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A couple of months back, a friend of mine recommended a show called Nana. He isn’t the type of anime fan to settle for conventional series like Naruto or Bleach, although he enjoyed the first seasons of the first. When I got home that day, I plugged the USB disk and watched the first episode. My first impression was: “Great… a show about a completely shallow innocent girl, and the emo rockstar,oposite of the other”.
After watching 47 episodes of Nana, in only three days, I’m certain that it marked me far more than any other Anime previously did. I greatly enjoyed Honey and Clover, it’s a well thought Anime. I also enjoyed Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien more than any other. But those two stories are somewhat distant from the real world. Although the things that afflict them are real, the situation that the cast is in is simply unconventional, and there’s this haze of fiction around it. Nana has none of it.
The characters are all flawed, in one way or another. They all deal with their issues in their own manners. They are all different, yet, they’re also incredibly similar in some ways.
If you’re looking for a sugar-coated love story, you’ll find none of that here, although the first episodes might misslead you to think so.
The show is about two girls, with the same first name (I’ll let you guess what that name is). The dream of the first one, who is nicknamed “Hachiko”, is simply to find happiness and become independent. The second one, is much more ambitious, and aims to become a famous singer with her hometown punk-rock group.
Although they don’t acknowledge it at first, the times that they spend together become the happiest in their lives. But fate eventually takes it’s toll, and destiny drives them apart from each other. Despite being separated, I love how they always silently talk to each other during the beginning and ending of each episode.
Usually every episode will start with “Hey Nana…” followed by a thought about the past, or with a rhetorical question on how to make a decision.
The music in the story is simply perfect. There are many dramatic moments during the story, and although one of the characters is very emotional and sensible, the music that accompanies the scene is always incredibly adequate. It’s great to see the difference between the style of their music, and their personalities. The contrast is almost as good as Black and White.
An interesting thought came across while I was writing this review: Who should watch Nana?
And after giving it a bit of thought, I realized that everyone should watch it. Even if they don’t like Anime. The story puts all soap operas, and even great American series to shame. Young teenagers and grownups alike could certainly enjoy this story, and learn something from it. Specially older people that sometimes have trouble understanding what’s going through a young person’s mind.
In any case, I’ve said enough. If there’s one Anime I’d recommend anyone and everyone to watch, Nana would be it. And yes, I loved it that much.
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