Welcome to Sympathy.

"Whenever I investigate a smell, I find that the answer is always bad. It's never: What is that?...Muffins!"

-Demetri Martin

I find that when ever you truly relate to an anime character the relation is always bad. It's never: I know how he feels...that Speed Racer. I recently watched an anime suggested to be by a friend called "N.H.K. にようこそ" or "Welcome to the N.H.K."

It's basically about this guy who is a complete good-for-nothing shut-in ,for lack of better description, who eventually seeks help to cure him of his, what the series calls, hikikomori ways.

I quite enjoyed it. The show follows only a real handful of characters, which is good, and builds exactly who they are. I'm beginning to think I like shows where you get to know the characters alot. Getting to know the characters, you can't help but relate to what they're going through...well, I can't. This show was obviously aimed at people, in America are called generic nerds, on the Internets are called weaboos, and in Japan are called the otaku. None of the characters are ever really "good" to relate to, I mean, I can rundown a nice annotation of the characters and you take your pick. First is Satou, I man so helplessly caught in a rut his only means of getting out of his current situation, is to find an entirely different rut to...rut around in. Next we have Yamazaki, he got a creative dream to make it big and be successful, except his own "original" views tend to segregate him from his peers not to mention, bad lady luck. There's also Kashiwa, Satou's upperclassmen, successful school and business is jaded by the real world and its nature, she's owns a myriad of drugs to help her feel just the way she wants. The list goes on. And to carry on the generic conflict, there's is a nice relationship love story behind the entire thing that keeps you wanting to know what is going to happen next.

"Oh man, story of my life." I keep telling myself as I watch the show with sympathetic snickers and sighs. I relate well to Satou and Yamazaki, but towards Yamazaki alot more...I mean he's trying to make a video to make it big, has that oh so lovely girl problem...hello? There's a couple of lines he says that will help feed that nice emo side of you like, "Romantic love is a trap designed to expand capitalism." But there was one line specifically, "Nothing happened to me! It's just that my theory from the past has been proven..."

Greatness...that's my character.

This anime is definitely going under personal favorites, although it is definitely not for just anyone to watch. There is a charming love story behind the whole thing but it's probably not as straightforward for non-otaku to keep the show going. If you're curious, just go to veoh.com and search for Welcome to the NHK, they've got them all. I had a rousing good time.


きえるせろ、おんあども！