Misaki Nakahara

Misaki Nakahara is a main character in the anime, manga and novel of Welcome to the N.H.K series. Misaki is an 18-year old girl going onto 19, [2] and considered very attractive. She has short dark brown hair and brown eyes, and usually wears a yellow shirt with black sleeves and a blue jeans skirt. In the manga, she is also often seen wearing a a jacket with a scarf, a schoolgirl outfit, or pea coat with epaulets. It can be assumed that she is of above-average female height, as she is only a few inches shorter than both Tatsuhiro Satou and Kaoru Yamazaki. On the outside, Misaki seems to be a joyful and spirited girl around those she is comfortable with (albeit somewhat odd). However, she is convinced that everyone around her dies or has something generally bad happen to them. In an effort to remove this self imposed stigma, she decides to help Satou with his severe social anxiety. Around other students of her age that she does not share a relationship with, she is seen as diffident and difficult to interact socially, often faltering or lying to escape from the moment, and to justify her own self-worth. As the story progresses, she starts to develop feelings of sorts for Satou, made apparent (in the anime) when she shouted that she needed Satou as he was about to jump off a cliff, going to his apartment everyday to make him lunch, and going as far as to attempt suicide when he seems to turn away from her. Her personality greatly differs between manga and anime. In the manga, she is seen as sadistic and even manipulative, often times enjoying making a fool out of Satou. In the anime, she is more innocent and well behaved. Also, in the manga, it is proven that she is a very jealous type, going to lengths to punish Satou psychologically when he engages with Hitomi romantically. In the anime and the manga, she is portrayed as someone who is interested in psychology and assisting others. In the anime, this is shown during her counseling sessions with Satou, where she tries to apply psychoanalysis. In the manga, it is recognized when she reveals her aspirations to be a counsellor, and turns the tables on Akira Jougasaki by keenly diagnosing and attempting to help him. She is also somewhat compulsive. As seen when she hurriedly and suddenly runs off to somewhere to try to solve whatever problems Satou faces, coming up with strange methods of treatment for Satou, and even coming up with a "love contract".