A common problem with 24+ episode series is that they lose momentum around their midway point, with meandering storylines and large portions of unwholesome filler to wade through that make the whole affair sag in the middle like an old mattress. Welcome to the NHK ran the risk of doing the same until the [...]
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Anime or manga, one is inevitably better than the other - whether it's just another case of elitism or not, you can always bet on the jumped up manga fans hating the anime adaptations of their favourite stories. This is because the voices you hear in your head will always sound better in comparison with the efforts of some cheap hack actor, because when reading that "damn slow" story can move as fast as you turn the page (in other words - running times are for losers).Gonzo's Welcome to the NHK! was an inevitable travesty ..
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Oh dear. Everything seems to be going really wrong now! Misaki decides that her 'project' has failed, Satou's sempai (whose name is now revealed to be Hitomi) is suffering all manner of problems, both professional and personal, and the deadline for Satou's and Yamazaki's game unveiling looms. All in all this is a decidedly un-comedic episode. A number of scenes reveal more of Hitomi's issues; including work pressures, an unreliable boyfr...
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I can't believe that it took me one and a half day just to complete this post. Everytime I tried to finish it off, there's always something to distract me. Anyway, this seems to be a good halfway point for the story. I am surprised to see Satou actually achieving something here. I thought the entire galge production will come to a halt due to one thing or another. I'm glad that doesn't seem to be the case. Having said that, I think he suffers from a major setback in episode 10 since I highly doubt Misaki is really what Satou imagines her to be. This makes me wonder how Satou's progress would look like if it's represented in a chart. Will it actually look as if he's on a downward spiral with a little 'ups' in between, or will it actually look like he's moving upwards with a few sharp 'downs' from time to time? In addition to this, who do you think should be with Satou? Misaki or Kashiwa? I personally think Satou is better off with Misaki.
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Impressions: I’m glad the story is becoming far more interesting, especially as the animation is very inconsistent. It makes me wonder if the animators just slack through some episodes. While eps 9 and 10 were average in terms of character animation, I have seen a lot worse. Ah well, enough of me criticising that. I actually [...]
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WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD What a happy end to an episode of NHK! After spending more than half the ep on hearing that damn Yamazaki and his crappy sap story, we are treated to a nice end with Satou + Misaki ^_^. I mean, from hearing his story, I can understand why Yamazaki distrust women, but he disgusted me with his [...]
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Two posts in a day I know, but I have one hell of a backlog going on here...anyway, in Welcome to the NHK! it's all going a bit wrong for everyone. In the same way that the op theme is bright and breezy and the end song is a bit messed up, ep #10 starts bright and breezy and ends, well, messed up. Welcome to the Dark Side neatly sums up an episode in which the cheery lightness of ep #9 is undone as Satou's mental...
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As you might have guessed from the lack of recent updates I've had my hands full lately. Suffice to say I've had one hell of a time so all things considered the lightweight, feelgood escapism of episode #9 is all the more welcome as far as I'm concerned. This ep gives Yamazaki some much-needed background, adding more details that allow us to understand why he's the way he is. To say the poor bugger is a little embittered is an understatement...or ...
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An unusually positive and uplifting instalment of NHK!, I wasn't planning on commenting on this episode but the sparkling festival fireworks always get me. So bright, so beautiful, so romantic. Even Yamazaki gets some lovin'.This is so far the best episode, a dizzy mixture of jilted love and romantic despair, it astutly comments on the fickle defensiveness of macho human nature. Yamazaki had his heart broken by his first love and subsequently hates girls, but the moment he gets a little fem..
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At a time like this, I wonder how this adaptation would have been if the drawing is a lot better. The interesting storylines in these episodes deserve a better design treatment than what they ended up getting. However, this show proves that a good storyline can sustain a mediocre character design while the reverse hardly ever works. It helps that all supporting characters in the series are fleshed out rather well, instead of existing simply to support Satou and his story. This also shows that although Satou thinks that he has a big problem in his life, nearly everyone in his vicinity also has his or her own problem to deal with. If I remember correctly, this is the part where the storyline in starts to show that Satou's and other character's problems are just a minor part of a larger problem in society.
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Satou goes doujin shopping and buys a Misao-tan figure whilst seemingly celebrating all the worst excesses of the otaku lifestyle. I yawn. What was up with the animation this episode? It’s not quite like Speed Grapher’s wobbly potato faces, but obviously they let someone do most of this episode on their own and forgot [...]
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Impressions: Another pretty good episode. I’m not sure why I liked this episode, as if I were to reason with myself, I’d say that nothing really happened. I think it’s because there were a lot of psychological references. Satou’s thoughts and such are probably what I liked about his episode, as it wasn’t all jokes and [...]
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If anyone remembers an old episode of Spaced in which Brian the artist tries to lie to his mum about his job and lifestyle you'll have a rough idea about the discomfort and suspense that ep #8 of Welcome to the NHK offers. More or less, at least. This is when Satou's desparate plan to keep his dark secret from his family is about to go into full swing. There were two very telling pieces of characterisation that occured i...
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Well well, this certainly was an interesting episode, with a very splendid little deviation from the manga. but I have absolutely no complaints about it. This episode revolves around Satou reunion with his mom, and all the acting he has to do to keep his lie intact. So we start off with our heroic hikikomori trying [...]
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It’s time to meet the parents, only Satou doesn’t have a girlfriend, or a job, or a life outside of his apartment, making the whole arrangement pretty awkward from the get-go. If only Robert De Niro was his Dad - what laughs we would have!Judging by his mother’s phone call in the previous episode, I wasn’t expecting her to be quite so cool though. She wasn’t the demanding and expectant figure anticipated, instead she comes across as the first thoroughly likable character in Welcome to the NHK!, in other words, a real parent to her..
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This is not a bad episode although it's not as funny or raunchi as the manga's version. Instead, the anime writers decided to come up with their own original and unforgettable fanservice. The plus on this episode is the insert song performed by Makino Yui, 「ダークサイドについてきて」- Dark side ni tsuite kite. Speaking of song, I'm starting to get used to the ending theme now although I admit that this is mostly because of that Hikikomori Monkey. That creature would have been a perfect merchandising item. I want one that can dance around and make silly poses. I think someone should come up with a Tamagotchi version of that creature. One where you can encourage it to go out of the house so it won't stay as a Hiki. It can then make silly poses when you forget to feed it or dance around when it is happy.
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Sato gets addicted to H-games and all other kinds of porn, and then tries to take pictures of little girls’ pants at school. No-one is especially amused. This and what’s coming up are what turned me off the manga; it’s not black comedy because it’s not funny, just sad. Plus the animation went the [...]
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