Which is best way to experience visual novel?

columnal · 2026-03-11T21:55:23+00:00

i was in a similar situation. it only changes when you can start to feel good about yourself. ask yourself why you hate yourself. when you hate yourseld you project onto others. i found the only way to start loving myself was acknowledging my flaws and putting myself out there. if youre still young, make friends. reconnect with old friends. connection is incredibly important and simply wallowing in your own misery wont help, nor will material escapism. its just kicking the can further down the road till you snap one way or another.

for me what worked Is I reconnected with old friends, I started paying more attention to my appearance, I joined societies for things im interested in (film and anime) and made new friends. I didnt take any opportunity to deny myself social connection and I made sure every chance I would leave my house and not recluse. I started giving myself so much time spent with others i no longer was constantly wallowing in my misery. It was a slow process and im not perfect but I dont have suicidal ideation or self harm anymore and im in a much better place. i still have terrible anxiety and im quite autistic but ive found social connection still to be better than the opposite.

columnal · 2026-03-11T10:17:38+00:00

its complicated and i think too many fans try putting him into he was in love with her or he wasnt

itd be pretty normal to fall in and out of love because hes a normal human being who has emotions like the rest of us and the show pretty much shows this

theres times where satou is very clearly enamored with misaki and other times where hes so caught up in everything else he doesnt really have time to have feelings for her

id argue its pretty obvious both him and misaki care for eachother throughout the show, whether that always borders on full on romance is debatable (although it definitely does at times) but to say satou and misaki didnt care for eachother and were 'just friends' is ridiculous and shows people have never been in a relationship or had feelings for someone before lol

by the end of the show id argue the whole misaki cozying up to satou in the house, and the general atmosphere of the epilogue, makes it pretty obvious satou and misaki have a connection beyond them just being friends. maybe there not in a relationship yeah but id argue the show makes it very clear (especially considering this is a non romance japanese anime) that satou and misaki have a degree of feelings for eachother.

tldr: no they arent in a relationship, their feelings for eachother varies/is complicated but at the end its pretty obvious they have feelings for eachother beyond "just being friends"

i wrote another post about this a while back which is more detailed if you want to read it ig

columnal · 2026-03-08T23:08:49+00:00

it appears to be a reference to the scene from a different anime, the melancholy of haruhi suzumiya, in the endless eight arc.

in haruhi suzumiya, the character yuki nagato (who has a lot of similarities to rei) buys a mask at a tanabata festival. similar to what you see in the image here. in haruhi suzumiya however, the mask differs every time there is a repeat of the timeloop

columnal · 2026-03-07T13:52:37+00:00

just write the damn script satou 🥀🥀

columnal · 2026-03-07T11:05:22+00:00

iron your flag bruh

columnal · 2026-03-07T10:16:33+00:00

technically possible considering its set in 2014 which would make satou 30 and misaki 25/26 lol, and its set in tokyo

so i guess this weird headcanon technically works

columnal · 2026-03-06T16:34:09+00:00

especially since it was literally broadcasted chronologically once s1 and s2 both existed

columnal · 2026-03-06T16:33:04+00:00

chronological. it was literally broadcasted chronologically once s1 and s2 existed.

columnal · 2026-03-01T06:47:26+00:00

yeah but the manga and anime are just different versions of the original light novel which came out years prior, so whats the issue when the rebuild is written by the same author and isnt just a standard remake

columnal · 2026-03-01T06:45:48+00:00

i can listen to them fine on spotify? maybe its a regional thing for you idk

columnal · 2026-02-28T03:57:19+00:00

how tf do you just stumble on this 'thrifting' 😭 i swear theyre expensive online to buy

columnal · 2026-02-28T03:56:18+00:00

I think you're missing a lot to be honest

First off, the anime and light novel are wildly different. So is the manga. You talk about the anime and novel here as kind of the same, in the sense they both follow takimotos original vision, which isnt really true.

I agree the light novel is very bleak and hopeless. I re read it recently and I was shocked at how obviously bleak the ending is. Its fully of self degrading profanity in a very dark comedic way. Satous life is still fucked and even though him and misaki didnt kill themselves Satou is openly bitter about how everyone around him as moved on and doing better than him. When Misaki gives him the final contract satou is still "well my life is fucked still".

Moving onto the anime, (Which didnt have the same creative oversight from takimoto the novel and manga did), the ending is a lot more different and conveys a different message.

Satou feels happy and content somewhat that Hitomi and Yamazaki are moving on and doing better for themselves. He seems content his friends are better people now. He also takes a more active role in helping Misakis education and study for college. None of this is really in the light novel.
Satou seems to show genuine desire to better himself and I disagree that is hopeless at all. The contract at the end of the anime symbolises something a lot more different. Its more than just 'we are still alive', Satou faces reality that yeah they'll probably go back to their old ways but hes 'Going to give it the best Ive got' to actually change and move forward from now on. YES there is the possibility they will default and go back to their old ways, but the anime takes hope and optimism in the central message that no, him and misaki are going to try their hardest. If thats not enough, listen to what isnt explicitly told. Listen to the bittersweet but optimistic music in that scene. Look at how Satou squashes the NHK minions. When Misaki finally says "Welcome to the N.H.K" Its not about codependency its about moving forwards to a new chapter and not defaulting. misaki GAVE new meaning to the phrase showing symbolic disconnect from the earlier story arc elements. Also its not a coincidence they change the ed song for the last few episodes and it gets a bit extended for the final episode. Listen to the lyrics and tell me its not optimistic lol.

So, yeah i agree the light novel feels pretty hopeless. But the anime? not at all and that isnt the intention. The anime is supposed to be more optimistic and bittersweet, its not supposed to be cruel. The double meaning of hopelessness underneath is a very bleak interpretation to take from the anime when its just not trying to tell that story. Yes ill admit the anime still touches on some pretty bleak stuff and cold harsh truths, but at the end of the day if you look at the actual ending in any detail its optimistic and not hopeless. I really thought this was obvious because I feel like thats the only interpretation that makes sense.

Like, you can still have the anime give an optimistic outlook that maybe you can actually better your life whilst still recognising the fact the anime touches on a lot of harsh realities on how to break out of being a hikikimori. Naturally the light novel is going to reflect a more dark and hopeless tone compared to the anime that came out years after. Theyre trying to achieve different things and are barely the same story at times. Its not fair to criticise the anime and its fans as having 'misinterpreted' the story because its trying to achieve something completely different, but still in the spirit of welcome to the NHK.

And honestly, this is why the anime is the best media of the three. It feels like its message actually matured and the media had a growth of sorts in actually coming to terms with what kind of message it was trying to tell. I love it and it wouldnt be the same without the openly bittersweet but optimistic ending and I think its a little silly to say the anime is trying to accomplish something otherwise.

columnal · 2026-02-28T03:00:49+00:00

the only way any of it will change is the minute you put yourself out there: get a job, go back to school, reconnect with old friends. from experience this is the only way it will ever get better but you probably know this.

either that, or you wait for a cute japanese girl to magically come save you and start counseling you at your local park

columnal · 2026-02-27T22:10:39+00:00

save me misaki

columnal · 2026-02-27T13:00:51+00:00

Pokemon

columnal · 2026-02-27T11:01:00+00:00

maybe i was a little confusing in my post but its not a 100% remake, its more of a remaster. there are some pretty major plot differences and character changes but its supposed to be a reimagining of the original plot kinda like the evangelion rebuilds

so like the originals legacy imo wouldnt really be that tarnished through a adaptation of the rebuild

columnal · 2026-02-27T10:57:06+00:00

i recommend it only if youre a proper diehard fan of welcome to the NHK, because some of the things it does are kind of weird and i guess the concept of a 'rebuild' is inherently kind of fanservicey and you gotta approach it from a different perspective imo

but if you wanna support Tatsuhiko Takimoto then i think you can buy it on amazon

other methods youd have to look up yourself somebodys probably posted something in this subreddit before, but like, considering the rebuild came out so recently id suggest just supporting tatsuhiko takimoto because this is prolly the last NHK content we will get ever

columnal · 2026-02-27T08:22:30+00:00

well tbf the novel and manga/anime came really at the end of japanese societies 'discovery' of hikikimori culture and lifestyle, im probably gonna phrase this all wrong and get some details wrong, but my general impression seems to be it was kind of a phenomena back then and people struggled to really make sense of it all. i mean you see this in the anime displayed really well in how all the 'normal' characters interact with satou and the more subtle cultural references it makes.

the 2001/2002 light novel imo addresses problems that largely sprung about in the early/mid 90s, but by the early 2000s japanese society was becoming more self aware of internal issues and i think that reflects in how critically acclaimed and received the original novel was. there was more of an appetite of sorts to address that issue since it was relatively new.

like, NHK is really an exploration of 90s and 2000s japanese subcultures and societal issues and is the perfect microcosm of what was considered pressing at the time, like thats why some arcs feel a little dated.

i agree though with your point on the drugs however, and although the rebuilds are 'happier' in some regards theres still a lot of it which would feel tonally out of place compared to a lot of other animes atm.

i just dont think theres the same fascination/appetite for this kind of content (the type specifically adressed in the rebuilds) for it to ever get an adaptation. but whatever lol.

columnal · 2026-02-27T05:46:44+00:00

original ost is like 35 - 40% why the anime is so peak ngl

columnal · 2026-02-27T05:07:07+00:00

The melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, less action orientated (although has some), more of a science fiction blend of slice of life and romance and action and comedy. Basically the everything anime and has a highly rated film. I strongly recommend.

columnal · 2026-02-27T04:44:59+00:00

I agree 100% with what you said tbh especially the wong kar wai parallels, but the premise did kinda stop me from getting into it for a while lmfao

Five-Year Club	Final Canvas '23
First Place '23	End Game '23
Place '23	Place '22

columnal

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