Hello! I am Maddy, doing research for my master's thesis on how hikikomori characters are portrayed in manga, especially those who don't always get the spotlight. Think of characters from series like NHK ni Youkoso!, Shimeji Simulation, Hitori Bocchi, or lesser-known slice-of-life/essay manga. Apart from NHK, I haven't heard of any famous manga that depicts hikikomori characters. When it comes to women protagonists as hikikomori, there are even fewer portrayals. This research comes from my own personal experience that is why I am not just doing it to submit the thesis at the end, I’m really ionate about this and am planning to pursue this for PhD as well. 672l2b

I'm curious how you, as a reader, respond to these characters and stories. Do they feel real? Exaggerated? Empathetic? I did my analysis of characters from manga Hikikomori Niizuma and She doesn't know why she lives, and realised it is just not enough. I want to know what the community thinks.

Your help will be really appreciated! The survey is short (5-7 min), completely anonymous, and open to all readers-casual fans, deep divers everyone in between.

Here is the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfEsHtOEhyUfUQTQwa166Z1yhop9DQ2dlqRfJ-HffF8KuP99Q/viewform?usp=header