I'm reading volume 5 of "Welcome to the NHK" (Tokyopop), a darkly humorous look at the contemporary trend of social withdrawal within Japanese young men. No, it's not about working at the Japanese broadcasting company...

NHK ni Yōkoso! is not without its shonen manga qualities, but there are no spiky haired preteens battling mystic toad kings here. Instead, you find talking tea-kettles, suicide clubs, and erotic game designers.

The story is clearly an exaggerated take on some harsh real-life issues, but the delivery leaves you shamefully enraptured.

Personae Dramatis

Sato Tatsuhiro is our 23-year-old, jobless, directionless anti-hero. A sad recluse (hikikomori), who the reader knows is too young to be done with life, but is too personally challenged to make any real connections in life or to even accept emotional interaction if it comes his way.

Yamazaki Kaoru is Sato's stereotypically otaku next-door neighbor, and ex-kohai. Together they create a feedback loop of unhealthily distorted reality.

Their happily shared delusion is shattered when the lovely, but inept, Nakahara Misaki takes it upon herself to reform Sato of his reclusive ways, when she herself has fallen off the properly laid out track.

The Good

I'm really enjoying NHK, as a respite from the typical, good vs. evil sword-fest. I wouldn't say that the story resembles reality in any way, but is rather a concentrated examination of the sad news stories you hear out of contemporary Japan.

The art style, particularly in the book jackets and inside panels is all rock-star, rough and gritty. From the lush color and metallic details on the cover, to the black and white photography, and the awesome duo-chromatic printing on the inside flaps, the books make great collectors items, art books even.*

The illustration inside is artful but carefully restrained. You wouldn't want more from the art, since the scenario writing takes center stage, and rightfully so (NHK is based on a 2002 novel of the same name). The scripting is hilarious and painfully awkward.

I really love the characters as well. Each is faulty in so many ways, from the central three to the expanding cast of old school chums and relations. But their individual frailty forces them to bond together to exist, creating the very thing that each lacks, human connection (つながり).

The manga is never dull either. Each chapter of each volume is packed with stereotype after stereotype of contemporary Japanese perversion at odds with outdated expectations of proper behavior.

The Bad

There's not much bad to see yet midway through volume 5. Though by this point I am starting to realize that Sato wont find the healthy mental equilibrium that is dangled before him every chapter. Because, if he did, the series would be over.

The chapters do read as though they are dancing around the point sometimes, but if the dance is fun, why stop?

I'm not blazing through this series as quickly as I do some. I think it's because NHK is decidedly more adult and literary than much of what I read. I'm not saying, it'll go down in history with Tolstoy, but NHK is a real read - something to laugh at, ponder over and to reflect on your own life as a result.

Maybe you should lend it to your hipster friend. He'll probably thank you with a case of micro-brewed beer. Don't expect to get it back in good shape though. Plenty of people will want to read this skewed story since each of us has a twisted side.

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*I'm describing the printing quality of the Japanese version. The American (Tokyopop) version may differ.