07 Sep 2006
Posted by Martin [Tags: Welcome to the NHK!]
If anyone remembers an old episode of
Spaced in which Brian the artist tries to lie to his mum about his job and lifestyle you'll have a rough idea about the discomfort and suspense that ep #8 of
Welcome to the NHK offers. More or less, at least. This is when Satou's desparate plan to keep his dark secret from his family is about to go into full swing.
There were two very telling pieces of characterisation that occured in this outing. The first is that of Satou's mother and the relationship he shares with her: she turns out to be a very understanding(!) and unassuming(?) parent who Satou has got along with very well over the years, which makes it all the more painful for him to lie to her. This wasn't really explored in detail last time so it's great to learn more about the maternal figure who, until now, was a shadowy and frightening character.
If the pleasant and approachable nature of Satou's mum was a surprise, there's another one that offers considerable food for thought. At various points in this episode Misaki doesn't quite behave in the confident and all-knowing manner that she initially showed in the counselling sessions; bit by bit we see some glimpses into her character and life which throw up quite a few questions. It's a little early for me to speculate I suppose but Misaki appears to have a few problems of her own...
The main event of the episode is still the dreaded 'meeting the mother-in-law' thing, which is one of my favourite moments of the series so far. At times it's downright excruciating as we see Satou uncomfortably but desparately lying with all the conviction he can dredge up; what makes it so fascinating and compelling is the motivation behind it and the end result (and no, I won't tell you how the meeting ends! :p). Once again we see how Satou's guilt shows through and how well his mum takes it all - for the longest time I really didn't know whether he would get away with it or not.
All in all this was a great episode with some moments of humour and touching character-driven stuff. In terms of new developments from all this the story has plenty to work with in future instalments so I daresay that this is where
Welcome to the NHK gets really interesting. I think the man himself sums up this episode the best.
[Filed under Anime Reviews] [Tags: Welcome to the NHK!]
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