db215
Joined Jul 2008
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Reviews13
db215's rating
Being a sociologist by qualification and living in Japan, the hikikomori phenomena really makes me think. For that reason, and for actually tackling the issue as the main plot device, NHK got me very interested very quickly.
I finished it in a week, which is very fast for me. I thought it was excellent for the most part, although what initially interested me in the show was not fully treated in the way I would have liked it to be.
Story 8/10 What is a hikikomori? No-one in Japan I've spoken to seems to know, and nor does this anime. It's something of a shame for something so brave as to brand its lead with the affliction, but NHK ni Yousoko can't decide if being a hikikomori is to be lazy, uninitiated, spoiled or a victim of circumstances.
What could have been a very intelligent and still witty expose of the hidden Japanese lifestyle becomes at worse a farce, at best a vivid depiction of the mind of a slovenly, shy person. But that's the problem. I don't think that a hikikomori can be characterised so simply into feelings that the majority of us can easily slip into.
Our hero seems to eternally live in the world of the teenager coming to age. His parents send him money to continue living that lifestyle; so he does. I, for one, certainly went through a phase where staying inside smoking and drinking, playing computer games and watching anime seemed a marvelous way to spend the rest of my life. What happened to me, and pretty much what seems forever inevitably happening to the lead in NHK is that I got bored of it. It was unsatisfying and produced nothing.
For this very reason Satou-kun embarks on various projects to create something; anything. He makes friends (and does so a little too easily to really convince me he is a hikikomori at all), or meets old ones to help him on his way. And they have their problems too, which are certainly not without their charm. The tough issues of the other characters are excellent, and the actually quite dark treatment of several of them cuts like a knife. The lack of 100% happy endings for some is also a brilliant and unpredictable flare of originality.
However, like with a lot of anime, the setting and palate somehow don't quite match the mood for the difficult moments in the series. Apart from the soft and quiet night-setting for the troubled Nakahara-san, and the strained and ultimately horrible but nicely crafted worlds of pyramid schemes and suicide-pacts, the series strays too far from its psychological basis (in plot and design). It also has a tendency to peek behind doors to places it isn't equipped to handle, and is ultimately forced to resolve those plot-lines with below par and unconvincingly pleasant outcomes. That's a bit of a shame, but the strengths elsewhere make it excusable.
Animation 7/10 To add to what I mentioned about the palate and setting, the animation is sometimes very poor. Whether that is deliberate stylisation, or I just had the raw TV version, I don't know.
However, the character designs are nice, and the backgrounds and locations are well rendered and believable.
Sound 7/10 Nothing particularly special here (other than the mighty Odoru Dame Ningen): familiar voices which do a decent job (Japanese), and fairly standard OP and ED. I did like the OP's pleasant balance between Belle and Sebastian and BoA, but it was nothing to skype home about.
Characters 9/10 Satou is clearly the most important character. Maybe I'm missing the point and he isn't even supposed to be a hikkikomori. Maybe that's just his excuse for being so lazy or how he rationalises his lack of social zeal. Whichever way you look at him, he's incredibly interesting. Other characters remain excellent varied creations riffing on the ideas of loneliness, troubled pasts and awkward life-situations. Interestingly the most grounded character, Yamazaki-kun, is the one with the biggest obstacle to overcome - the impossible to over-play pull of Japanese familial responsibilities.
Overall 8.8/10 It's pretty clear from the space given to it above that the story is the most important and significant aspect of the show.
Reading back though it seems as if I haven't really given credit where it's due. The series was exceptional in many ways - in addressing the issues it did (which is a very un-Japanese thing to do), being so left-of-mainstream when doing so, and in its murky yet hopeful perception of the world. I loved it, really, which is very rare for such a bitter and horrible person as myself :D Even when it abandoned the main thrust of the story, took little walks along the beach and played with other peoples kids in a kind of uncomfortable way, afterwards I couldn't help but forgive it. Gonzo created a world so intensely forgivable that it stole my heart. I wanted more but I wasn't angry about it, and that's so close to the ideal way for a series to end that... well, what more is there to say?
I finished it in a week, which is very fast for me. I thought it was excellent for the most part, although what initially interested me in the show was not fully treated in the way I would have liked it to be.
Story 8/10 What is a hikikomori? No-one in Japan I've spoken to seems to know, and nor does this anime. It's something of a shame for something so brave as to brand its lead with the affliction, but NHK ni Yousoko can't decide if being a hikikomori is to be lazy, uninitiated, spoiled or a victim of circumstances.
What could have been a very intelligent and still witty expose of the hidden Japanese lifestyle becomes at worse a farce, at best a vivid depiction of the mind of a slovenly, shy person. But that's the problem. I don't think that a hikikomori can be characterised so simply into feelings that the majority of us can easily slip into.
Our hero seems to eternally live in the world of the teenager coming to age. His parents send him money to continue living that lifestyle; so he does. I, for one, certainly went through a phase where staying inside smoking and drinking, playing computer games and watching anime seemed a marvelous way to spend the rest of my life. What happened to me, and pretty much what seems forever inevitably happening to the lead in NHK is that I got bored of it. It was unsatisfying and produced nothing.
For this very reason Satou-kun embarks on various projects to create something; anything. He makes friends (and does so a little too easily to really convince me he is a hikikomori at all), or meets old ones to help him on his way. And they have their problems too, which are certainly not without their charm. The tough issues of the other characters are excellent, and the actually quite dark treatment of several of them cuts like a knife. The lack of 100% happy endings for some is also a brilliant and unpredictable flare of originality.
However, like with a lot of anime, the setting and palate somehow don't quite match the mood for the difficult moments in the series. Apart from the soft and quiet night-setting for the troubled Nakahara-san, and the strained and ultimately horrible but nicely crafted worlds of pyramid schemes and suicide-pacts, the series strays too far from its psychological basis (in plot and design). It also has a tendency to peek behind doors to places it isn't equipped to handle, and is ultimately forced to resolve those plot-lines with below par and unconvincingly pleasant outcomes. That's a bit of a shame, but the strengths elsewhere make it excusable.
Animation 7/10 To add to what I mentioned about the palate and setting, the animation is sometimes very poor. Whether that is deliberate stylisation, or I just had the raw TV version, I don't know.
However, the character designs are nice, and the backgrounds and locations are well rendered and believable.
Sound 7/10 Nothing particularly special here (other than the mighty Odoru Dame Ningen): familiar voices which do a decent job (Japanese), and fairly standard OP and ED. I did like the OP's pleasant balance between Belle and Sebastian and BoA, but it was nothing to skype home about.
Characters 9/10 Satou is clearly the most important character. Maybe I'm missing the point and he isn't even supposed to be a hikkikomori. Maybe that's just his excuse for being so lazy or how he rationalises his lack of social zeal. Whichever way you look at him, he's incredibly interesting. Other characters remain excellent varied creations riffing on the ideas of loneliness, troubled pasts and awkward life-situations. Interestingly the most grounded character, Yamazaki-kun, is the one with the biggest obstacle to overcome - the impossible to over-play pull of Japanese familial responsibilities.
Overall 8.8/10 It's pretty clear from the space given to it above that the story is the most important and significant aspect of the show.
Reading back though it seems as if I haven't really given credit where it's due. The series was exceptional in many ways - in addressing the issues it did (which is a very un-Japanese thing to do), being so left-of-mainstream when doing so, and in its murky yet hopeful perception of the world. I loved it, really, which is very rare for such a bitter and horrible person as myself :D Even when it abandoned the main thrust of the story, took little walks along the beach and played with other peoples kids in a kind of uncomfortable way, afterwards I couldn't help but forgive it. Gonzo created a world so intensely forgivable that it stole my heart. I wanted more but I wasn't angry about it, and that's so close to the ideal way for a series to end that... well, what more is there to say?
Story 8/10 Only on the penultimate episode did I discover this series was penned by Masamune Shirow. It doesn't really show, although as it originated in 1987 it isn't so surprising. Why it took 20 years to make such a great anime is anyone's guess.
Anyway, the story is very good. A dark and moody tale at heart, this anime mulls through the lives of its protagonists and a semi-real world of astral projection and spirits. It does so in a way immediately attributable to Nakamura Ryuutarou's (Serial Experiments Lain) direction. I enjoyed SEL's rasping static sensory deprivation, and I love it here too. The bassy atmosphere death rattles the viewer through several inter-connected disturbing backstories, and brings the plot round to booming shadows hanging heavily from it's lead characters.
The subject matter is part mystery, part science, and comes together in the lives of juniour high school students. This is perhaps one of the small blemishes on the series. While the "difficult past and large responsibility on young shoulders" plot element is powerful despite it's regular use in anime, I think the children retained a little too much of their childish appearance during the progression of this series.
Animation 8.5/10 Simulteneously beautiful and slightly wrong. The quality is very high, as you would expect from Production I.G. But perhaps the tones and designs of the children, again, bring the show down slightly. The atmosphere created by the backdrops, creatures and settings throughout was exceptional, but the flat-coloured characters distracted slightly from that and just felt a little out of place. A few bad choices were also made during astral projection. The initial "baby" characters look a little too silly, as do some of the later apperitions.
Overall, though, the designs and smoothness need some applause for their left-of-mainstream quality. Very well put together; sometimes even creepy.
Sound 8/10 Like SEL, one of the things that brings the atmosphere and animation and script together is the sound used to bind them. The fuzz, the buzz, the scrapes, the dinks - all work fantastically with the mood and direction. Although you could argue that the general impression is almost too similar to SEL, it works very well regardless. OP is also well suited. Japanese VAs are good, and mild-mannered enough to pull off the roles very professioanlly and convincingly.
Characters 8.5/10 Excellent, though perhaps more so in personality than design. The very believable story behind what is something of a fantastical show in exposed beautifully through the main cast. Common personality types crop up but remain under-done to perfection, easily escaping the horrible tendency in anime to ham-up emotions. The leads are well defined and maturely designed. There could be a little more conflict in there, and some things perhaps shouldn't go quite as smoothly as they tend to do for those characters, but I was very satisfied with the way things turned out. All but one or two characters are important in their own way, and most hold themselves together well and deserve their screen time.
Overall 8.5/10 With such a good all round score it's tempting to go even higher with the overall mark, but all I'll do is recommend this to anyone who enjoys a more mature anime. Though the series runs for 22 episodes there were no points when I felt cheated because of that. There's no filler in here. The fascinating story unfolds generously, without recourse to distraction. Although I felt a couple of things could have been explained a little more, the ending was a satisfactory finish for what is literally a one-in-a-thousand anime.
Now to hunt out the next classic hidden within swathes of soggy cardboard and freaky pillows.
Anyway, the story is very good. A dark and moody tale at heart, this anime mulls through the lives of its protagonists and a semi-real world of astral projection and spirits. It does so in a way immediately attributable to Nakamura Ryuutarou's (Serial Experiments Lain) direction. I enjoyed SEL's rasping static sensory deprivation, and I love it here too. The bassy atmosphere death rattles the viewer through several inter-connected disturbing backstories, and brings the plot round to booming shadows hanging heavily from it's lead characters.
The subject matter is part mystery, part science, and comes together in the lives of juniour high school students. This is perhaps one of the small blemishes on the series. While the "difficult past and large responsibility on young shoulders" plot element is powerful despite it's regular use in anime, I think the children retained a little too much of their childish appearance during the progression of this series.
Animation 8.5/10 Simulteneously beautiful and slightly wrong. The quality is very high, as you would expect from Production I.G. But perhaps the tones and designs of the children, again, bring the show down slightly. The atmosphere created by the backdrops, creatures and settings throughout was exceptional, but the flat-coloured characters distracted slightly from that and just felt a little out of place. A few bad choices were also made during astral projection. The initial "baby" characters look a little too silly, as do some of the later apperitions.
Overall, though, the designs and smoothness need some applause for their left-of-mainstream quality. Very well put together; sometimes even creepy.
Sound 8/10 Like SEL, one of the things that brings the atmosphere and animation and script together is the sound used to bind them. The fuzz, the buzz, the scrapes, the dinks - all work fantastically with the mood and direction. Although you could argue that the general impression is almost too similar to SEL, it works very well regardless. OP is also well suited. Japanese VAs are good, and mild-mannered enough to pull off the roles very professioanlly and convincingly.
Characters 8.5/10 Excellent, though perhaps more so in personality than design. The very believable story behind what is something of a fantastical show in exposed beautifully through the main cast. Common personality types crop up but remain under-done to perfection, easily escaping the horrible tendency in anime to ham-up emotions. The leads are well defined and maturely designed. There could be a little more conflict in there, and some things perhaps shouldn't go quite as smoothly as they tend to do for those characters, but I was very satisfied with the way things turned out. All but one or two characters are important in their own way, and most hold themselves together well and deserve their screen time.
Overall 8.5/10 With such a good all round score it's tempting to go even higher with the overall mark, but all I'll do is recommend this to anyone who enjoys a more mature anime. Though the series runs for 22 episodes there were no points when I felt cheated because of that. There's no filler in here. The fascinating story unfolds generously, without recourse to distraction. Although I felt a couple of things could have been explained a little more, the ending was a satisfactory finish for what is literally a one-in-a-thousand anime.
Now to hunt out the next classic hidden within swathes of soggy cardboard and freaky pillows.
I watched Evangelion as a teenager and liked many aspects of it. However the series was very weak and repetitive in the middle and clearly suffered production difficulties near the end. The movies didn't do much for me after the initial epic-scope aesthetics of End of Evangelion had worn off. Now more than 10 years later I'm pretty happy that things have been reordered and re-rendered to make the series into what it should really have been in the first place.
I don't like the fact than Anno Hideaki has been able to milk the somewhat unfinished series for so much cash and so many editions (not to mention pachinko machines) so far, but taking 1.0 and 2.0 as stand-alone works (and ignoring their pretentious titles) is pretty satisfying.
Story 8/10 Good: much more than a rehash of the series. The story is fleshed out in some of the most necessary places and feels so much tighter and more concentrated than anything that has come before. Some awesome new snippets of what is to come later in the series add some satisfying excitement.
However, there is still an element of "here comes the next baddie" which gets a little tiresome. It is dealt with much more effectively here than the series, but it's still predictable. Nevertheless, despite giving the impression of being about to enter the full-on "monster of the week" barrage, it never really does, which is a blessed relief. The interactions of the characters are becoming more believable, and individual personalities are being better exposed and explained.
But, and it's a necessary but, what's the deal with the fan-service? Come on, man. Take yourself seriously, won't you? Animation 9/10 Well, it teetered between absolutely superb and a little disappointing. The budget was clearly insanely high. Action sequences are fantastically detailed and choreographed for the main part, although suffer from gratuitous flailing of limbs and ridiculous acrobats which unfortunately dumb it down a little. Backgrounds are simply amazing. The detail and range is incredible. The failings lie in the characters. Sometimes character faces and expressions look out of place by their simplicity. The broad pen pines and over-simple shading are a bit of a let-down.
Sound 7.5/10 Not particularly amazing. Again we see the technique of using a mixture of classical and children's music for depth and vulnerability. I'm surprised at some of the choices though. For example, one of the children's songs used is very popular in Japan and often used in elementary schools. The manner in which it is normally used makes its appearance in the film almost comical; which can't have been the intention. Not really knowing many Japanese people who care that much about anime I haven't been able to ask what they though, but it seemed a bit silly to me.
The Japanese people speaking English throughout the film are incredibly embarrassing. What a huge mis-calculation. How hard is it to train people to say a small number of lines in a natural way? Characters 8.5 Although some of the characters (particularly Asuka) seem to have become even less likable, for the most part the big-hitters have only improved. Although there is little time left for the minor-characters to develop or even really be involved, the well-developed personalities of the leads take somewhat new directions in their relations to one another. The relationship between teen-sap Shinji and his father has a more satisfying and somewhat relatable edge to it now, and Rei's annoyingly hyperbolic meekness has been flatted out to something more forgiving. All in all, satisfying.
And the new lead, Mari, is much better than (at least I) predicted. She has a very interesting relationship with herself, and pain. I am definitely looking forward to her future development.
Eva designs seem to have changed slightly around the waist which was a curious choice, and doesn't add much to their attractiveness. In contrast, the Angels have been changed for the better. The old, sometimes Ultraman-ish designs were sometimes a little... Ultraman-ish. The reduced number and better designs have helped things along well.
Overall 8.5/10 Overall satisfying. For me the film didn't quite have the intensity ascribed to it by others, and the ending I thought actually lacked a little emotional attachment. I also thought that the amazing animation and choreography discussed above wasn't nearly as good near the end as it was earlier in the feature. But despite this, as a whole this movie blows the series out of the water. So much which was unsatisfactory is now shiny and new. Whether or not I would feel this way about the film without having seen the rest of the franchise is anyone's guess, but I really enjoyed it. Good work, keep it up.
I don't like the fact than Anno Hideaki has been able to milk the somewhat unfinished series for so much cash and so many editions (not to mention pachinko machines) so far, but taking 1.0 and 2.0 as stand-alone works (and ignoring their pretentious titles) is pretty satisfying.
Story 8/10 Good: much more than a rehash of the series. The story is fleshed out in some of the most necessary places and feels so much tighter and more concentrated than anything that has come before. Some awesome new snippets of what is to come later in the series add some satisfying excitement.
However, there is still an element of "here comes the next baddie" which gets a little tiresome. It is dealt with much more effectively here than the series, but it's still predictable. Nevertheless, despite giving the impression of being about to enter the full-on "monster of the week" barrage, it never really does, which is a blessed relief. The interactions of the characters are becoming more believable, and individual personalities are being better exposed and explained.
But, and it's a necessary but, what's the deal with the fan-service? Come on, man. Take yourself seriously, won't you? Animation 9/10 Well, it teetered between absolutely superb and a little disappointing. The budget was clearly insanely high. Action sequences are fantastically detailed and choreographed for the main part, although suffer from gratuitous flailing of limbs and ridiculous acrobats which unfortunately dumb it down a little. Backgrounds are simply amazing. The detail and range is incredible. The failings lie in the characters. Sometimes character faces and expressions look out of place by their simplicity. The broad pen pines and over-simple shading are a bit of a let-down.
Sound 7.5/10 Not particularly amazing. Again we see the technique of using a mixture of classical and children's music for depth and vulnerability. I'm surprised at some of the choices though. For example, one of the children's songs used is very popular in Japan and often used in elementary schools. The manner in which it is normally used makes its appearance in the film almost comical; which can't have been the intention. Not really knowing many Japanese people who care that much about anime I haven't been able to ask what they though, but it seemed a bit silly to me.
The Japanese people speaking English throughout the film are incredibly embarrassing. What a huge mis-calculation. How hard is it to train people to say a small number of lines in a natural way? Characters 8.5 Although some of the characters (particularly Asuka) seem to have become even less likable, for the most part the big-hitters have only improved. Although there is little time left for the minor-characters to develop or even really be involved, the well-developed personalities of the leads take somewhat new directions in their relations to one another. The relationship between teen-sap Shinji and his father has a more satisfying and somewhat relatable edge to it now, and Rei's annoyingly hyperbolic meekness has been flatted out to something more forgiving. All in all, satisfying.
And the new lead, Mari, is much better than (at least I) predicted. She has a very interesting relationship with herself, and pain. I am definitely looking forward to her future development.
Eva designs seem to have changed slightly around the waist which was a curious choice, and doesn't add much to their attractiveness. In contrast, the Angels have been changed for the better. The old, sometimes Ultraman-ish designs were sometimes a little... Ultraman-ish. The reduced number and better designs have helped things along well.
Overall 8.5/10 Overall satisfying. For me the film didn't quite have the intensity ascribed to it by others, and the ending I thought actually lacked a little emotional attachment. I also thought that the amazing animation and choreography discussed above wasn't nearly as good near the end as it was earlier in the feature. But despite this, as a whole this movie blows the series out of the water. So much which was unsatisfactory is now shiny and new. Whether or not I would feel this way about the film without having seen the rest of the franchise is anyone's guess, but I really enjoyed it. Good work, keep it up.