Welcome to the NHK is an anime filled with mentally ill characters. The themes therin are intensely realistic and relateable, yet cartoonish enough to still be enjoyable. It's excellent for fans of psychology and those who enjoy to analyze. This is due to its extremely mental health focused plot. Every character has some form of issues and it is fun to unpack the absolute insanity that is in the plot.
At the center of the plot is Sato. Sato is a Hikkikomori, which is basically Japanese for schizoid personality disorder or agoraphobia. He sits in his house and simmers in a world of anime focused conspiracy theories. He used to be in college but he quit, and now he lives in his apartment unemployed with his parents paying for his rent. At the beginning he is deeply agitated by his neighbor who keeps playing gay anime music loudly. He eventually loses his temper and knocks on his door. To his surprise, his high school friend Yamazaki answers the door.
Yamazaki is a college student who has what I can only assume to be Asperger's. As forementioned he obsesses over a gay anime and it's gay anime music that he blasts. He is in school to be a game designer and is very socially awkward. More on him later...
So is Sato destined to be a recluse forever? Not so fast, there is Misaki. Misaki is a 14 year old covert narcissist who feels invalidated and lost in the world due to her introverted nature, deep insecurity, aloof parents, and social inability. Her cure to all these issues, is to use Sato as the ultimate narcissistic supply. She sees that he is a Hikkikomori and thus reasons that he is the only thing more pathetic than herself. To get the supply, she proposed Sato to be part of her "project" to make him no longer a Hikkikomori.
Initially, Sato refuses and tries to claim that he actually has a job as a game designer and elaborates the lie by working with Yamazaki to make a hentai game. This falls flat and he eventually accepts her offer albiet not taking it seriously.
Meanwhile, another high school friend enters the picture: Sato's former literature club friend "senpai". Senpai is a women with severe depression issues. She takes a multitude of pills along with it and was the person who gave Sato all of his conspiracy ideas that later made him agoraphobic. Accidently, she interprets Sato as saying he wants to go with her to a suicide pact meeting she planned to go to unbeknownst to her fiance. Sato and her go to a remote island, snubbing Yamazaki and his game exhibition. Sato notices the others on the island are nihilistic and moody. Eventually he catches on and surprisingly ends up wanting to commit suicide. Meanwhile, Misaki and Yamazaki intercept them before jumping off the cliff and eventually everybody chooses not to jump.
Later, Sato meets yet another high school friend who tries to lure him into a pyramid scheme that she got caught in trying to care for her disabled brother. This does not end well.
Finally, Sato quits on Misaki, prompting HER to attempt suicide and when he intercepts her she admits to all her covert narcissism issues to him. In the end, she does not do it and the plot concludes with them being friends.
