The willingness to handle even unpleasant elements of one’s culture in a humorous-yet-serious manner is something that has actually been ever-present in the media. Social issues, in addition to the occasional political problem, can suddenly be the focal discussion point of episodes of popular programs, with some more popular ones becoming the focus of entire series. The Japanese hikikomori issue, along with the standard social stress and anxiety and hints of schizophrenia that being a hikikomori entails, has ended up being the property of a relatively recent franchise including an anime, comic, and novel series known merely as “Welcome to the NHK.”
티비착 The program concentrates on the lives, trials, and tribulations of Sato Tatsuhiro, who is essentially a hikikomori. This implies he displays extreme minutes of social anxiety, presuming as to avoid his parents (whom he’s living with) as much as he can. Besides being a social shut-in, he is also frequently seen to exhibit another Japanese sub-culture-turned-problem: that of being a compulsive anime otaku. For the unknown, the Japanese see the otaku sub-culture as a prospective social issue, mainly since the majority of these individuals have a slightly jeopardized grip on reality, preferring to focus their time, effort, and attention on numerous kinds of home entertainment. Typically, the compulsive nature targets a single media type, such as music or anime, and focuses specifically on that. The sub-culture exhibits indications that are analyzed as social stress and anxiety, though they sometimes appear to have rather typical social interactions on the unusual events where great deals of otaku gather.
Sato firmly thinks that his status as both hikikomori and otaku, together with the social anxiety, bad individuals abilities, and basic fear, are all brought on by a massive conspiracy. This conspiracy, referred to as the Nihon Hikikomori Kyokai (the Japanese Hikikomori Association), is the source of the “NHK” in the title, rather than the real-life Japanese television network NHK. His belief in this theory has developed into an intricate misconception, which includes NHK agents in the type of charming, attractive young girls being sent out to potential targets to enable the conspiracy to more straight affect their targets. It is noteworthy that while Sato initially thinks the female lead, Misaki Nakahara, to be one of these representatives, he never ever actually puts in the time to detail what the NHK wants to attain by turning the whole male population of Japan into socially-inept shut-ins.
Together with a range of other characters, some of which seem to be agents of other socially-challenged Japanese sub-cultures, Misaki and Sato come together in the most unusual methods. Part of the interaction in between the two leads comes from Misaki’s contract with Sato, which specifies that when every evening, she is to lecture him on how to conquer his social anxiety and become a typical, functioning member of society again. Of course, to offer entertainment worth, not everything goes as prepared, with Sato experiencing everything from panic attacks due to being outside his apartment, to having Misaki pretend to be his girlfriend to fool his visiting mother.
Aside from the abovementioned subcultures, the show likewise briefly touches upon other elements of Japanese culture. This includes the prospering independent video gaming circuit, the “Internet suicide pacts” problem, and other Japanese social tricks. It must be noted that, despite the title of the show, the network NHK never really aired “Welcome to the NHK.” Hence, unlike the novels, the show does not clearly link the NHK conspiracy to the NHK television network.
The Japanese hikikomori issue, along with the basic social anxiety and tips of schizophrenia that being a hikikomori involves, has become the premise of a relatively recent franchise consisting of an anime, comic, and unique series understood simply as “Welcome to the NHK.”
This conspiracy, known as the Nihon Hikikomori Kyokai (the Japanese Hikikomori Association), is the source of the “NHK” in the title, rather than the real-life Japanese tv network NHK. It is notable that while Sato at first believes the female lead, Misaki Nakahara, to be one of these agents, he never ever actually takes the time to detail what the NHK hopes to accomplish by turning the entire male population of Japan into socially-inept shut-ins.
Hence, unlike the novels, the program does not clearly link the NHK conspiracy to the NHK television network.