Sometimes, when it’s feeling like all anime is written to a formula, something very different and quirky comes along and reminds you how nice it is to have some originality sometimes. Animation studio Gonzo often get criticised for putting out ugly animation, or letting the quality of their anime rapidly fall after a few episodes, but in the past few years their risk-taking has made their work essential viewing, and such shows as Gankutsuou, Last Exile and to a lesser extent Peace Maker Kurogane rank amongst my favourites. Afro Samurai may be a risk too far, but I’ll certainly at least watch with interest.
And the most original and idiosyncratic show I’ve seen in the past year, even above Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu, has to be NHK ni Youkoso!, a show that, like Genshiken, features its own target audience as its subject. While Genshiken was about a group of friends in an anime club, however, NHK is about Satou Tatsuhiro, who is a hikikomori – an agoraphobic youth who spends his days in the safety of his room, dreading meeting others or leaving the comfort of his four-walled prison. Jun from Rozen Maiden is a hikikomori, but NHK is a more realistic show, and as such, it deals with the various perils of modern life that have been in Japan’s public consciousness in recent months.
Plus it plays directly into the reclusive anime fan’s fantasies. Satou, despite being terrified of the outside world and a bit histrionic, is quite a normal guy. Like many otaku, he obsesses over things, spends a lot of time procrastinating and doesn’t mix well with others. But then a pretty, cheerful, immensely adorable girl called Misaki enters his life and tries to ‘coach’ Satou out of his lifestyle while often trying too hard, blushing over Freudian imagery and slowly revealing problems of her own. Can you say ‘EVERY OTAKU’S FANTASY’?
Since the show takes on several issues, it ends up being a bit uneven. It’s at its best when Satou is in his room, being an otaku, getting obsessed by otaku things to the exclusion of all else, like the hilarious episodes in which he gets addicted to an MMORPG or when he and his neighbour, anime otaku Yamazaki, are trying to make a perverted gal-game together. It works less well when baffling but recently common Japanese news-making cultural obsessions like suicide cults and pyramid con schemes are treated in a few episodes – these feel like the issues are left unexplored and the comedy both undermines the seriousness of the event and doesn’t feel right because of it.
Despite its unevenness, though, NHK is a treat. Funny characters who are very gentle on the eyes, believable even in their extremity, some superb fantasy sequences and pastiches of other genres, and a great, totally insane ending theme that sadly was changed halfway through the season. I may not have liked Misaki-chan all that much, and her way of thinking about others was reprehensible, but I am certainly otaku enough to see the appeal of someone a little troubled, a little needy and yet cute as a button coming stalking me. Perhaps for that, one doesn’t need to be otaku at all…
(originally written 1.1.07)
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