of NHK's conspiracy. He lives in his rented apartment, but depends on his parents for money. Under the influence of his neighbour, Yamazaki Kaoru, he has become a lolicon otaku, and helps Yamazaki on the script of their eroge. Later he leaves the apartment he lives in to live with his parents again, when his parents realized that he has more psychological problems than expected. But problems seem to spin-off on its own for him anywhere.

File:Misaki Nakahara.jpeg

Misaki Nakahara

Misaki Nakahara (中原岬), (Seiyū - Yui Makino): A mysterious girl who claims to be a volunteer of a charity "project" to help hikikomoris like Tatsuhiro. She has the tendency to lie, such as hiding the fact that she dropped out of high school, but she does not do so to mean any harm. She will tell Tatsuhiro whatever it will make him pay attention to her. She seems to have deep attachment to Tatsuhiro as of current story-state. She gives two indicators of her past, the first being her confession that she needs Satō because he is worse than her, and the second is that in the episode Welcome to Reality on occasions he raises his as if to strike her she flinches (as if she has been beaten before).

File:Kaoru Yamazaki.jpeg

Kaoru Yamazaki and Pururin-chan

Kaoru Yamazaki (山崎薫), (Seiyū - Daisuke Sakaguchi): An otaku who was in Tatsuhiro's high school, but of a lower grade. Because Tatsuhiro once stood up for him in high school, he respects him with great deal, even though he does play various jokes and pranks on Tatsuhiro at times (like acting like a girl who's in deeply love with him in online game of Ultimate Fantasy.) For some reason, he happens to be Tatsuhiro's neighbour in his rented apartment. He made Tatsuhiro join his doujin eroge project, and was also responsible for turning Tatsuhiro into an otaku. His family owns a sizable farm in Hokkaidō. Later on he was forced to go live on the farm due to his fathers sickness and at the train station, his girlfriend dumps him for she loves female anime characters too.

File:Hitomi Kashiwa.jpeg

Hitomi Kashiawa

Hitomi Kashiwa (柏瞳), (Seiyū - Sanae Kobayashi): Tatsuhiro's senpai in high school, now a public servant. Due to stress, Hitomi has developed a dependence on drugs. She has attempted suicide through an internet suicide pact (called the Offline Meeting Notice, a pun on shutting one's own life off as if a computer), but changed her mind after her boyfriend proposed to her. She isn't fully satisfied with her marriage though, as later, she gets nervous breakdowns. And eventually confesses she had lied, she didn't love him, and neither did he.

Megumi Kobayashi (小林恵), (Seiyū - Risa Hayamizu): Tatsuhiro's classmate in high school, was the class representative back then. Now involved in a pyramid scheme to support her brother, who is also a hikikomori. They meet frequently in manga, but none of them realizes the existence of each other until later.

Template:Endspoilers

Light novels

The novel series was first published on January 28, 2002, with the cover drawn by Yoshitoshi ABe of Serial Experiments Lain fame. A second edition was published in 2005.

According to the author Tatsuhiko Takimoto, the idea of the story came one night as a result of a writer's block. He phoned Yūya Satō, a friend of his who is also a novelist, and said: "Tomorrow there is a conference in Kadokawa Shoten, but I can't think of a story, please think of something." And with that, the two stayed in a family restaurant at midnight until they came up with Welcome to the NHK. ^{[citation needed]}

File:Welcome to the NHK 4.jpg

Cover to volume 4 of the manga (regular edition).

Manga

Drawn by Kendi Oiwa, the manga first premired in Shonen Ace in June 24, 2004. The manga version diverges from the original version later in the story.

In November 2005, the limited edition of the fourth volume was published with a Misaki figurine, causing sales of the manga to skyrocket, and was once ranked third on amazon.co.jp in terms of sales. The limited edition of the sixth volume, planned to be released in November 2006, will include the hard copy of the bishōjo game from the manga, True World ~Shinjitsu no Sekai~. The game will be authored by Tatsuhiko Takimoto, the characters designed by Kendi Oiwa, and produced by CIRCUS (famous for D.C. ~Da Capo~).

The manga version is considerably successful, with over 1,200,000 copies sold as of May 2006.^{[citation needed]}

Anime

As of July 9, 2006, an anime adaptation has begun airing. The episodes which have been released so far in Japan are listed below.

Episode List

	Title	Original air date	#

Production staff

Original Author：Tatsuhiko Takimoto
Director：Yusuke Yamamoto
Series Coordinator：Satoru Nishizono
Character Design：Takahiko Yoshida
Music：Masao Fukuda
Anime Production：GONZO

Theme songs

Opening theme

Puzzle (パズル)
- Lyrics: Rieko Ito
- Composer: Kitagawa Katsutoshi
- Vocals: ROUND TABLE featuring Nino
  - Note: From episodes 13 on, the intro theme is slightly different. The strings and brass are removed from the song. This new version is in the 2nd OST (Welcome to the Sunny Days!) and is named "Puzzle -extra hot mix-".

1st Ending theme

Odoru Akachan Ningen (踊る赤ちゃん人間, lit. Dancing Baby Humans)
- Lyrics: Kenji Otsuki
- Composer: Fumihiko Kittaka
- Vocals: Kenji Otsuki and Fumihiko Kittaka
- Episodes: 1-12

2nd Ending theme

Modokashii sekai no ue de (もどかしい世界の上で, lit. On Top of a Frustrating World)
- Lyrics: Yugo Sasakura
- Composer: Yugo Sasakura
- Arrangement: Masanori Shimada
- Vocals: Yui Makino
- Episodes: 13-current

References

The July 6, 2006 version of this article uses translated material from the equivalent Japanese, French, and Chinese-language Wikipedia articles, retrieved on the same day.

External links

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