NHK ni Youkousou N.H.K.にようこうそ! Welcome to the N.H.K. A single volume novel is the original work, an 8 volume 40 chapter manga started two years before the 24 episode anime series although the anime was finished almost a year before the manga was due to the differences in release and production (the manga was monthly while the anime was weekly). I endeavored to make my way through all of them, somehow in a variety of languages. I really can’t give you a good reason why other than “I was looking for something”. Broadly the stories and endings are the same so there is not much point to observing all three for most people.
The series is about a variety of misfits and the protagonist in particular is socially withdrawn. The key to the series is the term “hikikomori” which the main character is considered although “NEET” (Not in Education, Employment or Training) is more of a buzz term than “hikki” these days, maybe. I think there’s a term for the type of story that it is, but basically the story seems unconventional only to prove itself as being a normal story after all in the end.
The differences of the 3 works have been expounded upon in other places {edit: after writing this I realized that I myself had also compared the anime and manga before but had forgotten doing so} so I will be brief and just give my impressions:
The Novel is the briefest, darkest, vaguest, and possibly least enjoyable of the versions. Due to complications its the last version I viewed, but it is the cheapest to obtain even though it probably has the least availability of all the versions (although it is available some places that the other versions aren’t completed in yet…). I’m not entirely certain that it was the original intention of the writer Tatsuhiko Takimoto for the work to be only a single volume. According to his afterword(s) the book is semi-autobiographical which is indeed a painful thing, and perhaps as a result or an excuse he really hasn’t done anything since. This goes back to something I’ve said before about the responsibility of creation, although at that time I stressed the importance of considering the effect on others, one should also consider the affect on oneself. Then again this was a story that needed to be out there I think. Other than the main character Satou, his “friend” and neighbor Yamazaki seems to be featured the most prominently. A lot of things in this version were censored out of the other versions, mostly the illegal activities but anything that was particularly uncomfortable, like Yamazaki’s past and the explicit details of the relationship between Satou and his sempai (I can’t remember if her name was mentioned in the book or not, he definitely never called her by her name in it though) Hitomi.
This has nothing to do with anything, and is a spoiler for a variety of series, but the relationship between Satou and his sempai reminds me of the relationship between the male protagonist of “saishuu heiki kanojo” and the sempai HE had. It’s been a while since I checked that series out though, and truthfully it’s not an uncommon event.
The manga version was the one I was first exposed to and possibly the one I enjoyed the most due in large part to the style of Kendi Oiwa the artist/author of the work. I suppose that technically the anime might possibly take more time to get through but I thought that the manga ended out being the deepest work. The narrative is slightly different in the manga than in the novel and there are a lot of themes, events, and characters added in or expounded upon. Much to the contradiction of Satou’s position as a hikikomori for the most part. Yamazaki and Misaki seem to be featured with equal prominence with both appearing to at least some degree in almost all of the chapters, although probably Misaki’s life gets focused on more (although, did the final cliff scene happen in this one or not? I think it might not have and should check before saying this…) and “sempai” shows up a LOT more than in the novel. In fact she really only shows up twice in the novel compared to around a dozen or more times in the manga. There’s some question in my mind whether the manga wasn’t melding the elements of the novel and the anime together rather than the other way around with the anime. That said I felt like the ending of the series was somewhat of an abrupt cop-out and the one I liked the least. By the way I thought the manga was somehow the dirtiest of all the works, whatever the hell that means.
As to the anime, it was by and far the most painful of the works. The reason for that is the addition of voice. I thought the animation/character designs looked like shit too and that just added to the desperate impression of the work. I saw the ending of the anime first by the way, and I felt like it was the one that, well… actually had the ending that added up the most. Maybe it was more believably hopeful in some way, although you could say that contradicts the original work maybe that’s for the wellbeing of those who encounter it? The characters are probably shallower and more likable in this series, and it seemed like Misaki’s sessions featured the most prominently in this work, sometimes occurring multiple times in an episode. Being as this was a nationally broadcast anime series in japan, a lot of the darker and seemingly non-plot related contents were toned down or eliminated. This had the effect of eliminating the reasons for the pathos of the main characters, I think, and to that effect the characters were a lot less extreme. Although the anime is more faithful of an adaptation of the book than the manga is as far as events go (though it had quite a few added in from the manga as well), the overall mood and characterization is way off. Whether that’s a good or a bad thing I can’t say.
At this point I’m not sure I’d recommend the series to anyone but those who are really lost in life the way that Satou is. Although maybe it’s interesting in the “outside looking in” way because I think a lot of people just really can’t understand people that live like that. Not that I believe this series can give someone an understanding of that. Those who know know after all. Just that people are interested in things that are unlike themselves. hmm… I had something philosophical to say about this whole thing but it slipped my mind. Something like there’s no need to try and do things in order to enjoy life if you have a way of living you enjoy in the first place. But I have to wonder if society wouldn’t collapse if everyone realized what that really means and tried to follow it. Oh well.
Conversely I think this series was “otaku popular” for what is essentially the same reason that I said people bought and read “the alchemist” by Paulo Coelho although I’ll phrase it a different way. People wish that their lives were different but they don’t want to change them and instead just vaguely hope that something will painlessly change them in a positive way. This especially applies to NEET otakus, you know who you are, but a lot of people just wish that their life were vaguely “better” although they really have no idea what that means. I’m not in the mood to be righteous today though, not when it’s the end of the year.
