Welcome to NHK

Are you depressed? Do you have trouble going outside? Do you believe a shadow organization is secretly trying to thwart your life and ruin everything you are trying to become? Then Welcome to NHK is for you!

One of the best animes I have seen in a while: Welcome to NHK makes anti-social disorder fun again! Welcome to NHK centers around a twenty-something named Tatsuhiro Sato (Sato for short) A self proclaimed Hikikomori. Hikikomori is a Japanese term for basically an agoraphobe. Essentially these people cannot bring themselves to go outside or even in some cases leave their own room. Sato believes the world is one vast conspiracy to set up college students and turn them into hikikomori. Sato is comfortable in his little life except for his next door neighbor. His neighbor plays this ultra-happy anime song over and over again and has  been doing it for a long while. Sato yells, screams, even kicks and punches the wall between the rooms but the music is up so loud that no one ever hears him. Naturally, Sato believes this is also a conspiracy against him. So Sato lives his little life the best he can until one day his mother calls to tell him that they have to cut his allowance in half so he must find a job to help support himself, this sends Sato into a mini breakdown but he eventually musters the courage to venture outside. He goes outside to find a job but the first place he goes he runs into this cute girl who came to his door the day before with her aunt to warn people about the hikikomori lifestyle.(Sato thought that this too was a conspiracy and awkwardly yelled at them that he was not a shut in but a well adjusted member of society.) So Sato panicks and runs home. Later Sato finally can not take the music from next door anymore so he bursts into the apartment next door only to find the resident is one of his classmates from highshool, Misaki. They happily greet each other and catch each other up on old times. Later the cute girl from before shows up and claims that she can cure him of his hikikomori ways. All he would have to do is sign a contract that states that he would meet her in the local park at night for lessons. If he ever failed to show up he would be fined 1,000,000 yen. Eventually Sato begrudgingly signs the paper.

Welcome to NHK is a great series that sets itself apart through its quirkyness but also tells a great story and has an extremely likeable cast. It also has a somber side that deals with issues of depression and loneliness as well friendship and dealing with the future.

Funimation's S.A.V.E. program just released Welcome to NHK at the low price of  $ 25.00 for the whole 26 episode series, which is a pretty sweet deal. 

NBC Thursday Nights

Possibly the best line up of shows on television happens on thursday nights. NBC has brought out its comedic big guns for the new year and it knows it. Hopefully the rest of the world will agree. It already has The Office and 30 Rock, both highly popular shows, and Community, an awesome show that has a growing audience. Now, coming out of the winter break it is bringing back Parks and Recreation, a show I have already felt the need to tell you guys about, and Outsourced, a show I have just recently gotten into in a big way.

Outsourced follows Todd Dempsy, a manager fresh out of training who comes back from a  retreat to find his whole call center has been outsourced to India. Todd is then offered the choice to either go to India and train the new employees there or find a new job. So Todd finds himself in India. The show becomes a fish out of water tale as Todd tries to acclimate himself to his culture and environment. Soon after starting his new job Todd becomes aware that his employees are the second tier hires meaning they know as much about our culture as Todd know about theirs. As the show progresses Todd and his new employees learn about each other and start to mesh. I had mixed feelings about this show when I first started watching it but I decided to give it a chance (plus I had nothing better to do on my lunch breaks) and I found myself really enjoying it. The characters are almost instantly like able and the episodes are not afraid to get ridiculous. I have personally introduced Outsourced to a good number of people and 3 of my friends have enjoyed it more than I have so I am not an isolated incident. I would highly recommend this show to anyone who is a fan of quirky comedies and shows that do not take themselves too seriously.

They have also premiered a new show called Perfect Couples, a show following three different couples through their relationships. All I have seen of this so far is the pilot which I have learned not to trust as an indicator of a shows worth. Especially with a show like this where the personal interaction between the actors is at such a forefront that you have to give the characters time to get comfortable together. There were a few funny moments in the pilot but I do not feel the show is where it should be for me to cast a firm judgement on it. I will have to revisit this again at a later date to fill everyone in.