Nana (manga)

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Mika Nakashima as Nana Osaki
Aoi Miyazaki as Nana Komatsu

is a shōjo manga by mangaka Ai Yazawa, serialised in Cookie, published by Shueisha. The first twelve volumes of the series have cumulatively sold over 22 million copies. There are two main characters and some confusion may arise due to the fact that both characters share the same name, Nana. What sets them apart, however, is the stark difference of their personalities.

Nana is released in North America by Viz Media in Shojo Beat magazine. The manga has also been adapted into a highly successful live-action movie with a planned sequel already announced, and an anime adaptation that premiered on April 5th, 2006.

Contents

Plot synopsis

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Nana Osaki is a punk singer who wants to debut as soon as possible to leave her ex-boyfriend, Ren Honjo, behind. Nana and Ren were in the same group once, but Ren was offered a chance to debut in Tokyo as a replacement member of Trapnest, a popular band. Nana had to choose between either going with Ren and being a groupie with the band, or staying with her own band. Realizing that following Ren would mean giving up her own dream to be a singer, she chose to cultivate her own band, Black Stones or BLAST for short (as stated in Shojo Beat magazine )

Nana Komatsu, the other Nana, is called Hachi by everyone in the manga after she met Nana Osaki (as explained in the manga, to avoid confusion of their names). Nana described Hachi as a little puppy, very loving to other people but demanding so much attention. ("Hachi-ko" is the name of a famous dog in Japan. Coincidentally, "hachi" is a homophone for "eight" in Japanese.) She grew up in a sheltered suburban lifestyle in which she was treated as a child for much of her life. With a habit of falling in love at first sight, Hachi has always depended on other people to help her, especially her high school friend Junko Saotome. However, Junko eventually had to leave Hachi to attend a selective art design college in Tokyo. Hachi desperately wanted to follow Junko to Tokyo, but had no means in which to support herself there. However, after working hard on her own, she was finally able to move there as well. Nana had a boyfriend at that time, called Shoji Endo.

Nana and Hachi meet in a train by chance and, after a string of coincidences having to do with the number seven, decide to live together in an apartment numbered 707 ("nana" is a homophone for "seven" in Japanese). Despite having contrasting characters and ideals, both Nanas like and respect each other.

While the Black Stones begin to gain popularity at live gigs, other issues need resolving. After discovering the past story of Ren and Nana, Hachi invites Nana to the Trapnest concert in the hope that the couple will reunite. Nana accepts the invitation, but she goes with the determination of tying up her feelings for Ren once and for all. However, things go a little differently, and with some help from their mutual friend Yasu, Ren and Nana get back together.

Though Nana's romance with Ren has been rekindled, Hachi's own lovelife is in shambles. She discovers that Shoji has been cheating on her with Sachiko, one of his coworkers. Hachi ends their relationship, saying that she never wants to see Shoji again.

Nana introduces Hachi to Takumi Ichinose, her favorite member of Ren's band, Trapnest. The two begin a romantic relationship, though it isn't an ideal romance. Hachi only sees Takumi when he has time off from touring and doing work for Trapnest. It seems to be purely physical, with Hachi aware of the fact that she doesn't really know Takumi as anything other than an iconic guitarist, and that he is notorious as a ladies' man. At the same time, the guitarist of Black Stones, Nobuo "Nobu" Terashima, declares his love for her. Hachi is torn between her love for Nobu and her relationship with Takumi. In the end she chooses Nobu, and splits up with Takumi over the phone - although Takumi doesn't realise it.

For a while Hachi and Nobu enjoy a happy, loving relationship - they understand each other and have fun together. Then Hachi finds out she's pregnant. Unable to bring herself to abort the baby and knowing that it must be Takumi's, she becomes listless and unhappy. Takumi returns, makes the discovery, and challenges Nobu - he'll take care of Hachi and the baby no matter who turns out to be the father. Hachi, thinking of her child's future, knows that while she loves Nobu he can't support her. When Takumi offers to marry her, she accepts.

Hachi leaves the apartment she shares with Nana and she regrets it, but she can't bring herself to say it directly. Nana is also unable to express her feelings about the separation, though a marriage proposal from Ren offers hope for the future. Though the two friends are far apart, their thoughts remain with each other.

The story is to be continued in upcoming chapters.

Main bands and characters

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Black Stones

Black Stones, or Blast (ブラスト Burasuto) for short, plays punk music. Once, they were playing with Ren; after his departure to join Trapnest, a new member, Shin, joins the band. They attract a large audience and their ability is affirmed by a record company (Gaia). They are preparing for their debut.

Nana Osaki (大崎ナナ Ōsaki Nana) - One of the titular characters of the series, Osaki Nana may look like a tough punk rocker, but she has a kind heart and is a devoted friend. Abandoned by her parents and raised by her grandmother, Nana was expelled from high school due to false accusations of prostitution. Despite these hardships, Nana "polishes the shards of her dreams" and is determined to be successful as the lead vocalist of Blast. She is now engaged to her first love, Ren, though she also has lingering, ambiguous feelings for Yasu. Her favorite designer is Vivienne Westwood.
Shinichi Okazaki (岡崎真一 Okazaki Shin'ichi) a.k.a. Shin (シン) is the bass player of Blast. The youngest member of the band, he is 15 years old and from a dysfunctional family. Shin is the surrogate son of Hachi, who is very over-protective of him. He moonlights as a male prostitute, with Reira being one of his "clients." Among other things, he's an expert mahjong player, and a confidant of Nobu. He's also the only member of Blast who smokes "Black Stones" besides Yasu.
Nobuo Terashima (寺島伸夫 Terashima Nobuo) a.k.a. Nobu (ノブ) is the guitarist of Blast; attended the same high school as Nana Osaki. He is friendly and optimistic, but at times, he tends to miss the focus of conversations around him. Before Nana's "smoking ban", he's the only non-smoking member of Blast. But, his poor threshold for alcohol meant that he leaked many secrets while he's drunk (most notably, about Nana and Ren's relationship to Shin). Like Yasushi, Nobuo comes from a rich family (his parents own an inn). Despite this, he is still very passionate about music, even sharing Osaki's dream of making it big with a band one day.
Yasushi Takagi (高木泰士 Takagi Yasushi) a.k.a. Yasu (ヤス) plays drums and is the leader of Blast. He dated Reira in high school, but has fallen in love with Nana. He is also a lawyer, despite his "scary" appearance (clean shaven head, many earrings and dark glasses). He's a big brother figure for Nana, and sometimes Nobuo. He acted as Nana's "guardian" when she first arrived in Tokyo. Also, he's the oldest member of Blast, which Nobuo sometimes make fun of (by calling him "old man"). His favourite cigarette brand is "Black Stones", from which the band got their name.

Trapnest

Trapnest, or Tranes (トラネス Toranesu) for short, is a popular band in the manga. Nana wants her own band to overtake Trapnest as the leading one in Japan.

Takumi Ichinose (一ノ瀬巧 Ichinose Takumi, タクミ Takumi) is the leader and bassist of Trapnest. He is quite handsome, and has a reputation of being a playboy. He has recently married Hachi, and the couple is expecting a baby soon. Despite his raw sexual charisma, Takumi can also be cold and controlling. His favourite brand of cigarettes is "Gitanes".
Ren Honjo (本城蓮 Honjō Ren, レン Ren) - Blast's former bassist, Ren is actually Trapnest's guitarist. He is very popular and his music is well-received by fans. He and Nana Osaki are engaged to be married. Ren is a big fan of the Sex Pistols; he participated in a tribute album to them, and wears a "Sid Vicious" padlock around his neck that he received from Nana. Nana had an image of a lotus tattooed on her upper arm in honor of him ("Ren" is a Japanese name for lotus).
Reira Serizawa (芹澤レイラ Serizawa Reira) is the half-American, half-Japanese lead singer of Trapnest. She has been secretly having trysts with Shin, and may be in love with him. Though her name is often romanized as "Reira," she is actually named "Layla" after the hit song by Eric Clapton. She also writes the lyrics for Trapnest's songs.
Naoki Fujieda (藤枝直樹 Fujieda Naoki) is the drummer of Trapnest. Like Nobu in Black Stones, he's the "clueless", loud-mouthed teenager of his band. As with the rest of his bandmates, he's a friend of Yasushi's. His background story, along with his friends', is featured in volume 9.

Others

Nana Komatsu (小松奈々 Komatsu Nana) came to Tokyo looking to find her dream. Unlike Nana Osaki, Nana K. came from a large and happy household, though her childish outlook prevented her from living on her own initially. She is now the wife of Takumi and, expecting a child, there are hopes that she will be able to live happily. Her nickname is "Hachi" - a short term from Hachiko, because she always tries to be kind and faithful to her friends, like the dog from the Hachiko legend. (Hachi means eight in Japanese, and the kanji for seven can be pronounced as 'nana'.) This also clears up confusion between the two Nanas.
Shoji Endo (遠藤章司 Endō Shōji) is Hachi's ex-boyfriend. He is a struggling art student and works as a waiter. He met Hachi through his old friend Junko, and Hachi originally moved to Tokyo to be closer to him. However, their relationship gradually cooled and he cheated on her with Sachiko, a co-worker and classmate. He leaves Hachi for Sachiko.
Sachiko Kawamura (川村幸子 Kawamura Sachiko) - Shoji's sweet-natured girlfriend. She works at the same restaurant as Shoji. Early on in the manga, Hachi once dreamt of Shoji two-timing her with a buxom, Prada-loving city girl named Sachiko (she thought of the name randomly). Ominously, it later turned out to be true, though the real Sachiko is nothing like "virtual" Sachiko. Interestingly, Hachi also named her unborn child Sachiko (if it's a girl).
Junko Saotome (早乙女淳子 Saotome Junko) - Hachi's sensible, no-nonsense best friend. Junko is much more emotionally mature than Hachi, and often pushes her to be more independent and responsible. She's the host of the omake (bonus) section at the end of each manga volume, reading fan mail and displaying fan art. She's often called "Jun-chan" by Hachi.
Kyosuke Takakura (高倉京助 Takakura Kyosuke) - Junko's boyfriend, who currently shares an apartment with her. He's also good friends with Hachi and Shoji. His laid-back attitude to life may deem him a slacker in the eyes of many, but he's actually quite perceptive, though he coddles Hachi more than Junko would like.
Mai Tsuzuki/"Misato Uehara" (上原美里 Uehara Misato) - An ardent fan of Blast since its inception, Misato loves Nana and has befriended the band. However, "Uehara Misato" is not her true name. Misato/Mai claims that a fortune teller told her that if she used the name "Uehara Misato" she could become closer to Nana (Mai was unaware that the real Misato is Nana's half-sister). Mai later drops her Gothic Lolita image and gets a job at Gaia, Blast's record label.
Yuri Kousaka - A giggly, giddy AV idol (porn star) who shares a boarding house with Blast and falls in love with Nobu. Yuri was a teenage runaway before she starred in adult videos, and she has financial problems due to her sleazy manager and her own fickle nature. Her real name is "Asami".
Miu - A morose actress who shares a boarding house with Blast and Yuri. She is older than she looks (27), and her name is often mispronounced "Myu" by Nobu. Miu wears long sleeves to hide the scars on her arms from self-mutilation. She is currenly dating Yasu. Also, in volume 11 (the volume where she first appears), it's shown that she's a very good mahjong player. (She claimed that she learnt her skills by having special training for her role in a mahjong movie as a nameless rival.)

Movie

Nana has been made into a movie which was released on September 3rd, 2005. The movie stars Mika Nakashima as the punk star, and Aoi Miyazaki as Hachi (Komatsu Nana). The DVD edition was released on March 3rd, 2006. The movie was very well received in Japan and preparations are being made for the sequel. However, it is unsure if Aoi Miyazaki will reprise her role, due to her fear that the "bedroom scenes" will tarnish her clean image. An employee at SEDIC International who worked on the first film told [Nana-Nana.net] that he could not comment on the situation, and neither Toho nor TBS have released information concerning the matter.

Main Cast

Nana Komatsu (小松奈々 Komatsu Nana): Aoi Miyazaki
Nana Osaki (大崎ナナ Ōsaki Nana): Mika Nakashima
Ren Honjo (本城蓮 Honjō Ren, レン Ren): Ryuhei Matsuda
Takumi Ichinose (一ノ瀬巧 Ichinose Takumi, タクミ Takumi): Tetsuji Tamayama
Shinichi Okazaki (岡崎真一 Okazaki Shin'ichi) a.k.a. Shin: Ken'ichi Matsuyama
Nobuo Terashima (寺島伸夫 Terashima Nobuo) a.k.a. Nobu (ノブ): Hiroki Narimiya
Reira Serizawa (芹澤レイラ Serizawa Reira): Yuna Ito
Sachiko Kawamura (川村幸子 Kawamura Sachiko): SAEKO

Anime

Nana has been made into an anime series. The opening song is "Rose," sung by Anna Tsuchiya for the band Black Stones as Nana Osaki, and Olivia sings the ending "A Little Pain" for the band Trapnest as Reira Serizawa. The first DVD release will be on 2006-07-07.

So far 14 episodes have aired.

A recent trend in the anime has been to include a recap special every five episodes. Episode 6 was an entire recaption of episodes 1-5, with some extra, never-before seen material. Also, episode 11.5 (as it is called) appeared after episode 11, giving more material and introduced a few characters (Junko, Shoji, Kyosuke) as they discussed the key moments of the series, thus far.

Seiyu

Osaki Nana: Paku Romi
Komatsu Nana: Kaori (Midori Kawana)
Endo Shoji: Takahashi Hiroki
Ichinose Takumi: Morikawa Toshiyuki
Terashima Nobuo (Nobu): Seki Tomokazu
Okazaki Shinichi (Shin): Ishida Akira
Serizawa Reira: Hirano Aya
Saotome Junko: Honda Takako
Takakura Kyosuke: Suwabe Junichi

Game

There is a "Nana" game released on the PS2. The PS2 game is produced by Konami and released on 17 March 2005. A PSP game is scheduled for release on 6 July 2006.

Seiyu

Of worthy note is that the seiyu cast for the PS2 game is entirely different from the anime cast.

Osaki Nana: Minagawa Junko
Komatsu Nana: Shishido Rumi
Honjo Ren: Sakurai Takahiro
Ichinose Takumi: Koyasu Takehito
Saotome Junko: Fuchizaki Yuriko
Kawamura Sachiko: Suzuki Masami
Uehara Misato: Tamura Yukari

Tribute album

There has also been an album, "LOVE for NANA ~Only 1 Tribute~" released in tribute of the series, including songs by TETSU69, Do As Infinity, Ai Otsuka, Tommy heavenly⁶, Skye Sweetnam and SEX MACHINEGUNS.

There is also the album "Nana's song is my song".

Trivia

The surnames of the 2 Nanas, coincidently, give their "seniority"; the "O" (大) in Osaki's surname means "big", while "Ko" (小) in Komatsu's means "small".
The anime cast for the members of the "Black Stones" may be an insider joke; 3 of the seiyu who voiced the band members also worked together in Gundam SEED Special Edition: Paku Romi (Nicol Amalfi), Ishida Akira (Athrun Zala) and Seki Tomokazu (Yzak Jule). Takahashi Hiroki, who voices Shoji, was also the voice of Arthur Trine in Gundam Seed Destiny, Suwabe Junichi, who voices Kyosuke, voices Sting Oakley (who's part of the EAF, the enemy of ZAFT) in the same anime.
The seiyuu who voiced Hachi in the PS2 game (Rumi Shishido) also had a role as Hachi's bad tempered superior at the publisher's in the live-action movie. She also co-incidentally played Mikako Kouda in the Gokinjo Monogatari and Paradise Kiss anime, adaptations of manga by Ai Yazawa.

External links

Official Sites

Japanese

English

[The U.S. Publisher of NANA]

Unofficial Sites

English

[link] at TVRage.com (Guide for the Anime Version)
[Anime News Network's encyclopedia page for the NANA anime]
[Anime News Network's encyclopedia page for the NANA manga]
[NANA-NANA.net, a Movie Fansite]

Other Languages

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