A truly refreshing and new anime series which deals about life specifically elements of: love, failure, loneliness, depression, etc. The main character is a 'hikikomori', or a person who has secluded themselves to one room. From what I have seen so far, it is a journey of the protagonist, Tatsuhiro Satō, escaping his own mental construct of a prison, and refacing the big bad world. However he is not alone in this quest, other characters include; his best friend Kaoru Yamazaki, who is an otaku (geekish anime lover), a mysterious girl, Misaki Nakahara who offers proposal to rid him of his hermit ways, and a former 'senpai'(upperclassmen or in this case woman) Hitomi Kashiwa, who Sato has an ambiguous relation with. Hitomi herself is emotionally unstable and she was the first to introduce the notion of life being a conspiracy against humanity to him. Sato discovers the world of otaku and conspires with his next-door compatriot to create sim-date games that borderline on ero. Sato's situation of dropping out of college and being labeled a failure; the idea of seclusion, of life being against oneself is a dark subject for an anime which employ humor on a regular basis. Combined with the touching moments of love, potential loss of love and similar human processes, this series has the possibility to oust Suzuka or The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya from my list of relationship anime, as well as dethroning FLCL (Furi Kuri)for an original concept. I thoroughly enjoyed the first 11 episodes so far, and I HIGHLY recommend it to all anime fans.
Review of Welcome to the N.H.K.
