EXPLICIT CONTENT! Today's episode, Will and Steve talk about videogame addiction and Hikikomori culture as it pertains to this volume 3 Welcome to the NHK. Our protagonist falls for a Pyramid scheme and Misaki's tortuous methods to cure him do no good (no surprises there) skip plot summary @ 4:45
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110: Welcome to the NHK vol. 3
Chapters 11 to 15 'Welcome to the ONLINE!' and 'Welcome to the REFRAIN!'
Story by Tatsuhiko Takimoto
Art by Kendi Oiwa
English Translation by Katherine Schilling and Zachary Rau
Lettering by Star Print Brokers
Tatsuhiro Sato is a 22-year-old university drop out and hikikomori who believes in conspiracy theories and has been a social shut-in for 2 years. One day a religious woman with a leaflet knocks on his door accompanied by a Mysterious young girl called Misaki Nakahara who eventually helps him from becoming a social shut-in as they do weekly therapy meetings.
Sato's neighbour is an incel and old acquaintance named Kaoru Yamazaki who happens to be a raging otaku and a computer programmer. These two people will help Sato on his journey to change himself.
Sato becomes addicted and wastes his time playing an online videogame also known as a MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online game). Misaki enters his apartment and is shocked at Sato's decaying health. Misaki tries to seduce and distract him but to no avail. Sato only snaps back to reality when a player asks if they can meet in real life making Sato run back to Misaki begging forgiveness.
Misaki decides to do a psychological torture technique by binding, blinding and imprisoning Sato in his body whilst in his apartment in the hopes of changing his way of thinking. This does not work as planned and eventually Misaki decides to live with Sato as a live-in carer. This makes Sato feel depressed and he attempts to kill himself by falling out of the window, an ankle sprain and hospital visit later Sato bumps into an old female classmate from school who eventually tricks him into a cult like pyramid scheme.
Misaki is worried and confronts the woman but in doing so gets tricked into the pyramid scheme too.
Topics:
Gaming addiction has become more prevalent since the use of the internet, players now having the ability to invest their time in virtual stock and reward systems. It is also classified as a serious disorder under the World Health Organisation, under the term "Gaming Disorder". Some reports have gathered resources in order to help those with addiction but there are also many sensational horror stories having been reported too.
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As an example of videogames having a positive sense of community, actor Lance Reddick, famous for his role in the 'John Wick' movies and the videogame 'Destiny 2' had many of his fans set up vigils within the game's virtual space of Zavala after reports of the actor's death which occurred on March 16, 2023. Reddick was also a fan of the game and played it often.
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Psychological torture differs from that of physical and interrogational torture, which Neuroscientist Shane O'Mara's argues on the efficacy in his book 'Why Torture Doesn't Work', saying compelling arguments such as for one, the damage to memory and recall that torture can have on individuals. However Psychological torture still has its criticism and its tactics and strategies have been applied to "conversion therapy"; a torture that cares less about what is true and serves only to subjugate and deconstruct an individual's sense of identity from the mistaken belief that it can "cure" the recipient. Psychological torture and abuse are one and the same, there is no evidence that supports the practice having a healthy outcome on the recipient.
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Con artists and pyramid schemes go hand in hand, at first, the "pyramid scheme" seems like a multi-level marketing plan but the profits of such a scheme do not come from selling a product but instead from hiring workers, who in turn get a profit from those they hire. This is an unsustainable business practice since only those who are at the top will ever get a benefit from it. For example, if six individuals were at the top of the pyramid and to make profit, they need to individually hire six more, then that makes a total number of thirty-six for the second layer. By layer twelve, workers would need to hire a total of individuals greater than the earth's estimated population. In practice Sato needs to sell 'Mouse Road' products to vendors and get a percentage from their sales if he is ever to make his money back, and depending on how low he is on the pyramid, it means the more people he needs to recruit, the odds would not be in his favour, especially if he is below the third layer.
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Misaki's true intentions
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