Anime - NHK ni Youkoso Game

I'm giving myself some time before responding to the last episode and the anime series as a whole. (Cool-down and simmering time)

For now enjoy some extra tidbits.

Volume 6 of NHK ni Youkoso contains Game



The limited editions include 'True World' (Which is 'the' game the characters Satou and Yamazaki worked on in the manga).

Its said that there is only one decision to make in 'True World'...
Right .. or Left. ^_^;
It's closer to the novel side of dating games. No wonder volume 6 of the manga looks like its hard to get your hands on.

I'm not planning on buying the R2 DVDs but... take a look at the 'beautiful' extras that are included on them. Puzzels.

Puzzles are fun!

Just this holiday I was helping my eighteen-half years old (4 1/2) half-sister and grandparents work on one. Who knew they could be soo much fun! :/
(but seriously, puzzles have been a family thing for quite some time now. Though, I should know better, for the internetz know no bounds. >_< )

Anime - NHK ni Youkoso - Episode 01 Response

I wasn't going to post anything on this yet, but Omni put up a typical first episode entry that I wanted to share. I took plenty of screenshots, and now the 1280x720 RAW is out (probably be torrented in america today/tomorrow), but that means sorting through them and 'making decisions'. That, and there are different types of 'introductions', and I'd rather first make an 'announcement' to gather interested individuals, then go into the episode details in a separate post. This is a brief summary of my opinions.


Manga vs Anime

Character Design - There was the worry that the anime characters might not look close enough to the originals from the manga. After seeing the first episode, Sato-kun and Misaki-chan seem reasonable to me. Kashiwa-senpai is fine too. Young Committee Rep (from the short clip we have) looks good. 'oro?' you say, read on. Of course Misaki's Aunt, well she has a face you can't forget. Clips of Yamazaki in the next episode preview as well, he seems a bit different though. (Closer to the sites character design in terms of looks.)

Plot Progression - Episode one 'Welcome to the Project!' (anime) Covers the grounds of the first chapter of the manga (minus introduction of Yamazaki). The beginning of Misaki introducing 'The Project' while outside, is also included.
If you were wondering about Kashiwa-senpai and Committee Rep., a few flashbacks were included. Kashiwa-senpai gets a bit of the limelight, and Committee Rep. gets a 10 second or so clip. (These decisions seem appropriate considering 24 minute time frames.) (Committee Rep can be seen at bottom of this post)

Changes? - The anime thus far (one ep) seems as if its not 'as dark', but it is still somewhat dark (ok, maybe not, but some might find it to be so). As compared to the manga, not nearly as dark. So far the plot lines up, the character designs are very close, and the mood seems acceptable. Though currently, the drama is taking the place of the thinned darkness. (Maybe its to hook first time viewers?)
A few pieces of the plot have been moved around, but its not to an extent of changing the plot, though how one experiences it might vary. (ex. when he answers the door he doesn't 'daydream' while standing there, that happens later.)
As for the 'darkness' a simple/subtle example of tone is how he looks when he answers the door, then his response afterwards.) (After job hunt... chocking? -_-)

Somewhat SPOILER-esq (not if you read ch1 of the manga) you have been warned:
-----BEGIN SPOILER-esq Mentionings------
I wondered how they might get away with some of the rather 'questionable scenes'. At first they had Sato-kun imagine a nun which was 'sleeping and talking in her sleep' (I'm not noting the placement of her hand @_@; ). Ah ha, reasonable. Later they have him imagine her, but its a bit more 'revealing'.
-------END SPOILER-esq Mentionings-------

Example of Anime vs Manga

Some frames from the manga were 'recreated' in the anime. As with many manga-to-anime conversions, there are different approaches and some things come out 'just different'. (Ex. conquering/destroying the glass bottle as a first step. The expressed tone/mood in the manga just seemed better (to me at least). Remember that these are different mediums though.

A little more info on the manga can be found in this old entry.


Random Aside

On-topic, yet sidetracked - short observations based on How a viewer's interpretations are objective and How anime typically 'imposes more' on a viewer then manga does.

Of course, when reading a manga the reader can typically make of it what they want (to an extent). Anime can also be received in many ways, but with music, voices, moving pictures!, 'more time', and etc. anime can be a bit more imposing. If it seems 'funny', the anime could potentially not be 'as funny', though this is all objective, and the reasons for which one creates their opinions is based on their past experiences with the presented music/similar_music, phrases, voice actors, situations, and other presented material, even how they grew up to interpret the world. (A whole lot.) Meaning if something subtle is changed, it might mean a great deal to one group of people, and nothing to another. (Same/similar to one man's trash being another's treasure, one man's comedy might be another’s tragedy (sometimes a very sadistic tragedy), people interpret things differently.

(Not exactly applicable here, but I was reminded of this quote)

Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall down an open manhole.

-Mel Brooks

I mention that difference in the interpretation/experienced_effect, so that I can point out that thus far there have not been (what might be interpreted as) any 'major changes' that I have noticed between the anime and the manga. (But, the darkness factor so far is fairly significant.) Though there are some 'more subtle' differences which might bother people, the first episode seems to be 'logically' mostly similar. A.K.A the anime's plot and looks are pretty close to the manga. (Tone-wise its a bit different but not by 'a lot'.)
Note: This Response is all based on a single episode (the first no less), -it means almost nothing- (basically), but it leads to some interesting pondering huh? ^_^;

(Extracting the underlying themes and approaches GONZO 'has taken' with the first episode (note those are all interpretations anyway) assumptions can be made based on assumptions. I rest my case. But I'll do it anyway and then point out the irony of it all. >_< )


My Response to episode one?


Opening (OP) - Cute. Fairly stylistic, as might be expected by GONZO. The puzzle theme is nice. The song is also appropriate.
Ending (ED) - Fun, I enjoyed it quite a bit. 'Weird' :/ Also be Warned, a few semi-'newd13' shots (but tastefully done in my opinion), then the fun starts.

The Show -
At first I just kinda’ stared at it without making any evaluations (confused, not really sure that I saw anything that bothered/amazed me). There were things that I enjoyed, and not much that I thought I could complain about it. I defiantly enjoyed it, but with just the first episode thus far, I'm not 'crazy about it'(aka enamored) yet.
Yes, its 'different' from the manga, though not so much that it would frustrate me. I just take it as something of its own for now.

'Mike-like' style at times. \(^_^)/
(If that makes sense. Hey! Watch it, no, where's everyone going T_T >_<; But seriously, if you believe it might be amusing give it a chance. Its only a bit.)



Check out Omni's SCREENSHOTS of several scenes throughout the first episode.

Again, to emphasize:
With this being the first episode I can not make much of an evaluation/prediction on how the series will turn out.

So far though, I would say that I will continue to embrace the manga as the original, and the anime as an extra perk. Then if the anime becomes something of its own, I will give it recognition, but that recognition will be based on its ability to stand on its own.
(Not as a being 'better then the manga' but as something separate. Different scoring scales you might say, as in comparing the enjoyment of pure comedy to pure action films, they are enjoyed for different reasons. (not as apples to oranges, but as portraits to vacation photos~?)


Final Ramble
Bits on Omni's comment

The opening animation is unique, high production quality, very fitting for the Puzzle theme. Same goes for the ending animation, but it’s a bit more on the weird side (minus the n3k1d Misaki and Kashiwa-senpai).

(fixed n3k1d)

LOL, n3k1d Misaki and Kashiwa-senpai == not weird. ???
(Or is it that the n3kidne55 is not of HQ? I don't believe that is what was meant though)

Well, I guess its expected from the manga (therefore not weird)... I believe people expect certain things from the anime of this century, and I find their expectations - amusing. ^_^; (as in, the fact that their expectations are what they are, not as in the expectations themselves. Though, those can be fun too.. if done 'well' >_< )

-----
Omni figured out the encoding
Checkout the OP and ED Clips at omni's blog.
(If rapidshare maxes out after the OP try the second mirror (megaupload) for the ED.)

Ha! Why am I one of three people to vote the anime a 7 (the lowest rating so far) and there are 40 people that gave it a 10? I thought I liked it lol
(40 votes on 10 the other 10 votes on 7-9.5)
No, I know several reasons why, I'm just teasing, but I find it amusing. With more voters, the distrobution will probably change within the next week or so.



And finally heres a shot of the Committee Rep for anyone interested.

(Oh, and I apologize, this entry isn't very well organized, but hopefully someone might find it useful.)

Anime - NHK ni Youkoso!

~Well~ I was going to wait until the night before it aired to make a post about it, but I'm getting to be a bit restless.

That’s right!
On July 9 the anime based on NHK ni Youkoso! will air at 24:00.

ThankYou Chiba TV. (I'll be waiting on a genuine 'thank you' for GONZO until we get a peek at the series.) Some characters just look different when colored and cell-shaded. But on top of that, I'm wondering how much of the content from the manga will be worthy of a 24:00+ animation's target audience.

(Click on Misaki-chan's 'pure face' if you dare!)


Who's Subbing it?

So far it looks like The-Triad and ureshii are planning to pick up the project. (Though, there could be more that I have not seen/heard from.)

With the broadcast of each episode, they will move later into the night so I'm hoping for the best.

An extra source of info just for kicks Boild Eggs


What's it About?

This is an ultimate non-stop Hikikomori Action Comic!

Check AniDB, ANN, RightStuff, OR even TOKYOPOP
(I find it interesting how TOKYOPOP's marketing is targeting their audience.)

AniDB contains Jinmen Juushin's brief (maybe lacking), yet succinct description "Japanese shut-ins, loli h-games and conspiracies, oh my!", but also some misleading information.


On the Topic of Hikikomori

I became quite perturbed when I read this AniDB Summary:

...All the reasons why I dropped out from the university, being unemployed and a "Hikikomori" - h0m1c1dal young person - are due to NHK`s conspiracy. ...

(I’ve ‘fixed’ the spelling of h0m1c1dal for my own reasons -_-)
(Maybe I'll put in a CReq, but that might become a complicated disagreement. Why? because Sato-kun is h0m1c1dal, so when filtered through another lens it seems 'correct' enough not to warrant confrontation, or the moderators time and energy. Also, its on the front of the graphic novels, so I'm not in a position to argue... buuu~uuut . . . )

Defiantly a H0m1c1dal Hikikomori ^_^;

A Hikikomori is NOT "a h0m1c1dal young person", though a Hikikomori could become h0m1c1dal, this is quite a misleading 'description'.

If one was to describe a Hikikomori in only a few general/stereotyped words, I would push for a person classified as having a form of 'acute social withdrawal'.

Though, becoming a Hikikomori is a result, there is no single cause - A response to several different theories, most often involving events/situations related to social and academic pressures (some more specific to Japanese Culture, some not).

Left: H0m1c1dal ... Right: Not Really H0m1c1dal

Hikikomori is not a 'diagnosis' its a 'symptom'. (A generalized 'symptom'/classification.) I wouldn't go as far as saying its a 'Dahua Sweeping Generalization' (for those of you whom knew Dahua), but the 'definition' even within the social sciences and humanities is vague. Where the lines start and stop is a bit fuzzy depending on who you talk to, but in general it is a form of acute social withdrawal, and a Hikikomori might live with little or no human contact for several months at a time. (Often not leaving their homes.)


Wrap it up Already!

I digress, but I wrote a short (11 page) Literature Review on the topic "Hikikomori and Otaku: Social Deviance in Japan", so seeing something as misleading 'annoys' me.
(Then again, the writer does understand Hikikomori, so I believe something was 'lost in translation'. The part that bothers me is most people won't know that.)

I might make the article available for reading (because I'd rather explain the topic fully to those who are interested in details), but its not publishing material (don't get me wrong, its good), but I'm not 'qualified' in the area to make such a publication, and thus it was written with a different audience in mind.

The article touches on the connecting social and educational issues with Hikikomori, Otaku, parasite singles, the amae mother-son relationship, and other theories.

Female Hikikomori?

Female hikikomori stand out as parasite singles, but are not recognized as being hikikomori by the Japanese society, but only as females that refuse to marry.

I tried to bring to light the female hikikomori and other female connections and their reactions to the male hikikomori populous.


That’s it!

(Try RightStuff by clicking on the image above)