aloe, dream

I don’t want to spoil anyone, but I just want to state my grief with NHK, and then my love. I took the short time to catch up with some manga reading up to volume 5, and it’s a deep, twisting ride through the spastic world of a hikikomori. Some of the chapters felt strange, almost out of place, due to the sheer randomness, but by chapter 25, we see the most comprehensive overview of the current situations in any NHK chapter. The reason for the comprehension, even though it is very brief and hardly decsriptive of the problems the characters are facing, is that NHK doesn’t do much of “ordinary”. Still, it can deliver quite a fullfilling ride.

As far as pacing is concerned, the anime is yet to complete volume 3, but I believe by episode 20, volume 4 material will be underway. My prediction is that they will twist the ending right around the 2nd “suicide” material; this isn’t a spoiler, because no one can prepare for anything in NHK when it is described in 2 words. Truth, except perhaps… Misaki Neko ^^. Now, I’m not really concerned whether Satou and Misaki will come to their terms in the manga, but they should in the anime. There is enough bond between them, well at least on Misaki’s end, to wind up together in the manga, but volume 4 introduced some events which laid the smack down on the characters, not soley Satou.

There are 3.5 characters with serious problems. Satou, of course, but his problems haven’t really changed much, though he has. Misaki, wow, this girl has problems, perhaps more overloading than Satou because she is but a teenager. Her problems have emerged more as the “healing” relationship between her and Satou goes through stability issues, but we do learn some things about her. I’m not sure these will arrive in the anime, but I believe they will include it, because it wouldn’t be difficult. As for her past, well, its difficult to tell, because she seems to lie a lot, for the sake of Satou. This aspect really brought back the notion that, when was Misaki ever telling the truth in earlier parts of the story. Even in the anime, can we tell if she is lying? I know surely that I like to believe she is telling the truth, but it seems that at any moment she could come reverse everything she’s said/done as a play or act of her plot. I dunno, she kinda creeps me out sometimes, but I like her.

The other two characters, who add up to 1.5 concerning serious problems, are Yamazaki and Hitomi-senpai. Yamazaki has some, let’s say, girl issues, but he’s kinda funny about it. Even though he is an otaku-major, I haven’t left out the fact that he is pretty in tune with his reality (but his take on women is off). Hitomi’s issues are less demanding. She will be marrying, but does she really feel like it? Even anime watchers saw that look she gave Satou when she was driving away from the suicide incident. What that fear, distress, “save me”, longing? Hitomi X Satou feels right in a way, because we know Satou does have feelings for her, but he’s a good guy and doesn’t want to intrude; plus he has fear.

En totale, I’m still going to say that the anime and manga have their own strengths and weaknesses. The anime should have not spent so much time on certains arcs *coughsuicidecough*, but I could be entirely wrong if the end becomes spectacular. NHK manga is super fun, usually, though there are some parts where it just hurts to read, because the characters are ridiculous, yes I mean Satou specifically. It is also not as smooth as the anime, the pacing is a bit slow in the anime, but it is smooth, while the manga can be choppy like the day-of-hurricane swells we experience here in FL. Anyway, I may wait some more eps to post on the NHK anime. The verdict stands, NHK :hearts:.

Ryan A