My first impression of Welcome to the NHK was one of familiarity.  At times an eerie, bone chilling, “I’m being watched” familiarity.  I was to the point of tearing up my place looking for bugs, hidden cameras and those weird little purple guys in elf caps.

Luckily, I didn’t find anything but some pocket change behind the shelf (fifteen cents closer to buying that Hayabusa!).

The main character, Tatsuhiro Sato, is bonkers.  He dropped out of school three years ago and has since removed himself from society as much as possible.  His passes the time locked up in his apartment, chain smoking, web surfing, enjoying the occasional brewski and listening to his otaku neighbor’s oft played Anime O.S.T.  Everything’s fine until he has an epiphany about the existence of a group conspiring to turn people into hikikomori; reclusive couch potato shut-ins much like him.  Conspiracy theories, gotta love ‘em!

And then he starts having conversations with his appliances.  At what point does a guy realize he badly needs some fresh air?

Speaking of, enter Misaki.  Misaki works in a manga café and is involved with a religious party hoping to reintroduce shlubs like Sato with reality and the outside world.  12 steps to society as it were.  Misaki chooses Sato for her “project”.  Does that set off alarms in your head too?

NHK is a darker comedy that is both ripe with fanservice while being a fan disservice at the same time.  One minute you’re laughing and the next you’re seeing yourself onscreen.  It makes you ask yourself if you’ve had any good talks with the fridge lately between teases of skin and mentally unstable moments in Sato’s day.  At one point in the opener he even tries to prove his focus is on par with a Karate master…and the beer bottle proves him wrong.

So what is this “project” Misaki mentioned?  Can Sato make a return to the world he used to live in, or is he too far gone?  Will his neighbor find a new track to listen to?  Will those elf cap guys quit stealing my Pocky?

Seriously…they are!