NHK ni Yôkoso had been of one my favourite animes for years, one I'd rewatched quite often until the the feelings faded away, and I ended up forgetting as well as removing it from my podium of favourites, even going as far as putting a nine out of ten instead of the original ten. Somehow, it didn't feel like a masterpiece anymore, though it certainly remains a great memory and a work I enjoyed and would probably still appreciate, albeit mainly because of its realisation.
It was no wonder I would end up one day reading the novel or the manga. The manga did possess quite a bit of fame, and the novel, although quite obscure, was nonetheless a piece edited in English and the original work and creator of all the fame surrounding its children. I did try out the novel, however as displeased as I am with light novels, I found it bland and uninteresting, maybe too similar to the anime but then it just didn't work as a text-only material. Still, the anime was a great memory of my childhood, something I could relate to and wholeheartedly enjoyed, and still reminisce about while listening to its soundtracks.
I had downloaded the novel's ebook years ago, maybe just after finishing the anime for the first or second time, I hardly remember, but I hadn't read it yet and it kept remaining on my hard drive until someday I found it lost amongst all these others ebooks I mass downloaded and never read. In the end, I did probably try it thrice without really liking it, and there remained the manga I'd never let my eyes fall upon. Instead, it was a friend of mine who, years after the anime just the same as I, decided to read it instead of the novel, and liked it. I decided to give it a try too.
I read half the manga in what seemed like less than two hours, or maybe even one, and then I left it hanging for a few weeks too. Still, it wasn't because the work bored me, as I did actually enjoy it. Without even reading the later part, I'd already come to the conclusion that it was better than the anime, and I still don't think that I was wrong. Since I never really read the novel, I still don't understand what's taken from the original story and what's not, but without any soundtrack, without the sublime animation of the other adaptation, this piece of paper easily surpassed Gonzo's adaptation. I started to find that one rather bland, actually.
The manga brings a completely different point of view to the story, and even without reading I am pretty sure neither the anime's nor the manga's vision are present in the novel, for it is utterly lacking any kind of description and almost only about Satou's thoughts. The anime focused a lot on artistic realisation, and I do think it did a magnificent job at that, but what about the actual content ? That's where I now realize it's quite a bit lacking.
In this manga adaptation, every character is brought to life, be it in actions or simply the drawn expressions, way more numerous and present than the anime. The anime is, on that point, closer to the novel which only shows Satou's thoughts, at it is way too focused on our protagonist, but the manga is not. NHK made little sense, yet here every character is brought up together in the end and everyone get his own little personal development. Misaki who was merely a plot tool in the anime becomes a character of its own, Yamazaki is more than just a background element and even the president's hikkikomori brother, which is in my opinion the most interesting and my favourite character, even he gets his own development. What's also really likeable is how each of them are shown to be broken, be it the successful Jougasaki, the carefree Yamazaki or his completely ordinary girlfriend.
This manga manages to bring the most potential out of the manga. It tells the story in a way which hardly lacks anything and with a pacing perfectly fitting it. Hell, I would even dare to say it did a better job at trying out an artistic realisation than the anime version. Each chapter is cut at the right part and the mangaka especially did a good job at using multiple point of views at the same time in a single chapter, allowing his work to possess more profoundness through the presence of multiple protagonists. This is really interesting as it allows for a paralleled development of everyone and follows deeply the idea of everyone being the same. What's more, through the story, the roads of every personage just end up crossing each other.
Leaving the quality as an adaptation apart, it is also an excellent standalone work. This is, in the same way as a few other works such as Baka ga Zenra de Yatte Kuru or "Haikai Roujin" Don Quixote a strange bildungsroman of a late blooming neet, who through his misadventures end up confronting his past and at the same time discovering himself a future and a present to live in. Once again, the manga perfectly manages what it tries to do, and the short trip of Satou through society is a worthy tale about society and its depressing parts, but also about freedom as it remains a main idea throughout the story, for Satou's deepest desire reveals itself to be merely a dream of that. A dream of perhaps the most unreachable thing for a human, and maybe even more for a man of society.
Illustrated with simplistic drawings, the manga express to its deepest core depression. It's drawn with sad but pretty lines, with a pacing just slow enough to tell the events without ever delaying, and relate a cynical turn of events. Perhaps, if it's lacking anything, it would be Satou's thoughts from the original work, or maybe distancing itself is how it manages to excel this much, for it certainly was a worthy read and a dreamlike modern tale hardly forgettable.
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