Edit:The originial post somehow got lost by wordpress, so I’ve entirely rewritten it. It contains the gist of the originial post, with some added clarification.
So NHK has been made into an anime. Who would’ve thunk it? If forced to describe NHK I would call it a suicidal Genshiken on crack. Both satire otaku culture to varying degrees. However while Genshiken lets it’s characters grow into stable citizens of society, NHK does not afford that luxury to it’s character, letting them fall deeper and deeper into depression, addiction, isolation, and paranoia throughout each chapter. Not exactly the best thing to be made into an anime watched by those same otaku.
NHK is the story of Satou, a hikkormori who is enlisted by the strange girl Misaki to be part of her ” cure hikkomori project ” The first ep basically show’s how much of a fuck up Satou is at the moment and his initial meeting and contact with Misaki. The rest of this post we’ll be focused on the differences between the manga and anime.
The anime has a longer and more active ” drug sequence ” than the manga. However, Gonzo declines to tell us it is actually Satou snorting a line of crack that are causing these hallucinations, leading us to believe Satou is just plain crazy. Not the best of moves, as it denies Satou sympathy from the audience to an obviously pathetic person, which is important in driving the story.
Satou’s suicide attempt is taken less seriously in the manga, being a half-hearted joke that Satou tries to strangle himself in a moment of despair. Satou contemplates suicide seriously in the manga, deciding to drink a mixture of chemicals, before dismissing it completely. Good for you Satou.
Satou himself has been very much toned down, not as prone anymore to overreaction and yelling. He even seems almost come when he thinks someone is accusing him of being a hikkomori, in great contrast to manga Satou, who explodes into a tirade about not judging him. I also don’t like Satou’s voice, as it really seems too mature for someone who’s been couped up inside for two years.
There’s also the usual rearrangement inherent in anime-manga conversions. Satou’s meeting with Yamazaki is changed to next episode. Misaki give Satou his notice to meet at the park to his face, after seeing clutch a naked figurine he was about to throw away. Satou has really bad luck.
Despite the toning down of subject matter I am very much like NHK. The music is some of the best of the season, the op and ed are awesome, the op especially. The op is by Round Table feat. Nino, the same group that did ARIA’s op’s, the polar opposite show of NHK. The ed meanwhile is a hard rock tune, reveling in it’s own absurdity with lyrics about ” kidults ” and baby humans. The animation is distinctly gonzo, and I am unsure whether the quality will take a dip in the future or not. For now, I’ll just eagerly await next week’s episode, and hope for a new scanlated chapter soon.
