Welcome to the NHK is one of the most complex and self reflective manga this side of Inio Asano & Shuzo Oshimi’s work, with a few exceptions of course. Whilst never explicitly stated by either author, Tatshiko Takimoto’s Welcome to the NHK must certainly have been a big influence to both.
For those who don’t know Welcome to the NHK masquerades as a slice of life comedy about a perverted hikkimori and his equally desperate friend group, going from fail to comedic fail. However, not even before the end of the first volume you see a decline in the mental faculties of a group of co-dependent and equally unstable individuals struggling from childhood to finding a place in society. The whole group are equally self loathing despite all of them coming from “normal“ families. Tatsu, the protagonist is an anxious, depressed hikkiomori, afraid to leave his house and afraid of failure. He goes from highs of creative inspiration to (very real) suicidal lows within the matter of minutes, co-dependent and reliant on substance abuse. Misaki, comes off as a stable figure to begin with but is in fact a high school drop out, who is equally suicidal and self harms, but in opposition to Tatsu it takes her a long while before she breaks. She enjoys a sense of superiority over Tatsu and develops a toxic relationship that both seem to identify from the get go. Satuo is Tatsu’s Senpai and school crush. I think Tatsu may actually feel real love for her but she is a manic depressive, and introduces Tatsu to substance abuse. Of all the characters in this narrative, Satuo may be the most complicated as she sees her problems clearly and makes strides to adjust, however falls the furthest at the slightest change in status quo, unable to accept positivity. There are lots of other characters but the final “main” character we follow is Tatsu’s friend the hopelessly optimistic Yamazaki, who’s source of shining optimism is that he lives completely and utterly in a fantastical world of his own making, however even when the facade cracks he seems to fail upwards.
The manga takes place at the same time as its original print run, the early 2000’s and the first thing that struck me was many of the issues these teenagers faced would have been magnified tenfold with the introduction of Social Media. It is quite an experience and perhaps impossible for GenZ to really grasp this as the world was very different back then. I think like Inio Asano’s work this really shows the creator’s personal struggles and battles with “mainstream” appeal. It can be a dangerous read for any creative, myself able to see many of these toxic traits in myself, even at the ripe age of 32. I don’t believe there is any agenda being pushed but an honest reflection on socio-domestic struggles people face in this modern world.
Although it paved the way, I believe Goodnight PunPun and Flowers of Evil to be superior works that do what Welcome to the NHK does but with far more intention and without the overtly comedic sensibilities.
Images © VIZ
Used under fair use for review purposes