Welcome to the NHK – 5/6 [Welcome to Counselling!/Welcome to the Classroom!] – Throwback Thursday

Hello and welcome back everyone, to another week of Welcome to the NHK! This is another really interesting week, we have a lot to talk about. From Sato meeting his Senpai to Yamazaki getting a girlfriend, this is a good week for NHK. So lets jump right into it!

Like I said in the intro, this was a pretty interesting week of NHK for me. Not the least because it’s moving at a much faster pace than I had previously expected. Remember last week when I talked about where I expected NHK to go? That this game might last us through an entire cour, how maybe we will go the entire show without signing the contract? Well NHK heard that and took personal offense it seems, because both basically happened in a single episode. It makes me wonder just how far NHK is going to take its premise. How much of the cast remains to be introduced, what kind of problems will Sato, Misaki and Yamazaki have moving forward. Because it feels like what I expected to last us the entire show barely made it 6 episodes. And if I’m being honest? That’s kind of exciting.

Continue reading “Welcome to the NHK – 5/6 [Welcome to Counselling!/Welcome to the Classroom!] – Throwback Thursday”

Welcome to the NHK – 3/4 [Welcome to the Beautiful Girls!/Welcome to the New World!] – Throwback Thursday

Welcome back everyone, to another week of Welcome to the NHK! We are covering 2 more episodes this week as we watch Sato be pulled further and further down the Hikikomori rabbit hole. Will he be able to find his way out? Or will he become a pitiful fool forever? Lets talk about that!

Starting off lets talk about the production, because NHK had some really cool shots this week. The standout to me being the White Whale/Captain Ahab sequence in episode 3 as Sato experiences Google image search for the first time. It was so creative, I absolutely loved the crosshatch shading, pink tint and full on sailor outfit. NHK may not be consistently animated but it is consistently creative, and it’s great. This wasn’t the only time in the episode I thought this either! Sato running out the door into a burst of light, or his slowly degrading visual health. NHK did a great job with the visual metaphors in these episodes. Really helping to sell what is happening more than any narration can. The only bad part, visually, was in episode 4. Though I will wait to talk about that until we get there. Now on to the episodes themselves!

Continue reading “Welcome to the NHK – 3/4 [Welcome to the Beautiful Girls!/Welcome to the New World!] – Throwback Thursday”

Welcome to the NHK – 1/2 [Welcome to the Project!/Welcome to the Creator!] – Throwback Thursday

Hello everyone! Welcome back to another season of Throwback Thursday. This time we are watching the otaku-fueled think piece Welcome to the NHK. There’s a lot going on here, with a lot to talk about, so lets jump right in to it!

First up we need to talk visuals. While the animation isn’t anything to write home about, Yuusuke Yamamoto’s direction does a lot to cover for that. NHK has some pretty creative visual metaphors, augmented with some snappy direction and scene editing. I’m talking about creative camera angles or smart use of close ups and expressive faces to really sell a scene. I especially like the detail put into the environment, really hammering home the listless and stagnant nature of the Hikikomori lifestyle. Aside from a few overly perverted scenes, which if we are being honest fit into the Otaku headspace very easily, I think NHK earns passing marks. And maybe, as we leave the house and get out more, the animation will have more room to shine and we can see more of those detailed environments! Only time will tell. Now on to the spoilers!

Continue reading “Welcome to the NHK – 1/2 [Welcome to the Project!/Welcome to the Creator!] – Throwback Thursday”