I found this gratuitious, self-indulging and superficial. As somebody who had problems to socialize and cope with the world after highschool this felt like just another magical solution to "NEET-ness" like any other manga gloryfying it those. I don't feel like Welcome to the NHK is precisely pro-Hikikomori, but having the main character be despicable and still be aided by girls who in real life would be totally repulsed by him is lazy.

To top it off the narrative style is horrible, jumping to a new scene without any indication that the previous ended and all this is amped up by bad dialogue and pretty weird vines that I don't think help in any way. This might have to do with Takimoto starting this as a novel before being a comic, but that still does not explain most how the story and characters are presented.

On a positive side the art is pretty good and consistent and some of the jokes are good taken out of context.

Will avoid the rest.

Edición argentina que probablemente repite el ISBN de la española. Si bien la ed. arg. no incluyó páginas a color ni sobrecubiertas, la traducción y edición fue revisada y corregida.

Excelente arranque para una serie muy interesante... Que desbarranca a mitad de camino. Seguro después me explaye. Cuando tenga la edición argentina a mano corroboro si repite el ISBN español.

خیلی ناگهانی دلم تنگ شد برای فضاش و خواستم بخونمش.
جدا از شخصیت زیبای ساتو و همذات پنداری عظیم من باهاش، حقیقتا همه چیز فوق‌العاده است. سرعت بالای اتفاقا، کاراکترهایی که سر جای خودشون و دقیقا در خدمت داستان وارد میشن و حقیقت تلخ زندگی‌های فاکدآپشون یکی از جذاب‌ترین‌ها میکنتش.
اما مهمترین فاکتور جذابیت، کنجکاوی وحشتناکی که در مورد میساکی ایجاد میکنه‌اس چون من واقعا نمیتونم بفهمم چی میخواد و چرا این کار ها رو میکنه و داستان هم بدون اینکه تمرکز زیادی روی این قضیه بذاره و خسته کننده کنه ریتم رو روش تاکید میکنه.
من خیلی خوره فرهنگ اوتاکویی نیستم، اگه بودم احتمالا حتی بیشتر هم لذت میبردم. به نظرم یه جورایی همزمان نقد و تحسینش میکنه.
◇ قبلا انیمه رو تا یه جاهایی دیدم وفقط کمی در جزئیات متفاوت بود. احتمالا اما اول سورس که لایت ناوله رو تموم کنم.

Although the anime lacked in some areas, an early 2000s mid-tier production as it was, it became one of my favorites. After reading the first volume of the manga I realize that the hardcore aspects of the anime had been toned down significantly.

This story follows Tatsuhiro Satou, a twenty something college dropout that suffers from social phobia and that has been living as a hikikomori for four years. Inspired by a former senpai from high school, he prefers to believe that he's the victim of a vast conspiracy to erase people like him from society, which conveniently keeps him from trying to improve his situation. One day, Misaki, a beautiful girl that had appeared at his door before to proselytize, approaches him and offers to cure his hikikomori condition through a counseling program. Apart from that, the guy living next door to Satou turns out to be someone he saved from bullying in high school. The guy, Yamazaki, has filled his apartment with manga and anime of dubious quality, and mostly of erotic undertones. Together they decide to get out of their miserable economic situation through creating an erotic game. The high school senpai, Hitomi, also makes an appearance, although she barely affects the plot for now. Hitomi is a foxy, unique girl that the protagonist fell in love with, but she also happens to be schizotypal and has only survived adult life so far by being high most of the time on anxiolytics, narcotics and sleeping pills.

In both versions of the story, Satou falls into hallucinations in which the objects in his room talk to him and even berate him. In the manga, the hallucinations are drug induced. More damningly, the erotic game the protagonist and his pal intend to make involves underage girls, a fact they either changed or disguised in the anime. Yamazaki gives him drawings of nude grade school girls for "inspiration", but Satou goes a bit further and gathers from the internet about 30 gigs of photos of little girls in various states of undress. He goes as far as peeping and taking pictures of live girls as they come out of school. He is acutely aware of how monstrous he's become, but it seems fitting given how much he hates himself.

Misaki, the girl who offered the counseling program, is introduced as a pixie dream girl of sorts, unreasonably accommodating of Satou's antics. The author could have gone the stupid route of making Misaki an angel-like figure that would care for the protagonist unconditionally until he managed to change, but in that case I wouldn't be writing this review. Misaki's counseling program is hilariously inept, the kind of thing an isolated teenager would cobble together. Through various hints you can begin to tell that very few things have gone well in Misaki's life; in the anime you find out the extent of it too late for my tastes, but you realize that she has a solid motivation for getting involved with Satou and hoping to save him. Also, neither version shies away from painting the protagonist as despicable. Apart from the "Lolita complex", he lies compulsively to hide his pitiful situation. He only saved his pal Yamazaki years ago from bullying to impress a girl, something he can't admit either.

I loved the art style. The extreme expressions, particularly those of the protagonist, emphasize his anxiety and despair. The anime version comes short in that regard because the production lacked a bit. They did have an awesome ending song, though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAgMl...

I admire enormously those authors that create bold and uncompromising fiction, particularly if they are honest to a fault, even if some (or most) of the readers wouldn't want to meet the authors afterwards. And I identify with the protagonist, of course; I have no place in this world, I haven't kept a job for longer than a year and I can't get people to even look at the books I write. I haven't debased myself yet to stalking grade schoolers, though.

This is a really "psycho" manga. Much more weird than anime which is basically a funny story about one hikikomori and a girl trying to help him. But manga is much deeper, the characters' minds are even more twisted and the overall feeling is not fun but just... psycho...

look, it's got potential - a solid 3.5. will defs read vol.2!

What on earth is going on in this House of Commons

I remember not liking this and now I know why - I was underage. This time, I am ashamed to say I liked it.

Watched the series and friend got me the second hand manga… just as lit.

This is probably the best manga, the best anime, the best book and the best story I've ever read or seen. I can't explain. You have to see it/read it. An emotional turmoil that ends in a climax that makes one gasp for air. It is available as a novel but I recommend the manga or watching the anime. This is not for kids, this is in highest degree for adults and tells the story of life and death and how we look upon our lives and what possibilities lye ahead. I just can't say anything else than read the manga/watch the anime. Whether you are skeptic against comics or not.

Ok, so this book is more than a little weird, covering some pretty taboo topics. Up until about half way through, I wasn’t sure if I would keep reading the series, as it got very cringe in places, but as the story progressed, I was left wondering what’s going to happen next?? I will definitely get the next book in the series and see if I want to keep reading. As it stands, I really want to see the character progression, which has left me wanting more