NaNa (ナナ) isn’t the usual girlie type storyline, this is mostly because the main character(s) are not fifteen year-old cutesy girls who get swept away or are given any magical objects. Instead the deeply dramatic arch is one most ordinary gals will sympathize with. Two 20 yr-old girls meet on a train, while riding they learn that they both left their small HoPunk towns to build their future in Tokyo. The irony is although these girls are total opposites they share their unknown future and first name “NaNa”.

We quickly learn that dark haired punk dressed Nana Osaki is a singer and that she is going to Tokyo to put her band, the BlackStones, back together. Nana Komatsu, the other Nana, is also going to Tokyo but to finally be with her boyfriend Shoji (aka The &!@#%&) . The two girls meet again days later and decide to become roommates at an apartment in a sub-neighborhood of Tokyo. The sign that they belong at this particular set of apartments is the number on the door 707, “NaNa” is a homophone for “seven” in Japanese. So we don’t get confused Nana Komatsu quickly gets a nickname “Hachi”, after the Famous dog statue in Japan. Most characters call her the name because of her puppy-like willing to please personality. Additionally, “Hachi” is the word for “eight” in Japanese making the names even more sensible. The girls become very close; there is even mention that their relationship is like a romantic couple without any sexual overtones.

However all hell breaks loose when Hachi finds Shoji (aka The &!@#%&)  cheats on her, lost she later begins to secretly sleep with someone in a Famous Rock band. The same Rockband that Nana Osaki’s ex-boyfriend Ren left her for. Ren who was once a bassist player for the BlackStones (Blast for short) is now a guitar player credited with helping make Trapnest one of the biggest bands out there. NaNa has abandonment issues ever since Ren left and has to deal with the fact that Hachi is keeping secrets by sleeping with someone in Ren’s band.

The characters are addicting even the costarring cast. The fun loving Nobu who wants nothing more than Blast to get back together Nobu and Hachi date for a while until Hachi finds out she’s pregnant. Shin the youngest of Blast members who is half Japanese half Caucasian has to deal with a loveless home life and his side job of being a gigolo. Then there is Yasu the silent statue that has supported NaNa Osaki through her heart break. The members of Trapnest are even more interesting as we see Ren who has issues with using illegal drugs and Takumi who is a womanizer but cannot use the only person in the world, Reira, who wants him to use her. Reira who is also half Japanese half Caucasian is now having an affair with Shin who is underage.

The best part all of this is set to music. Even when NaNa was still just a manga strip serialized in cookie magazine, artists pulled together to give the pages a tribute soundtrack which starred some of the biggest names in Japanese music like Tommy heavenly6 & Do As Infinity. Now NaNa has Anime and live action movie adaptations where music is even a bigger part of its existence. The Anime inspiration artists interpret the music of the story perfectly Anna Tsuchiya who sings for the BlackStones and Olivia Luftkin who sings for Reira are both half Japanese half Caucasian artists who are successful in Japan. The live action movie had amazing singer Mika NakaShima act and sing for NaNa Osaki’s character to songs co-written by herself and superstar Hyde. Trapnest’s lead was played by Yuna Ito A Korean-Japanese American singer from Hawaii who has risen to her height of popularity and just did a duet with Celine Dion.

*Yuna Ito’s debut single “Endless Story,” the insert song of the film, ranked second on the Oricon charts, next to Nakashima’s “Glamorous Sky,” and made Yuna Ito one of the most successful debuting artists of 2005. The first twelve volumes of the manga series have cumulatively sold over 22 million copies. As in 2005, it has sold over 34,500,000 making it the fourth best selling shōjo manga worldwide. Also NaNa fashion is some of the top selling. The first Nana film did quite well at the Japanese box office, grossing more than 4 billion yen, staying in the top 10 for several weeks.
Ai Yazawa, Writer and illustrator of Nana just proves she has a wealth to give her readers. I have never been disappointed by Ai who conceived other music/fashion/shojo stories like Love Letter, Tenshi Nanka Ja Nai (I’m Not an Angel), Gokinjo Monogatari (neighborhood story), Paradise Kiss and Princess Ai. This writer always makes fashionable characters that have a great understanding of style or music. In Nana you see much name brand designer use of various brands like Apple Powerbook, Gibson Guitars and Vivienne Westwood. Even the cigarette brands the characters smoke are known brands. A cute fact is the clothing line mentioned in Nana called Happy Berry, that is line of the protagonist Kouda Mikako of Gokinjo Monogatari. One thing is I love how it all ties in.. Ai makes her world like NaNa’s relatable. I even bought a Vivienne Westwood accessory after watching.

*info from wikipedia