Okay, I said that I was going to do something on Simoun, but I was sidetracked by NHK.

I started watching Welcome to the NHK a few days ago. Currently, I just rounded off episode 17. I had the first two episodes sitting with the rest of my “to watch” material for a long while, but I had not gotten around to actually watching it. I could sense that it was a good show from the mood of the blogsphere when it was making its run, but I purposefully did not read much about it. It is the case that anything and everything anime eventually ends up on an anime blog somewhere; simply by watching and taking note of what’s peeking interest, one can guess at the effect of a topic or show.

I was expecting NHK to have comedy, which it does. I was expecting NHK to have drama, which it does. What I didn’t expect from the show was that it would be so brutal. It is more than obvious that the creator(s) of this show have some experience with the subject matter.

NHK had me laughing when the show first started because of the oddness and eccentricities of the lead character Satou. Satou is clearly delusional to some extent. Is it the result of a preexisting metal disorder? Or, is it the result of a relentlessly harsh world that had pushed him to the breaking point? Literally, Satou is given no reprieve from events that seem to want to totally destroy him. It does not help that he doesn’t seem to have the will to do anything to correct his problem.

Completely and utterly ignorant of himself and lacking any drive to succeed he would seem to be a totally irredeemable character. It took a while to make that assessment of Satou. Satou seemed such a pathetic person. He was a pitiable character living in a 10×10 apartment that was paid for by his parents, no less. I watched in joyful agony at each and every social misstep and consequence.

I then realized I had just watched about eight hours of this guy being a hikikomori / NEET. It doesn’t say much for me that I spent the better part of a day watching anime. It doesn’t say much for me that I do it often. It may not say much “for me” but it does seem to say a lot about me.

NHK is so brutal.

My loath for this character stemmed from the fact that I saw myself in his actions. Sure, it was an exaggerated and distorted self, but a self nonetheless. I mentioned why I laughed at Satou at first. Later it became me laughing at Satou because he was reacting to situations in a similar manner in which I would have done. I guess I was laughing at myself in him.

How strange.

Innocents and ignorance doesn’t get you much credit in the adult world. We tend to push hope down the list of possibilities and are more pragmatic of situations and events to come. It’s a survival mechanism. No matter how poetic and beautifully anyone can talk about life, getting by means compromising or losing something of ones self. Aside from the obvious mental health issues, Satou’s main problem is that he is under the belief that the world is the only cause of his problems. He doesn’t blame himself enough.

I’m sorry that this post may be a bit of a downer, but NHK isn’t really upbeat at the moment.

Edit:
01/18 3:04: as usual, corrected some random issues I had with the post.