It was cute to see NHK end with a role reversal between Misaki and Satou – there are big differences between a lazy hikkimori and having a genuinely mixed up life. In spite of his personal problems Satou was always a fairly normal person just in need of tough love. When his parents’ money dries up, for perhaps the first time in his life Satou loses his comfort zone and is finally forced to fend for himself and become independent. And so dies the NEET.
Misaki is a lot more interesting. We’ve gone through this show thinking she is doing Satou a favour by sticking around, but during these final couple of episodes it becomes fairly clear that she desperately needs him; having a dead (suicidal) mother and an abusive step-father, the self-loathing, unconfident and lonely Misaki has grown up surrounded by hate. Her problems are deeply seeded and psychological – she needs help and probably sees herself in Satou; the lectures, the exams and even the home-made lunches are as much (if not more) for her as him.
It all ends on a (notorious) cliff top with both characters ready to jump into oblivion. Both actually give up on life and jump, but both are saved. Misaki is caught by Satou, and Satou himself (amidst another surreal vision of gooey paranoia) is saved by a steal mesh especially placed there to catch suicidal fallers. Given their personal problems through out the show, it seems fitting that Misaki was finally saved by genuine friendship (not a stupid contract) and Satou by the society he so fears. At this point NHK could have flown into romantic territory, but despite these two obviously being in love, it ends with them as good friends having knowingly been through so much, and Satou lecturing Misaki on the park bench!
Undoubtedly this has been one of my favourite shows of the year; despite losing some momentum during the over-long MMORPG arc, Welcome to the NHK was ultimately a fine testament to the importance of friendship and independence. GONZO’s animation production was fairly unspectacular but Pearl Kyoudai’s grungy score, paired with a couple of totally uplifting and poppy opening and ending themes, more than made up for any visual shortcomings with its melancholy and chilled tone; surely a contender for best soundtrack of the year.
Welcome to the NHK is not a show for everyone – it can come across as overwhelmingly depressing and slow, sometimes too close to the bone and uncompromisingly geeky, but then I suppose that’s why I like it too. Within a few episodes I had totally fallen for these characters and desperately wanted to see them grow and find happiness. With this end – leaving the characters feeling optimistic but still somewhat scarred and timid, I’m more than content, knowing deep down they’ll be okay.
I think some people complained that the anime didn’t hold true enough to the manga
but I felt that the anime had a good balance of how depressing it went.
Misaki my favorite!
If that’s how the anime ends, then it’s not holding true to the manga. The manga is "Hey let’s all kill ourselves" depressing.
I can’t comment on whether it was a good thing or not, since I didn’t watch the anime, but it seems like GONZO has once against forsaken the original material and struck out in a bold new direction.
To be honest I was so invested in the anime that I totally forgot about the manga. I think I may go back and begin to read it now, though I suspect the end resolution will be the same; just depends whether or not I’m ready to read through yet more chapters of Satou’s depression!
Manga is simply has the pages to be more interesting. Anime though is a complete story in itself.
Though Misaki is alot more interesting in the manga. Her anglic ways didn’t stay long in the manga unlike in the anime. She lies and manipulates Satou into doing her bidding while doing her fair share of "hikikomori"-esque antics rival that of Satou’s.
If it wasn’t for Misaki’s existence in this anime I would have quit watching this after the first few episodes. I think Satou’s character built on too much grief and sorrow, on the other hand once Misaki came in, the blend of the two character’s characteristics made this anime very interesting. This is also what makes this last episode such a wonderful experience for me. I feel I can understand Misaki more than Satou, the fact the story was told from Satou’s perspective was not to my liking, but over all it was one of the best psychological/ comedy anime I have seen.
What I liked about the anime’s ending was that it presented a vague glimmer of hope for both Satou and Masaki while maintaining the show’s somber, pessimistic undertone  Satou thinks to himself, even while deciding to stick with Misaki and make the best of things, that “we’ll probably live the rest of our lives mumbling, ‘it’s no good, it’s no good…’” It stays consistent with the rest of the show, basically saying that life is mostly suffering and uncertainty, but we can at least try to live our lives and be okay.
I’ve been thinking about this anime a lot, and am about to start reading the manga  considering that I am going through a phase of social withdrawal and depression at the moment (I seem to fall into a rut like this once every couple of years or so), I found a lot of the emotional subject matter here to be quite resonant and insightful.
The single moment that made the deepest impact on me and keeps running through my mind is the end of the internet suicide arc, where Saitou is pulled back up after slipping on the cliff, covers his face, and bursts into tearful shrieks met by Misaki’s wailing from the boat below  and then those opening piano notes of the second ending theme, which I just can’t get out of my head. God…
I hope I am prepared for the manga (and eventually, probably, the novel). There were moments of bleakness in the anime itself, which is supposed to be quite a bit lighter, that I found almost overwhelming.
galge.. very good galge