Welcome to the NHK

Welcome to the NHK revolves around the lives of some young adults living in the city of Tokyo. Many of the different "life styles" shown in this story are about Hikikomori, Anime, Otaku ,as well as the different and intense experiences that the main characters face, such as depression and solitude. Welcome to the NHK has Tatsuhiro Sato as its main protagonist. He is a college drop-out who has been unemployed for four years. He lives a totally reclusive life as a Hikikomori. He has even come to the bizarre conclusion that everything that happens to him is a conspiracy. On a day that seemed like nothing in his routine would change, Sato meets Misaki Nakahara a mysterious girl who will try to cure Sato's reclusiveness problem. Misaki has Sato sign a contract by which they agree to meet every night at a nearby park and have lessons on how to give up being a hikikomori. There are many topics going on in these sessions, ranging from psychology to psychoanalysis. From this point on, the plots starts to unfold. In spite of the fact that these sessions are intended to help Sato, frequently, both characters tend to lie to each other. Although Misaki is sure that with her help Sato will integrate again into society, Sato prefers to go with his neighbor and former schoolmate Kaoru Yamazaki whenever he needs support.

Welcome to the NHK started as a light novel created by japanese novelist Tatsuhiko Takimoto , illustrated by Yoshitoshi Abe (Serial Experiments Lain) and published by Kadokawa Shoten. Its release in Japan was on January 28,2002. Later, the story was adapted to manga written by the same person but Kendi Oiwa was in charge of the drawings. The anime series aired from July 9 until december 17 in 2006. It has 24 episodes.