Welcome back to another week of Welcome to the NHK! This is another fantastic pair of episodes as, for the 3rd time, NHK leaves me absolutely floored. What could it tackle to achieve that you may ask? Well let’s cut this preamble short and jump into it!
Like I said, with this arc NHK has once again flabbergasted me. The setup, lead in, execution and climax of this arc was simply perfect. From the type of neetdom it tackles to the arc/involvement of every character in it, french kiss. But before I get into details I want to talk about something I thought was really impressive: The way NHK fit this entire arc into 2, maybe 3 episodes depending on what the next one does. And this is only possible because of the consistency between arc, the way they flow into one another. Sato came into this arc after just being cut off by his parents, after trying to improve himself, failing, and then almost killing himself. Already the stage is set for him to desperately want money while being more horrified than ever by crowds and society. This setup leads us into the first episode.
Episode 15, “Welcome to the Fantasy!”. This episode is all about the buildup, of taking the initial setup and letting Sato figure his way out of it, consequences be damned. And of course his solution comes from the kid from the last arc, the obvious plot hook: Real Money Trading. Now a bit of backstory here, I myself play MMOs. My current drug is Final Fantasy 14, but before that I played World of Warcraft for almost a decade. So I’m no stranger to buying gold or how much of an utter time sink these things can be. It’s because of this experience that I can appreciate what NHK is doing here. Of how it portrays a whole new type of shut-in, the MMO junkie, and how it communicates that experience. Both the negative and the positive.
That’s right, there’s some positive here! Early on in the arc it’s like Sato is legitimately improving. He’s interacting with other people, making friends, forming parties, overcoming challenges and building himself up little by little. It’s the exact kind of thing his Hikikomori-dom, his lethargy in reality, never allowed him to do before. In this, NHK shows that these game’s aren’t purely evil. That, with moderation, you can learn a lot of social and leadership skills from them. Personally, I learned how to talk commandingly from WoW. I was a raid leader when we were running in Burning Crusade. I, and many others, am living proof that MMOs can teach people things. And it’s because of this experience, because of Misaki’s lecture and her own words, that I almost believed Sato was improving. That maybe… maybe this game was his way out. Almost being the key word.
But as the episode progresses, as Sato spends more and more time in the game, we see the harsh truth: Sato has become a goblin. He hasn’t gained the weight yet, that comes with time. But his beard is unkempt, the apartment is wall to wall trash, he’s falling asleep at the keyboard. While he seemed to be progressing, making friends and over coming challenges, he was instead simply taking the easy way out. The path of least resistance, with challenges designed to be overcome without any tangible benefit. Basically, he got that “redo” he wanted from the suicide arc but inside of an MMO. And he started to prioritize that MMO life over his real one. Thus, he regressed. Becoming worse than he ever was before.
This brings me to episode 16, “Welcome to the Game Over”. If episode 15 was the build up, the rise, than this episode was the fall. NHK doesn’t pull any punches here. Normally it’s rather kind to Sato, trying to paint him in the best light possible. Showing us how he tries, and fails, but still tried. Here though he is shown in a purely negative light. Really laying it on thick just how much of a goblin he has become. And it does so through rather humorous means to! The one the got the biggest laugh out of me was Misaki seeing his game, dressing up as a cat girl because she thinks he’s become a complete degenerate, and then discovering Moe in the process. Completely misunderstanding his issue while only aggravating his real problem by insulting “Mia”.
This continues across the entire episode. Every time Sa-To improves, forming a party or killing a dragon, Sato seems to get worse. He starts to plunge himself fully into this escapist fantasy, falling deeper and deeper into it. And I think this is part of why the arc works so well for me. I’ve done this. Not to the same extent, I still went to school and such. But I would definitely lose myself in my books, or my games. I’d start to daydream about them, act like them when alone, all the fun fantasies that kids have. However while it’s cute, and even expected, from kids and teenagers, it starts to become concerning as an adult. And yet… I still occasionally daydream even at 27 years of age, as I work my 9-5 job. And this arc… It made me wonder just how different I truly was from Sato.
Now obviously there’s a world of difference between enjoying your leisure time and this, don’t be worried reader. I only bring it up to illustrate why NHK as a show is so effective. Why I connect with it and think it’s so successful: Because it gets to the heart of why people do this, good and bad. It doesn’t portray Sato as some sexy, misunderstood neet who doesn’t deserve it. He did this to himself! But his reasons for doing it, of wanting to feel the success of complete quest or the admiration of others, are shown and understood to. Making it simple to understand why its so easy to fall into this, and so hard to get out of it. Basically, it makes him, his story, his struggles, feel so much more human than most anime characters out there.
My tangent on why NHK feels so relatable and good aside, this brings me to the great reveal of the episode: Yamazaki. This was… Numinous. Absolutely incredible. Not once, throughout the entire episode, did I suspect that Yamazaki was Mia. That he was setting this whole thing up to punch Sato in the gut with a hard dose of reality. I had concerns, Mia was very suspicious all throughout episode 16. But I only thought she was leading Sato into a trap or something. That she would PK him, take his loot or kick him down to level 1 for the laughs. Something that would crush Sato and make him see the MMO world as just as bad as our own. But this was so much better! It not only speaks volumes about Yamazaki, how far he is willing to go for his friend, but also makes a legitimate point about how people are perceived in MMOs.
And the visualization of it al! The call outs! The visual metaphor! This is where I think NHK truly held nothing back. It took our MC, the character viewers are supposed to relate and connect with the most, and turned him into an Ugly Bastard. Exaggerating all of his worst traits, making him into a fat slob of a man, a true monster. This wasn’t one of those “Nobility in ugliness”, there was no “inner beauty” to be found here. This was Sato was ugly, both inside and out, with no redeeming qualities. And yet it was also the truth. It was a real look into his future if he continued to lock himself away, never moving, never working, only gaming. A solid dose of reality. Because that lifestyle is simply not healthy. You don’t have to work out, but proper dieting is a must to avoid that.
Finally we have one last thing to talk about, Sato’s possible lifeline: The class representative Megumi. Now the last person Sato met from school, Hitomi, didn’t leave the best impression on Sato. Her life improved sure, but Sato seemed to regress after meeting her. This makes me pretty concerned about what NHK is going to do with Megumi, especially knowing that her brother is a Hikikomori/NEET himself. Is she going to enlist him to try and pull her brother out, only to drag Sato deeper in? Or is this going to be some kind of endgame competition with Misaki, forcing her to admit her own feelings? Why bother to call him up at all if you haven’t talked in half a decade? Whatever happens, I honestly don’t expect it will be good for Sato. I half expect this series to end in tragedy for the guy.
Anyways yeah, all in all I think these were 2 really, really good episodes. NHK pulled an absolutely stellar arc out of a man playing an MMO. In 2 episodes it tricked me into thinking he was getting better through his online interactions, to showing us how he has crashed and burned into an even worse state than before. All the while making it feel like the natural consequences of his own actions, with nothing feeling rushed. Megumi hearing his name from her brothers room and calling him up is a bit tenuous sure. But if that’s the worst part about the arc then there really isn’t much worth complaining about. With any luck, NHK will ride this arc to an absolutely stellar finale. At this point it would have to crash and burn the hardest I’ve ever seen a show do so to not land near the top of my list.
