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NHK Ni Youkoso! is an anime that set new standards for me. And that's saying alot, since up until now, I've been giving plenty of shows 10s and such. However, I know realize what a 10 truly is.

The reason I was so hesitant to watch this show was probably because I had heard so much praise about it, my expectations would be unreasonably high. I also heard it was a comedy, romance, drama, and psychological anime all at once. Could you really put all that together? Surely it would have been an ambitious task, but in the end it felt right.

Regarding the plot, it wasn't ... that the story was not good, rather it was honestly not that important. The only "story" that was worth paying attention to was the growth of all the characters, namely Tatsuhiro Sato. The plot seems to be divided into little arcs (maybe that's how it was in the novel?), sometimes introducing a new character, or a new phase in Sato's journey to end the hikikomori lifestyle. The atmosphere also changes respectively.

While on the topic of atmosphere, it seems that this was what made me enjoy these series the most. It starts somewhat lightheated, and becomes darker slowly and very gracefully. The dialogue, the facial expressions, the art styles, music, and the shots and cinematography work together so harmoniously (example, I really thought the choppy, slightly warped moments during the arc with Megumi's brother suit it perfectly, and the recurring mental breakdowns made me pleasantly uncomfortable).

The OST is also really good, with the best pieces featuring Yui Makino, Pearl Kyoudai, along with compositions by Masao Fukuda. Both the opening and its remix were also good.

On the animation quality itself, it wasn't infested with CGI, but unfortunately it still had choppy animation Gonzo is known for (although it really worked for certain scenes in an odd fashion).

I'm not going to tell you anything about the characters. This is due to a.) Doing so would require me to pretty much write a book, and b.) you need to experience it for yourself, since this I think is the defining point of the series.

I think it is pretty obvious that I loved this show, so I'm giving it a 10. It will be an anime where I'll actually remember the names of the characters, consider reading the original source material, and maybe even download a few pieces from the OST into my hip hop infested playlist.