More Genshiken makes me happy, even if it’s just a short OAV series. Of what few “otaku” shows there are, Genshiken probably captures the flavor of fandom and its associated subculture best. Comic Party, on the other hand, basks in the warm glow of a slick, idealized version of fandom cooked up by some self-help guru. And NHK ni Youkoso! is just an absolute mess.
Then again, NHK ni Youkoso! isn’t really an “otaku” show - it just plays one on TV. So what is it? Is it social commentary? Character drama? Tragic comedy? Love story? A little bit of everything? Perhaps so. That’s why it’s an absolute mess.
To me, the show is an entertaining failure. Why? Because, as much as the show wants to be taken seriously, I just can’t do it. Satou is the crux, I think… he’s just a wildly inconsistent and unrealistic character. One minute, he’s a disturbed idiot. The next minute, he’s a capable and intelligent young man. In other words, he’s only what the story demands him to be at any given moment. Sometimes, he’s a sorry hikikomori. Other times, he’s a pretty normal guy, with goals, friends, and romantic interests.
You can’t have it both ways.
But perhaps that’s the point? Perhaps the only way to celebrate the life of a hikikomori is to present Satou as everything but? And perhaps the only way to maintain the integrity of this framework is to have Satou revert to his hikikomori ways the moment his life gets to be too normal? After all, every time Satou starts making progress, he just ends up huddling in his futon, talking to his appliances. Perhaps this “one step forward, two steps back” narrative is the point of the show… I don’t know.
I should point out, however, that this is more personal observation than critique of the show. Like I said, it’s an entertaining failure. As a comedy, NHK ni Youkoso! succeeds more often than it fails. As something more serious, however, the show rarely delivers. Unfortunately, it desires to be serious more than it desires to be funny. That may be its downfall.
Well, the show is still in the “funny” part of the manga (though I think the manga handled a lot of the humour better.) Things don’t really get serious until about volumes 4 and 5, and even then it’s still mostly comedy.
Welcome to the NHK is really brilliant in some ways but terribly carried-out in many other ways. The anime is so far just a reflection of the manga, which was messy enough to turn me off (I got to most of volume 5?). The show would do well if they just dropped Satou from the picture for a while, because the other characters adds up to the rest of the picture behind the overall story and theme IMO… It’s not just a story about Satou, but he gets cornered into all these things as a narrative device, and his character suffers as a result.
But one thing Welcome to the NHK manga does well is the dark humor aspects of it. In vol 3 and 4 it is especially charming, memorable, and disturbing. If I had my way with this adaptation I’d be pretty selective and skip over/compress some arcs. The direction and narrative of the manga is terrible. Kind of sad the anime isn’t going to get that far.
Great commentary there, Jeff.
I suppose it’s quite true of NHK ni Youkoso. Satou’s just…. too swinging. Best way to put this would be he has a large standard deviation, if you get my drift.
Genshiken was awesome that it captures the postive essences of otakudom. NHK, meanwhile (tries to) present it’s dark sides. Comic Party… well, I haven’t saw that yet, so I can’t comment.
I disagree cause I dont think its a failer. I would agree that the animation is not as good as lets say Haruhi Suzumiya but now that I am on episode 12 I think its got a great storyline, period. I knew what I was kind of story I was gonna get cause I read the manga but the manga looked averaged cause it very quick paced and the art was not as good as Negima or Bleach. The anime however for some reason I got hooked on and I think it was because of the story. I like Satou cause you never knew what he was gonna do next. Anyway I think the main problem is that this anime wont suit everyone but its something knew that I have not seen.
An anime that wont suit everyone indeed. I tried watching NHK but the combination of trying to be serious and funny never sat well with me. I might try again some time.
But I have seen Genshiken and Comic Party. To hear that there will be more Genshiken, even if its an ova, still makes me happy.
And ya, while Genshiken is a show about the fans, Comic Party is a show for the fans. Both do very well to portray what they are trying to portray.
Hm. I’m diggin’ NHK, big time. Oh, sure, the animation style could be prettier, but…
I dunno. Maybe because it resonates with me… which might not be a good sign for my mental health, come to think of it.
I guess you just can’t do “what’s in someone’s mind when they are a big loner with real psychological issues about talking with people” without Evangelion-style introspection. I mean I for one understand Satou’s swings quite well even if I am no where near a hikikomori.
Well, i disagree qith you. i dont know what you guys thinking, but here is not about Otakus, its about a hikkomoris, a social problem not only in Japan, but the rest of the world. The anime is good, it doesnt have comparison with the manga, but is ok. I think you guys, need to think about the japanese animation not just as something fun, sometime, the artist try to give us different ways of view the life.
I agree and disagree both. I think insofar Satou’s wild swings are presented believably; I think it would be interesting if the show delved into his psyche a little more –it seems to me that we could take Satou’s character to be almost clinically mood-swingy, and I think such a character is rarely presented in anime.
The animation is utter crap sometimes. Nobody should argue with that. Episode 4…barely watchable. Lordy.
hey can anyone tell me what anime is that picture from????
I for one enjoy NHK, I guess it’s just not for everyone
I really disliked this show. Review is right on, the main character acts so stupidly it really becomes hard to believe. Why would he throw away his growing romantic relationship early in the series (anyone would’ve jumped at the chance to meet a girl like that), why would he fall for that marketing scheme after he’d already declared that he realized he was being fooled?? WTF?
I really wanted to bash the guy’s head in with a bat at times, guess you can’t like an anime if that’s the case…